“But you’re a political science major,” I pointed out. “Shouldn’t you major in business instead?”
“Believe it or not, I find the subject interesting. It doesn’t matter anyway, as I’m destined to run my father’s business. It’s already been laid out for me since I was a child,” he casually admitted as if it was no big deal.
Somehow, the thought of that seemed rather … disheartening. Of course, to have your future laid out was safe, but if wasn’t something you were passionate about, I didn’t see the point in following through with those plans. Perhaps it was because I wasn’t from a world where your fate was decided on the day you were born.
Not wanting or caring about pushing my beliefs onto him, I focused on what my professor was teaching. It didn’t consist of much besides him going over the course curriculum whilst everyone else ignored him. The hour and a half dragged by, and as soon as the bell started to ring, everyone was on their feet and shuffling out of class.
“Are you done for the day?” Hudson asked, casually resuming the conversation. Something told me Colten had asked him to babysit me, which only got me more riled up.
“Yeah, but Nina still has one more class, so I decided to hang around and spare Reed the trouble of making two trips,” I commented, adjusting my flimsy tote onto my shoulder.
“Spare him the trouble?” he parroted with a frown. “Isn’t he your personal driver?”
“Yeah, it doesn’t mean I’m going to make him drive eight miles back and forth.” I shrugged. I liked the library, enjoying the peace. It seemed not many other people ventured in there unless they had to. Which only begged the question of why Diona had come in this morning.
There was also the little matter of me starting work at the diner today. There was no way I was going to tell Hudson, for he would report that fact straight to Colten and it wouldn’t take long before they came to terrorize me at work, most likely resulting in me losing my job.
“Huh,” he said, curiosity in his eyes. “You’re definitely not one of us.”
I snorted at his blunt statement. “I thought Colten told you all this.”
“He didn’t tell me jack shit.” He laughed before focusing his complete attention on me. “So, where are we going?”
“We?” I shook my head. “You’re not going anywhere with me.”
“Scared I’ll bite?” he quipped, nudging me in the ribs. Neither he nor Colten had any concept of personal space, although the latter was a little more invasive. “You’re lucky you’re the girl who has Colten wrapped around her little finger.”
“I am not,” I said, enunciating each word clearly for him. I thanked him under my breath when he opened the door for me to leave the building. So many college students were hanging out on the front lawn, either frolicking around, sunbathing, having a picnic, or throwing a frisbee or football around. At a quick glance, they looked like regular college students. Yet, the looks and whispers when some people’s eyes landed on me reminded me of where I was.
Who I was.
I didn’t want to be noticed by anyone, let alone be known as the love interest of the king of the university and town.
“Oh yes, you are,” he said with a wicked grin.
“You and anyone else who thinks that can just go to—”
“Shit, watch out!” someone yelled.
My heart kicked into overdrive at the urgency in the voice. I pushed Hudson out of the way just in time for a football to slam hard into my back. From the pain radiating through me, the thing must have flown at the speed of at least forty miles per hour. Clenching my teeth, it took all I had in me to quell any sign of weakness as I turned and picked up the ball.
“That was not cool. What the fuck, Tori?” Hudson growled as he snatched the football out of my hand. His eyes darted to whoever threw it and chucked it back. “Watch where you’re throwing it, dipshit!”
“You’re so welcome,” I said sarcastically as I rubbed at the bruising pain that was going to leave a mark.
“Why did you fucking do that?” he asked, clearly confused and baffled at why someone smaller than him would try to protect him.
“Because you said you have a business meeting today, and I didn’t want your expensive ass attire to get ruined,” I remarked before grabbing the hem of my shirt and pulling it over my head. It wasn’t that big of a deal, seeing as there were girls in bikinis sunbathing in the middle of the field. I had on a black sports bra that covered more than their get up.
I completely ignored Hudson’s stare. Boys.
Looking at the back of my shirt, I sighed. Sure enough, it was caked in mud. I guess I wouldn’t be spending my hour and a half in the library as I couldn’t exactly show up in just a sports bra and school shorts. I started heading towards the main building to wash it but stopped when I heard Hudson curse.
“It’s just a light bruise. Relax,” I exhaled as I tensed when his fingers gently grazed over my back. “You and Colten are part of the football team, so surely you’ve had worse—"
“What the fuck is going on?”
I didn’t need to look back to realize who’d said those words. In the course of just a few days, I’d practically memorized his voice and how much it affected me.
Turning, I caught him stalk towards us like an oncoming freight train. Students nearby had turned their attention to us. It was like a real-life soap opera, except I had no idea what I’d done wrong this time to be on the receiving end of his wrath. His eyes trained onto my breasts but I refused to cover up or shy away. Rather, I straightened my back and crossed my arms. His eyes snapped up to meet mine, and it was enough to make me want to take him right there.
Lust and madness rolled into one.
“Shit, it’s not what it—”
“It looks like you’re touching what’s mine while she’s standing out here in just a fucking bra,” he growled, his voice icy cold and looking like he was seconds away from murdering someone. He needed to stop treating me like a possession.
