by Bella King
I stretched in the beautiful morning rays of sunlight spilling through my white curtains. I let the sunlight dance on my skin as I absorbed its energy to start my day with. A delectable experience if I ever knew one, but one which had spoiled me so often that I had grown to take it for granted. That was one of the pains of being rich, I suppose. Passion dies when it’s too easy to obtain.
I let myself rest in a standing position in front of my window, naked in the sun. I was comfortable like this, and had the urge to stay, but my body knew the time better than I did. I twirled around and put one foot in front of the other toward the bathroom. It was time to shower.
My body always guided me through the morning, and often throughout the day. My internal clock was impeccable, but this time, I felt some reluctance. There was something pulling at me, begging me to break my regular rhythm and dive into the horrible unknown.
That’s what it felt like, anyway. Horrible.
I knew that it had to do with Dylan. He was shaking me out of my normal routine whether he knew it or not. I liked it, but it would take some getting used to. Old habits die hard, and my immaculate routine was more than just a habit. It was my lifestyle.
I came out of the shower all hot and steamy, thinking about Dylan and what he might do when we were at school. I enjoyed that he pushed boundaries. To be honest, if he didn’t, we probably wouldn’t get very far. I had no experience with men, and so I didn’t know how to initiate anything even if I wanted to.
I wasn’t paying attention to the time because I didn’t think I needed to. I was always perfectly in sync with the clock, so that when I was dressed and ready to leave, I had plenty of time to get to school. Today was different.
I looked at the clock when I was finally out of the bathroom, checking the time even though I already knew what it was going to be. It was the same every time. My eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw that I was a full five minutes later than I always was. To a normal person, that would mean nothing, but to me, it felt like I had warped into the future somehow. How was this possible?
I was really fucked up on this romance shit. I needed to pull myself together so that I didn’t fall apart completely this week. I was sure there would be more of Dylan to come, and if I couldn’t even handle myself after a few days of him, I couldn’t imagine what I would be like after a week.
Sure, it wasn’t the end of the world that I wasn’t manically on schedule, but for me it was a sign that something wasn’t right with my brain. I shook my head at myself and got dressed quickly, no longer feeling that beat that I seemed to dance to every morning when I was getting ready. It was like Dylan had stolen my drum.
I rushed down to the basement to retrieve my morning energy drink, disregarding any imaginary demons that may have been waiting down there for me. Today, I was in too much of a hurry to be afraid. I guess that was progress, if nothing else was.
I drove to school quickly, being more careful since the accident that had brought Dylan and me together. If I happened to get in another one, I would be able to handle any more romance! One guy was more than enough for me, and I wasn’t even sure if I could call what was going on romance. Was it lust, or something more? I wasn’t sure.
I dashed up the wide steps to Blackstone Academy, breezing past a few other students who were taking their sweet time getting into the building. It seemed like anyone who arrived early would congregate outside the school, unwilling to enter until they absolutely had to. That wasn’t me. I liked to be early.
When I got to my locker, who should be there but Dylan himself? He was leaning across it, looking me up and down like a snack as I walked up to him. He looked good today, with his normally wrinkled shirt fixed up into crisp white linen like everyone else. He had obviously put in more effort today, and I appreciated that. He was showing up for me.
“Good morning,” he said, flashing a crooked grin. He would never be able to look pristine like other people in my bracket, but that’s what made him so perfect to me. His crooked smile told stories that no generic grin could even begin to tell.
“Good morning. You’re quite early,” I noted.
“I’m always early,” he said.
I couldn’t verify that, so I let it slide. I didn’t pay much attention to anyone this early in the morning. I was usually focused on mentally preparing myself for another long day of classes. High school sucked a lot of the time.
I looked at him, feeling something odd in the pit of my stomach. It wasn’t fear or dread this time, more like an unusual fluttering. I couldn’t pin it down to one place either. It seemed to move around my lower stomach and up into my chest when Dylan looked into my eyes.
Dylan smirked, able to read my reaction to his presence. “We should have lunch together. Maybe you can buy me something better than the shit I always eat, rich girl,” he said, his voice playful instead of cruel as he spoke.
“I’ll get you whatever you want,” I replied.
He chuckled. “I want you, then.”
Just those simple words made me feel like he had hooked me up to a thousand electric volts and shocked me to the core. I was affected by him more and more every day, but today things were coming to a peak. I knew something was going to happen soon.
“You can have me if you’re patient,” I teased.
“And if I’m not?” He asked, leaning in a placing a hand over me, pinning me against the locker.
I shrunk beneath his towering frame. He was over six feet tall, with a massive built. He could have been a football player if he wanted to, but I suppose he was too busy working to have time for sports. It was a shame that he didn’t have the money, because he could go a lot further if he did.
I almost forgot his question as I took in small, sharp breaths, trying to keep myself from passing out under his alarmingly intense stare. His eyes shone even in the darkness of his shadow, and his muscles popped beneath the cool linen of his shirt.
