Page 226 of Collided

Heath

Derek watches me with sheer interest from his spot across the room.

I move left and he follows, I move right, and he follows.

Eventually, my meter blows up, and I glare at him. “What do you want Derek?”

“Sir, is that girl your girlfriend?” he asks solemnly.

I narrow my eyes. “Is that Dad asking?”

“No sir.” I stand up to talk to him up close. “Yes sir.”

Dad lives in Toronto but he’s keeping an eye on me from that far. Derek reports back every single thing like an obedient soldier. I suppose it’s reasonable when he’s paid thousands of dollars for spying on a teenager.

Dad thinks he knows me, but he doesn’t. He hasn’t heard a good deal of things from his dutiful soldier because I’m brilliant at hiding.

I don’t want them to know half the things I do because I want no connection between us. The only connection he and I share is a less than five-minute call. Which reminds me he hasn’t called me since that last call. It’s unusual for him to not call me. He calls me every day even when I don’t attend his call. And now my phone sits without his missed call.

I mean it’s not like I miss him or anything. I don’t even fucking care.

Before my mood turns sour, I turn my focus on Derek. “You can tell him to ask me himself.”

He takes out his phone. “I can call him right now.”

Sometimes I forget my butler has no sense of sarcasm.

With a scowl, I say, “It means it’s none of his business. I don’t want him to know anything about me or that girl I bring home.”

His face stays impassive. “Mr. Travon is worried for you. He thinks that girl is manipulating you for money.”

What the actual fuck?

Hope can never manipulate me for money. She can’t even ask me to buy her food, let alone money.

The mere thought is stupid.

“Trust me she isn’t,” I reply with a twinge of anger in my tone.

Before I can argue more, Sebastian stands in the hallway. He’s in a simple white T-shirt, denim jeans, and sneakers.

“They’re getting ready?” He nods to the guest room.

“For the past hour.”

Sebastian and I turn on Xbox and get our controllers. We set up a Fortnite match and start playing to kill time. We usually don’t talk during the games, but today that isn’t the case.

“So, how are things going with her?”

I’m too engrossed in the game, it takes me a minute to answer. “With whom?”

Sebastian’s character stops moving. I turn to him only to find him looking at me with irritation. “I’m talking about Hope, you idiot.”

Right, of course. It’s a top priority for both Marie and Sebastian.

I nudge him to play and reluctantly he does. “We’ve kissed a few times. And I’ve told her I like her. She said she likes me too.”

“And…”

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