Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
I made it to the penthouse elevator without falling asleep on my feet, but I did drift a bit as I leaned against the wall and floated up to the sixteenth floor. The ding when I reached Ryder’s floor startled me out of a half-asleep stupor. I entered the quiet penthouse with a sigh. At some point, Ryder’s place started to feel as much like home as my own house.
And I loved it.
Footsteps from the bedroom had me smiling. I turned to greet Ryder, only to freeze in place. Corvin stood in the hallway outside the master bedroom in nothing but a goddamn jockstrap, scratching his chest. His lean body was on display, and his tousled hair did not help my runaway mind.
What. The. Fuck.
His eyes widened, and he stopped walking but didn’t say anything. No apology, no explanation about how he’d wandered into the wrong room after taking a middle-of-the-night piss.
Nothing.
But then his shoulders loosened, and a half smirk curled his lips.
A cold wave of dread washed over me from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. My chest tightened until I couldn’t draw in air. I couldn’t tear into Corvin like he deserved for touching what was mine.
He cocked his head and shrugged as though he wasn’t destroying my entire world. “It’s always made more sense, Alex.”
They’d always made more sense, he meant—two rich boys who moved in the same high-society circles. He had a similar family, connections, and financial profile, whereas I resided in the gutter. A poor kid who served alcohol in my underwear to make ends meet. I wouldn’t be there forever, and I wasn’t ashamed of what I did, not in the least, but when the stereotype of perfection looked down his nose at you, it made you doubt yourself.
At least it made me doubt myself.
And it made me doubt my relationship.
I wanted to tear across the penthouse and wrap my hands around Corvin’s throat. It’d be so satisfying to watch his eyes bug in shock and fear. I wanted to make him feel as horrible as I did in that moment. I wanted to march into the bedroom, lock the intruder out, and remind Ryder just who he belonged to.
But I was so heavy inside that I couldn’t do any of that. Corvin had made me feel two inches tall, and no one was allowed to do that. Even back in high school, when Ryder and his douchebag friends tried, I held my head high and gave it back to them as good as I got.
Better even.
But this was different. I loved Ryder, and Corvin stepped in the middle of that.
So I did the only thing my bleeding heart would allow.
I turned and walked out of the penthouse while my heart left a trail of blood behind me.
CHAPTER TEN
RYDER
I loved slow wake-up mornings. The kind where I drifted in and out of sleep, snuggled beneath the covers while the sun warmed my face, and my sexy man warmed my back. Those days when we had nowhere to be and could ease into the day, lingering as long as we damn well pleased.
Today was not one of those days. Today I startled awake, flat on my stomach with the button of my jeans digging into my skin. I groaned as the night came back to me in a rush of booze, teasing, and failed promises.
Dammit, I owed Alex fifty dollars. I’d had every intention of doing a laundry list of dirty things to do to him. Fucking him for hours, in particular. It wasn’t often I slid my dick into the tight clasp of his perfect ass, even though it was heaven. I just craved a good dicking myself most of the time, but last night, I wanted nothing more than to take him apart minute by minute before fucking him senseless. But I’d been too wasted to stay awake, as he’d predicted. Luckily for him, I was still in the mood to take him and was more than ready to pay what I owed him in all manner of filthy ways.
Maybe passing out before he returned home was for the best. This morning, my brain was marginally functioning again, whereas I’d been too drunk for life last night and would hate to forget one second spent in my favorite ass. The last thing I remember from the night was pointing out the guest room to an equally wasted Corvin before heading to my room and flopping down on my bed, fully clothed and face-first. Come to think of it—I ran my tongue over my teeth with a wince—yeah, I hadn’t even brushed my damn teeth. My mouth tasted like sewage.
Speaking of Corvin, I should probably send him on his way before I do unspeakable things to Alex, though hearing us fuck like jungle cats might finally help him get the message. My dick only got hard for one man.