Between the Lines | ✓

Prologue: Chapter Ends, Story Begins

Lying on the couch, I let out a grunt and rolled my neck, before settling back into my hunched position. Stuffing a chip into my mouth, I continued reading.

Aubrey felt her heart thump and her mouth grow wet as Xander slammed his hand against the wall by her head. 'Oh my God, what is happening? Why is this happening to me? Why is the Xander Hart so close. Oh God, he's so close, his body is so hot... Are those eight pack abs?' . Xander seemed to sense the way Aubrey's small, supple body tensed and licked his lips. 

"Nervous, baby?" Xander growled huskily, Aubrey shivering at the deep sound. 

"N-No," Aubrey breathed out, Xander's smirk growing as he pressed closer, the shy, nerdy girl shrinking away as if she wanted to disappear into the wall. She was really just between two walls though, because Xander Hart's washboard abs were rock hard, stronger than bricks and Aubrey just wanted to run her hands and her tongue all over th-

'What the hell am I thinking?!' Aubrey thought to herself, cheeks turning scarlet. 

"You're turning red," Xander chuckled, leaning in, lips by Aubrey's ear. "Let's see how far that redness spreads, hm?"

I let out a shrill laugh, almost choking on my own spit and some saliva-soggy chips, wheezing. 

"Oh my God, I can't, I can't!" I howled, tears growing in my eyes as I read over the passage again and again. "'She was really  just between two walls, his abs were rock hard, stronger than bricks' dear Lord, help me! This is too much!" My stomach seized and I rolled, banging my head on the screen of my tablet. 

"Are you reading 'Say No to Bad Boys' again, Lex? Really?" my twin sister asked, voice amused. Soon, her form bounced into the room, and quickly enough a leg was kicking at mine to get me to move over, my sister hovering next to me to peer at the iPad in my hands, flicking her long brown hair over her shoulder to move it out of her eyes.

"Yes, it never gets old! I mean, Amber, 'Let's see how far that redness spreads' is just, wow," I cackled, my sister snorting as she flicked up the chapter, skimming through it. 

"Yes, nothing is as 'wow' as sexual assault. Mm, mm, mm, absolutely delectable. Sexual assault gets me all hot and bothered too," Amber said, making me burst out laughing again. 

"This bit isn't even the worst part of the book, remember? You can't forget the pool scene, Ambs. Aubrey can't swim, so Xander literally corners her in the middle of a fucking pool so she has to hang off his abs that were, what was it again, oh yes, 'rock hard, stronger than bricks'. And then he goes and grabs at her ass like she's not terrified of drowning and of him, and because of his abs she's just like, 'my loins itch, I've never felt like this before'," I ranted, Amber nodding emphatically, rolling her brown eyes that were the same shade as mine. 

"Yeah, honey, it's good that you've never felt like this before because that means you haven't been sexually assaulted by an egotistical asshole," Amber quipped, stuffing some chips into her mouth. "Dude, that book is honestly trash. How many times have you read it now?"

"No fucking clue," I said, grinning. "You know that half the fun in reading it is just making fun of how shit it is, right? Like, Aubrey is a fucking oblivious idiot, and Xander is an aggressive, abusive asshole who should honestly be put in jail. Not to mention, all of those side characters whose character traits are literally 'big boobs that are only there to cause tension between the protagonist and the main lead by flooding ten chapters with poorly written jealousy and sexual tension'? Do you remember them? Yeah, me neither, and I've read this book a billion times."