Series: Lords of Rathe Series by Meagan Brandy
Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 93354 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93354 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
I could cry. If I cried, Ben would drag Trevor out by his balls, but that would be a whole thing, so I simply sharpen my glare for good measure and sit back.
And so it begins. Trevor putting his hand on my thigh, me shoving it off, rinse and repeat. I hate myself for dating him for so long and vow to never allow myself to be around him alone again.
I met him at the very beginning of summer, literally four days after I moved here, and I’ve been annoyed by him nearly just as long.
Letty pulls the car up to the entrance to our dorm, which sits on the edge of campus.
“Will you be okay?” I ask Letty, after sliding out of the back seat.
She looks up at me from behind her slightly rolled-down window. “I’ll be fine. I’ll drop him off now and text you guys when I’m home.”
Ben doesn’t move from the passenger seat. “Nah, I’ll go with her and bring some food back.”
I smile at my best friend. He makes it hard hating him when he does cute things like making sure one of our exes doesn’t murder us. “I’ll be asleep.” Making my way to our front door, I throw up deuces. “Night!”
Tossing my house keys into the small fruit bowl near the entrance, I kick off my shoes and bypass the kitchen, heading straight for the stairs and to my bedroom. Ben and I decided to room together the second we knew coed dorms existed. There are not many people I allow into my space, but Ben kind of forced his way into it and told me to go fuck myself. I love him for that.
I kick my bedroom door closed, skipping the shower or even changing, and belly flop onto the bed. I need sleep. I need something to get his face out of my head.
The sky is the villain to every story I’ve ever read. The wind is cold as it whisks over my skin and uncontrollable shivers break out over me.
Where the fuck am I?
I stare down at my feet, seeing them soiled with mud and dirt. I bring my hands up to my face to see grime stuck between the cracks of my nails. Panic grips me around my throat and I stumble backward, falling with a thud on my ass as gravel bites into the soft flesh of my palms.
I wince. Seriously, where the fuck am I? That’s when I feel it.
The heat rises within the coolness of the wind and fire erupts through the sky, burning the stars to a crisp. Fog starts to blanket my legs and I quickly push myself back to my feet, when a large figure materializes in front of me. A bridge with massive metal carvings and a pathway made of gold. The fog thickens and the sky rumbles like a warning, just enough to feel the bite of its rage down my spine.
I take another step, desperate to see the bridge. How could something so light and crisp exist among such darkness and gloom? I want to reach out and touch it. Stabbing pain shoots through the soles of my feet as whatever it is that covers the ground crunches. I don’t care. I want the bridge. I need the bridge. Happiness fills my insides as I get closer, but I fall to the ground with my hands out. So close. So close.
My palm slaps the cool gold and my brain erupts with a horrifying scream so intense my ears bleed.
Make it stop.
Make it stop.
Pain rips through me as I fly backward, a hooded figure lifting me from the ground and tossing me to the side. I scream again, this time it tears my vocal cords apart as I fall…and fall…
Five
London
I’ve been drunk a lot in my days. And when I say a lot, I mean a—loooottt. So much so that Ben has had to shower me, tits in his face, legs in the air, and then stay up all night to make sure I didn’t die. Around that time was when I realized that he probably was a great friend and I had nothing to worry about. I’ve known him all of my life, and people try to say he has a crush on me, including Trevor, and even though I know deep in my bones he doesn’t, those nights really drove it home for me that this man, after having my bits in places where they shouldn’t be with your best friend, will not ever like me that way.
Sometimes I wonder if he wishes I was more modest, but since he has seen me naked, I find wearing clothes when I don’t have to as an unnecessary evil. I just can’t get behind it, especially when I know he’ll love me either way.