Page 29 of Hateful Lies

Chapter 13

Astrid

I wanted that workout desperately, but it’s not going to happen, so I change into my uniform in a downstairs bathroom that locks. Bryce wants to talk money, and that works, but instead of heading for the dining hall, he drives off campus into Rockingham. I hardly go to Rockingham except to run errands. I can’t afford the fancy-ass shops or the posh restaurants. I don’t even know how to pronounce the name of the food they serve. Bryce parks his Porsche in front of a café with tables outside and freaking waiters taking orders. Man, if he had ever worked in a kitchen, he would eat at home.

“This okay?” he asks.

“Perfect,” I smile.

“Stay in the car until I open the door,” he demands as he opens his door.

“Why?” I ask.

He glares at me. “Just do it.”

He hops out of the car and onto the curb as I try to open my door, but it’s locked. I unlock it, and he locks it again—that bastard. I’m about to climb out the driver’s side when he opens my door.

“This is not a date,” I tell him under my breath.

“When we are in public,” he hisses, “together, around civilized people who can read above a second-grade level, you will act a certain way.”

I bite my lip hard until it stings. “You know if I was going to pick a Henry Higgins, it would not be you.”

He gives me a confused look, then figures I saw the movie and didn’t read the book. “Poor Wyatt,” he says, “He’ll show you how to drag your knuckles across the ground. And Justin can teach a master class in passive-aggressiveness. And Pierce should’ve gone to military school, where it’s acceptable to poke things with sharp objects. But you, my dear, you better stick with me.”

“Do you have friends?” I ask. Bryce laughs, but I’m serious.

The café is clean inside with subway tile on the walls and old-fashioned circular tables covered with cloths surrounded by comfy chairs. There’s a bar that serves desserts, which are lined up against the glass wall, and the place smells like a loaf of warm buttered bread. The waiter is friendly, welcoming us to the Café Le Monde, and he recites the specials, so we don’t have to read the board.

“They’re paid to do that,” Bryce frowns at me like I’m hopeless.

Fuck you, I mouth, and then I scan my menu. Once we’re situated with an order of seltzer and pumpkin pie for me and espresso and some chocolate pastry thing for him, Bryce leaps into business.

“I’m not trying to trick you, Astrid, into anything or bait you into selling your soul. My interest in you is strictly financial. I see a market and want a part of it. Plus I don’t mind slumming.”

“If you think this is slumming,” I sass, “I know a place where you’d wet yourself.”

Bryce frowns and takes a bite of his pastry. “May I ask what exactly you are hoping to achieve at Stonehaven?”

I hesitate to dive deep into my truth. Bryce knows I’m broke, but that’s all he knows. He doesn’t know why. I take a sip of my seltzer to wet my throat and observe his expression as I answer.

“Having money has always seemed like having good luck to me and not something you can control. At Stonehaven, I’m surrounded by people who don’t view money as a game of chance. I want to be rich enough so I don’t have to worry about it and so I can go do what I want to do.”

Bryce doesn’t respond to what I’ve said. He stares with those eyes that make me feel like I’m wrong for walking through the stone archway and into his world. His expression shifts as he clears his throat, and I realize that I’ve made him momentarily speechless.

“I can help you, Astrid,” he says, “It’s not as hard as you think, but you have to be willing to listen.”

“I am willing,” I reply softly.

Bryce shakes his head. “You question everything. I can tell by the look in your eyes. You may want it, but not bad enough to obey.”

I shift in my seat, hoping he’ll look away first. “Sometimes I don’t trust you.”

He smiles, lifting his cup to his mouth, and watches me as he takes a sip. “No one should trust anyone,” he replies.

“Not even your friends?”

He frowns. “Who says they’re my friends? Class is the only criteria I have for making connections.”

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