Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 94653 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94653 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Much like me, he’s no longer the person he once was.
I blink out of those sobering thoughts when a pretty blonde with perky tits strokes her hands over him before pressing closer and whispering something in his ear. That’s all it takes for me to tumble back to high school when he and Miles were sophomores. Even back then, he and my brother drew female attention.
And I hated it.
Hated the way girls flirted with Wolf, clinging to him like unwanted barnacles. It made me pea green with jealousy. One particular time has always stuck with me. About a month before the accident, a girl from school was hanging all over him. I grumbled something under my breath while we were walking to class. Wolf stopped in his tracks, forcing me to do the same. His gaze locked on mine, and he told me that I had nothing to worry about. He never explained exactly what he meant, but in that moment, he didn’t have to. The look in his bottle green depths said it all. Even though they were doing everything they could to draw his attention, he wasn’t giving it to them.
I guess that’s why it hurt so much that he never bothered to visit after the accident.
In the blink of an eye, he vanished from my life.
Not only did I lose my brother that night. I lost Wolf as well.
It was devastating.
The memories disintegrate when I’m jostled from behind. I glance at Erin and find her flirting with Maverick McKinnon, Juliette’s younger brother.
When all of my emotions have been locked down tight, I allow my gaze to return to the boy who used to be my entire world. Even though the same blonde continues to buzz around him like a drunken bee, his attention stays pinned to me. My breath catches when he wraps his fingers around her wrists and gently pries them away before setting her aside. With a pout, she moves on to greener pastures.
I hate that his easy dismissal of the girl is enough to settle something deep inside me like a much-needed balm. It would be so much easier if I felt nothing where he was concerned.
Wolf Westerville is part of my past.
Just like my brother.
And if I can’t have one, I don’t want the other.
Chapter 14
Wolf
I lean back against the chair before bringing the bottle of beer to my lips and taking a long swallow. My gaze stays fastened to Fallyn as she shadows the other waitress. Even in the darkness of the bar, I can see guys rubber necking when she walks by, checking out her ass. A few have even been ballsy enough to approach, attempting to shoot their shot. The flash of smile that appears across her face is a gut punch. That’s all it takes for jealousy to eat away at my insides. It’s all I can do not to jump out of my chair and stalk over there. Punching one of these assholes in the face would be so damn satisfying.
I crack my knuckles in an effort to alleviate the growing pressure.
I want to hoard all of her smiles and the girl will barely give me the time of day.
It feels like a lifetime ago when she’d watch me as if I personally hung the moon and stars in the sky just for her.
And I loved it.
Reveled in her adoration.
I remember Miles joking around that I could always marry Fallyn when we were older, and then I’d truly be his brother. I might have rolled my eyes at the time, but the innocuous idea took root and grew from there.
That’s when I knew I’d marry Fallyn DiMarco and be part of their family forever.
After that day, she became mine. I watched out for her even more than normal. When she needed something, I made sure that I was the one who took care of it. And I protected her when Miles wasn’t around to do it. In every way that mattered, Fallyn belonged to me.
During hockey season, she’d wear her brother’s jersey for one game and mine the next. I always played better when she was sitting in the stands with my name and number stamped across her back, cheering me on.
My mind conjures up an image of the first time I saw Fallyn in a bikini at the pool the summer she turned fifteen. I hadn’t been able to get out of the water because my dick had been so damn hard. After that, it was impossible to look at her the same way.
I thought about kissing her a hundred times but never dared.
I didn’t want to start something when her parents wouldn’t allow her to date.
But then, a month before her sixteenth birthday, the crash occurred.
And Miles died.
Fallyn was in the hospital for more than a week. After that, Hugo and Eleanor yanked her from the public school we attended and sent her to a small, private academy on the other side of town.