Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
“Nah. I don’t know what Ms. Cruz is talking about.” He shrugs but gives me a little smirk on the side. People always say don’t judge a book by its cover and I’m guessing that I had Bradley all wrong.
“I guess I’ll let you tutor me.” I feign annoyance, making it seem as though I’m the one doing him a favor.
“I hope you’ll let me…”
“Don’t finish that sentence.” I glare at him, cutting off whatever ridiculous thing he was about to say. I hate that I have to depend on a man to help me pass this class. Why couldn’t they have found me a female tutor? It doesn’t help that Brad is easy on the eyes either. I’m not interested in any of that so it won’t be a problem. That’s what I tell myself, anyway.
“Don’t be late, don’t flirt with me and try not to be a dick and this should work out for both of us.” I lay down the ground rules so that we’re all clear. I have a feeling Brad here doesn’t play by the rules, but I feel the need to share them anyway. I’m trying to take some sort of control in this situation.
“I think you two are going to work great together.” Ms. Cruz slaps her hands together, smiling. I want to roll my eyes but I don’t out of respect for her.
“For once I agree with you, Ms. C.” He leans back in his chair as he openly begins to stare at me. Maybe this isn’t going to work out for both of us. If he doesn’t behave himself or if he thinks I’m some sort of pushover that’s going to fall all over him because he’s smart and handsome, he’s got another thing coming. I know how this story turns out. I live with my parents as an example every day. Well, when my father comes home. The only thing he’s going to get from me is another scar on his pretty little face if he so much as puts a finger on me.
“Deal.” I reach my hand out to him, already breaking the no finger touching rule I made in my head. His hand stretches out and caresses mine. Something that I’ve never felt before passes between us and I know in that moment that I’m in trouble. That I’m probably going to regret those rules that I decided to make.
“Deal,” he says, but his hand doesn’t immediately let mine go and I’m not sure that I want it to.
Chapter 5
Brad
We finish the problems quickly. There’s always a trick to math theorems and once you know what it is, the solutions come easily. Or they do for me, and Melody seems to be catching on quickly. While she bends her head over the last equation, I find myself staring at her hands. They’re slender and elegant. Thin bands of gold wrap around her fingers. The middle one has two with one resting above her knuckle and the other tucked against the base.
Melody and I don’t have much in common even though we both attend FU High. Franklin is a rich kid’s school. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t that a diploma from this place is a fast track to a rich kid college, which feeds into a rich kid job. I know how it works—all connections and shit. It’s who you know, not what you know, so while I might be the smartest kid in FU High, it doesn’t matter because I don’t know anyone.
Melody doesn’t even need to be in the GT program. Her old man’s a senator. There isn’t anyone around who won’t give her a cushy job with a big fat salary even if she doesn’t know what the fuck she’s doing there.
I stare down at my own hands, callused and rough. Scars and new cuts mar the back of them. I curl my fingers into my palm and shove my fists into my hoodie pocket. Sure, she’s someone I’d fantasize about having, but reality is that if she ever climbed into my bed it’d be because she thought she was going to get something from me that an uptight FU High kid wouldn’t be willing to do.
As I watch the sunlight bounce off her head, I contemplate what that would be. Does she want to be choked? Called a bitch? Slapped around a little? Fucked hard against the wall because she’s looking for a bad boy? The would be the only reason she’d let me crawl into her bed. I can do all those things if she really wanted. My aching dick wants me to brush everything off the table and try at least one item on the list. But I know the minute that I finished, the moment she came, she’d be done with me. She’d ignore me in the hall, sit with the jocks who think they’re entitled to getting their grades changed, and generally think I’m a piece of shit.