Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 57044 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57044 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Out of the corner of my eye I see Malcolm watching with amusement. The dark-haired boy drinking upside down falls and stumbles. It creates a chain reaction, people falling into one another and stumbling until a girl crashes into me. I go crashing into the kitchen counter, and as I do, I hear something shatter against the floor.
Looking down, my stomach drops through the earth as I see what’s happened. The girl crashing into me shoved the vase I took out of my over-full purse, and now the stolen proof is in pieces all over the floor.
Oh no.
“What is that?” Any signs of flirtation or kindness that were in Malcolm’s voice just a minute ago are gone, replaced by a barren wasteland of anger and cold.
“It’s nothing,” I gasp.
“It’s not nothing, it’s from the shelf upstairs,” he says. “In fact, I’m pretty sure that that’s the Granite House heirloom that’s been in this house since the founding of the university.”
I feel my face go pale. “What?”
He doesn’t look like he’s joking, and I realize that the entire room has gone utterly silent.
“There has to be a mistake,” I say quietly.
Malcolm nods to the poker room. “Let’s talk for a minute.”
I can only swallow as I head into the room, and I hear him tell someone to pick up the pieces carefully, and preserve them. He shuts the door behind him. “Why are you really here?”
“I thought that we went through this already,” I say weakly.
“And we’re about to do it again,” he says, “because I don’t think you came here just to pledge to this house if you’re snooping around and stealing.”
I shake my head. “That wasn’t…that wasn’t what I was doing.”
Malcolm intentionally stalks forward and when he invades my space this time it’s exhilarating and terrifying. “And now lying?” His mouth curves into a vindictive smile, and his voice is deadly quiet. “Do you know who I am, Juno? I’m Malcolm Levar. My father is the chancellor of the university and I can have your admission revoked with one fucking phone call. You’re in my house—the house that belongs to my family and the fraternity that we founded. And you just stole and broke an heirloom that’s priceless. So tell me why the fuck you’re here.”
My stomach plummets through the floor, and I find the words flying out of my mouth. “It was a dare. Pledge to the house and spend the night. Get proof. Go back afterward and be a hero.”
“A dare by who?”
I shake my head. “It’s not their fault. I’m the one who accepted. It’s on me.” I’m not going to rat out the Tri Deltas. His father is the chancellor, and he could just as easily revoke their sorority status over this as he could expel me.
“Well you tell whoever it was that you do not fuck with my house.”
I swallow hard. “I… okay.” It’s impossible to say anything else right now, in the face of his anger.
“And you’re going to pay for that heirloom.”
I swallow again. “H-how much did it cost?”
That venomous grin again. I don’t know why it makes my stomach flip in a way that it shouldn’t, but the breath in my chest is shallow, and I’m reliving our kiss even as this man is trying to blackmail me. God, I need to get a grip. “The last time it was appraised it was worth three hundred thousand dollars.”
I feel like the world is spinning, and I’m not sure if it’s his closeness or the fucking atomic bomb that he just dropped on my head, or both. “I don’t have that kind of money,” I say, gasping. “I’m here on scholarship.”
Malcolm steps away from me and casually sits in his chair at the poker table. He’s completely at ease, the way he’s sprawling in the chair reminding me of a lion. I’m entirely at his mercy as he stalks in for the kill. “I’m sure we can come to another arrangement.”
I don’t say anything, waiting for him to speak.
“I officially welcome you as a pledge to Granite House. You live here for the year, and your debt is paid, Juno.”
There’s so much adrenaline in my veins that I’m shaking. I clench my hands into fists so that he won’t see. “That’s all?” I ask. “I stay and be your housemate for the year, that’s all you want from me?”
He clicks his tongue, disapproving. “I said you would live in this house. I did not say that you would be my housemate.”
I’m not sure that I want to know the answer to the question, but I need to know it anyway. It’s not like I have another choice. There’s no way I can afford to pay back that kind of money. “Then… what would I be?”
He toys with a poker chip absently. “My assistant. My maid. Whatever I need you to be, Juno.” His eyes rise to mine, filled with impossible heat and also unyielding anger. “You will be my personal plaything. My pet. I own you.”