“For you to be number one.” He storms over to me. “I willnotallow you to embarrass me and embarrass our family by fucking this up! Youwillbe valedictorian. Do you understand?”
I don’t answer. I just stare back at him, knowing if I open my mouth, I’ll tell him to go to hell.
“Get dressed.” He walks to the door. “We’re going to the office.”
“I have to study. I can’t go.”
“Then you will not be going out with your friends tonight.” He storms back to me, grabbing my chin and yanking my face up to his. “Let me make this very clear — I’m the one in charge here. I have the power. You don’t. You do as I say or there will be hell to pay. I’ve gone easy on you, son, but it ends now. You’re not a child anymore, but if you choose to act like one, you’ll pay the price.”
I lock eyes with him. “Meaning you’ll beat the shit out of me?”
“If that’s what it takes to get your attention.” He smiles slightly and puts his hand on my shoulder. “But I’d hate for it to come to that. I don’t want to hurt you, son, but I have a responsibility to our family and to the company that holds our family name. It’s my job to protect it any cost.” He pats myshoulder. “We all must make sacrifices.” He walks to the door. “We’ll leave in a half hour.”
The rest of my day is spent at the office. I’m forced to sit beside my dad and listen to him drone on about stocks and bonds and investor returns and other shit I couldn’t care less about. I could’ve refused to do this, and almost did, but his little speech in my room this morning changed my mind. I have no doubt he’d beat the shit out of me if I pushed him too far, and although I could take it, and might even fight back, it would put my plan at risk. At any time, my father could take away his offer to give me the car, and I need that car to pay for my future.
I only have a few months left. I can do this. I can handle my father. I can put up with his shit and even take a few punches if that’s what it takes to get to my goal.
The only wild card that could ruin my plan is Ella. She needs to stop fighting me and give me the fucking valedictorian title. It’s one simple thing, something that won’t even matter years from now, or the day after graduation. Nobody cares about that shit. It’s meaningless. But it’s everything to me. It’s my future.
The gloves are off, Ella. No more holding back. No more waiting. You’re going to do what I say. Whether you like it or not, here I come.
Chapter 11
Ella
“I don’t know what I was thinking,” Charlotte says, before taking a sip of her latte. “Why would I even think Briggs Chadwick was asking me out?”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” I say. “When Briggs turns on the charm, it’s hard not to fall for it.”
Actually, it’s not, at least not for me, but Charlotte is easily swayed by a guy’s attention. If he smiles at her or even looks her way, she gets all dreamy-eyed and thinks she’s in love. Well, maybe not in love, but she starts falling for the guy before she’s even gone out with him. I’m the total opposite. No amount of smiling or flirting will win me over unless I trust the guy. And in order to trust the guy, I have to know him really well, which never happens because guys aren’t big on opening up. It explains why I don’t date much and why I’ve never had a boyfriend.
The few dates I’ve been on haven’t been with guys at my school. They were guys my dad hired to help with landscaping projects. I never told my dad I dated them. He’s too protective of me and probably would’ve fired them for asking me out.
One of the guys was Brandon, a really hot college guy. We worked together last summer and went out a few times. By the third date, he wanted sex. Maybe college girls are okay with that, but for me, it was way too soon. I’m still a virgin, which I didn’t tell him, but I’m guessing he figured it out.
Before Brandon, I went out with two other guys — Leo and Jax. Leo was a nature lover. He loved being around trees, and loved planting them even more, which is what he did for my dad. He planted a hundred trees around a new office building. After the job was over, we went out and dated for a month. I liked him, but he was too timid. He wouldn’t even kiss me. I had to kisshim, and even after our first kiss, he still wouldn’t make a move. He was more comfortable with trees than with girls.
As for Jax, he was a gym rat who did landscaping jobs because it was a way to work out and get paid. His body was amazing, which is the only reason I dated him. I didn’t care that we didn’t have anything in common other than our attraction for each other. I didn’t need him to be my boyfriend. I just wanted to make out with him, which I did. I’d even decided to lose my virginity to him, but then changed my mind. It just didn’t feel right. I told him that and never saw him again.
I also went out with this guy, Ian, but we only went out once, so it doesn’t really count. I met him at the gas station. He works there, and one day he asked me out. I hadn’t been on a date for a while, so I told him yes. We went to a park to take a walk, and he kept putting his hands all over me. When I told him to stop, he wouldn’t listen, so I got in my truck and left.
That’s the history of my love life. It isn’t great, but it’s not bad considering I haven’t put much effort into dating.
“I should’ve known he wasn’t actually interested in me,” Charlotte says, pulling her hair up in a messy bun.
Why she thought Briggs, a guy who, up until last week, either ignored her or made fun of her, would suddenly want to date her, is a mystery to me. It took some convincing, but I finally made Charlotte realize Briggs’ invite was just a ploy to lure her to the party to do whatever it was he planned to do.
“I guess I just got caught up in the idea that a guy like him would ask me out.” She shrugs and shoves up her glasses.
“Why would you want an asshole to ask you out?” I pick up my tea and take a sip. I don’t drink coffee, but Charlotte’s addicted to vanilla lattes, so I agreed to meet her at a coffee shop. It’s rare we meet like this, but her cello lesson was canceled, so I suggested we get together, knowing it would give me another chance to convince her that Briggs can’t be trusted. I can’tbelieve she seriously thought he was asking her out. She’s far too trusting.
“He’s not always an asshole,” she says. “Remember when he helped those kids with their fundraiser?”
“That was a thing the rugby team did. Briggs only helped because he was forced to.”
Charlotte sighs. “Yeah, I guess.”
I set my tea down. “I know you want to see the best in people but some people, like Briggs, are just plain evil. You can’t trust them, no matter what they say or do.”
