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Ignoring them becomes impossible. “Get lost, Trent,” I bite out. “Or I’ll show you exactly how high I can kick.”
When he doesn’t move, calling my bluff, I raise my brows to drive home my threat. Holding up his hands, he backs up a step.
Nina surveys me with a narrowed gaze, tipping her chin up. She seems to have found some begrudging respect for me standing up to Trent’s shit.
“There’s no way you’re good enough for the squad,” Nina drawls. “Pick another pathetic way to get Devlin’s attention.”
I roll my eyes. “I have no plans to become a cheerleader.”
Scrunching her face in annoyance, Nina flips her hair over her shoulder and struts down the hall with her big rack stuck out.
I snatch the Silver Lake High cheer uniform from my locker before anyone else sees it, balling the material up in front of me. A crisp note on thick, fancy paper sticks out of the neckline. Hunching over the bundle, I read the message.
Change into this for the rest of the day for $1000 plus a $2500 bonus to cheer from the sidelines of today’s soccer practice. Give me a big kiss on the field when we’re done, and really sell it, or you earn nothing.
My heart stumbles over a beat and I suck in a breath so fast my throat burns. Is he insane? Yes, I remind myself. He’s an unhinged psychopath. My pain is his pleasure.
Somehow this is way worse than dumping water on myself or being known to the school as his trained dog. This is an actual nightmare. I can’t blend in wearing this. It paints a target on my back, turning me into a big green beacon of false school spirit that will draw the attention of every single gnat in this school.
Bending to his cruel pranks was awful, but this is an all new low. This is the last thing I would ever do. Probably the precise reason he picked it.
I roll my lips between my teeth, blinking in time with my rapidly beating pulse. The blood rushes in my ears, muffling the sound in the hall. All I hear is the steady throb, throb, throb in my eardrums.
These tasks are escalating. Devlin is offering more money, but the things he demands are becoming increasingly difficult to complete.
I’m selling everything to Devlin, even my soul.
I work through his possible motive like a puzzle to solve. What will he gain from making me put myself on display? Why does he want me to kiss him?
It has to be another one of his ruthless mind games.
My pride screams at me. Is this worth it?
I close my eyes and draw in a fortifying breath. It has to be. For Mom.
With my hands shaking from how much I want to punch him, I shut my locker and go to put on the cheerleading uniform.
Eighteen
Blair
The worst part about spending an entire day in a skimpy cheer skirt and sleeveless vest that exposes a strip of my stomach isn’t that I wouldn’t be caught dead in it otherwise. It’s the way it changes how everyone looks at me. There’s nowhere to hide from it, either.
None of my teachers care that I’m breaking dress code, not for the sake of school spirit. Mr. Coleman even squeezed my shoulder and told me he was glad to see me getting involved.
Girls are annoyed, and I don’t think it’s simply because the uniform doesn’t look bad on me—I checked for a whole fifteen minutes in the bathroom this morning before I worked up the courage to brave homeroom. I’m guessing it has to do with the way every guy in school can’t take their eyes off me. Including Devlin.
His dark gaze is an inescapable curse against my skin.
The leers of the guys follow me all day.
Lunch was excruciating, sitting at my table by the window in plain view of Devlin’s smug expression as he ruled over his court at the center table.
My skin felt too tight, suffocating me as I smothered the urge to squirm under his gaze. He drank in the sight of me in a way that made my heart pound.
The day only went downhill from there. Someone taped a sign to my locker that said Give me a D! I! C! K! with a crudely drawn penis next to a sad stick figure cheerleader. In my history class, the girl that sits behind me was watching some stupid TikTok video that turned out to feature me being rated fuckable now that I stopped being “all goth and shit” by some sleazy underclassmen twerps.
It’s a nightmare, but I’ll weather anything for the amount of money Devlin promised.