“If you’re not patient, then you won’t have me,” I managed to squeak.
His calm chuckle sent chills down my spine. The little hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up as he leaned in. He breathed through his nose, but I could still smell the mint and spices that he probably used beforehand to freshen his breath with.
Dylan ran his tongue over his bottom lip. “I’ll have you anyway, Scarlet. I’m not going to let you slip away from me,” he said, his voice no more than a throaty growl.
I shivered. It wasn’t the caffeine in my drink making me this jittery. My heart was beating a thousand times a minute and was starting to grow hot. Why was I shivering if I was hot?
“I know you like that,” he said, placing a hand down on my leg and running a single finger up my thigh.
I pushed his hand down as he brought up my skirt in the hallway. This wasn’t the time, nor the place for that to happen.
Dylan chuckled at me resistance but backed away. “Your place. Tonight,” he said, turning around.
“And what if I’m not ready?” I called out after him.
He didn’t turn around. He just kept walking, giving a small shrug as he disappeared around the corner.
Chapter 16
Dylan
It was a gamble, but I was almost certain that it would work. Not only would I be enjoying Scarlet in her own bed tonight, but I would have access to the house. That was the most important part. My plan would never work if all I was doing was bedding the woman of my dreams. There was much more to it.
I had arrived at school early, not entirely because of Scarlet, but also because I needed to do the overdue homework that Mr. Smith would undoubtedly hold me back after class for if I didn’t turn it in. I was smarter this time, and the events that had plagued me this week weren’t going to diminish my drive to succeed. If anything, the struggle had filtered out what was truly important in my life. I could thank poverty for that.
I breezed through classes, eagerly awaiting the confrontation that I would have after school with Scarlet. She still
acted coy about fucking me, but I knew she would tonight. Girls like her try to act shy, but I can tell when they’re dying for a go with me. I wasn’t ugly. In fact, I knew myself to be quite the opposite. Maddie had been obsessed with me, and I felt a similar vibe from Scarlet.
She was still many leagues above me, which is why I could safely say that I was hitting a home run by getting her to fall for me. If I had known that it would be this simple, then I wouldn’t have crept in the shadows like some sort of stalker the whole time I knew about her.
She made me feel more powerful, but less sure of what I needed to do. There was something eating at the back of my mind, telling me to let it go and pursue something long-term with her, but I silenced it the moment it came up. I had a plan, and I intended to stick to it. Love was a façade anyway.
I turned in my homework at the end of Mr. Smith’s class, the previous week’s homework stapled to the back of it. I wasn’t sure if he was going to count it, but it was better than doing nothing. I had to win favor with the teachers here if I was going to improve my life. I felt motivated to do that for some reason.
Alright, I knew the reason. It was Scarlet. Ever since we had gotten involved, I felt like I had to achieve so much more in life, like I was trying to impress her. I wasn’t even sure if she would be impressed by me, but I tried harder anyway. I kept telling myself it was only to get into her head so that I could use her, but I knew, deep down inside, that there was more to it.
Emotions are a tricky thing. I knew that much already. After my father had killed himself, I had no control over any of the emotions I had felt. I cried myself to sleep every night and spent the days in anger at him and everyone who had ever wronged him. I was an uncontrollable ball of emotions until I finally figured out how to stuff them all down inside and lock them away in a forgotten place. That worked out better for me.
I began to improve after that. I used the anger to fuel my life and plans for revenge. Simple things that I would have never thought about before had become overwhelmingly difficult, but I had the strength to overcome them. My father’s death made me the man I was today, but I wasn’t all the way complete. I needed to take care of my mother, to lead our family back into success and wealth, and I was going to use Scarlet to do it.
Once the end-of-school bell rang, I scrambled to get my stuff together and go outside before anyone else got out. I wanted to be there, waiting for Scarlet when she left school. I needed to drill into her tonight that we were going to have sex at her place. The sex part wasn’t the most important, but I suspected it was the only way she would let someone as poor as me have access to her expensive home.
I paced back and forth outside the front of the building, squinting in the glaring evening sun as I felt beads of sweat form on my hairline. For how late into summer it was, it was still relentlessly hot outside. I could barely stand it, but I wasn’t going to go back inside and risk missing Scarlet.
After what felt like ages but was probably only a few minutes, people began flooding out of the building. Scarlet took her time coming out, as usual, but once she did step out of the front door, she spotted me immediately. I knew that she had been looking for me, because she walked right up to me with a satisfied smile on her face.
“Hey there,” she said, her voice probably flirtier than she realized.
Yep, this was going to be easy. I unbuttoned the top button of my shirt, letting the tattoos I had on my chest peek out. “Hey, are we taking your car or mine?”
She recoiled, cocking her head with a half-smile, half-frown. “What do you mean?”
“You’re going to take me to your place tonight,” I said, not giving her room for debate.
She laughed. “You seem awfully sure about that,” she replied, messing with her jet-black hair. She was unable to hide her attraction toward me. This might be even easier than I thought it would be.
