Toe the Line Read Online Penelope Ward

Categories Genre: Alpha Male, Angst, College, Contemporary, New Adult, Romance Tags Authors:
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Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 94012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
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At one point, Nora started posing questions that I remembered her asking the other night at dinner—how Archie’s flight here had been, among other things. It perplexed me, and I wondered if she was just making shit up without thinking as a distraction in the hopes that his dad would pipe down.

Archie was once again the first to leave the dinner table. Could I blame him? Absolutely not.

CHAPTER 4

NOELLE

PAST

LATER THAT EVENING, Cici’s cousin, Xavier, asked me if I wanted to go for a walk on the beach. It seemed harmless enough, so we went for a stroll and talked—him mostly about his musical aspirations and me mostly asking him questions about life in Boston.

When we arrived back in the general area of the bonfire, we stood closer to the shore, away from people. Xavier reached out and caressed my hair.

“Your eyes are so striking, Noelle.”

I stiffened. “Thank you.”

“Seriously, they’re like…translucent. I love your dimples, too.”

I looked down at my flip-flops and repeated, “Thanks.”

When I looked up again, he was still staring at me. Then suddenly he went in for the kill. My body tensed. I hadn’t been expecting him to kiss me, and I definitely hadn’t been expecting the rough way he shoved his tongue down my throat. Flailing my arms, I leaned back to try to get him to stop, but he only pushed forward, kissing me harder. It didn’t help that he was a little drunk.

It was too much for me, all of it—the kiss, the weight of him. There were people not that far from us, but I still felt totally alone.

Then the weight lifted. When I looked up, Archie’s hand was around Xavier’s neck.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he demanded. “Could you not see she was trying to push you off?”

“Hey, man, calm down.”

Archie shoved Xavier across the sand, causing him to land on his ass. “She clearly didn’t want it, and you kept pushing,” he spat.

Xavier looked over at me, his eyes groggy. “I didn’t do that, did I? Tell him.”

In total shock, I shook my head and stammered, “Umm…I think you should leave, Xavier.”

Xavier stood up and stumbled away.

Archie was out of breath. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I exhaled. “He was drunk. I don’t think he meant anything by it—”

“Don’t make excuses for him! I saw it. You were trying to get him to stop. He didn’t. End of story.”

I took a deep breath. “You’re right. I’m just a little rattled. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before.” I smoothed out my shirt. “I guess you were right about him, huh?”

Archie gave me side-eye. “That doesn’t make me feel good, by the way.”

“How did you see us all the way over here?”

“I saw you walk away with him earlier, so I kept an eye out. When I noticed you down by the shore, I came to make sure you were okay.”

I straightened the wrinkles in my shirt. “I’m sorry for not listening to you.”

“Well, I guess I haven’t given you a reason to trust me yet.” He tilted his head toward where his friends were congregated in the distance. “Come on. Let’s go over there.”

The waves crashed behind us, and I looked over at him as we walked. “You must be right about Cici, too. What’s the deal with her? You were never specific.”

He raised a brow. “You really want to know?”

“Yeah.”

“I was dating her sister, as you already found out. Like I told you, it was just a summer hookup with Amanda and nothing more, despite what Cici might have told you. That stuff about me breaking her heart is a total joke.” He sighed. “Anyway, one night, we were all hanging out down in their parents’ basement. Amanda was drunk. When she went upstairs to throw up, Cici tried to go down on me.”

My mouth dropped.

“I bet she’d deny it if you asked her,” he added. “But she did. You can’t trust someone who would stab her own sister in the back like that.”

That news really rubbed me the wrong way. “Yeah. No shit.” I’d only hung out with Cici a couple of times, but that seemed like a betrayal.

“Anyway…” he said. “The people you see me with, they’re all cool. Good people I’ve known for years. You should hang out with us instead.”

Well, alright then. “You mean the girl you’ve been sucking face with this summer? She’s the only person I’ve seen you with.”

“I wasn’t really referring to Bree. She’s part of the crew, though.”

“Is she your girlfriend?”

“No. I don’t have a girlfriend. She’s just someone I…” He hesitated.

“Someone you fuck?”

Archie squinted. “Why does that word sound wrong coming from Little Miss Goody-Goody?” He laughed. “We’ve hooked up, yeah. I’ve known her for years. She’s just a friend.”

“With benefits,” I added as jealousy burned my cheeks.

“I suppose. But we have an understanding about it. So it’s all good.”


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