Bad Boy Hero - Tanglewood Academy

I haven’t had a lot of free time.

I steal a glance at Keanen. The glow of the brake lights ahead of us casts his face in sharp relief—all shadows and sharp lines. I’m seized by a sudden urge to touch him. I reach over to take his hand, marveling at the simple fact that I can do that. That this boy, entrancing and dangerous as he seems, is treating me better than anyone else at this school.

Better than almost anyone in my life, in fact, my mother and Jake aside.

“You’re thinking something,” he says. “What?”

I stifle a startled laugh. He shouldn’t know me this well already. Not after only around a week of… well. Is this dating? Hooking up? Hanging out? Whatever it is we’re doing. And yet…

“I was just thinking that you’re also unlike anyone else I’ve met.” I tighten my grip on his hand.

He smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Yeah, well. You must be biased. Most people would disagree.”

My eyebrows rise. “Really? Because it seems like everyone on campus loves you.”

He snorts.

I glance at the road. Back at him. “Your sister seems like she does.”

He rolls his eyes. “My sister is just jealous. I’m sorry that you got caught in her crosshairs. She’s pissed at you because of me—because she always wants anything I have. Or resents me when I’m happy.”

“Are you sure it’s resentment, and not just…” I shift in my seat. “I don’t know, wanting to spend more time with you or something?” I’ve thought a lot about Bette, on the long nights lying awake in my bed wishing I still had friends to talk to. There’s no way she’s actually furious at me just for being here on scholarship. She didn’t lash out at me until Keanen showed interest. I think about Jake, about how protective I am over him, and try to imagine if our roles were reversed. If he were the older sibling. “Maybe she just misses you, and this is her way of trying to get attention.”

Keanen blows out a long sigh. “You’re probably right, unfortunately. My…” He clears his throat. “My father’s not the easiest man to get along with. And he takes it out on Bette even more than he does on me.”

I’ve gathered, from small hints here and there, that Keanen has struggles with his father. But I didn’t realize it was this bad. I shift in my seat to watch him in the passing glow of streetlights. “Is it hard being at the same school where he works?” I always assumed it would be an advantage, to have a parent in such a high position where you study. But maybe I have it all backwards.

Keanen’s grip tightens on the steering wheel. “He doesn’t make it easy, no.” Keanen lets out a little laugh. “People always assume Bette and I have it easy. Like we don’t even have to try at school because we get free passes from Dad. But actually it’s the opposite. He makes us work three times as hard as anyone else to prove ourselves to him. To prove we’re worthy of being here. He’s always warning us about what he’ll do if either of us disappoint him.” Keanen rolls his eyes at that.

I lean back in my seat, feeling a reluctant rush of understanding toward Bette. She’s still been shitty to me, no doubt about it. But how would I act in her shoes, if I thought Jake was turning against me too, and if my father treated me that way?

Well, I can kind of understand where she’s coming from. Even if I don’t like it.

8

It doesn’t take long for Keanen to find where we’re going. The car slows, and I look out the window, my lips parting.

We’re outside what looks like an old red brick Victorian-era manor, except it’s been transformed into a high scale restaurant. Fairy lights glow from all the trees around it, and as we pull up, a valet raps smartly on Keanen’s door, dressed in a tux.

Suddenly, I’m glad Keanen bought me this dress after all.

Keanen steps out of the car and comes around to open my door, offering me a hand out. In the glow of the lights, I notice he’s wearing a sharply cut suit, complete with a tie.

It just makes my fingers itch to reach for it, to grab it and drag him down to kiss me. But we’re in public, so I restrain myself, and let him draw me toward the hostess stand.

The whole manor glows cheery amber. Each room of the mansion has been transformed into a dining area, each with a different theme. We follow the hostess who leads us through curtained rooms, some with general seating tables, others with more private niches. Everyone we pass is dressed to the nines, in heels and carrying expensive purses I’m learning to identify by watching the other girls on campus.