“Yes, I am sure about that. I’d like to show you something,” I said.
“What is that?” She asked.
“I think I’d catch a case if I showed you out here on school grounds, don’t you think?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
She laughed again, going along with my flirting. “Aren’t we moving too fast?” She asked, but I knew that she was just testing me. She wanted me to break through the wall that she was putting up. It wasn’t like I had never dealt with this before.
I held out a hand. “Hey, I never said we were going to do anything you weren’t comfortable with. I’d just like to hang out for a bit.”
She knew just as well as I did where this would lead. The choice she made now would seal her fate. Either she was going to be screwed, literally, or I would be figuratively screwed. I waited, maintaining my calm demeanor even though I was screaming inside for her to just give in already and take me to her place.
She flashed a smile. “I’ll drive, because I don’t want my parents seeing your car in the driveway.”
“Are they home?” I asked.
“Probably not, but they’re a little unpredictable. I think they went out for the week without telling me.”
“Sounds like the perfect week to me,” I replied, silently celebrating in my head. This was going to be too easy. With nobody home but Scarlet and I, the entire house was going to be at my fingertips when she went to sleep.
“Sounds like you need to behave yourself. You’re just coming over to hang out,” she cautioned.
“Of course,” I said, knowing that wasn’t the case. I wasn’t nearly that stupid.
Scarlet took my hand in hers, leading me away from the school and to her car. Her touch was so soft and so lovely that I almost forgot to hate her. It was funny how that worked.
Chapter 17
Scarlet
I knew what Dylan was after, and I was tempting fate by bringing him over to my house. He had his hand on my thigh the entire way there, creeping it up my skirt slowly until we arrived. When I pulled into the driveway, his hand was playing with the edge of my panties, making me wetter than I had ever been.
Fuck, if things continued like this, I wouldn’t even make it to the bedroom before I was naked, and he was inside of me. The feels he was giving me were that intense. I doubted that this would end in another way.
My parents weren’t home, which was a blessing. I was afraid that in all the excitement, they would come and interrupt us, killing a beautiful moment. Currently, they were still out on their getaway, probably more to do with business than anything else. They weren’t terribly keen on taking any real vacations. Even when they did end up on a beach somewhere, it was usually to meet with some oil tycoon and do business.
Out of sight, out of mind. I didn’t have to worry about them tonight, so I was free to enjoy the house fully with Dylan. I could tell he was eager to get to the action, but I wanted to take things slower. This probably wasn’t his first time, but for me it was.
“Do you want a tour of the house?” I asked him as I unlocked the door.
He nodded enthusiastically.
I was surprised by this, because I had assumed that he was going to jump on me and take me right in the hallway as soon as we got inside. Clearly, he was more of a gentleman than I thought he was.
I let us both in and slipped out of my shoes at the door, leaving my socks on because it was always just a little bit too cold in the house. My mother kept the A/C on full blast during the summer, even as the weather began to cool down.
“Wow,” I heard Dylan exclaim from behind me. I turned to see him standing at the doorway, his hands planted on his small hips, marveling at his surroundings.
I laughed. “If you like the hallway so much, you’re really going to enjoy my bedroom.”
He didn’t seem to get my joke. He just kept ogling at the decorations in the hallway.
I was surprised by his behavior even though I shouldn’t have been. He lived in a trailer park, and I lived in one of the nicest houses in the entire state. I was used to having guests over that were far wealthier than I
was, so seeing him admiring the place with such awe humbled me. I should have been more grateful for the life I had.
“Do you want anything to drink?” I asked him, waving a hand in front of his face.
Dylan snapped out of his daze, shaking his head lightly and looking at me. “It’s amazing in here,” he said.
I chuckled. “I asked you if you wanted anything to drink. Maybe juice or a soda?”
He nodded. “Juice is fine,” he said, then continued to look around.
I decided to leave him to go to the kitchen. I could use a drink myself, and it would take him ages to get to the kitchen with all the nice stuff in the halls on the way. He could enjoy the scenery while I prepared something for both of us. Maybe by that time we would have settled down a bit.
I walked to the kitchen, weaving around white couches and rooms full of exotic spectacles on the way there. I never stopped to look at any of the stuff that we had, but Dylan’s fascination with it made me take a second look as I passed through a room with hand-made silk carpets and the skeletons of some long-extinct animals for display on the tables. It was like living in a museum at some points.
I got to the kitchen and went to the tall silver fridge, pulling it open and searching the many shelves for my favorite juice. I was sure that Dylan wouldn’t care what kind we drank, so I picked the same one for both of us. It was grape – simple flavor, but my absolute favorite. Plus, it was 100% juice, which I liked to think was healthier than the corn syrup and water mixtures that we also had. To be truthful though, they both held next to zero nutritional value.
I grabbed too wide crystal glasses out of the cabinet and sat them down on the sparkling granite countertop. A lot of the rooms used marble, but I never really liked the stuff. There was so much more that you could do with granite. This particular countertop was a black one with flecks of actual gold in it.
