CHAPTER TEN

COLE

I pull up to Bruce Lowes’s house in Austin’s car that she left at my father’s house last night.

Deke pulls up behind me in his Range Rover. “Dude, you know she’s still gonna be pissed at you, right?”

“Yep.”

He snorts. “What are you gonna do about it?”

“Nothing.”

He jogs to catch up to me as I climb their front steps. “Seriously? We need her.”

“She doesn’t have to be happy with me to do what I say. She’s hated me up until this point, and I’ve still managed to …”

“Blackmail her,” he finishes.

I don’t respond.

“Don’t you think it would be easier to have her compliant?” he asks, and I turn to face him as we stand at the front door. He runs his hand through his disheveled hair. His blue eyes bloodshot from all the drinks we had last night. After she left, he and I locked ourselves in the game room and drank until we woke up this morning with pounding headaches. “I mean, she’s already afraid of us. Especially me.” He gives me a cruel smile. “But last night, that was a different side of her. A side you can work with. Fear is a good motivator but so is seduction.” He shrugs. “And it’s not like it would be hard for you to fuck her. She’s hot.”

My jaw clenches, and I turn to face the door. This conversation is over. I knock on the door, and Celeste answers in a yellow sundress and a smile on her face. “Hey, boys. Please, come in.”

“Celeste.” Deke greets her.

“Where’s Lilly?” I ask, wanting to get the hell out of here.

She frowns. “She’s in the media room with Austin. They are watching Cinderella.”

My hands fist. I don’t like Lilly getting close to Austin. Because she isn’t gonna be here long. “Austin’s car is in the driveway,” I say and then toss her the keys. I hear them hit the tile because Celeste was not quick enough to catch them as I walk off. And me too big of a dick just to hand them to her.

I walk up the stairs and pass Austin’s bedroom, continuing to the end of the hall, and open the door to the media room.

The only light comes from the big screen on the wall. I don’t see them, but I hear Lilly’s voice. “Do fairy tales exist?”

“Depends on what you consider a fairy tale,” Austin tells her.

“What do you mean?”

I walk around the circular couch and stand in the shadows as they lie on the fluffy cushions. A bowl of popcorn sits between Austin’s legs. Lilly’s head on Austin’s chest. They both look straight ahead at the big screen.

“Well, not all girls are princesses in need of a knight to save them,” Austin tells her. “Some save themselves.”

“Belle didn’t have a prince. She had a beast.”

Austin smiles. “She did.”

“But in the end, he turned back into a prince. I liked him better as the beast,” Lilly says.

Austin chuckles. “Me too. He was much more appealing. She didn’t love him for his looks. She was in love with how he made her feel. Special.”

“Has anyone ever made you feel special?” Lilly asks her.

Austin tilts her head to the side. “No.”

“I’m sorry,” Lilly says softly.

Austin just laughs it off. “You don’t need a man to make you feel special, Lilly. You are already special. All on your own. Don’t forget that.”

Lilly sighs heavily, and they both stare straight ahead at the movie. “What about Frozen?” Lilly asks, unable to stay quiet.

“Easy. There was no love story between princess and prince. Only sister love. And it still had a fantastic ending. It also proved that love could be deceiving.”

“What is deceiving?” Lilly draws out the word, sounding it out.

“It means he lied to her to get what he wanted.”

She nods as if she understands.

Austin pops a piece of popcorn into her mouth. And I find myself backing out of the room to let them finish their movie. Deke’s words run through my mind. Fear is a good motivator but so is seduction.

_________________________________

Deke and I stand in the kitchen with Celeste. They’re talking about his sister, Shelby, when Lilly enters. “Where’s Austin?” I ask her.

She smiles up at me, not catching my tone. I have a don’t fuck with me attitude today that I can’t hide even if I wanted to. “Upstairs in her room.”

Before anyone can stop me, I make my way back up the stairs, and like last time, I don’t stop to knock. I barge right on in. She sits on her bed but jumps up as I enter. “Jesus Christ, Cole. Don’t you ever knock?”

