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“About this school. About our place in it.” He stepped farther into the room, hands shoved into his pockets. It only served to make his pants fall farther down.
Damn. That golden skin…
Down girl, I chastised myself. I blamed it on my vagina. The vagina was always the answer.
“Don’t you have a class to be at?” I asked, moving to my feet. “Or a breakfast to be eating? Or a girl to be fucking? Anything besides bothering me?”
He chuckled.
“It’s Sunday, my little gymnast. No classes on Sunday.”
I squinted at him, sure he was fucking with me.
“I’m not stupid. Yesterday was Sunday. Today is Monday.”
The smile on his face, the smile I was beginning to believe was his signature facial expression, grew ever so slightly.
“That brings us to the problem I would like to discuss.” He spoke so diplomatically, so sincerely, that my damn heart wanted to believe him. But he was rotten, through and through, and I knew I couldn’t believe one word that came out of his stupid mouth. He wanted to confuse me, wanted to destroy me, wanted to belittle me until I was nothing but a pile of bones and skin.
He could try all he wanted, but he would never break me.
Confuse me, yes, but not break.
And this? This confused the shit out of me.
“Look, I don’t have time for these fucking games—”
“No games.” He sat directly across from me on the blue mat, watching me as I lifted my leg behind my back. His movements were indolent, relaxed, as he perched himself onto his elbows. “You’re right. Technically, it should be Monday, but the rules are different here.”
“And how’s that?” I asked, humoring him.
“The rest of the students believe that it’s always the weekend. Always Saturday and Sunday. It may be a boarding school, but you’ll never have to go to class.”
I snorted. Actually snorted. Sometimes, I wondered if he could hear himself. I wondered if he understood the nonsense he was spewing. The idiocy.
“Okay, big man.”
Rolling my eyes, I scrambled to my feet and grabbed my newly charged phone out of my pocket and scanned my music playlist. I needed something upbeat for my workout. Something I could dance to. I needed to practice and perfect my layout full. Competition season may have been on hold until I was able to leave that stupid ass school, but I would be damned if I didn’t train daily. Gymnastics was the only thing I had besides Beau.
I didn’t have a family that loved me unconditionally or a boyfriend or anything like that. Their love, the love my family gave me, was conditional. It relied heavily on expectations I couldn’t meet and conditions that I would never grant. Gymnastics was my one escape, my way out of this horrible world I had found myself trapped in, if only for a moment.
“You don’t believe me?” Tanner asked, oblivious to my thoughts. He moved to his feet as well.
I rolled my eyes.
“I don’t know what I believe, but it sure as hell isn’t you. I mean, you did confess to drugging me.”
I couldn’t hide the anger in my voice. The bitterness.
“We did,” Tanner said softly. “Drug you, that is.”
His confession brought about a surge of anger, white-hot. Before I could stop myself, I lunged the short distance to him, punching him firmly in the face. He let out a startled cry, hand gripping his cheek.
My knuckles ached, no doubt bruising, but I had never felt so fucking satisfied before. The asshole deserved that…and a lot more.
Tanner lifted his head, eyes widening in shock.
“Did you just…?” He shook his head, dazed. “Did you just punch me?”