“It’s a sports bra. My top got dirty, I took it off, no big deal,” I threw back. “And how many fucking times do I have to say that I’m not yours to claim? I belong to no one.”
“I don’t give a fuck. None of you fuckers should mess around with what’s mine,” he roared, his nose flaring as his gaze darted around maniacally. We had a full audience now that all classes were over. Everyone was silently watching the drama unfold. That only upset him more. “Stop staring, keep walking, or I will fucking destroy every one of you.”
Sweet Jesus.
They all did as they were told. He stood there clenching and unclenching his fists. Snarling, he pulled me towards him, and before I could process anything, he took off his thin sweater and wrapped it tightly around my body.
Then, he turned and stalked off while Hudson flashed me a grin, mouthing, I told you so.” Then, he jogged away after Colten.
I glared back in response, both flabbergasted and irritated at what had just happened. I didn’t care what he thought. There was definitely no way I had Colten wrapped around my finger. It was more like he was the one with his hands wrapped around my throat.
There would be only one survivor at the end of this year—and I sure as hell hoped it was me.
Chapter Seven
Colten
I wanted to kill my best friend on the way over to the diner—something I’d never thought of doing before. I laid down my claim on her no more than eight hours ago. She was mine. And to find Hudson looking at her and touching her with a tenderness I’d never seen before was enough for me to go ballistic on him.
Her tits were worthy of making everyone stop and stare, including me. The way they were pushed together in her black sports bra with that little beauty mark on her right breast personified my every dream about what perfection looked like. I wanted to see her tight mouth around my cock. She was going to suck it like a queen. Damn, I could already tell she knew how to handle it. More fire poured into my crotch. As crazy as it sounded, I had nev
er been so hard before.
I wanted everyone to know she was mine to fuck and leave us alone.
The way she kept pushing me? Challenging me? It drove me wilder each day.
Tori was unpredictable in every way and didn’t conform to what I wanted, the way everyone else did.
“Dude, I told you she took her shirt off on her own. I didn’t try seducing her or anything. If I did, more than just her shirt would be off,” Hudson had scoffed, rolling his eyes.
I clutched the wheel harder as my blood boiled. “Why were you touching her then?”
“Because I wanted to check her bruises caused by Johnson’s horrible throw,” Hudson replied. “Crazy bitch of yours pushed me out of the way so my suit wouldn’t get dirty.”
“So she saved your life?” Zayn asked with a mocking grin. “Saved by a girl? That’s a new one.”
“Fuck off, Anderson,” Hudson gave him the middle finger. “To make it worse, Kobayashi’s flight got delayed by a few hours. So now I have to wear this stupid ass suit for a few more hours, and I hate it.”
“Is that why you’re coming with us to eat?” Zayn questioned. “Not because you enjoy our company?”
“No offense, but I can easily enjoy time away from you both,” he joshed as he took out his phone. “After dinner, I’ll head straight to the meeting and hopefully, close out the deal for my father.”
Parking my car, we walked into O’Malley’s Diner at the edge of town—the only place we could go to that wouldn’t be overcrowded. All I wanted was to enjoy some dinner with my friends before heading back to the empty house. Though the place didn’t hold a candle to the high-end restaurants I normally enjoyed, they made the best pancakes and bacon. When we walked in, the manager, Yvette, greeted us before we made our way over to our usual booths.
I already knew what I was going to order, and I was more than ready to just get the day over with when I looked up, and actually thought my eyes were playing a trick on me when I saw Tori Watson coming towards us, her hair pulled up in a ponytail with a pin holding her bangs back. She wore the diner’s uniform, consisting of an ugly mustard dress with a red apron tied in front. A nametag was seated right on top of her breast pocket.
How could this girl be more beautiful and sexier than ever, in this getup?
Hudson and Zayn exchanged looks as she stopped at our table, putting a hand on her hips.
“What can I get you?” she practically growled.
“Less of that attitude and you might just get a tip,” Zayn murmured as Hudson chortled.
“You can take that attitude comment and sh—”
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I interjected.
At that, she gestured to her uniform. “What does it look like? Or should I dumb it down for you? Maybe even spell out for you what a J-O-B is?”
Hudson pressed his lips tightly together, trying to stop himself from laughing. Zayn, on the other hand, was openly smirking at our interaction, finding it highly amusing. I was ready to get up and choke the living shit out of her as I ground my teeth together. “I meant why.”
She clearly didn’t struggle for money, being Winnie Bower’s niece. Winnie had starred in every movie imaginable, and I knew she received an allowance that paid more than minimum wage. In fact, from what I remembered, Nina received at least ten thousand a week to plow through, along with an AMEX black card.
She shrugged. “What does it matter to you? What do you want, or are you just here to stalk me?” she asked before glancing over at Hudson. “What are you doing here? I thought you had a meeting?”
“His flight got delayed.” He sighed heavily. “So, fortunately for you, you can bask in my presence just a tad longer.”
The corner of Tori’s mouth lifted ever so slightly in amusement, and the primal urge to beat Hudson to a pulp was more tempting than ever before. I couldn’t understand what he had that I didn’t. I couldn’t care less though. I just wanted to be the first to break down her barriers. After that, Hudson could have her, for all I cared.