I round the bed, and she takes a step back. We both stand there, staring at one another. My heart pounds in my chest, and my mind wanders to her and me. And what we could be doing if I wasn’t so fucked up. If I didn’t hate her father so much.

“What do you want, Cole?” she demands. Her face is free of makeup. Her hair down and over her shoulders. She wears a white t-shirt and cotton shorts. She looks like she just rolled out of bed, and I hate that it wasn’t with me. “Cole …”

I take her face in my hands, and I press my lips to hers. Taking what I fucking want as I have always done.

She shoves me away as I knew she would. Now that she is no longer drunk, things are back to normal. That’s why I didn’t take her up on her offer last night. “What do you want from me?” she yells, her anger rising as easily as mine does.

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“No,” she snaps.

“Everything.”

She lifts her right arm. “You want me to bleed for you? You want me to go to jail for you? You want me to fucking kill for you? Jesus, Cole.”

“I want all of those things. And more,” I say with a nod, and her eyes narrow on me like I’m playing some sick game. She’s not wrong. “Don’t you see, Austin? I’m that guy who wants to take everything from you. I want to destroy you. I want to hurt you.”

“You already have,” she says through gritted teeth.

I smile. She’s referring to her stitches from where I cut her. I could make her bleed to death for me without a fucking knife. “You have no idea what I can do to you. You have no idea what I’m capable of. I could make you nothing.” The thought of destroying her and putting her pieces back as crooked as mine is so fucking strong.

Her jaw sharpens, and then she slaps me.

My hands fist down by my sides at the sting on my face. I hate that I like it. I’ve been raised to love a fight. “I dare you to slap me again,” I growl. Testing her.

I expect her to laugh. To call me fucked up but she doesn’t. Instead, she does what I say. It was harder than the first, and I find myself pushing her backward, my fists hitting the wall on either side of her head, but she doesn’t back down. Not her. She has so much fight in her that it makes her dark green eyes shine. And I love it.

“I’ll hit you as many times as you want,” she growls, breathing heavily.

“I wanna hit you back.” I lie. I don’t want to hurt her. Not in the way she thinks. I wanna break her from the inside.

She lifts her chin. “Go ahead. I can take a hit.”

“I wanna punish you for burning Jeff’s body. I wanna punish you for fucking up my car. And I wanna punish you for how much you make me want you,” I tell her. My dick is still hard from that kiss we shared in my kitchen. The thought of fucking her is so strong that it’s hard to think about anything else.

“Why?” she asks, her chest rising and falling fast with each breath.

“I told you, sweetheart. I like destroying pretty, innocent things.”

Her eyes look up into mine. She searches as if she’s trying to decipher my words, but they were honest. There was no hidden meaning.

“Why?” she asks again, and her voice wavers. That fear creeping back into her features.

“Because perfect things don’t belong in a fucked-up world.” It’s that simple.

She swallows. “I’m not perfect.”

I lean in, my lips almost touching hers, and her breath hitches. “You are to me.” I’ve never said anything more true to a woman. She is just like me. The fight. The anger. The hate. I see the way she fists her hands when I force her to do something. I see how she rises to every challenge I throw at her. With no warning. And I love that she refuses to back down. Give up. She’ll go head to head with me, and in her mind, she feels she has a chance to win. It turns me on so much. She was built for a man like me—a savage.

“Cole,” she whispers.

I remove my right hand from the wall and cup her face. She whimpers, and it fuels my desire to make her mine. “I wanna watch tears roll down your beautiful face because I think you’re gorgeous when you cry. I wanna see blood on your flawless skin because you look like a priceless work of art. And I wanna look down at you while you’re on your knees because you want to please me.” My thumb runs over her trembling bottom lip. “I wanna make you a beautiful, broken doll, Austin.” Her eyes widen at my confession. “All mine to play with.” I look at her parted lips while licking my own. “All mine to fuck.” She moans. “All mine to destroy.”

