“Pathetic,” he says. “You aren’t even going to say anything for yourself? You’re as weak as your mother was. You’re both pathetic.”
And as though a damn has broken in my mind, I reach out and slap him.
Hard.
I can’t tell which of us is more shocked. He stares at me as he reaches for his cheek. He touches it and then looks at his hand, as though he can’t quite believe what I did.
I can’t believe it, either.
I’ve never stood up to Harrison O’Conner.
Ever.
I’ve never talked back. I’ve never snapped at him. I’ve never done anything that could irritate Frank and I’ve never done anything that might make me seem like the bad guy in our relationship.
“Call me whatever the fuck you want,” I tell him. “But I am not pathetic, and I never want to hear you say another fucking word about my mom.”
“Hey, Harrison! Where’d you go?” A shrill voice calls out from one of the side hallways. Dana is looking for him. He puts his hand down and looks at me.
“Your darling is looking for you,” I tell him.
Then I turn, and I leave.
I don’t look back over my shoulder to see if he’s watching. I don’t look to see if he’s still staring at his hand. I don’t care, and I don’t want to know.
He can do whatever he wants to me, but he’s not going to insult my mother, and he’s not going to insult me by pretending that I haven’t had to sacrifice what I want to appease his psychotic father.
Hurrying down a hallway and then another, I make my way back to the dormitory so I can be alone, and so I can cry in peace.
Chapter Two
Harrison
“THERE YOU ARE,” DANA’S voice is sickly sweet: not at all like Adalee’s. She gets close to me, invading my space, and she presses her hands to my chest. “I was looking all over for you.”
It’s a lie.
So many lies.
I was only gone from the cafeteria for a couple of minutes. It didn’t take me long to overtake Adalee and to catch her before she escaped from the main building. It took even less time before she put me in my place and ran off.
To be honest, I didn’t know she had it in her.
She’s never stood up to me before. She’s never done anything to stave off my bullying or my taunting. Usually, she just sits and takes it. What the fuck changed today? And why does it intrigue me so much? I shouldn’t have been shitty to her. I don’t know why I went off on her today. My dad fucking hates her for some reason and sometimes, that alone makes me want to hate her, too.
The problem is that I don’t.
Not really.
No matter what she thinks about me, I don’t think I could ever hate Adalee.
Aside from being way too fucking scrawny, Adalee is the hottest girl at Crescent Academy. It’s a shame she doesn’t know just how good-looking she is. Maybe it’s not. If she had any idea just how drop-dead gorgeous she is, she’d have every guy in the damn school chasing her.
As it is, she hides behind her baggy clothes and her sad eyes, and she focuses on school. Nobody goes after her. Nobody chases her. Nobody does anything to her because Adalee sends off the biggest set of “don’t talk to me” vibes I’ve ever seen in my life.
“Here I am,” I say to Dana, looking back at her.
She runs her hands down my chest and grabs my cock over my pants. Okay, so Dana isn’t exactly subtle when it comes to letting me know what she wants. That’s not necessarily a good thing. With Dana, there’s no mystery. I know she’d suck my dick in a heartbeat if I let her, and maybe I should. Maybe it would be a good way to stop fucking thinking about Adalee all the damn time.