Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“You’re so fucking smart, Sev,” he says. “You didn’t tell me this thing was powered by air. That’s cool.”
“I’m a nerd, deep down,” I tell him.
“A hot nerd. A hot, tough-guy nerd with a delinquent past.”
I puff out a laugh. “You make me feel like a rock star.”
“You basically are.”
Mom and Niko come find us at the front of the auditorium soon after, and I exchange hugs with them, too.
I’m surprised to see a man I don’t recognize walk up behind Mom a moment later, and she turns to bring him into a little circle with us.
“Sev, this is Shawn,” Mom says. “We’ve been seeing each other at the ceramics class I’m taking, and I invited him along tonight.”
Shawn shakes my hand. He’s a tall guy with brown, slightly greying hair and a kind smile. “These projects were amazing to see. I minored in mechanical engineering, but we never made anything this cool back then.”
Mom’s cutting me a look and I can tell she’s waiting for me to take her aside.
I used to cast judgment when she started dating a new guy too soon, but the only thing I feel for her right now is sympathy.
She hates being alone. And even if I didn’t understand that for the longest time, I’m not the one who should deny her a chance at something good.
When Shawn breaks off into a quick conversation with Niko, I take Mom aside.
“Shawn seems really nice,” I tell her.
“You like him?” she asks, with a sweet smile. “Things are still new, and I’m not jumping into anything fast. But he’s a lot different than any guy I’ve dated before.”
“He seems like it.”
There’s no certainty that it’ll work out, but I’m able to be genuinely happy for her.
Strange.
As the judges ring their little bells to call everyone back to their seats, Weston gives me a little pinch on my hip.
“Hey,” he whispers in my ear, “if you win, you get to fuck me tonight in your car.”
“And what if I don’t win?”
“Then you have to fuck me in your bed, instead.”
I bite my lower lip. “Maybe I’ll just forget this whole competition and just pull you into some supply closet right this moment. Tie you up. Fuck you raw—”
“Sevan,” the announcer calls to me from the stage.
Wes blows me a kiss, and I head back up.
When I end up getting the second-place prize and first place goes to the girl with the robotic arm, I’m not surprised.
She deserved it fully, and it’s clear that she spent a boatload of time on her project.
Taking second place in stride feels different for me, though, after a lifetime of competitive edge filling my veins at every moment.
How am I still so fucking happy?
Even now?
The answer is right out there in the crowd, though.
I look out and see Weston’s face and I just don’t care about being first place in a competition. I have him.
And he actually wants to be mine.
After accepting my silver trophy I start to head back down into the crowd, but get pulled aside for a moment by one of the professors. She’s going on and on about how impressive my project was and that it was a very close decision for who got first place, but I can’t stop looking at Wes out in the crowd.
Roman’s talking to him.
And Wes is frowning.
Roman has a serious look on his face as he says something to Weston, and both of them can’t look away.
The fuck is going on?
Anxiety trickles through my veins.
They don’t still have Onyx House secrets that Wes wouldn’t tell me, right?
And if so, what the hell would they be?
25
Weston
“It can’t be him,” I tell Roman for the second time in a row, because I’m certain that what I’m seeing can’t be the truth.
“Cal Thorne. Previous employee of your father. Same guy that was showing his face at the alumni dinner,” Roman says.
He holds up a photo on his phone. It’s a past mugshot that’s clearly Cal. It’s attached to a report from early this evening, just a few hours ago.
Suspect Dead After 1-Hour Car Chase; Half-Kilogram of Laced Cocaine Found in Wreckage.
“It’s him,” I say, breathless for a moment as I lean on the edge of an auditorium seat. I give Roman a hard glare, something feeling unsettling inside. “Tell me you didn’t have anything to do with this.”
“I did not,” Roman says.
“And your family didn’t have anything to do with this? From the cocaine, to the car, to the crash?”
“Weston, the man got his hands on quick cash. Your quick cash. Then he went to a party in a rented sports car. I had nothing to do with this.”
I glance over at Sev.
He’s looking right at me.
A professor is talking to him, but I see a grim look on his face as he watches me.
I turn to Roman again. “You don’t think Sev could have anything to do with it, right?”