Total pages in book: 238
Estimated words: 231781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1159(@200wpm)___ 927(@250wpm)___ 773(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 231781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1159(@200wpm)___ 927(@250wpm)___ 773(@300wpm)
Turning around, I started to climb the ladder.
But then he said behind me, “Stay.”
“No.” I climbed out of the pool, water dripping down my body as their patronizing whistles went off around the room.
“Why not?” he called out.
“Because you’re disrespectful.” I looked at him over my shoulder. “I was working out here. Your mansions all have pools. Get out and go home, why don’t you?”
He stared at me, and I was just about to turn away and leave, but then he yelled, “Guys!” His eyes stayed on me. “Do me a favor? Get out and go home.”
“Huh?” someone said.
“What?” came another voice.
“I mean it,” he told them. “Go home. Now.”
I narrowed my eyes. Aw, what a gesture. Flexing his muscles to prove he had the strength of a playground bully and the moral compass of a tube sock.
I rolled my eyes and walked over to the bench, picking up my towel.
Water sloshed behind me, and grumbles continued, slowly fading away as the locker room doors opened and closed.
When I turned around only Will remained, staring at me from where I left him in the pool.
“Why don’t you like me?” he asked.
I ignored him, wringing out my ponytail.
“And what happened to your legs?” he questioned next.
I tensed, but I didn’t look down to see what he was talking about. Minor bruises dotted my legs, but my arms, torso, and back were worse. I’d made sure to cover those with the rash guard.
I slipped on my flip-flops, but I heard movement in the water and looked back to see him leaning over the edge and gazing up at me.
“Why were you coming out of the cathedral last Saturday night?”
I cocked an eyebrow. Stalker.
Throwing the towel over my shoulder, I took the goggles off my head and started for the locker room.
“Stay,” he said again.
And something about how he said it made my insides shake a little. Slowly, I stopped.
Stay.
I had no doubt I’d love everything about staying with him for an hour. If he went slow, then maybe two hours.
I’d let him mess with my head and take me away, because every day more and more of me needed my head messed with. I needed away.
But…
“What are we going to do?” I asked quietly.
When he didn’t answer, I turned around.
“Will we play?” I inquired. “Will you make me smile?”
He didn’t reply, just watched me, his chest rising and falling harder.
“What did you want to happen?” I pressed. “How would it go if I stayed with you here?”
I dropped my towel and goggles, and I approached him, crouching at the edge of the pool and staring down at him.
“Maybe I’ll joke around with your friends, and we’ll all laugh,” I told him, imagining things that would never happen and he knew it. “You’ll touch me and whisper things in my ear. They’ll take the hint and leave us alone, and I won’t be able to resist you. I won’t want to, right?”
His eyes sharpened on me, but he listened.
“You’ll press me against that wall,” I jerked my chin to the one near the girls’ locker room door, “and I’ll let you have me, because your attention feels so good.”
I had no doubt that part would be true.
“And tomorrow, we’ll walk down the hallway, hand in hand, and everyone will know we’re in love, right?”
He cocked his head and hooded his eyes, knowing what I was up to now.
I breathed out a laugh. “Come on, Will,” I said. “I have nothing you want. I’m not a happy person. Ever. We don’t mesh. Your life is trite to me, far removed from reality, and I thought your views on Lolita were repugnant, and worse, dangerous.”
His jaw flexed, his green gaze turning defiant.
“I hate your friends,” I continued. “I don’t want to be around any of them. Except Kai, maybe. One of three Asian kids in a school full of WASPs, he, at least, has some clue what it’s like to be me.”
Pretty sure the only other Jewish kid graduated last year.
“And you have nothing I want,” I went on. “You coast through everything, so where does your character come from? I don’t want to have fun with you, because there’s nothing and no one you don’t use. I don’t respect you.”
He tipped his chin down, looking angry now as he glared.
“In twenty years, you’ll all be your fathers—powerful, wealthy, and with a string of mistresses your wives will be drugging themselves in order to forget that you have.” I stood up, looking down on him. “But even as Masters of the Universe, Will Grayson III will never forget that I was one notch on his belt that he could never get. I’m not going to let you win this one. At least, I’ll have that.”
I started to walk away, but before I knew what was happening, he’d jumped up, grabbed my arm, and yanked me down into the pool.