“Visiting hours are until 8pm, so you have about twenty minutes to see her.”
“Thanks,” Blair says.
The nurse nods and heads down the hall to the nurse’s station.
“Do you want me to stay?”
“Uh, I’m not sure.” Blair glances anxiously at the hospital room. “I don’t have a ride home.”
“Yes or no?”
“No…?”
Sighing, I pull out my wallet. “Here.” I hand her a twenty. “Take a cab home.”
“Thanks.”
Leaving is the last thing I want to do.
I want to drag her to an empty room and tear those tempting cotton shorts off her. It’s torture to have her so close all night after a week of resisting and not be able to kiss her or touch her the way I want.
Blair peers up at me, hesitating. “You’ve been…not what I expected. I really appreciate your help.”
I stare back at her. She’s the only thing I’ve wanted all week. She’s right in front of me, thanking me.
And I’m not done taking from her.
Her debt isn’t repaid.
Not even close.
I’ve jacked the price she owes me higher. I’ll have whatever I want from her. All of it.
Blair is mine. Nothing will change that now.
“You can thank me later.” I cup her shoulders. “Because I got your mother this room and better care.”
Blair’s features go slack. “You what?”
I lean down to murmur in her ear. “You can consider what I did payment. I’ll be there this weekend to pick you up. You’d better be packed and ready.”
A minute ago she was thanking me. Now she stumbles back a step, glaring at me.
The demand destroys any bridge I’ve built with Blair by helping her through the situation tonight. Instead of crossing it, I choose my selfishness over everything else. It’s the only way I know to keep the pieces on the board under my control.
“I hate you.” Blair’s glare is fierce, but she doesn’t argue.
I smirk. “I know.”
The problem isn’t that Blair hates me. It’s that I no longer fully hate her. It’s seeped away, overcome by the growing obsession with the way she makes me feel alive when I’m around her.
The only thing I care about is having her.
And I always get what I want.
“Go be with your mom.” I begin to back away, keeping her locked in my sight. Pure fury rolls off Blair in waves. “See you this weekend.”
Twenty-Two
Blair
This month has felt far too long with everything that’s happened.
It’s the last weekend in September and the weather has spiked into the mid-80s all week with a late in the season heatwave. I’m craving the cooler temperatures of fall, when the aspen trees turn golden and the scent of woodsmoke fills the air.
The ancient window unit died in August, leaving me to suffer in an oppressively hot trailer as I haul my small box of books out to the car.
Devlin isn’t helping, the bastard.
I want to slap the smarmy, triumphant smirk from his face.
He leans against the Porsche with sunglasses on, arms crossed, showing off the defined curve of his biceps. In his basketball shorts and a white and green SLHS varsity soccer t-shirt, he looks damn good. I’m annoyed at myself for giving into baser instincts. How can I be attracted to this jerk with tousled black hair and a cut jaw?
Devlin shifts, sliding a hand beneath his t-shirt to scratch an itch, showing off his abs as the shirt lifts.
God. Damn. It.
Fuck my lizard brain. Fuck it right to hell.
I hike the heavy box of books higher as my attention falls to his exposed tan skin. Heat pools low in my stomach. When I dart my eyes back up, his smirk stretches. What an ass. He knows exactly what he’s doing.
Well, it won’t work on me. I won’t let it. Our fake kiss is all he’ll get out of me.
“Would it kill you to lift a finger?” I gasp.
Sweat trickles down the back of my neck. The box is hard to hold in my slippery grip.
Devlin shrugs. “It might.”
Rolling my eyes, I get the burden into the trunk without his help. It’s filled with my favorite books. I’m not bringing much else with me. A patched up duffel stuffed with some clothes sits next to the box. Other than that I have my backpack full of school supplies and my two uniforms.
Devlin insisted on picking me up to make sure I wasn’t backing out. His mechanic is supposed to pick up my Corolla later and drop it off.
We have Monday off from school. I’ll be trapped for three days straight in Devlin’s giant house.
This is insane.
I’m moving in with Devlin.
All because the arrogant asshole considers footing Mom’s medical bills payment for his demand.
Grateful relief brawls with the part of me outraged that he’s using his financial assistance to manipulate me. Now he believes he owns me even more than before. This no longer feels like a game to humiliate me as payback.
It’s darker, more twisted and sinister.
I have to adapt again to his mind games. If I don’t, he’ll swallow me whole in damnation and hellfire, consuming me until my last breath.
The problem isn’t dancing with the devil.
It’s that I’m willing to keep selling my soul to him if it means Mom gets better treatment and top of the line medical care.
We would never be able to afford that private hospital room, let alone the ambulance ride with our lack of insurance and limited income.
“Is that everything?” Devlin surveys my measly collection of belongings. “You don’t have more?”
He probably sees junk, but to me I have my most treasured possessions—my book collection and a few of my favorite printouts of folk art I got at the library. The carefully pieced together set of books is one of the few things I’ve saved for myself.
I shrug. “That’s it. The rest can stay here.”
“Then lock up your rat-sized shoebox and let’s get the hell out of here. This place is depressing, and your neighbors keep staring at Red.”
“They’re mentally pricing what they could get for your rims alone.”
Devlin slides his sunglasses down and peers over the frames. “I won’t offer them the same deal I have with you if they touch my ride.”
The look he sends me tangles my insides in knots. A hot and cold sensation travels across my skin, leaving me shivering.
Shaking it off, I jog back to the trailer and hesitate at the open door, peering inside. There isn’t an ounce of attachment for the place. Without Mom, it doesn’t feel like home. Just an empty space with mismatched furniture making an attempt at creating a comfortable space.
People are your home, not the places you live.
Nodding to myself, I lock up.
Rent is paid on the trailer for the next two months. With Devlin covering the medical bills, I was able to use the cash I’ve saved so far to keep our trailer. Just in case Mom’s condition improves. I want her to come home from the hospital without worrying.
It’s been four days. Every day after school I’ve gone to sit with her, doing my homework at the foot of her bed. She looks better. Her color has returned, but the doctors won’t clear her release without more testing first.