by Lily White
But still, Warbucks gave a damn and had demanded she be handled, so here I was...handling it. I wasn’t happy about it, but realized after seeing that Luca had just a little bit of spirit, I might actually be able to enjoy it.
My lack of a response got to her, the tension easing from her shoulders enough that it didn’t pain me to look at her anymore.
Rolling her head over her shoulders, she met my eyes again and forced a fake as fuck polite smile.
“I thought you might remember me because when I called earlier today, you told me to be here at six. Obviously, I was wrong in that assumption, so maybe we should just start from the beginning.”
She extended a hand as if to shake mine. I glanced down at it for a second before lifting my eyes back to hers without moving to accept. Slowly, her arm dropped back to her side, defeated.
“My name is Luca Bailey. I have no choice but to be here because I’ve been assigned to work with you on this project. So, can we just attempt to be civil with one another long enough to get the project done? We don’t have to be friends or anything. In fact, I prefer we be around each other as little as possible...”
My brow arched. The fuck did that mean?
“...Maybe we can come up with a schedule or something to make that happen.”
From behind her, the peanut gallery watched with amused grins, Taylor speaking up to poke at Luca a little more.
“Did she just say she wants a schedule? Like a fuck schedule for all three? Would they hang it in the kitchen or something?”
Mason answered, “Maybe in the hallway between their bedrooms.”
My gaze dropped back to her just in time to watch crimson blaze across her cheeks, the muscle jumping above her eye again, and her body spin around to face the four men sitting behind her.
“I’m not having sex with anybody,” she yelled, so much noise coming from so little a thing.
Before this moment, I’d been a little jealous of the role Jase had to play in all of this. He was having a hell of a good time fucking Everly in order to keep Luca close. And wasn’t that some shit right there?
Jase was never the type to double dip. I would go so far as to say that it was his personal mission in life to fuck as many women on Earth as possible before he ended up six feet under. But yet, over the past few weeks, it appeared he was enjoying keeping Everly at his side.
Now that Luca was showing a little bit of fire, my jealousy for Jase had abated. This would be more enjoyable than I thought.
“We should go into another room to discuss this. I have a feeling you’re one comment away from starting a fistfight with four of my friends. Not that I would mind watching you try. You might even have a shot with how high they are at the moment.”
Her body swung back my direction, eyes snapping up to lock with mine.
“That’s probably a good idea.”
The corner of my lip curled at her clipped tone of voice. I turned to leave the room with Luca stomping out behind me, Damon getting one last crack in before we were out of sight.
“Be sure to film that shit, Tanner. Porn sites pay good money for home videos.”
Luca growled at my back and I couldn’t help the grin that stretched my lips to hear it.
Stopping in place once I reached the foyer, I turned to Little Miss 4.0 GPA and glanced down at the paper clenched in her angry, tight fist.
“I’m afraid I can’t help you with your project, Luna -“
“Luca,” she sneered, “with a C.”
“Whatever. The point is me and you,” I wiggled a finger between us, “aren’t happening. Regardless of what your piece of paper tells you.”
We were totally happening, but I would make her fight for it.
Cocking a hip, she crossed her arms over her chest, the position forcing her breasts to push up enough for me to see she was sporting a nice handful at least. Not too big, not too small, just the way I liked them.
“My face is up here, Tanner.”
I leaned a shoulder against the wall and allowed my eyes to do a slow crawl up her body.
“As I was saying, it’s a no go on my end. But I’ll happily lie for you and claim I participated, if that’s what you want.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“That would be great except you’re supposed to deliver oral arguments with me during class. It’ll be kind of hard for me to pretend to be two people. Especially one who’s an arrogant jackass.”
“Did somebody say oral?”
My lips twitched when Luca rolled her eyes at Ezra’s question from the other room.
A bark of laughter shook my shoulders.
“Your words touch my heart. Perhaps you should march your little ass back to class and try to get assigned to a new senior advisor.”
“I tried that already. Professor Thornton said I was stuck with you.”
Until that moment, Luca had never said or done anything to truly surprise me. Sure, she showed a little spunk, but who wouldn’t when shoved around by a bunch of hecklers?
Hearing that she’d actively attempted to get out of working with me was a tiny little stab to the ego. Not huge. More like using a toothpick to poke an elephant, but still, it was there.
It wasn’t that I didn’t know she wouldn’t have a chance in hell of wriggling out of it. That was the entire point of the computer randomized assignments.
The professors preferred them in an effort to cut down on claims of favoritism, and to stop sniveling students for asking for changes when they were partnered with someone they didn’t know or like.
Which is exactly why I had Taylor hack the system and do exactly what the program wasn’t intended to do: Make sure Luca Bailey was stuck with yours truly, and for an added cherry on top of the fuck you sundae, I had him toss in the subject of emotional distress. The shits and giggles were endless.
The best place to attack her was through her grades, and now, poor little Luca glared up at me with nowhere to turn and no one to run to. Not the professor, not his ass kissing suck up of a T.A (also known as Luca’s boyfriend to my dismay and confusion) - Not a soul. Nobody...
