Tough Shit (Rejects Paradise 1)

I’ll be damned if Colton Carrington ever gets the best of me again.

Chapter 15

Colton’s Veneno comes to a stop in the massive garage and I gawk as I glance around. I’ve never been in here before but it’s just as I was hoping. It’s piled high with collector cars. It’s like a fucking showroom in here. Absolutely insane.

Dad would be in heaven, though he already is.

I get out of the car and seeing as though there’s no other door out of his garage, I have no choice but to cut through the house to get out to the pool house and unfortunately for me, that probably means running into Harrison. I didn’t see him this morning but I’d be smart to assume that he’s still not moved past my little tantrum last night.

Mom though, I don’t know how she’s going to feel about this. She’s not one to hold a grudge and had said her piece last night, but this is a different world and we have more at stake now. I promised her that I’d be on my best behavior and in one easy go, I snapped that promise like a twig. Besides, while she’ll never admit that she likes her job as a housekeeper for some rich guys, I know she really loves it here. She feels important in her role, needed, and appreciated. It’s not a feeling that comes around often in Breakers Flats.

I follow Colton out of the garage and just like everywhere else we’ve gone today, it’s done in absolute silence. “Where the hell have you been?” Charles roars the second we step out of the foyer, making me wonder if he’d been sitting here waiting all day when in reality he probably just had Harrison notify him when the Veneno came through the front gates.

Colton spins around and I stand in the opening of the foyer as awkwardly as possible. “Took the boat out,” Colton says factually.

Charles raises a brow and a vein appears at his temple, the only sign that he’s about to blow. “You did what?” he roars. “You knew what today was. Do you have any idea how incompetent you made yourself and this family look?”

Colton scoffs. “Fuck this family and your goddamn board. I don’t want to take over your stupid business and I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about your fucked up business meetings. Leave me the fuck out of them.”

Charles looks taken back but it’s clear this isn’t a new argument. “When I schedule you a meeting with the board, I expect you to be there. I don’t care what you want in life. You will take over the business and you’ll do it with a fucking smile on your face.”

I gape at the man who, up until now, has always seemed so incredibly nice. He’s always been hospitable, caring, and welcoming, but right now, I’m seeing a completely different person. It’s as though the Charles I met during the week, the one who helped me with the stupid sexist school doesn’t even exist. Was it all an act? Because this man right here, this is the real Charles Carrington, the arrogant rich asshole I was expecting him to be all along. So why the act? Why try and get mom and me on board with the Mr. Wonderful routine?

Colton scoffs and goes to walk away but when Charles steps toward him, Colton flinches and my back straightens. What the fuck was that about?

As if remembering that he’s bigger than Charles, Colton raises his chin and narrows his eyes. “Find someone else to take over your precious business.”

“Keep talking like that and you’ll be finding some other rich bastard to fund your luxurious lifestyle.”

Colton narrows his eyes at his father but it doesn’t last long as Charles’ rage turns on me. “Is this your doing?”

“My doing?” I question, throwing my hands up in innocence.

“Your little outing with my son,” he demands, stepping toward me. “Don’t think I didn’t notice your scandalous behavior at last night’s event. Dancing with that Rinaldi boy all night and then trying to make a fool of my son by pouring drinks all over him and causing a scene. Don’t act like I don’t know about those boys you have coming and going from the pool house all the time.”

“I…”

“ANSWER ME?” he roars.

Colton steps in front of me, stealing his father’s attention and saving me from his scrutiny. “She had nothing to do with it. I took her because I knew you were going to be like this.”

All I can do is gape at him as the fear runs down my spine. Who the fuck is this man? Who the fuck are both of them? But more importantly, did Colton just protect me from his father? I don’t understand it. Ever since I’ve gotten here he’s tried to intimidate me, bully me, threaten some bullshit war, but when it comes down to it, he does this? If anything, he should be throwing me to the wolves, but one thing is for sure, Colton’s ‘had no choice,’ comment from earlier is starting to make sense