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I release her wrist, pushing away from her. Putting distance between us, just like she asked. “I don’t understand what your problem is.”
“That’s the problem, Colton.” She laughs humorlessly, but it sounds forced. Broken even.“You will never understand me. Everything is entertainment to you, but you don’t realize the impact your words have. How they affect someone. You don’t stop and think because everything is a game to you!” Her voice rises with each word, anger and frustration bleeding through. And pain.
I see it in every visible line of her body.
I see it in her eyes; I feel it.
The chaos that resides in me shudders with her pain. Her frustration feeds the bitterness that lives in my bones. And her fury…it sinks into my flesh, mingling with the hatred that’s just underneath my skin.
I am the plague and Riley is not the cure.
We’re both withering from the venom that has tainted our souls.
“Do you know what you remind me of?” she hisses in my face, and the words are familiar. I remember now. They are the same words I spoke to her when she was in rehab. “A spoiled boy who probably always gets his way, thrives on his daddy’s reputation and money. You are a self-absorbed, shallow idiot, Colton Bennett.”
A spoiled boy…
Riley has no fucking idea what she’s talking about. She doesn’t know me. She doesn’t understand me. And she never fucking will. Because we are water and fire. We will never mix.
“So stay away from me,” Riley says, punctuating each word like a threat. “I made a mistake earlier, and I won’t let it happen again. Don’t ever touch me again, Bennett.”
I don’t know why I’m so pissed, but I am. Something in her words has me derailing, and I don’t think before taking a step in her direction.
Furious, I advance toward her until there’s only a hair’s breadth between our bodies. Her heaving chest brushes against mine. I tower over her smaller frame. When I speak, my voice is barely even recognizable to my own ears. “And you think I want to touch Jasper’s sloppy seconds? I don’t do leftovers, Riley. Consider the orgasm you got as charity.”
The moment the words are out of my mouth, I know they were the wrong thing to say. I’m instantly filled with remorse. But it’s too late.
Fuck!
Riley jerks back as if I just punched her. Her eyes widen, and she makes a choked sound in the back of her throat. It sounds like a wounded animal: broken and pained.
She takes two steps back, unsteady on her feet. The expression on her face, it’s something I’ve never seen before. It’s not anger or frustration.
It’s a shattering vulnerability.
My heart stammers in my chest at the sight of it. The fragile look in her eyes, and the way her body hunches over like she’s in physical pain.
Riley swallows thickly. “This is over, Colton. This g-game of y-yours. It’s over. It’s d-done. Don’t. Just d-don’t come near me again. For the sake of both our sanity, stay away.”
She spins on her heels and flees into the night.
My lungs squeeze and I can’t fucking breathe.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Grayson — 17 years old
I can’t say no to my aunt.
That’s the problem.
When Oaklynn came over this afternoon and told Aunt Naveah how she wanted to go to the haunted house, but only if I came along — my aunt gave me a probing look, and then said, “Be a gentleman and take the girl, Grayson. She’s asking so nicely.”
Which is why I’m here now, bored and annoyed.
Aunt Naveah is worried that I’m having trouble making friends. She doesn’t know that I don’t want to make friends. I don’t trust the people at Berkshire Academy. Their vain arrogance, bullying tactics and childish vanity are the biggest turn off.
Oaklynn is the only one I tolerate. Only because her family has a close relationship with the Hales. I have no choice but to tolerate her presence. So, I guess we’re ‘friends.’
