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I couldn’t shake it.
I’d fallen apart before. I’d been strong, then I’d fallen apart, and I couldn’t keep falling apart. Not here. Not in a new school. Not where my cousins went to school. I had family here. I wasn’t alone.
I closed my eyes a moment.
“I can’t believe you’re doing this to Max. You’re such a slut.”
“Waste of space.”
“I’d fuck her, but I ain’t going to trial for that piece.”
Male laughter.
Female laughter.
The whispers.
The snide comments.
The openly asshole comments.
Then the threats.
The names written on my locker.
The letters. The notes. The spit wads. The shoving. The tripping. The elbows in my body as I walked by, as they walked by, as I was just standing there. The tweets. The DMs. All the ways to get at me, they’d done it.
Max Prestige came from a long line of Prestiges who ran Cedra Valley. I’d learned the hard way how untouchable my boyfriend was.
I’d thought I’d left that behind, but here it came again.
Take two, motherfucker.
“The clothes will be a bit. You should sit.”
I jerked out of my thoughts, seeing Scout watching me. He’d put his phone away, but the coldness from before was fading. A darker, warmer look was coming over him as his eyes tracked my body. All the way down. All the way up. Going slow.
Finding my mouth.
Staying there.
The need from earlier washed over me again. I knew my body. Knew it was only reacting to him because he could give me what I was craving, those moments where I felt good, where I could escape the past.
Moments hidden.
But, God, what an asshole to be the one who could give that to me.
I clenched my teeth before moving to the far corner of the room. I sank down, keeping the towel around me and all the important bits covered.
“Thanks for helping me.”
He didn’t reply.
“I’m surprised you did,” I added.
He rolled his eyes. “Already told you, did it for Alex. Don’t make it a thing.” His eyes narrowed on me. “Though, full cards on the table. I don’t like you. You know I don’t like you.”
I laughed because, damn. “I don’t like you either.”
He grunted, a faint grin on his lips. “I’m aware. You wanted to tear me apart on the first day.”
That was true.
“But you’re hot,” he added, matter-of-factly. “I’m laying it out right here, right now. If the chance popped up, I’d pound you. I’d be down for that. Full on. I’d do it rough, and I’d do you in a way that’d have you screaming for release.”
I shook my head, my insides a full inferno.
I started to say something, a retort, but he stopped me. “Don’t. You want me too. I can tell. Could tell at the fight. All the fake shit that happens, I’m not fake. I like that we’re honest with each other. I don’t like you, but I want to fuck you. You know where I stand. I’m not trying to hit on you or be crude in any way. I just felt you should get some straight-up truth.”
I didn’t question him or claim otherwise. With his looks, where he was, where he was going, he wasn’t dumb. He knew when a girl was hot for him.
I remarked, “Nice knowing where we both stand.”
17
RAMSAY
My clothes were dry, and my hair was almost dry. I’d been given a proposition in the most matter-of-fact way I could’ve imagined.
I wanted to go home.
But we needed to call Gem’s cousin, and we also needed to get past Kira and her friends, who were sitting in the kitchen.
Scout had left when Gem gave me my clothes so I could dress.
I was dressed.
I still hadn’t left the room.
I didn’t know why.
There was a sudden knock, the door opened, and Scout’s head pushed in. He frowned at me. “What are you doing?”
Suddenly, I was exasperated and threw my hands in the air. “I have no idea! No clue. Not one fucking clue, Scout.” I said his name.
He got a weird look on his face.
I’d never said his name before.
I turned, starting to pace, and when I looked back, Scout had come into the room. The door was shut. His back was leaning against it, and he tilted his head to the side, a hand going into his pocket. Scout was the image of badass, cool, and hot all rolled into one.
I was suddenly sick of that too.
“You’re annoying.”
His head moved back, his eyebrows rising. “What?”
“Annoying. You say all this shit when I’m wearing nothing but a towel, and you do it here, in a house where I’m not friends with this girl. I don’t know if I even want to be friends with this girl, but here you are. Why did you come tonight? Kira said you never come to these things.”
“Cohen wanted to fuck her. He doesn’t now.” He shrugged. “We won’t be coming again.”