She just stares up at me. Her eyes searching mine. When they fall to my lips, I close the small space and kiss her. She doesn’t pull away or push me back. Instead, she opens up for me, and I tilt her head, deepening the kiss, stealing her breath away.

I wanna take everything from her. And I know it won’t take much to get it. I pull away, and she slowly opens her eyes. “I’ll be here to pick you up at seven thirty on Thursday morning.”

“What?” she asks, breathlessly.

“You ride with me to and from school,” I tell her. “You may not be mine yet, but to everyone else, you already are.” Then I walk out, not giving her a chance to argue.

“Ready to go?” I ask, entering the kitchen.

Lilly runs to me, and I pick her up. Deke stands from the table. When we walk outside, I say to him. “Post the video.”

AUSTIN

A horn blares from outside my window, and I yank my shirt off the hanger.

Bastard! He can’t even come into the house?

I grab my Chucks and put them on as I hop down the stairs. Celeste is waiting for me by the door. “Here is your lunch, sweetie.”

“I’m gonna eat at school.” They have Chick-fil-A, for Christ’s sake. Last night, I looked up the school online, and I couldn’t believe my eyes. It’s definitely for the rich kids.

She shakes the bag, and the horn blares again. “Thanks,” I say and then run out as she tries to kiss my cheeks.

I run down the stairs and fall into the passenger seat. Man, he didn’t waste any time getting his precious mirror fixed.

He doesn’t say anything, but he stomps on the gas as he shifts gears. I buckle up and sit back, staring straight ahead. I haven’t got much sleep the past two nights because of what he had said to me while in my room. He wants my mind. He had the chance to fuck me, and he didn’t take it. He wants me broken, and a fucked-up part of me liked the way it sounded.

No one has ever wanted me like that.

“Hi, Austin.”

I spin around in my seat to see a cute little blonde sitting in a booster seat. “Lilly.”

She smiles at me. “We’re late.”

“I’m so sorry.” I didn’t know that we were taking her to school too.

She laughs. “It was Cole’s fault. He was busy arguing with Daddy—”

“Lilly,” he snaps, interrupting her.

She picks up the headphones that sit in her lap and puts them over her head and starts pressing buttons on an iPhone.

I turn back around and pull down the visor. Pulling my red lipstick out of my bag, I line my lips and then press them together. I see Cole watching me out of the corner of my eyes. He wants to mind fuck me? I’m gonna return the favor. I’m stronger than he thinks. I’m smarter than he thinks.

“Cole?”

“What is it, Lil?” he asks, looking at her in the rearview.

“My phone died.” She pouts. “You didn’t charge it last night.”

“I forgot,” he tells her.

“I was listening to my song.” She whines.

He sighs heavily.

“Please …” She begs.

He picks up his phone and scrolls through it while we sit at a stoplight. Moments later, he reaches over and turns up the knob on the dash, and Taylor Swift fills the inside of the car. I can’t help it. I smile, and he glares over at me as Lilly starts to sing along to “Everything Has Changed.”

And then the smile drops off my face. Because my life has officially become a Taylor Swift song.

Four times. That’s how many times the song played on repeat before we get to her school. He pulls up to the drop-off line and gets out, pulling his seat forward.

“Bye, Austin,” she says, grabbing her pink sparkly backpack and matching lunch box and getting out of the car.

“Bye, Lilly,” I say with a wave.

He crouches between his open door and the car. Eye level with her. He helps her put her lunch box inside her backpack and then helps put it on her shoulders. He kisses her cheeks. “Have a great day, princess. Make sure to eat your yogurt,” he says sternly, and she nods her head.

She hugs him, and he hugs her back. “I love you, Lil.”

“Love you too, Cole,” she tells him, and she runs around the front of the car and up the stairs. He stands and watches her until she’s safely inside the building, then climbs back into the car. Even though teachers cover the walkway and entrance.

He puts the car in gear and takes off.

