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“Who’s the spy, Dad?”
Once again, deafening silence.
My already cramped bedroom was starting to cave in on me. Just when I thought my parents couldn’t have been more controlling, they were okay with Jason monitoring my every movement. Hell, I wouldn’t have put it past my parents to push Jason to do it.
“Your father’s right, dear. That campus is crawling with perverts. Men like that only have one goal, and that’s to get into your pants, like that guy you cheated on Jason with!”
“For the last damn time, I did not cheat on Jason,” I screamed through the phone. “And Blade Eggleston isn’t that bad of a guy.”
“Oh please,” my mother spat out. “He’s a fucking man-whore, Isabella. What do they call him, honey?”
“The Bedroom King,” my father replied firmly.
“Blade stayed in my bedroom that night to save me from an actual pervert. If anything, you should be thanking him!”
Crystal clinked against a glass, which was probably my mother loading up on more whiskey. She wasn’t used to my forthcoming honesty and hostility. I had been trained to take their shit for far too long, never speaking out of line for fear of retribution.
“Maybe you wouldn’t have had that problem if you hadn’t been drinking,” she slurred.
“Yeah, like you’re one to fucking talk. Keep drinking, Mom.”
My father lost his temper, slamming his fist so hard on the desk that I jumped. “Don’t you dare talk to your mother like that, Isabella. Come to your senses. You will marry Jason and that’s final. I don’t care how long it takes, you’re going to make things right with him.”
I shook my head in disgust. “Why is it so important that I marry into that family?”
My father answered me by hanging up the phone, and my bedroom went right back to an eerie silence. He loved keeping me in the dark about everything, from all the ways he made money to his true intentions. I didn’t even know what he did back when he was in the military, either. For all I knew, his military career and the stories he told had all been a lie.
Come to think of it, my mother probably didn’t know herself. All she cared about was money, and lots of it.
I slammed my textbook shut and hightailed it out of the sorority house.
On my way to tutor Blade for his study session, I swung by the campus health food store to pick up a few snacks. If it were up to me, we’d be gorging on chocolate-covered potato chips and soda, but Blade was a health nut.
A bell chimed above me as I walked inside, giving it an old-time feel, as though I’d be greeted by a smiling pharmacist behind a soda shop counter. There was nothing old-fashioned about it, though.
The campus health food store walls were lined with supplements, protein bars, and powders with names I couldn’t even pronounce. Jocks with muscles sprouting from muscles grunted as they chose their protein source before marching up to the register and flirting with the cashier. She was either good at her job or got around at Exley because she knew all their names.
Feeling out of place, I grabbed a few bags of granola from the closest shelf and waited in line.
“Did you find everything okay?”
I nodded at the cashier before dumping the snacks onto the counter. “Yes, thank you,” I replied after peeping at her name tag. Exley was too big of a school for me to know who Justine was, let alone if we had any classes together.
Butsomehow, she knew me. “Aren’t you Isabella Dayton?”
My cheeks reddened as I nodded. “Yep, that’s me.”
“I heard a…never mind.” She dropped her gaze and pushed my bag of snacks towards me. “Do you need a receipt?”
“Wait, what?”
She shook her head before shoving my receipt into the bag. “It’s nothing. Have a good day.”
I held up my hand to her, gesturing for her to stop with the niceties. “No, what did you hear?”
She tilted her head and inspected me from head to toe. “Are you and Blade Eggleston, you know…hooking up?”
Her fake smile couldn’t hide her apparent resentment. Justine was the kind of girl to throw herself at The Bedroom King and expect a hookup, and why wouldn’t she? She had the perfect body, thick lips and wasn’t lacking in the boobs department. She could have any man that she chose and yet she seemingly chose Blade.