But me.
Exactly as I’d intended.
The only response I gave to the little announcement that she’d attempted to change the assignment was a casual blink of my eyes and a grin.
“It sounds to me like you need a favor.”
Luca flinched, her shoulders tensing again, her eyes damn near bugging out of her head.
The second her lips pulled into such a tight line they almost disappeared, I knew she’d taken note of the rumors about us.
“No. I’m not asking anything of you. Not a damn thing. I’m merely suggesting you live up to your duty as a senior advisor and work on this project with me.”
The red color of her face deepened when I grinned.
“Except, I don’t have to. I can afford to get a shitty grade for not completing the assignment. My future is set already. But you, with your pristine GPA, can’t afford to take the hit. If you ask me, it’s in your best interest to take the deal. I work with you, and in return, you help me out sometime in the future, if and when I need it.”
It amused me she was so pissed off she hadn’t noticed I knew something about her beyond her name.
Why hadn’t she questioned the fact I knew her GPA? How is it people can be so blinded by rage that they miss the clues I toss out that I have an advantage over them?
Sometimes messing with people was far too easy. I’d hoped Luca would be different. But I was on the fence about how all of this would play out.
Shaking her head, Luca stormed away from me en route to the door, her generous ass teasing me as it bounced with every step. Spinning on her heel before reaching the door, she glared up at me, her little fists balled at her sides.
“What is your problem with me, Tanner? I haven’t done one thing to you and it seems like every time we get near each other, you’re either yelling at me or trying to make me the butt of some joke.”
&nbs
p; In truth, the only issue I had with Luca was that I needed something from her. Not me, actually. Warbucks needed something from her, and I was simply the henchman unleashed to get it.
If anything, Luca would have been a nice distraction for a night, a warm body to share my bed for however many hours it took for me to get bored with her. But that wasn’t how fate brought us together, and unfortunately for her, I was the bear-trap waiting to clamp down on her leg, one she wouldn’t escape unless she gnawed her way out of it.
Nobody likes to gnaw off their own leg.
She would take the deal. If not tonight, then tomorrow. I could be patient when I had to.
“Because you make it so easy.”
Snap. The camel’s back was broken, the teapot was shouting, and the blood inside her was boiling over with such red hot rage that her entire body quivered beneath the strain of it, her lips opening and closing so many times, she resembled a fish flopping out of water.
“You can fuck the hell off to fuck off mountain and take your fucked up offer with you, Tanner Caine.”
Shaking my head, I laughed to hear the f-bomb dropping from her lips like a leaky faucet. She didn’t seem the type, not with her modest clothing choices and strict adherence to manners and polite society.
“Just take the deal, Luca.”
“No.”
I took one step toward her. She took two steps back. It was a mating dance of sorts between the strong and the weak, the predator and the prey.
Her back hit a wall as I closed in on her, my arms coming up to cage her in, my head lowering until the tips of our noses touched and our lips were a teasing inch apart.
Trying not to remember how sweet those lips had tasted the last time we’d been this close, I lowered my voice to a gritty whisper.
“Has anybody ever told you it’s easier to catch a fly with honey than it is with vinegar?”
The heat between us was staggering. Never in my life had a girl aggravated me to the point of intense desire. I found myself running a slow trail down her body with my eyes, taking note of the way her chest moved with each harsh breath, and how her arms hung at her side, her hands balling and releasing as thoughts raced through her pretty little head.
With each inhalation of the air we shared, the tip of her breasts would rub against my chest, and damn if I didn’t like it.
It only aggravated me more. Who the hell was his woman and why was she being so difficult?
More importantly, why was I breathing deeper just to drag in the scent of her perfume? Something floral, not too sweet and not too heavy. Just right, the scent of a woman who wasn’t trying to attract attention, but still liked to take care of herself.
Our eyes met again as my knee nudged her legs to part, a sneer curling my lip to see her eyes widen and her mouth drop open. She was feeling the same thing as me.
I would use that to my advantage.
“We could work something out,” I crooned, rubbing the tip of my nose up her jawline so I could whisper against her ear.
A sharp gasp hissed over her lips, her hand coming up as if to slap me. I snatched her wrist before she could make contact, but her other hand flew up faster than I could react, her fingers latching on my ear to tug at it so hard pain shot down my neck.
“Son of a-“
I jumped back to break her hold, my eyes seeking hers as a grin curled the ends of her lips.
“Has anybody ever told you to keep your hands to yourself?”
“Actually,” I answered, rubbing at my ear, thankful it was still attached, “no. Most women I know are perfectly happy to have my hands all over them.”
“I’m not most women.”
I could tell, but I wouldn’t give Luca the satisfaction of agreeing with her openly.
The color slowly ebbed from her skin, her blue eyes glimmering with anger still.
“You can shove your deal up your ass. I’ll do the project on my own somehow.”
