Tough Shit (Rejects Paradise 1)

I need a job and to be honest, the answer is staring me in the face, but I’ve been too stubborn to do anything about it. I’m too proud, and too ashamed.

I have to meet with Charles Carrington and I won’t be walking out until I get what I need.

I guess now Colton really will have a right to call me ‘the help.’

Chapter 24

I race up the stairs of douchebags’ headquarters and fly through the front door. Ever since my plan wriggled it’s way into my brain it’s all I’ve been able to think about. I have to do this. I have to stand on my own two feet and prove that I can make it in this cut-throat world.

Sure, I may never be some billionaire in a fancy mansion but I’ll be happy and proud of what I’ve accomplished—assuming I actually accomplish something. I will though, I have to. There are no other options for me. I don’t want to be some gang leader’s forgotten wife and I don’t want to be living off someone else’s money. I need a little independence and if Destiny’s Child taught me anything, it’s how to be an ‘Independent Woman.’

I bypass Harrison in the foyer who’s putting on a good show of being busy when we both know it’s all an act. The only reason he ever comes into the foyer is when there’s someone at the door and I highly doubt that he’ll be here to open it for me. He’s come to learn Milo’s Aston Martin over the past couple of weeks and usually makes a point in not answering the door. The fact that he’s standing here right now means he’s curious. He wants to know why the hell I’m here and not at school and whatever reason it is, he’s hoping he can use it against me one day.

Men are so stupid. One day they’ll learn not to play with fire but until then, it’ll be fun watching them get burned.

With Harrison trailing slightly behind me, trying to keep far away enough so I don’t notice he’s actually following me through the house, I make my way to Charles’ incredible home office. Though the second my target becomes obvious, Harrison slinks away into the shadows almost as though he was never there to begin with.

As I reach his door, I find it slightly ajar and I poke my head through the gap while knocking for his attention. Charles stands by his massive floor to ceiling windows, staring out over his property, deep in thought.

My intrusion startles him and I cringe as his head whips around with a speed not safe for a man his age. “Sorry to interrupt you,” I say politely. “May I come in?”

His brows pinch in concern before he nods and sweeps his hand toward the chairs opposite his wide desk. “Of course,” he says, striding toward his desk. “What can I help you with? Has something happened at that school? Is it Dean Simmons again?”

A slight excitement lights his eyes and I realize that he’s hoping for me to say yes. He wants Dean Simmons out and is using me to make it happen. How could I have not seen this? I guess the first time I came in here asking for help, I was so blinded by shock, rage, and distress that I mistook his little game for kindness.

“Yes, something has happened, however, it’s nothing that I can’t handle,” I explain, wanting to give him a little to work with in order to soften him up.

Confusion filters across his features as he slowly raises his chin. “Then what can I do for you, Ocean?”

A chill runs through my spine at his use of my name which is ridiculous but I try to ignore it and continue. I swallow my pride and hope to God that what I’m about to say isn’t going to fuck up anything for my mom. “I want to start by saying how grateful I am for everything you’ve done for mom and I. Without your help, I don’t know where we would have ended up.”

His eyes shine with pride but I’m not stupid enough to mistake it as goodwill, a mistake I surely would have made upon first meeting him. No, this is the look of a man who thinks that his act is paying off and knows how it must make him appear as a generous man among his rich friends. “Of course,” he says with a nod as an impatient flare shoots through his features. “What is it that you need?”

“A job.”

“A job?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Might I ask why?”

I raise my chin, trying to keep my pride but it’s quickly breaking away. “Sir, I mean no disrespect but after graduation, I need to learn to stand on my own two feet. Mom and I have no money saved up, no car, nowhere to live apart from your pool house and I don’t expect your generosity to continue after I finish school, so I’d like to prepare myself for that. Breakers Flats is my home, it’s where I grew up and I have so much love for it, but if I can avoid going back, I will. I want to better my life and if I have to mop and scrub every room in this house, I will. I want to be better. I don’t want to be that girl who falls down a destructive path, gets pregnant, or forgotten. I want to succeed and I didn’t realize how badly I wanted that until I came here and saw how much more there was to the world.”