Tough Shit (Rejects Paradise 1)

All too soon I pull up at the salon and I reluctantly get out of the car. Maybe on the way back, I’ll take it for a little joy ride, but first, I need to deal with me.

I walk into the salon and the moment the lady behind the counter takes me in, her features break. “Oh, honey. Come on through. We’ve got you.”

Chapter 18

My hair flows in soft waves down my back and while it’s not as thick and now a little shorter with some new layers, it’s a million times better than it was before. Well, for what Colton just paid, he’d want to hope it was fucking perfect. I nearly died at the cost but I guess that is what you get for coming to a salon in Bellevue Springs. I could have driven to the salon back home but there’s no doubt in my mind that the Veneno would have been stolen by the time I was done.

I spent two hours with the hairdresser slowly massaging the shit out of my hair. She had to use some heavy-duty stuff but in the end, it started to come out and when it was all gone, the desperation within my soul finally began to dissipate until I was feeling normal again. Well, normal isn’t the right word. I’m far from normal and come tomorrow at school, I’ll be fucking those five boys up. Hell, I bet I could even get Charlie on board, you know after I kick his ass for caring more about his precious Ferrari.

The hairdresser gave me some products—courtesy of Colton of course— that will help to strengthen it back to its former glory. I threw in a little makeup, some nail polishes, and some styling products for mom to top it off.

To be honest, I feel a little bad about stealing Colton’s credit card and charging over eight hundred dollars to it, but I can’t find it in me to regret it. Besides, I doubt eight hundred dollars is really going to break the bank. Charles’ business probably earns over a million dollars per hour. Though, that still didn’t stop me from gawking at the hairdresser when she told me the price. I nearly died, but with a swipe of the card, it was all over.

After receiving my millionth call from Colton, I turn off my phone and drop back down into his Veneno. At least this time I will actually enjoy my ride.

I turn on the car and feel the purr of the engine. It’s perfect. I’d give my world to own something like this one day but unfortunately, my world isn’t going to be enough.

I drive through the streets, taking my sweet ass time and feeling the anger slipping away. An hour passes before I pull back into the driveway of the Carrington mansion and come to a stop right by the front stairs.

I’ve hardly stepped out of the car before Colton is flying through the door and storming down the stairs while looking over his Veneno in a way that suggests he doesn’t trust me not to break it. “You stole my fucking car,” he hollers, his voice echoing over the massive property.

I walk up to him and place the keys gently into his hand before stretching up onto my tippy toes. I press a feather-soft kiss to his cheek that has him rearing back from me. “Thank you,” I murmur, offering him a warm smile.

His brows furrow and I step away before quickly hurrying back and pulling the credit card out of my back pocket. “Here you go. I’m done with this.”

He looks at me as though I’m some sort of alien but I leave it in the past as I waltz up the sixty-six stairs leading to the front door. By the time I’m reaching for the door, Colton is by my side and pulling me to a stop. “What the hell was that?” he demands. “You can’t just take my car whenever the fuck you want. I was calling you.”

“Oh,” I say, wide-eyed, throwing in the sarcasm that I know is going to grind under his skin. “That was you? Sorry, I didn’t realize.”

I go to walk through the open door but he pulls me up again. “Seriously? That’s all you’ve got to say?”

I look up at him. “What do you want me to say? Yeah, I stole your car and your damn credit card but who gives a shit? It’s not like you didn’t know where I was. You could have come and got it. Besides, I didn’t crash it, I didn’t scratch it, I didn’t even breathe funny in it, though I might have adjusted the seat to reach the pedals but that’s it. I got my hair fixed and now everything is alright in the world. Chill the fuck out. You can go back to being the stubborn asshat that you usually are and I’ll go back to pretending you don’t exist.”