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"I don't expect you to spread your legs for me in exchange,” he spells out, rolling his eyes, like the thought shouldn’t even cross my mind.
"Good. I won't. Not for a kingdom."
“Happy to know that’s not what it takes to gain your attention, pretty princess.” He winks. “I’m fresh out of kingdoms.” He nudges the box toward me, silently prompting me to take it.
Well, hedidthrow my phone away.I slide the top of the box up, and glance at the shiny brand-new device inside.
The phone is gorgeous. I’ve never had a brand-new phone, not once. I bought my last one from Lola, and the one before that had been a hand-me-down from my mother—one of her rare presents. I know she only gave it to me because she bought herself a new one.
Camden can’t have known my favorite color. I don’t wear it often—it’s too ostentatious, and I didn’t want to get noticed in Thorn Falls—so his spies wouldn’t have reported it back to him. Yet, it’s bright red. I fucking love it, and hate myself a little for it, but I do, and refusing it becomes impossible because it’s simply perfect.
“I’m not thanking you.”
“No one said you had to.”
Our gazes lock, and it feels like a fight, a silent game of push and pull. I can’t look away first.
At long last, Camden tilts his chin at the phone, still in its box. “I went for a smaller version than mine. Easier to transport. I hear you ladies going on about pocket sizes or something."
I breathe out, relieved he let me go from the childish staring contest I wasn’t about to lose.
“Looks great, go away now." I'm not about to chat with him pleasantly. Especially not during my limited break, when I’d much rather be rubbing my feet and enjoying some peace.
"Surely you don't expect me to beeasilymanaged, princess?"
I didn’t, but I live in hope. “What do you want now?”
“Right now? A taste of tits, if you must know.” His gaze dips to the front of my top. “Your bra’s distracting. Black under a cheap white top? I kept seeing peeks of it during your shift. The fabric of everything you’re wearing is too thin. I can see your nipples through the layers.” His molten gold eyes twinkle.
My mouth gapes at his…hisaudacity.
I glance down at myself. Sure, my shirt is light, and I am wearing a thinner bra underneath, because it’s hot as fuck outside, and boob sweat sucks. I certainly didn’t choose my wardrobe to be gawked at byhim. “You fucking—”
“As it's not on the menu,” he continues, nonchalant as ever, “conversation will do. Explain why you're wasting your time here, with the tedious boy and the community college?”
He makes a face.
I don't ask how he knows everything I'm doing; he kept his PI busy again. “I’m not wasting my time. And there's nothing wrong with Trent."I shouldn’t justify myself, but he has me feeling defensive.
“Nothingrightwith him either.” Camden chuckles. “How about schools? You must have applied to a few."
I blow a frustrated breath. I have accepted that he’s not going to strip me naked and force me into depravity here, so my fear has given way to annoyance. "Is there a point to this interrogation?”
"I'm sad to see a mind as bright as yours settling for mediocrity."
I choose to believe he's criticizing my school rather than my boyfriend."Mediocrity is what I can afford,” I quip. “I know on the cloud you live in, you can snap your fingers andmaterializemoney, but I can't throw tens of thousands at a fancy college.” Even community college would have been impossible without grants. “Now will you go?"
"No.” His reply is simple, unadorned, and so arrogant. “Tell me about the boy. You can’t be into him."
"You don't even know him.” After a second, I correct myself. “You don’t knowmeor what I’m into, either. And he's not aboy. Trent is older than either of us."
Camden and I both finished high school last May. I don't know his exact age, but it must range between eighteen and nineteen.Trent’s twenty-one.
"We've met,” Camden says cryptically. “He's definitely a boy."
I lower the phone to my lap and glare at Camden."You'vemet?"
Oh, no. What has he done?
