Tough Shit (Rejects Paradise 1)

I bring my hand up and give him a hard shove back, creating space for me to walk past. I step into my room and grab the door, more than ready to slam it in his face. I only need him to back up one tiny little step but something tells me that’s a harder challenge than it ought to be. “And for the record, the name’s Ocean.”

Colton’s tongue shoots out over his bottom lip, right where my lips had brushed over his. He stares at me for a second, almost shocked that I had the nerve to stand up to him. I raise my brow, impatiently waiting for him to say whatever douchey comment he needs to say before fucking off.

“You and your mom, you’re both trash,” he says slowly, pronouncing each word as though I’m incapable of understanding his message. “You don’t belong here. You won’t last more than a week.”

A breathy laugh pulls from within and I grin up at him, feeling my eyes shimmering with excitement. If he thinks his comments are going to scare me away, he’s got another thing coming. He’s got the wrong girl. “Tell me, Colton. Are you a dick to everyone, or am I already so far under your skin that you need to aim all your bullshit at me?”

He laughs, rubbing his hand over his wide chest. “You’re nothing, Jade. You don’t have the power to get under my skin. You’re some cheap whore from who the fuck knows, living it up as though you’re playing Cinderella. I see chicks like you every fucking day and it’s pathetic. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to say no when you offer to suck my dick for a few bucks, but you won’t be getting shit out of me or my family.”

Wow. He’s so pleasant. Daddy Warbucks must be so proud.

“You need to scrub up on your people skills,” I laugh, entertained by his tough-guy act. “Not sure if anyone has told you, but they’re really fucking lacking.”

“There’s nothing wrong with my people skills. It’s my tolerance to trash that needs work.”

A wicked grin spreads across his face and not a second later he’s gone, leaving me staring at the empty doorway, unsure of what the fuck had just happened.

Chapter 4

My door hardly has a chance to close behind me before mom is there, stepping into my massive room and glancing around. “Wow,” she says, taking it all in. “These rooms are …”

“I know,” I say, still looking around while pretending that I’m not at all fazed by the cocky prick who just vacated my doorway with a silent promise of running me out of here.

What does he think is going to happen? Is he going to pull out all his douchiness and force me to leave, or does he just assume that mom and I don’t have what it takes to make it in this cut-throat world? If that’s the case, he doesn’t understand who he’s messing with. Mom and I have had to grow a thick skin living in Breakers Flats. We dealt with dickheads like this daily—usually before breakfast.

Mom walks deeper into my room which is when I notice my luggage is already here and I have to admit, I’m amazed by how quickly that happened. The staff here are seriously on the ball.

I make my way over to the massive floor to ceiling windows and peer out with mom coming to stand by my side. “This is insane, isn’t it?”

“It is,” I agree, looking out to see the very edge of the pool, only to realize this isn’t the same pool that I’d been drooling over earlier, but a secluded, more private one. There’s a building beside it and my brows furrow as I point it out to mom. “I wonder if that’s the pool house.”

She moves in closer and looks down, pressing her lips together. “Maybe,” she says with a shrug. “Who would actually know? This place is huge. It’s going to take me a while to learn my way around here.”

“Right.”

“I wasn’t quite expecting the Carrington mansion to be quite so …”

She stops, lost for words and I give her exactly what she’s looking for. “Intimidating?”

“Yeah,” she agrees with a soft chuckle. “Charles was lovely. Nicer than I had expected and very handsome too.”

I roll my eyes. “Shame his personality didn’t rub off on his son.”

“Yeah,” mom sighs. “I caught that. Are you alright? Colton didn’t seem to take a liking to you. I wasn’t fond of the way he was watching you.”

“It’ll be fine,” I assure her. “I can handle guys like Colton Carrington. He doesn’t scare me.”

Mom’s hand falls to my shoulder and she forces me to turn and face her. “Are you sure? I can have a quiet word with Charles if you’d prefer. After all, you have to live with the guy now. I can’t have you getting in trouble or stressing about what he might do. You have school work to think about.”