Pushing away from the wall, she stormed toward the door, pulled it open and was halfway through when I called out, “I’m sure I’ll be hearing from you soon, Luna.”
There was no way in hell she could do the project by herself.
“It’s Luca and don’t hold your breath. Actually, do hold your breath because then you’ll die and I can be assigned a new advisor.”
She didn’t have to tell me what I already knew.
Her full name was Luca Marie Bailey. She was born on August 17th. Her favorite color was blue, and she didn’t like sprinkles on her ice cream. She preferred landscape photos to selfies. She wasn’t athletic but loved the outdoors, and she had a cat named Gilbert that still lived with her parents back home in Georgia.
You could learn a lot about a person by scouring their social media and I had spent a fair amount of hours studying everything there was to know about her.
The door slammed shut behind her, a chorus of laughter breaking out in the other room.
It seemed the fucking peanut gallery enjoyed watching a woman turn me down for what had to be the first time in my life.
Oddly, I enjoyed it too.
Tanner
A week after my meeting with Luca, I was leaning against a wall, gripping my fingers around a thin pool cue.
The billiards room was packed by the eight men I’d always known, the afternoon quiet while we played a few rounds of pool waiting for the party that would begin in a few hours.
It was the same shit, different day, the guys laughing about whatever fights they started in random bars, or comparing notes on the women they’d fucked over the past few days.
Meanwhile, I was clenching my damn teeth, frustration riding me because of one particular woman who was proving to be a headache-inducing pain in the ass.
My father was on the way to the mansion, our phone call less than an hour ago filled with his bullshit warnings that if Luca Bailey wasn’t handled, he was going to make all of our lives a living hell. I didn’t know why she needed to be handled, just that we needed her under our thumb. Every time one of us asked, we were brushed off, told to do as we were told without worrying about the specifics.
What the asshat didn’t know was that Luca wasn’t as easy as the rest. She was the first woman I’d run across that didn’t quickly fall into the traps we’d set for her.
It pissed me off, but I caught myself smiling to think about how she’d told me off, to remember the muscle tick above her eye as she narrowed that cute as fuck stare on my face and told me where I could shove the deal I offered her.
It had been a week since our argument and rather than crawling back as I’d assumed she would do, she’d changed her entire routine at school, managing to dodge Gabriel’s attempts at finding her alone while refusing to come back to me for help with her project.
Stubborn as fuck, that girl.
And for some damn reason, that only made me want her more.
Balls clacked together, the sound forcing my eyes open to find Shane leaning over the table with a joint hanging between his lips, his mouth curled at the corner as Damon bragged about their efforts to rearrange some idiot’s face a few days ago for the fun of it.
It irritated me how the twins were beginning to enjoy the fights Shane always started for the fun of it. The twins had their own damn problems, their father dragging them off once every two weeks only to deliver them back to our door bruised up and bloody. Nobody would talk about what was happening to them.
The fucker was on his way here with my father. Yet, while Shane laughed as Damon described the bar fight, Ezra sat back with a dark shadow in his gaze.
“So after we left the son of bitch in a pile on the floor, the chick he was with asked for my number,” Damon said as he stood to grab the pool cue from Shane and take his shot. “I fucked her out back while her boyfriend cleaned the blood and piss from his pants in the bathroom.”
All of the guys laughed at Damon’s comment, all but me, at least. I was too busy eyeing Ezra, watching intently as he laughed along with every
one else with a tight expression. Something was wearing on him and I wanted to know what.
Unfortunately, my question was answered as soon as another voice rolled through the room, one I hoped every damn day would be permanently silenced.
“It’s good to know you boys are spending your days fucking around on bullshit rather than doing something far more constructive with your time.”
All heads snapped to the door at the sound of my father’s voice. Again, all but mine. I would rather spend as little time looking at his face as possible.
I didn’t fail to notice that Ezra’s expression darkened at the sound of my father’s voice, but only because I knew Ezra’s father was most likely standing in the doorway next to him.
“It’s good to see you again, boys.”
My father paused, no doubt giving me a fucking stare-down for refusing to look his direction.
“I assume the feeling is not mutual for all of you.”
Gabriel elbowed me, my eyes cutting right to meet his gaze. He cocked a brow, his mouth pulling into a tight line because, although he knew I’d rather see my father face down in a puddle of his own blood, it was a better bet to appease the assholes who still controlled our purse strings, at least for another five to six years.
Understanding his silent warning, the back of my head rolled over the wall as I turned to look at my father, our eyes locking immediately.
I’d inherited the blank expression from the man who now stared me down, but even though Daddy Dearest wanted to pretend my silence didn’t bother him, the cutting blade of his stare told me differently.
“Hello, father. How nice of you to drop by.”
He grinned, “Cut the shit, Tanner. I think it’s best you and I have a talk before we take off with the twins.”
Frustration speared my spine, their biweekly field trips with the twins irritating me more and more with each passing month.
“And where would you be taking them?”
He didn’t answer me, not that I thought he would. Nobody talked about what was happening with Ezra and Damon, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t figure it out eventually.