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“In case you’re wondering, things are perfect without you.” She tried to force a smug grin, but I could tell she was nervous. Her eyes were wide and desperate.
“I wasn’t, but thanks for the update,” I said indifferently. “You can have both of them and this ugly-ass mansion. Life here is boring. I’m having fun at school.”
Lies, lies, and more lies. Andrew Dexter Academy was strict and full of bullies and abusive staff, but I wasn’t going to give her the pleasure of telling her that.
“You know.” She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “I think about that night every day. How come you didn’t try to tell your dad the truth? You just ... dropped it.”
I did try. He didn’t listen.
I dog-eared a page in my book and put it aside. “Whatever for? I got what I wanted. Not seeing your ugly face every day.”
“Did you really mean what you said? About not caring for me anymore?” Her facade dropped, and with it, her taunting smile.
“With every fiber of my body.”
“Well, for your information, I hate you too!”
“Is this the useless-fun-fact awards?” I looked around us in wonder before reaching for my book with a yawn. “Why the hell do you think I care?”
The next part happened very fast. Gracelynn let out a growl and crouched down, trying to push me down the shingles. I stumbled, still a step away, before managing to grab the vent pipe. I was still a few feet away from the edge. Gracelynn groaned in frustration, using her legs to kick me down. She wanted to kill me. Straight-up break my neck. The girl was a psycho.
“Fall! Oh, die already!” She kicked her legs desperately, trying to reach my body. I curled one hand around the vent pipe and grabbed one of her feet with the other, then tugged her down to me. She gasped, turning flat on her stomach, trying to claw her way back up like a wet cat in a tub.
I didn’t let go of her ankle, but I did climb up the ledge with her. When we got to the ridge, I flipped her flat on her back and straddled her waist. I couldn’t take any chances that she’d try to kill me again.
She raised her fists in the air, attempting to catch my nose, my cheek, my neck. I grabbed both her wrists and slammed them down on either side of her head. She moaned in pain. It took everything in me not to hit her.
“What’s your problem? Huh?” I screamed.
She panted underneath me. Her chest rising and falling. She wasn’t wearing a bra. I swallowed, feeling weird and tingly and not half as furious as I should be. And it sucked, because even though I hated her, I didn’t hate her body.
“Kiss me.” She licked her lips, her dark gaze dropping to my mouth.
“What?”I asked, confused.
She tried to wiggle free, laughing. “Kiss me, you dumbass. I want you to be my first.”
She hadn’t been kissed before? She was almost my age. I was still a virgin, but I’d kissed plenty, made out, and even finger-banged two girls at a ski tournament last winter.
Plus, and more importantly—why me?
“You hate me,” I spit out.
“‘Hate and love are the same mistresses under a different mask.’ I once heard this phrase somewhere, and it made me think of you.” She smiled up at me, batting her lashes. And that’s when I realized what was happening. She liked the struggle. The fight. The games. She saw Doug and Miranda’s relationship and wanted to reenact it. What I saw as abuse, she viewed as passion.
My hand slid from her wrist to her neck. I put a little pressure on it. Not so much as to hurt her but enough to tell her I wasn’t messing around. I lowered my face to hers. Her eyelids fluttered; her breath hitched. Her stupid body caved in, muscles going slack, as she readied herself for a kiss. I leaned forward. My lips were a hair away from hers when I stopped moving, letting that last inch between us feel like an entire mile.
“You foolish, foolish girl. If you ever try to kill me again ...” My grip on her neck tightened. “I’m going to break your pretty little neck, even if I’ll get locked up for it. Next time, you won’t be crying wolf—you’ll be eaten by it. Bones and all.”
Before I could straighten my spine and get the fuck out of there, she leaped forward, and her lips touched mine. She stole a kiss. It was sloppy and full of tongue and metal. It tasted like venom. Like alcoholic mouthwash and a girl I had no business wanting, but I wanted all the same.
“You taste like poison,” I whispered into her mouth.
She grinned, biting my lower lip real hard, until the metallic taste of blood exploded in both our mouths. “Maybe that’s how I’ll end up killing you.” She licked the blood off my mouth. “With kindness.”
CHAPTER SIX
ARSÈNE
