Page 16 of Devious Obsession
“Your daddy is paying for it,” she finally answers, her lip curling. “In exchange for watching out for you.”
I laugh. Because it’s fuckingfunnythat Dad marries a gold digger with three kids, and now one of them is going to be shadowing me. Feeding back information to him? About me, and what I do, where I go?
“A spy,” I repeat.
She lifts her chin. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
I sneer. “I’ll give you a warning in return, then.”
I step closer, knocking her hands aside. She’s pinned between the sink and my body, and she grips the edge of the counter instead of touching me. Except for where my hips press into hers, my thighs on her legs.
“Every day you stay at CPU, your life will get worse.” I run my finger down her jaw, and a spark of pleasure goes through me when she jerks her head away. “If you leave, it all stops. But if you stay… I’m going to have so much fun tormenting you, sweetheart. Fucking count on that.”
I step back, and she sags against the sink. Her gaze is hot on my back, but she doesn’t seem inclined to snap back. Maybe my threat will be enough to hold her at bay.
But I do know this much: she’s going to be begging to drop out by the time I’m through with her.
3
ASPEN
Itell Thalia everything. That my mom spontaneously got married at the beginning of the summer to a guy she met in Vegas, that she moved me and my two sisters into the rich fucker’s house. That her new husband has two sons, neither of which showed up over the summer… and then the worst part.
That he offered me the chance to go to CPU, which wasn’t exactly a dream school of mine, but he was offering topay. Mom urged me to take the chance, because I worked my ass off to pay my way through community college. She said graduating from college debt-free is a gift that not many twenty-somethings get, and I should take advantage. Especially when I never got off the waitlist from my top choice.
But this gift came with strings:
That I should find my way into his son’s good graces.
That I should answer when he calls, answer his questions, and… well,spy, as Steele so elegantly put it.
It made me sick, and that was before I ever set foot on the CPU campus.
“Wow,” Thalia says, flopping back on my bed. “That’s twisted.”
“They clearly don’t have a relationship,” I mumble.
She grunts her agreement.
“So… I have to spy on a guy who hates me.”
She glances at me. “Do you think he meant the part about tormenting you?”
I shrug. If he did, I’ll just have to bear it. Steele’s a senior—he’s graduating this year. Which meansmysenior year will be easy. I just need to get through two years of college, and then I’ll be home free. If I can get a job with an orchestra before then, I’ll drop out and leave everything behind.
Except…
“He said his goal was to get me to drop out.”
“And?”
I frown. “Now that he said it, I want to do the opposite.”
She laughs. “Of course you do. Okay, we should get up. We’re going to be late.” She pats my leg and sits up.
I heave another sigh—dramatic, yes—and follow her into the bathroom. We do our makeup side by side, and she moves over so I can brush my teeth. My nerves are a mess. I don’t do well with threats, I never have. He makes me anxious.
Which is probably exactly what he wants.
