"Raya!" I yell while slamming the door behind me.
She doesn't answer me, and I skip several steps as I rush up the staircase, ready to teach her a lesson. The door starts to close, but I shove it open and send her staggering backwards to the floor.
"You can't let them win. If you do, you'll be their doormat for the rest of the year. Possibly the rest of your college existence. You're a freshman, so that's not going to work out so well for you."
The tears on her face make me feel like a total jerk, but she has to toughen up. There's no way around it.
"Go to hell, Kade. Maybe you shouldn't have told them to ridicule me if you didn't want your daddy to be pissed."
She's trying to drive me crazy. That's all there is to it. She has no problem barking at me, but she cowers away from everyone else.
She stays on the floor, refusing to meet my gaze as she wipes her nose and ignores her tears.
I walk over to her bed and dump out her clothes, surprised to find she was only packing her old clothes instead of the nicer stuff she just got. Then I turn my attention on the fuming girl on the ground.
Tough love, Kade. Don't back down.
"Get your ass up and grow the hell up. Get over it, Raya. You're a poor girl who landed herself a spot in a rich house. People are going to talk. The only thing you can do is show them they're wrong. I've already spread the word that there will be a party Saturday. They'll start easing off you. Show up, drink, have fun... be a normal teenage girl."
She laughs humorlessly as her eyes glaze over with pure hatred. She really does despise me, and I'm only trying to help. I'm not the gentle life coach, I'm the get-your-ass-in-gear coach that is going to teach her to stand up for herself.
"You're such an idiot. I won't be here in five minutes, let alone on Saturday. I'll live in the laundromat before I stay here for one more second."
Again, she underestimates me. She's so fearless with me. Now to expand her ability to be that way with everyone. First things first, I have to make her cool down and think rationally.
I crack my neck to the side, grab her at the elbow, and jerk her up to start dragging her down to the pool. A nice dunk should wake her up.
I bite back a grin when she calls me several choice names, none of which really go well together. Whoa. Wait? Did she just threaten my balls? That's not cool. We need boundaries.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Keeping you from being a dumbass," I say simply.
She sinks to the ground, trying to force me to stop my efforts, but she weighs nothing, so I bend and scoop her up, tossing her over my shoulder with a smile she can't see. She squeals and beats her small fists against my back, prompting me to roll my eyes.
Her ass in my face is causing me more pain than her fists. Stupid zippers. I need thicker boxers if my body is going to react every time I touch her.
She's still swearing every two seconds as I make my way to the patio doors. In four swift, long strides, I've reached the edge of the pool, and I launch her into it, keeping
her away from the edges so she doesn't get hurt.
I watch as she wildly bucks under the water and frantically swims to the top. When she comes up sputtering and coughing, I realize that her getting wet in front of me is even worse than her ass being in my face. Ah, hell. That's it. I'm buying zipper-less pants from now on.
Her hair is slicked back, and damn it's sexy. And so are all the trickles of water that are flowing down to her very buoyant breasts. I almost bite my knuckle to keep from groaning.
"Cool off," I manage to say calmly, giving her a smirk I know will annoy the hell out of her. "When you get out, go grab a shower, eat something, and get some rest. Things will be different tomorrow."
I don't stick around to see the clothes that will be suctioned to her body. There's no way I can endure that, and knowing how much she wants to kill me right now, she may thrust that wet body at me in an attempt to attack. I really, really don't need that.
What I do need is a drink.
I pass by the backpack I threw off on my way in here, and dive into my garage, ready to escape. The first thing I'm doing when I get in my car is unzipping these unrelenting jeans.
Chapter Four
Standing outside the college's main entrance, I curse the lighter when it refuses to work, because I've never needed a smoke so badly in all my life. Raya refused to leave the living room last night. She probably thought I'd have to come out eventually. How is it that I can handle dealing with anyone but her, and she can only deal with me and no one else? It's a messed up cycle, that's what it is. But I have to face her.
And why does the entire house smell like fish all the time? What's that girl doing? The only time I don't smell it is when I'm around her. Because then all I can smell is something divinely fruity, and I'll be damned if I don't want a taste.