*Exclusive sneak peek of my novel SHAMELESS.*
Every student at Shame U has their secrets, and Henley Brooks is no exception. Struggling to pay for college and maintain her perfect reputation has become overwhelming. When her friend Gigi Oxford offe...
"Wait! Please, hold the door," I screeched while running down the hall as the elevator doors began to close. The guy inside reached out his arm, covered in swirls of dark ink, and stuck his hand between the closing doors causing them to spring back open.
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"Since you said please," he replied with an eyebrow cocked, and I was taken aback by his slight accent that I couldn't quite place, but it didn't seem to match his rugged exterior.
"Thanks," I muttered, out of breath, craning my neck to smile up at him in appreciation. "I should have yelled Hodor, right? I mean... that would have..." I shook my head, losing faith in my own joke halfway through my sentence. My voice was barely audible as I continued to ramble. "That was a Game of... nevermind. It was stupid. You probably have no idea what I'm talking about, and now I'm talking to myself. Awesome." The doors began to close, and I was forced to stand beside the stranger and wallow in my humiliation.
The corners of his lips turned up slightly in a grin, but he didn't respond, and my gaze fell. The inked designs that covered the flesh of his arms disappeared under the short sleeve of his basic white t-shirt and reappeared out of the collar, running under the edge of his angular jaw. My eyes continued traveling upward past the small silver orb piercing the side of his nose to the crystal blue of his eyes, which were in sharp contrast of his thick brows that were the same color as his chestnut hair. It was shaved close on the sides with the hint of more ink underneath, but the top was a few inches long, parted on the side and combed back at an angle. I couldn't look away, not only because he was incredibly hot, but because he looked like trouble. Had I had time to think before diving into this small space with him, I would have probably waited for the next one and conceded to being late.
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The muffled sound of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto filled the awkward silence as if he'd come with his own mismatched theme music, and it took me a second to realize the sound was coming from my messenger bag.
"Sorry," I muttered, not entirely sure what I was apologizing for as I pulled it out and clicked to answer the call.
"Did you hear?" Gigi asked, not bothering with a greeting.
"What?" I asked glancing up at the stranger, gripping the strap of my bag tighter.
"Some guy got in a fight and beat the hell out of like three people up on Lani's floor. Everyone is talking about it. Did you remember to grab your pepper spray?"
