“So this is all about the money? Is that what you’re saying? That’s what makes the difference?” I am so deeply angry with him that my hands and voice have begun to tremble.
I should have known.
I should have known the news would spread. I should have known this … visit … was something other than a reunion. I should have known Astor Hawthorne is a shallow, selfish, ass with no thought for anyone other than himself.
Astor frowns and pushes himself up to a sitting position as well. “Teddy, we’ve talked about this. You know how much pressure I’m under to be with the ‘right kind of girl’. My family expects it. I can’t just be with anyone I want.”
“Unless she finds out she’s a billionaire heiress,” I say.
He shoots me a look.
“There are so many rules I have to conform to in my position. I have social responsibilities. I have obligations to my family.”
I shake my head at him. “So, you’re true to everyone else but yourself. And me. Definitely not to me or to what we share together, or I thought we shared, at least until now. So just because I have money and the right name now, you can be with me in public.” I can’t stand it. I’ve been through this before once, with Blair, and I’m not going to do it again.
I start pushing him away with the palms of my hand, toward the door. “Astor, I’m not doing this with you. Get out.”
His mouth falls open and he stares at me. “What? Are you serious? After what we just …” He shakes his head in complete disbelief.
I leap up off of the bed and wrap myself in the sheet like a toga. “I am so serious right now Astor! You only came in here because of the money and the name? That’s so unbelievably shallow. I thought you were here because you cared about me. About me, Astor, not who I have suddenly become because I happened to win the DNA lottery this morning.”
My hands dig into the roots of my hair. “This is all just another, what? A business transaction?”
He’s shown his true colors. I know now who and what he really is, and I know for a fact that I don’t really matter to him. All that matters to Astor is money and titles. Social positioning. Business and financial politics.
I have nothing more to say to someone like him.
“Get the hell out of here right now,” I say again. “I don’t want to see you again, and I sure as hell don’t want anything to do with you! Out!”
He can see that I’m furious and serious as hell. He grabs his clothes and pulls them on quickly.
“I can’t believe you’re taking this so personally!” he shouts at me. “This has nothing to do with who you are as a person.”
“And that is exactly the problem,” I snap at him as I yank the door open and wait for him to leave. “It should have everything to do with who I am as a person, and nothing at all to do with the money. Of course that never crossed your mind. Goodbye, Astor.”
He glares angrily at me and storms out, and I slam the door closed behind him and fall back into my bed, weeping bitterly into my pillow for a long time.
I am such a stupid, stupid girl.
I knew that my life was going to change, but I never saw this coming, and I wasn’t ready for it. My heart is broken, and I can’t believe that I was stupid enough to fall for Astor Hawthorne’s cold-hearted game.
Again.
Chapter 5
It’s only the next morning and everyone in the school already knows. I thought they’d at least try to be subtle about it, but almost everyone is treating me differently, literally overnight.
People who used to hate and ignore me are staring at me now and talking about me in awe. People who refused to acknowledge my existence are suddenly trying to become my best friends.
Everyone has an agenda, and most of them are agendas that I want nothing to do with. It’s alarming how many people can only see the money and the shiny new name who never saw me before.
All that, and I haven’t even decided if I’m going to change my name.
It’s all so much. All too much.
Astor is watching me nonstop again, his eyes trained on me like I’m a juicy piece of meat. He shouldn’t even be here at the school. He should be home, with his family, or at least on vacation to some exotic destination.
But here he is, and I know there’s only one reason why.