Dare You to Hate Me
I should tell him no. Sydney certainly wouldn’t like me getting into Remi’s car. But then again, since when do I care?
“Sure.” When I hear the locks click, I open the backseat to toss my things inside. Another vehicle rounds the bend, causing my stomach to sink when I realize who it is.
As soon as the black truck stops, I quickly drop my other bag into the seat and slam the car door shut hoping to get away before anything is said.
Luck is never on my side though.
“Don’t even fucking think about it,” Aiden yells as he jumps out of his truck and storms toward me.
Opening the passenger door, I’m bending to get into the pricy set of wheels when a hand snakes around my arm. I snap my head toward the person holding me back. “If you don’t let me go I’ll scream, Aiden.”
He’s openly glaring right back. “Don’t go with him.”
I yank my arm away. “It’s none of your business who I get into a car with. I swear to God if you— Son of a bitch!” My body is being thrown over a broad, muscular shoulder before I know what’s happening.
Another door opens and Remi’s obnoxious voice calls out, “What the fuck, man?”
“Sorry,” Aiden says. “You’re going to have to find another way to get your dick wet tonight.”
I smack his back with my fists. “You asshole! Who said I was going to sleep with him?”
When he opens his truck door and drops me onto the bench seat, I grunt on impact and do my best to show my displeasure with being thrown around. My face goes completely slack when he says, “Isn’t that what you do, Ivy? How you pay them for somewhere to sleep?”
Before I can even think of a reply, he’s moving my legs out of the way and slamming the door. I’m frozen in my seat with gaping lips when he confronts the snobby frat boy by his car. I don’t know what’s said and I’m not sure I want to. All I see is Aiden fishing my bags from the backseat before tossing them into the bed of his truck and climbing in beside me.
My arms hug my knees tightly to my chest, my feet propped on the edge of the seat in a protective stance. “I’m not a whore,” I whisper, failing at patching the internal wall up as a tear slides down my cheek.
He turns the truck on, not looking at me once as he puts it into drive. “No, baby. You’re a survivor.”
Chapter Eleven
Aiden
The guys are all packed in the kitchen, arms crossed, shoulder to shoulder in silence as they stare at me with a mixture of raised brows, stoic faces, and indifference. Nobody has said a word since I told them Ivy is going to stay downstairs with me.
Justin leans against his crutches and reaches for the closest pizza box I brought home as bribery. “I don’t know why you called this meeting. The girlfriends stay here all the time anyway and nobody cares.”
Raine does spend a lot of time here with Caleb, though she’s absent for this conversation because of some school event, and a couple of the other guys have steady girlfriends or consistent hookups that spend the night a few times a week. “Ivy isn’t my girlfriend though.”
DJ hops onto the counter with his go-to energy drink in hand. He has enough energy on his own, but he doesn’t go without one a day at the least. “You know I don’t mind having a chick like that as a roommate, especially if she’s up for dibs.”
A few of the guys try hiding their snickers and choke them down behind their fists when I eye them. “Watch it, 81. I can still take you down on the field.”
He raises a hand, chortling. “Yeah, yeah. Hands off the goods. We got it. Can we eat now? I don’t think any of us are going to bitch about the new addition to the house. Most of us already like her for putting people in their places in class, and now that we know she can bake that means we have our own Martha Stewart living downstairs.”
I roll my eyes. “She’s not here to cook, bake, or do anything for you. Any of you.” My eyes go to each one of them until my point is across.
DJ keeps going. “Plus, it isn’t like any of us are going to start anything with her when you two will be going at it like— Umph.” Caleb smacks him in the chest, causing DJ to glower. “Jesus, dude. Fine. I’ll shut up about it. I was making a point none of you fuckers can refute. Can we eat the pizza now?”
All the others watch with interest, some of them darting between me and the food waiting in front of us, others waiting to see what else I have to say.
Christ. “Eat. I’m going downstairs.”
I push off the counter and turn to leave when Caleb stops me. “At least take some down with you. She might be hungry. Something tells me she won’t be willing to come up and get any herself for a while.”
I cuss and accept a couple pieces before nodding at him. When I make it back down to her, Ivy is sitting on the end of the couch with her legs curled under her and her arms crossed over her chest as she stares at the blank TV.
Dropping a slice of pepperoni pizza on a napkin on the table, I gesture toward the flat screen. “That turns on, you know. It’ll show you magic pictures with a click of a button.”