Page 112 of Hate To Love You

The bay window looks out into the front yard, so he must have watched me pull in. There is a leather chair in the corner of the room and next to it is a bar cart, fully stocked with glasses, ice, and the worlds finest liquor.

I’ve been in this office plenty of times, but it remains locked when my father is away. He forbid us all to go into his study without him. When I was younger, I thought nothing of it, but now? I’m pretty sure it’s because there’s something in there that he doesn’t want anyone to find, which makes me all the more curious.

“Take a seat,” my father commands in his deep voice, gesturing to one of the chairs that sits in front of his desk. I remain standing, because sitting means the conversation will last longer.

“I’d rather stand,” I tell him. He finally looks up from whatever he’s reading to scowl at me.

“It wasn’t a request, son. Take a seat, now.”

I refrain from rolling my eyes, doing as he says and taking a seat. I rub my sweaty palms against my jeans as my knee bobs nervously. This is what happened every time I see my father. How awful is that? That my own father makes me this fucked up.

He types something into his computer before turning it around for me to see. A surveillance video is pulled up showing the parking lot of the campus gym. Of course he has the video.

When I jumped Ashton, I wasn’t exactly in my right mind. I’d been drinking all day, thinking about Gwen and how I’d win her back, and the rage that consumed me when I thought about Davis and the way he threatened my girl made me see red.

The video shows Ashton exit the building, his gym back slung over his shoulder and car keys in his hand. Then without warning, I come around the corner and ram into him, gripping the front of his shirt and pushing his back up against the building before landing punch after punch to his face. Ashton’s head falls to the side, blood flowing from his nose and mouth as I let him go and watch him slump to the floor.

I stand over him, my fists clenched to my sides. There’s no sound in the video, but I remember what I said to him.

“Get near Gwen again, touch her again, or even think of her again and I will bury you somewhere no one will ever fucking find you.”

I smirk at the reminder. I don’t regret what I did. Ashton Davis is a piece of shit, and he got what he deserved. In fact, he’s lucky I didn’t do worse. He needed to get the message that I am in charge, not him. I’m the one with all the power. I could kill him and bury him, and no one would ever know because the Elite would have my back.

I don’t think he’ll be getting near Gwen again. Especially because I told him to pack his shit and drop out of Ellington. A little threat to him and his family did the trick.

The monitor goes black as the video ends. My father twists it back around to face him, laying his arms on top of the desk in front of him.

He clears his throat. “What the fuck was that?” he seethes. I shrug my shoulders, because what kind of question is that? He saw the video. It was pretty clear what that was.

“Just giving him what he deserved,” I say, annoyance laced in my voice.

“I don’t care what he did. You assaulted a man on campus. I don’t give a shit what you do off campus, or even at the mansion. But on campus? This is the shit I’m talking about, Ryker. You are a child, and I’m done with it. You’re lucky I have connections with the police, or your ass would be thrown in jail right now,” he grits out between clenched teeth.

I stand abruptly, my hands slamming on the desk as I lean into him. “So let them throw me in jail, Father,” I huff out an exaggerated scoff. “Oh, wait. You can’t, because that would ruin your perfect image. Isn’t that right, Father? Your appearance in society is the only thing you’ve ever cared about. You’d never do anything to tarnish it. And having your son tossed in prison wouldn’t reflect well on you, would it?”

My father stands from his seat, slapping me across the face so hard I stumble back. Shit, that was unexpected. He’s never hit me, but then again, I’ve never dared to speak to him like that. I was always too intimidated or scared. But not anymore.

I’m not that little boy anymore. I’m not afraid of him.

His face is red with anger, and if this were a cartoon, he’d have steam pouring out of his ears.

“Watch your mouth, boy. Don’t forget that everything you have is because of me and my image. You’d be wise to show me some respect, because I can take it all away and you’ll be left with nothing,” he threatens. My eyes narrow as I glare at him in a mixture of anger and disgust.

I hate him. I hate him for never being around as a kid, I hate him for how he’s treated my mother, I hate him for how he’s treated me. I may not be as powerful as him right now, but I will be. And when I am, he will be obsolete. I will end him, and he won’t even see it coming.

I don’t even say anything to him. Instead, I turn on my heels, grab my bag off the floor, and storm out of the room, fuming.

Chapter 50

Guinevere

Girls’ night was a little over a week ago, and it was a success. Ellie and Lainey showed up around ten with 5 tubs of different kinds of ice cream and wine, dubbing them the ‘break up essentials.’ I told them I didn’t need it, but I ended up being really grateful for it as we started to watch sappy romance movies. Damian groaned at our choice of genre, but he wanted to stay, so he had to watch what we wanted.

We went through the classics like The Notebook, Ten Things I Hate About You, and A Walk to Remember. By the time the third movie ended, we’d gone through three bottles of wine, and a tub of ice cream each, and I was sobbing into the carton while my friends sat around me and rubbed my back, assuring me everything would be okay.

I was grateful that my mom was already asleep, because I don’t think I could have explained everything again. I was trying to be strong, trying to not be affected by it all because it’s my fault. I did this to myself, and now I have to deal with the consequences, no matter how shitty they are.

When my mom came downstairs the next morning, she was pretty confused when she saw us all asleep with empty wine bottles and ice cream cartons strewn about.

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