Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 32145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 161(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 107(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 161(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 107(@300wpm)
“If I agree, will you leave?”
“You’d kick your boyfriend out?” He chuckles.
“I guess I would.” I open the door, but still he doesn’t move. “Boyfriend, leave,” I order him.
“I’ll take it.” He walks past me, his body brushing against mine. My nipples harden. The second he clears the door, I close it. “Lock it, babe.”
“No pet names!” I flick the lock.
“You should have said that before you made the deal, Red.”
I don’t respond, but stupidly I smile.
Chapter
Four
VAN
“Morning, Red.” I throw open the door to my matte black Merc.
Red narrows her eyes. “Why are you here?”
As if she didn’t know. I pat the passenger seat. “To drive you to school.” I’m not even going into the effort it took me to get here on time. I had to go to practice, get to the locker room, shower, book it across the parking lot, and get here before Miss Independent climbed on the bus. Speaking of the big yellow behemoth, I see it looming in my rearview mirror. “Get in or Crissy is getting crushed, and no one wants that.”
Red creeps closer and peers into the car. It’s a two-seater and the passenger side is empty. “Who is Crissy?”
“The car, Red. The car.”
The bus driver lays on the horn like a good wingman. Red jolts and then hops into the car.
“You named your Mercedes Crissy?”
“Yeah.” I lay on the gas and speed back toward the school. “What’s wrong with that?”
“I’ve never heard of anyone named Crissy before. Not a girl, not a dog, not a car.”
“Exactly. One of a kind.” I tap the dashboard. Crissy was the name of my dog who died just a year before we moved here. Dad—well, my non-bio dad—bought me the car to soften the blow. I wasn’t sure if the blow was losing my dog or losing my school. A little of both, I guess, although the school wasn’t that big of a loss.
“If you say so. Why’s your hair wet?” She reaches toward me. “Why are you here again?”
“Because I’m your boyfriend, and that’s what boyfriends do.”
“We can do this playacting thing at school. There’s no one here to see us.”
“The bus is right behind us.”
“That’s a city bus.”
“You ride it to school, so other kids could too. For people to believe, you have to be all in.”
“Remind me why you, a star football player, need protection from me.”
I swing into the parking lot and shove the car into park. Our classmates are used to the car by now so they walk right by, not noticing that I’ve got a passenger. “Because if I have a girlfriend, no one makes up dumb rumors about Sadie, and I don’t need to be an asshole to any overly friendly girl. I just say I’m loyal to you, and they back off.”
“Oh, Sadie.” Red nods to herself as if this explanation makes sense. Sadie had shared a little of her past. It got out that Sadie and I weren’t bio siblings and so a girl I’d rejected made up a rumor that Sadie and I were sleeping together, because if I wasn’t having sex with this girl, then I must be doing it with someone else. According to her and most of my old school, if a guy wasn’t sticking his dick in some warm hole, there was something wrong with him. Given that I played football and looked like I do, there couldn’t be anything wrong with me. Hence the theory that I was boning Sadie. It got so bad that people were writing shit on her locker and basically making her life a living hell. We moved out of the district and to this place. Then my life blew up. I push the negatives out of my head and focus on Red. “What else are you willing to do for Sadie?”
She gives me a look that could peel paint off a church’s siding. “Nothing.”
“Liar,” I call after her as she hauls herself out of my car. She slings her messenger bag over her shoulder, gives me the finger behind her back, and saunters toward the school. I follow, enjoying the view every step of the way.
Halfway there, Rose steps into view. “I didn’t realize you were offering free rides to school.”
Red doesn’t stop. I don’t think she’s even aware of what’s happening here. I guess she wants me to chase her a little? I can do that. Back to the issue at hand, though. Time to put my fake girlfriend to good use. It would be better if she were next to me and we could put on a little show, but I’ll save that for lunch time. The crowd will be bigger there.
“I’m off the market, Rose. Red has snapped me up, and now I can only give rides to her. If she thought I was straying—” I draw a line across my throat. “And if that were to happen, the football season would be down the drain. I don’t think you want to be responsible for us losing state, right?” I clap a confused Rose on the shoulder. “I didn’t think so. I’ll let Coach know that you’re a serious Titan supporter.”