15. Drew

FIFTEEN

drew

I managed to make it another day of ignoring my dad's calls, texts, and emails before he inevitably turned up. And holy shit, he was mad. Any other time I would have delighted in it, but the nervous eye twitch made me tread carefully.

"Suspended. Twice! Dealing cannabis. Your car…" He took a deep breath, rubbing a hand over his chest as he paced across the kitchen. Was he having a heart attack?

I sat at the breakfast island, clutching a bottle of water in front of me while I watched him. Sometimes I pushed my father and sometimes I didn't. Had I actually managed to get expelled, I'd be smug as hell right now. But I'd failed, and that meant he still held all the cards.

"My car was vandalized," I said. The same as the house.

He shook his head. "Are you trying to ruin your life, Drucella?"

"Me?" The entire reason I was here was that he wouldn't believe me when I told him I didn't cheat on that test at Black Mountain. Had he just listened to me. Tried to defend me… But no, instead, he decided to punish me. "You're the one ruining my life, Dad. Do you have any idea what it's like at that school?"

Honestly, the worst part about Dayton High was Bellamy. There were times when I didn't want to get expelled at all, where it felt like the excitement of being around him was the only bright point in my day, and that was exactly why I needed to get away from him. Because that boy was dangerous and so very bad.

One night. I'd get one night. And that's all I needed.

My dad's eye twitched again. My father was many things but rarely ruffled, even in the face of all my crap. "I am trying to teach you to grow the hell up!" His voice boomed around the kitchen. He stood at the end of the counter, glaring. Fists balled, cheeks red, nostrils flared. Definitely verging on a heart attack.

"Do you even care if I'm miserable? Or is your only concern what your buddies at the golf club think? I know it wouldn't look good to have a daughter who got expelled from Dayton High ."

He smoothed a hand over his tie, his anger dissipating in a single deep breath as he forcibly calmed himself. "Is that what you think? That you are getting yourself expelled?" He laughed humorlessly. "Oh no, Drucella. I can assure you, I have lined Mr. Brown's pocket with enough money that you could light that school on fire and not get kicked out. You are staying there, and that is that. It's two months. Grow up and deal with it, Drucella."

Oh, and that sounded like a challenge. Brown could only let so much slip before people would start asking questions, and a principal being bribed? Even in Dayton, that had to be scandalous.

"And your suspension is cut short. You're going to school tomorrow." He stalked out of the kitchen, still rubbing at his chest.

"I have no car," I called after him.

"Take mine." Oh, daddy dearest really was determined. "I'll organize a new one for you."

If I had my way, I'd be out of that school by the end of the week. Then my normal life could resume. Money and fake people and boys who would not make me want something bad for me. But since Brown was being bribed, I was going to need help from the very person I was trying to escape.

Me: I need to see you.

Dickhead: Wanna picture of the whole thing or just the tip?

Me: See YOU, not your dick.

Dickhead: What do you need?

Me: To. See. You. Didn't I already say that?

Dickhead: W

Dickhead: H

Dickhead: Y

Dickhead: ?

He was infuriating.

Me: OMG! You still owe me. That's why.

Dickhead: You really want to go down this road?

Dickhead: Because the way I see it, you still owe me a blow job…

Dickhead: Genevieve.

He was such a dick.

Me: Just come get me, you asshole. I have no car since you burned mine.

Me: Or you know, I could ask someone else for help. I'm sure Hendrix might help me with the fighting….and fucking.

Several minutes passed before he finally responded.

Dickhead: I've got errands to run, so you wanna see me then you have to go with me.

"Errands." Whatever.

Me: Fine. See you then.

Errands.

After he nearly killed me speeding through Dayton's pothole-riddled streets, we pulled into a rundown shopping mall. Grass sprouted from the broken concrete and abandoned shopping carts lay scattered across the Piggly Wiggly parking lot. What in the hell was it with the names of places around here?

Bellamy drove to the side of the empty building and parked by a dumpster but didn't get out.

This place looked sketchy as hell. "Uh, what are you doing?" I asked, staring through the windshield at a cardboard shelter propped against the cargo bay.

"Don't worry about that. What did you need?"

Sighing, I shifted on the cloth seat, then placed my back to the door to look at him. "I still need out of Dayton."

"I already told you..." His stare remained fixed through the windshield like a predator searching for prey. "Fighting or fucking." His gaze swung to mine on a wicked smirk. "Or both."

"Fine. Let me punch you in the face at school."

"Negative."

I lifted a brow before taking an obvious look at his crotch. "I'm not fucking you in a hallway full of people."

And the smile that crept over his face while he practically undressed me with his eyes had filthy thoughts rushing through my mind. "Nah, I wouldn't want you to. I don't like people seeing what's mine."

I pressed my head back to the window like the chilled glass had a prayer of cooling the heat crawling up the back of my neck. "And you haven't held up your end of the deal yet…" I swallowed, wondering why in the hell I kept running my mouth. "Or the threat you made on day one, to fuck up my life first." I'm gonna fuck up your life, then fuck you. There was no rational reason that threat should have made me hot for him, but it did.

His teeth sank into his bottom lip. "You believing I haven't, proves just how much I have…" His hand landed on my thigh, creeping up as he leaned over the center console.

The citrus smell of his cologne was everywhere. My skin prickled under the intensity of his stare, and I wondered for a moment why I wanted to get away from him so badly.

"Because there is no damn reason you should want me." His mouth touched mine—almost in a kiss before he grabbed my bottom lip between his teeth. "No reason you should have made that deal..."

I did want him, and he was right; I absolutely shouldn't. This was beyond the simple rebellious draw of a bad boy. I knew the second I gave into him, he would destroy me. Because guys like him and girls like me… Well, that was a disaster waiting to happen. And that was why I made that deal. Black and white. Lines drawn in the sand. One night. He couldn't destroy me in one night. Could he?

"I'll fuck you right here if you want, baby girl…" His fingers were right there, like he was waiting for permission to touch me again. "Make good on my first promise…" His other hand went to the back of my neck, and everything inside of me ignited.

On a sharp breath, I wrapped my fingers around his wrist, unsure whether I should push him away or pull him closer. Then his forehead pressed to mine, his staggered breaths teasing my lips—like he was fighting to restrain himself just as much as I was. My lungs screamed, body aching for him. I debated it. Screwing him right here in the front seat of his shabby car. Wouldn't be the first time I got naked for him in a parking lot...

The bump of bass broke through the tense silence, and Bellamy shifted away. Like this spell was all too easy to break.

A rusted Trans-Am zoomed around the corner of the Piggly Wiggly and screeched to a halt in front of the dumpster.

Bellamy climbed out of the car, going straight to the driver's side of that car and leaning through the lowered window. I witnessed the exchange of money for drugs, then Bellamy gave some weird handshake before the vehicle sped off.

He had brought me to a drug deal, and I wasn't even surprised or that bothered. Not like I didn't know what he did for money. Although, coming here with him was a bad idea simply because being in a confined space with him was not good. I watched him round the front of his car and reach for the door. Even his walk screamed of sex.

The sooner I got expelled, the better, because, one thing was for sure, that boy would ruin me—just like he promised.

Bellamy sank back behind the wheel, then stuffed the crumpled bills into his wallet and tossed it back onto the dash.

I swallowed, focusing on what I came here for, and not his lips—or his hands or—other things. "My dad's paying Brown to keep me in school."

"Figured."

"So…come on. What have you got?"

He slid a hand over his steering wheel. "You got a baseball bat, or you wanna borrow mine?"