sheets?\u201d 2\u00a0<\/p>\n
I choked on my spit. My lungs forgot how to breathe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Behind me, Matthew exploded.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the hell do you think you are?!\u201d he barked, face red with disbelief. \u201cHow dare you say that to my girlfriend?!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The man barely turned his head. His voice was cold \u201cKeep your mouth shut, boy. Kids don\u2019t speak, when adults are talking\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stared at him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So did everyone else.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d never seen anyone talk to Matthew like that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
People feared him, not for who he was, but for who his adoptive father was. He was rich, powerful, and ruthless. The kind of man who could destroy reputations with a phone call. People tiptoed around Matthew because of that legacy. But not this man.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This man looked at him like he was nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His gaze returned to me. He tilted his head. \u201cSo, what do you say?\u201d His smirk deepened. \u201cWill you let me ruin you tonight?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Heat bloomed in my stomach. I felt it crawl up my neck.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHow dare you!\u201d Matthew shouted again. \u201cSecurity! Escort this lunatic out of here!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The guards didn\u2019t move.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Matthew turned, red-faced. \u201cAre you all deaf?! I said get him out of here, now! If you don\u2019t want to get fired!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
They still didn\u2019t move. Nora spoke up. \u201cMatthew\u2026.do you think Violet knows him?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He turned to me. \u201cWho the hell is this? Violet, do you know him?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I looked at him. He was still holding her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The woman who had nearly killed me. The woman he believed over me. The woman who got his coat, and everything he couldn\u2019t offer to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why was I still trying? Why was I clinging to something that was never really mine?\u00a0<\/p>\n
I looked at the stranger.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He hadn\u2019t moved, but he was watching me closely like he already knew the answer, but wanted me to say it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
3\/4\u00a0<\/p>\n
I took a shaky breath, and tugged lightly at the hem of his pants.\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
His head lowered, curious. When he bent down, in one motion, I reached up and cupped both sides of his face and kissed him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He paused, and a low chuckle vibrated through him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll take that as your answer, princess.\u201d he murmured against my lips, and then he kissed me properly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
P\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nights Burn With Regret \u2014 by Nathan Perez 2 sheets?\u201d 2\u00a0 I choked on my spit. My lungs forgot how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-craving-the-guardian-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27918\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}