Tough Shit (Rejects Paradise 1)

“Oh, I am,” Milo says, a grin spreading wide over his face. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

I shake my head but for some reason, I can’t help laughing. There’s something about this guy that I like. I don’t know what it is, but I feel as though I can trust him. He’s still one of them but he knows a little something about being different in a man’s world and for that, he has my respect.

“Are you ready for this?” he questions after we’ve completed the whole loop of the school.

“Ready for what?”

“The last thing on your tour is finding your locker and this is where everyone is going to be. You thought those hallways were bad, just wait until you walk in here.”

My eyes bug out of my head as he starts turning the corner. “Really?”

Milo nods as we take one final step, putting us at the head of the corridor swarming with man-boys. “Welcome to hell.”

Within seconds, the corridor goes silent as hundreds of pairs of eyes turn my way. “Oh, shit,” I mutter under my breath.

“Yup. Let’s go. The longer you stand here looking like a deer in headlights, the weaker they think you are.”

Fuck.

I force my feet to move beneath me, feeling like I’m not just walking into the lion’s den, but as though I’m strutting right into it and pissing all over the lion’s territory. My eyes bounce around and I do my best to appear as though I have my shit together, but the fear begins to rattle me.

I shouldn’t be here. I should be chilling with the chicks, getting bleach thrown over me, and listening to girls claim I’m a slut for living in the Carrington mansion. Chicks are predictable, but dudes … nope. I’ve spent years trying to work out Nic, Eli, Sebastian, and Kairo, but still to this day, they’re a mystery and now I have a school full of mysteries staring back at me.

I hear their comments as I pass.

“Fresh meat.”

“Who the fuck is this?”

“Dibs.”

Milo steps in closer to my side, his tall frame brushing up against mine. “Ignore them,” he murmurs, glancing down at my papers in his hand and nodding off to the left of the corridor. “Here. Locker 367.”

Milo and I step into my locker and he scans the paper once again for the code. “I give it about three seconds before the rumors start,” he tells me. “Prepare yourself.”

I hardly have a second to respond before a heavy shoulder slams into the locker beside me. “So, you’re the famous Jade I keep hearing about.”

I groan knowing this guy could have only heard that name from one place. I turn to face the guy as Milo grunts behind me. “You’ve got the wrong chick, Spencer. This is Ocean. She’s starting today. Don’t be a douche.”

Ahh … so this is Spencer. The moronic fourth friend who had disappeared while Charlie was trying to get in my pants. I can only imagine the kinds of things Colton has told him about me.

Spencer’s eyes flick up to Milo over my shoulder and the look he gives him is nearly enough to chill me to the bones, but it doesn’t hold that same deadliness that Colton’s glare does. “Fuck off, Milo.”

Milo scoffs. “Yeah, right. Like I’m about to leave her with you.”

Spencer rolls his eyes and as they drop back to mine, I can’t help but take him in. He’s just as charmingly attractive as the rest of the guys around here but there’s a certain level of douchiness to him, and I can’t work out if it’s there because he’s team Colton or if the guy is simply just a dick. What I do know is that he has some wicked jawline action going on, mixed with his mousy brown hair and tall, ripped frame, I don’t doubt that he’s a heartbreaker. You can just tell he’s all about the games.

“Well, well,” he says, pursing his lips into a smug grin. “If it isn’t the illegitimate love-child of Charles Carrington.”

Okay. I was expecting all sorts of shit to come from today but I can guarantee that wasn’t one of them. My mouth drops open. “Excuse me?”

His brow shoots up. “Oh, you’re going to take the denial route. That’s cool. I had you pegged as a tough bitch who’d face it front on. Apparently not.”

“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. I’m no one’s love-child.”

Spencer scoffs, his eyes sparkling with excitement. “You know, I always took Charles for being the clean-cut type, but your mom must really have something special about her to get him to admit to your existence and move you in. No wonder Colt has his panties in such a twist. I’d have the shits too if my inheritance just got reduced by billions. It’s bad enough he has to share it with his bitch twin sisters, but now you too.”