Tough Shit (Rejects Paradise 1)

“Mom, seriously. It’s fine. I can handle myself. Dudes who think their dicks are huge just need a woman to help remind them of their place in the world. Speaking of school, were you ever planning on telling me that I was enrolled in some prissy private school?”

Mom shakes her head, letting out a heavy sigh before giving me a caring smile. “I worry about you sometimes.”

“Seriously? That’s all I’m going to get? Why is Charles paying for me to go to school? At least, I’m assuming he’s paying for it because there’s no way we could afford it.”

She groans and I can see from the look in her eyes I’m not about to get a response, though I can’t tell if it’s because she doesn’t want to explain the answer or because she doesn’t know it. “Can we talk about this later?” she questions. “I need to get back down there. Just tell me if I need to be doing something about Colton?”

“No,” I say with a frustrated huff, giving in. I’ve got all day to find answers and if she won’t explain it to me, then I’ll have to figure it out on my own. “I might be 5’2 but my attitude is 6’1.”

“I know,” she groans. “That’s the issue.”

I laugh and step away from the window only to have mom come with me. “Are you going to be alright if I go back down and meet with Maryne?”

“Of course,” I tell her, knowing how eager she is to start training for her first day tomorrow morning. “I was going to check in with Nic and look around a little.”

She sighs and I know exactly what’s coming. “I really wish you’d take a little space from Dominic. It’s not a healthy relationship.”

“Not this again, Mom,” I groan, watching her make her way across my new room and stop by the door. “Nic is my best friend.”

“I know this … I just think it’d be good for you to find some new friends who don’t have gang affiliations. You know that boy is going to end up taking over for that troubled father of his. It’s only a matter of time.”

I let out a sigh. She’s right but it’s not going to be the same. “Nic’s not like Kian. He’s never hurt me.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought until you caught him with that Saunders girl.”

“Mom …”

“Look,” she cuts me off. “What’s it going to hurt to talk to a few girls at school tomorrow and try to make some friends? I know Nic has a good heart despite his downfalls, but whether you like it or not, he’s heading down a bad path … a troubled path that I don’t want you getting involved with. That goes for all those boys of yours and besides, they’re too old for you. You could do with some friends your own age.”

Realizing she isn’t going to back down here, I let out a sigh and nod. “Fine. I’ll try and make some friends but you know I don’t mesh well with girls. They’re too bitchy. And for the record, Nic is only twenty-one, it’s not like he’s that much older than me.”

She gives me a scathing look and reaches for the handle. “Four years is a lot at seventeen,” she tells me. “But try with the girls.”

With that, she’s gone.

I stand awkwardly in my room for a few drawn-out moments, not sure what the hell I’m supposed to be doing. What does a poor girl in a rich world even do apart from cleaning up after slobs?

My legs are itching to take me out of this room and explore the estate but something’s holding me back and it’s pissing me off that I don’t know why. Seeing as though it’s not Harrison who I want to avoid seeing, that only leaves one option and it infuriates me that he’s already managed to get under my skin. Though I’d bet what little I have left that the dickhead is currently moping around his castle with me on his mind. I know I’m under Colton’s skin, it’s just a question of what it means to be there.

I find myself walking circles around my room, taking it all in. A massive king-size bed with about as many pillows as there are staff in this circus, a massive walk-in closet which I wouldn’t be able to fill if my life depended on it, and a private bathroom. The walls are white, the bedspread is white, the furniture white, and even the curtains are all white. It’s so clinical but in a modern living kind of way. Certainly not my style.

I don’t doubt that I’m going to fuck it up. I can’t be trusted not to spill my midnight snacks everywhere. At least it’s only for a few days before we’re moved down into the pool house and a step further away from the prince of darkness.