“Why are you working?” I asked again, hating to repeat myself when someone didn’t listen the first time.
“I’m not a leech,” she snapped back with her head held high. The one thing I noticed about Tori that made her, once again, different from others was that she wasn’t scared or embarrassed about being poor. She couldn’t care less about who you were, and from the looks of it, she had no interest in who someone’s parents were or how much they were worth.
Honestly? I hated it.
I hated that she worked at all, never mind at a diner. I was all for people gaining experience to find what they wanted to do in life. I wanted Tori to do better than being employed at a fucking diner. She was far too bright and beautiful for this. I was even considering asking my father to give her some sort of clerical or assistant position in the company.
Another table called for her, and she huffed at us before walking off to serve them. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the way the man in his sixties gawked at her tits or the way his friend seemed to be lewdly staring at her. Yet, there was nothing I could do. Except maybe chaining her up and locking her away.
Maybe I should do that and maybe I am going to burn that fucking diner to the ground. I practically ran this town. It wouldn’t be that hard to keep her locked up at my estate. No one apart from her aunt and possibly Nina would try looking for her in a hurry, anyway. After all, she had no other family. Then, my brain reminded me that we’d only just met. This wasn’t normal behaviour. I had to get a grip on my emotions.
I watched her go into the kitchen with the order.
Before I could finalise my crazy plan, she came back. Something soft dropped on my lap, and I realized it was my black sweater. “Here’s your top back.”
I balled it up and offered it back to her. “Keep it.”
“I don’t need your charity,” she tossed back.
“Then fucking return it another day.”
“Why not now?” she gritted out.
“Because I don’t want to carry it,” I scoffed.
“Well, I don't want to, either.”
“Then throw it away,” I simply replied. I wouldn’t admit that it was one of my favorite sweaters. She gaped at my reply, seeming to hate the thought of wasting something. Then, she just sighed and tied it around her waist. The thought of her wearing my things like a subtle sign of ownership was enough to make me rock hard as I shifted in my seat. “I’ll take an order of pancakes, bacon, and black coffee.”
Hudson and Zayn placed their order before she walked off.
“You just don’t want her driver to ogle her tits on the way home,” Hudson figured out.
“Shut the fuck up.”
He was right. I fucking hated the fact that someone else was driving her around. God, she was going to end me.
Really, this girl had me in turmoil. Even as I ate, I watched her every move while she served others. I noticed every guy who ogled her tits or ass in that short skirt and it drove me to the brink of insanity. I was ready to stand up and smash his face against the table until he wouldn’t move. Although she had my sweater around her waist, it wasn’t quite the forcefield I had hoped it to be. I didn’t even know if she noticed the attention she was getting, or whether she even cared, either. Every time she took the check and put her tips into the pocket of her uniform, I wanted to flip a table.
If she was so desperate for a job, I was more than happy to have her work under me. She could be my secretary and that would be like a dream come true. Although she’d never want to do that with the way I’d treated her so far. Halfway through eating, the same two guys who had been ogling her laughed loudly as I zoned into their conversation.
“You think she’ll give me her number if I offer a large tip?”
“You really want to bang her that badly?”
“She can’t be older than twenty-one. And shit, with that body? I’ll let her ride me for a few hundred bucks. She’s probably desperate and needs a
place to live if she’s working here,”
“I’ll join, and we can DP her. I bet she’ll sound sweet when we fill—"
Without another thought, I was on my feet, anger lashing through me and burning my insides. The ringing in my ears only seemed to get louder, and although I distinctly heard Hudson and Zayn calling for me, I didn’t care. Rage continued to course through me as I grabbed the guy making the comments by the collar. I was taller than him and even were he twice my size, I wouldn’t have given a damn.
They must have been passing through town since they didn’t seem to recognise me at all. “Fucking finish that, and you’re dead.”
His eyes widened, and he swallowed nervously. “S-sorry, I didn’t—”
People were staring now as the other man looked around, hoping someone would come and save them. But, of course, the locals all knew better than to go against me, plus my two other mates were with me, ready to step in to help. I owned everyone. Even Yvette stayed quiet as I lifted the guy out of the booth and threw him onto the floor. “I don’t ever want to see you again in this damn town. Do you fucking hear me? I own this fucking place, and I will fucking end you. You hear me?” I roared.
“Y-yes.”
Without another word, they hurried outside. I turned to Yvette. “Put those fuckers’ tabs on me.”
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Tori stomped towards me.
Growling in annoyance at the fact she would dare fight me instead of just thanking me, I threw Yvette a look before grabbing Tori and dragging her out of the restaurant. She yelled for help, but still, nobody moved.
Once we got round to the back of the restaurant, I let go, and she immediately shoved at my chest. “What the fuck are you doing? You can’t just kick paying customers out and drag me out of my workplace like that. I could get fired.”
“Trust me, Yvette knows better than to fire you unless I tell her to,” I exhaled, flicking my hand in dismissal of her worries. “As for why? Those two fucking assholes wanted to touch what’s mine in exchange for a little extra tip money.”
Bringing down the Star: Small Town Bully Romance Book 1 Page 5