“You’re doin’ so good!” I coo, listening as he chatters excitedly to who I can assume is my dad.
Moments later, I’m proven right when my dad’s voice echoes in my ear, “Hey, baby girl, how’s the joys of college life?”
His soft, gentle voice causes me to break from absolutely nowhere. Well, that’s not exactly true. It’s been building for quite some time, I just didn’t expect to release all over the phone.
A gut-curdling sob rips right out of my throat as I lean my elbow on my upturned leg, cradling my head in my hand. All of the pain from the last few weeks burns my throat, and dare I admit, my pride as well. I never wanted my dad to know how terrible it is.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he says, trying to calm me. “What’s going on?”
“Did you know?” I ask, hoping he gives me the answer I want.
“Know what?”
“Did you know that Hunter never left, Dad?”
He sounds frantic. “He’s still in town? Does that mean he’s—?”
I cry out, interrupting him. Usually, I would never do such a thing, making sure I’m locked up in a private place, but this is a sensitive subject. “Yes! He’s here at GOU. Whoever told you he was gone is a liar.”
“Darlin’,” he quips. “Did something …”
About that time, the door to the bathroom opens. Not being one to spread my private shit all over campus, I hurriedly get off the phone and promise to call back as soon as I get to my apartment.
From the way he reacted, he’s just as taken off guard as I was when I saw Hunter the first day, which is surprising. He works for Hunter’s dad in the accounting department. If anything should know the goings-on with the Princes, it should be my dad.
Drying my eyes, I take a few cleansing breaths while I get my stuff together. Once I’m ready, I make sure all my hair is in place and presentable, and then open the door to leave the stall.
However, that’s as far as I get before I’m accosted back inside the handicap stall by Cassandra and two of her minions.
“Think you can make a fool of me?” she snaps, anger making her entire body shake.
Pain blooms against the side of my face, taking me off guard, as one of her lackey’s fists slam into my jaw. Stumbling back against the wall, my hand comes up on autopilot to rub the smarting skin.
“What the shit was that for?” I fume out, stretching my jaw through the ache.
“Hunter is mine,” she snarls, getting into my face. “Him, his family, and his money will belong to me. I’ll not have you ruining all the work I’ve done since you left. You touched what is mine, so now you must suffer the consequences.”
“And you’re too much of a pussy to handle it on your own,” I wisecrack before thinking better of it.
Cassandra’s face screws up in blazing fury. “Girls! Now!”
My brows furrow seconds before both of her minions attack, overpowering me. Three against one isn’t exactly fair odds. Shit, two against one isn’t any better, either. But if you have beef with someone, handle that shit yourself like a goddamn woman.
“Get the fuck off me!” I scream and fight, twisting and turning, kneeing and elbowing them. They grunt and whimper from my hits, but neither one of them let loose. Instead, they drag me toward the toilet—the very same porcelain bowl I relieved myself in moments ago.
“Stupid bitch, maybe this will teach you!”
Cassandra lifts the toilet seat seconds before my head is forced into the bowl. I’m too busy trying to kick and punch my way out from under the water, I don’t even worry about how disgusting and degrading this is.
Water shoots up my nose and down my throat. My lungs burn as I try to hold my breath to keep from inhaling more water. Bubbles of air slip out of my mouth, little by little until there’s no longer any air in my lungs to release. My vision starts dimming. The fight in me is failing. And right before the darkness swallows me whole, I’m ripped out of the water.
Coughing and sputtering, I heave and gasp for air. Through the wet strands of my hair that’re glued to the side of my face, I watch as Cassandra gets down on our level.
“Have you learned your lesson?” she grits out.
Confusion wars with anger, and before I can respond, she’s stepping out of the way and signaling for the water once more. I try to fight them, my knees slipping and sliding from the water on the floor, but it’s no use. They force my head under the water once more, the chloric taste of it running down my throat and causing nausea to churn.
My stomach heaves and purges, and before I can stop it, the salty taste of sickness causes me to release the contents of my stomach in the toilet where my head is.
Thin, bony fingers weave through the strands of my hair, jerking me back out of the toilet. The smell of city water and vomit practically exudes from my skin. My cheeks heat in embarrassment and shame.
“Disgusting piece of shit,” Cassandra curses, her grip tightening. “Leave Hunter alone, and I will leave you alone.”
Fucking bitch. I’d like to rip the hair extensions right out of her mousy head. “I don’t want him! Jesus, Mary, and Joseph—a blind person can see he and I want nothing to do with each other. What is your problem?”
She jerks her face closer to mine. “You exist!” Her fingers tighten even more. It feels like she’s about to rip my hair right out of my head one strand at a time. I grit my teeth, meeting her eyes with blazing defiance.
Yes, I got caught up in the moment with a guy. Big fucking deal. But we both know, she’s nothing to Hunter if this pissing contest has anything to say for it.
If Hunter wants you, make no mistake, he will make sure you know it.
One of these days, when she least expects it, she will pay for this. Her day will come, and it will turn her inside out and show people how much of a diabolical piece of cunt she really is
“Do we have a deal?”
I mean mug her, seeing her death playing out inside my head and loving every minute of it. “If this is your version of a pissing contest, it’s pathetic!”
No sooner than the words fly out of my mouth, my face is plunging beneath the water once more. My lungs start burning, but I refuse to give in.
Fuck this bitch, I’ll never cave to her demands.
Damn, that class was brutal. No wonder English is the hardest language to comprehend. I mean, threw and through? It sounds exactly the same, only the spelling is different. No wonder people all over the world think we're blooming idiots, and definitely unoriginal. We can’t even come up with words that are spelled and sound completely different, yet mean the same thing.
Considering I don't need this class, because my future is already set in stone, it’s inherently worse. Because this is just a waste of my time, and my time is too precious to be frivolous with. I just have to take it because it's a requirement to get my degree, and my dad won’t allow me to take over without getting at least my associates in business first.
Plus, that teacher ... she's hot as fuck. Hardly any of us could get any work done because we were too busy staring at her ass or her barely-there cleavage she was sporting by undoing the top three buttons of her shirt. We could even see her lacy black bra, and that gave me a raging boner.