The guy acts like he knows nothing but evil, but I know the truth. To that little girl, he’s a savior. She’s so young, and he does so much for her. Shelby said he practically raises her. Lilly is six, so he would have been eleven, maybe twelve when she was born. I want to ask him how old he was when his mother died but think better of it. Cole isn’t the kind of guy you ask questions. If he wants you to know something, he’ll tell you.

I look over at him as he drives us to school. He has his left hand on the steering wheel and his right on the shifter. His glasses rest on top of his head and he wears a scowl on his face. Even angry, he looks gorgeous.

He pulls his hand away from the steering wheel to check the black watch on his wrist. Then he speeds up. He wears a pair of blue jeans, and his long-sleeve gray t-shirt shows off every ripple as he fists his hands. He’s angrier than usual. And I wonder what he was fighting about with his dad.

I don’t even think he realizes that Taylor’s song continues to play. His mind is elsewhere as he speeds down the road.

We pull into the parking lot of the high school, and I let out a long breath. It looks more like a college campus. Multiple buildings scatter around acres of green grass and three stories tall. A huge football stadium is to right of the parking lot. We get out, but before I can take off, he grabs my hand.

We walk into a set of doors, and he pulls me through the busy halls, knowing exactly where we’re going. I notice some kids that see him coming avoid eye contact with him. A few nod their heads in greeting. Others call out his name. He ignores all of them.

“We have second and fourth period together.” He finally speaks to me.

“You know my schedule?”

“Yes.”

I bet Celeste gave it to him.

“Hey, man,” Deke says, coming up to join us. “Austin.” He gives me a big smile that makes my skin crawl. He’s up to something.

I just stare.

“We’ve got calculus together,” he tells Cole.

“Yeah, I’m gonna walk Austin to class first.”

I snort. “I don’t need an escort.”

They both ignore me. What the hell is up with him? Just two days ago, he wanted to break me, and today, he’s treating me like I can’t walk the halls of the school alone.

The bell rings, and I growl. “Crap.” Not a good way to start your first day.

Cole grabs my hand, and we walk down the hall as kids scatter like roaches when the lights come on. He and Deke talk about their plans for tomorrow night. I ignore them. We come up to a door. He opens it and shoves me inside. I start to protest, but he spins me around and grips my hair before he leans down and kisses me. I gasp into his mouth, and he takes the opportunity to slide his tongue between my lips. I kiss him back without thought. His lips feel so soft even though his words are as sharp as a knife. He pulls away quickly and slaps my ass. “See you after class, sweetheart.” Then he walks out.

I turn to face the classroom half dazed and half horrified. It’s full.

“Hey, Austin,” the blond headed guy who sits in the front row says.

“Huh?” I manage to say.

“How’s it going, Austin?” the guy next to him says with a wave.

“Good to see you again, Austin,” another says.

My eyes dart around the room as these guys I’ve never seen before greet me by my name.

“Austin?”

Finally, a voice I recognize. I look at the back to see Becky—my kind of girl. I walk back to her, ignoring those who say hi to me. I plop down in the empty seat next to her. “What the hell?”

“What?” she asks.

“How do these people know me?” I ask like she would freaking know.

She smiles softly and pulls her phone out of her bag. “The video.”

“What video?” I ask in horror. Did Deke share the video of me driving Cole’s car? Are the cops gonna show up here to arrest me?

She scrolls through her iPhone and then holds it up to me. It’s of Cole and me at his house party Monday night. I walk up to him and wrap my arms around him. He looks down at me in surprise, and then I smile up at him like I’m his doting fucking girlfriend. You can hear every word I say to him. He spins around in my arms, and then he’s whispering against my lips. All of a sudden, he picks me up and places me on the counter …

“He posted this?” I demand.

“Deke did,” she answers, putting it away. “Cole doesn’t do social media. But Deke”—she rolls her eyes—“is an attention whore.”

I fist my hands. Tonight, you’re mine. He wanted everyone to know I belong to him.