The Love of My Bully

“Ugh, I don’t like how smug you are. I don’t want you here. Get out.”

“I’m not leaving.”

“And I don’t want you here. How’s that going to work?”

Drake laughed. “I’ve always been curious about how the other half lives.”

“Other half?”

“Your house is really small.” He smiled as he heard her growl. She was so freaking cute when she was angry. Seeing her lose control made him hot as well.

“Damn it, Drake. I mean it. My parents could be home any minute.”

“And you’d only introduce me as your friend. Let’s not think anything else that would happen. They’d probably be happy that you’ve finally gotten a good friend.”

“They adore Sean. They wouldn’t care about you. They’re not greedy and won’t be bought off just because of who you are.”

“For a clever girl, you sure do act stupid.” He saw all the pictures on the wall. None of them were from famous artists. They were all family photos of Pru at different ages, and also of her parents.

In all of them, they looked happy. They weren’t even professionally done. For the only photos he’d taken with his parents there had been a minimum of three photographers, along with makeup designers, and everything that a set would need to make them all look like the perfect family.

He’d hated it. The fakeness of his family. The lies each photo sold. There was no truth in a single image. The pictures here, they were all natural. There were no expectations.

“It must be nice,” he said.

“What must be nice?”

He turned to find Pru with her arms folded. He had a slight smile on his face. “Nothing.”

“Do you and your family have pictures taken? I don’t see the draw.”

“Do you like your parents?” he asked, avoiding her question.

“Of course. I love them. They’re my parents and they’ll do anything for me. I don’t understand what all of this is. Why are you even here?”

“I figured we could hang out.”

“Hang out?”

“Do you have a repeat button on or something?”

“I don’t understand what you want from me, Drake. Why do you want to hang out when you’ve got all of your other friends?”

He stared at her, wondering the exact same thing. There were his friends back home. The ones who were playing his games, probably drinking his father’s expensive scotch. There was any number of girls he could call to keep him company, and yet, here he was. Waiting for something.

Hanging out with Pru seemed like the best idea of them all.

“You know, I can’t have a picture taken unless it’s a selfie and then my mom likes to photoshop it so it’s perfect. I’m not allowed to upload anything that makes me look bad.” He didn’t know why he was talking. “We don’t have stuff like this. We’re always standing there stiffly as if we’ve got a giant stick up our asses.”

“Drake?”

“I don’t want pity.”

“I’m not giving it to you. I just … you’re confusing me. I don’t know what you want from me.”

“I don’t want anything from you. Believe it or not. My friends came by and I just, I wanted something real.”

She gave him that confused look again and he didn’t like it. “Real? You think you can be real with me but not anyone else?” she asked.

“I don’t know what I’m saying.” He shoved his hands into his pockets, looking at anywhere but her.

“Drake, you don’t have to lie to me.”

“I’m not lying to you. Okay? I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing here. You can’t tell me you don’t feel it whenever I’m around.”

She didn’t say anything and he had to look at her.

Pru was staring right back at him. “The kiss again?” she asked.

“Tell me you don’t think about it.”

“Drake, we’re enemies.”

“We don’t have to be.”

“But we are. You need to see that. We’re not good for each other.”

He took a step toward her, then another, not caring about anything else but to see her, to feel her against him. When he stood right in front of her, he reached out, cupping her chin. This, to him, felt like the most natural thing in the world. He didn’t get it or understand it, but it was there.

“Drake?”

“Shut up, Pru. Haven’t you ever noticed that things get complicated when we talk?”

She snorted. “What are you wanting from me?”

He looked at her lips. They were so ripe and full. He wanted to taste her again. He ran his thumb across her lip, watching her.

Why hadn’t he ever realized she was pretty?

Leaning forward, he found that her lips were just too much temptation to deny. He should stop, he knew that. His parents would hate for him to be with someone like Pru. She wasn’t in the same league as him. They probably already had a wife picked out for him. A girl with way more money than sense and who knew how to prance around in their world with the right image. Pru was so far removed from what his parents considered a good match. They wouldn’t see anything other than her lack of wealth and prospects.