Page 110 of Bad for Me

“You want me out of where? Your office?” Her nose wrinkles adorably and I clench my teeth.

“Out of my office. My class. Preferably my school.”

“Yourschool?” She props her hand on her hip. “Despite hiring a bully as one of its professors, Graveston University has the best literature program in the world. I don’t know what your deal is, but I’m not giving that up, and I’mnotleaving, Woods.”

“We both know you don’t deserve to go to a school of this caliber. My father pulled strings to get you in, didn’t he? You couldn’t even pass freshman English your first go around in high school. What makes you think you’ll survive my class?”

Her cheeks flush to a delicious shade of cherry red, but I can’t decipher the emotion that flashes over her face before it just as quickly disappears. I push back the strange twinge in my chest and hold my breath as she slowly steps forward.

“I got into this school—and your class—fair and square. I worked my ass off in advanced classes in high school so I could start ahead at Graveston, and this is a requirement for my major. I’m not transferring out just because you can’t stand me for God knows why. I’ve always wanted to be a writer?—”

“Don’t get me started onthat.” I bark out a laugh. “My sweet, sweet, summer child, this class won’t be like your silly journal entries.”

“How do you know about those?” she hisses before narrowing her eyes. “Wait, no… You didn’t?—”

“I didn’t read them if that’s what you’re wondering. You think I have time to pry into a teenager's journals? Besides, what are they going to say? ‘Dear diary, mommy convinced my new rich stepdaddy to buy me a brand-new car after I totaled the last one drunk driving like animbecile.’” I draw out the word, hoping to bait her more, but as her brow wrinkles with the look of hurt that I wanted, my chest twinges again and I immediately want to take back everything I said.

Then her forehead suddenly smooths, and she crosses her arms. A smug look crests her rosy lips, and my reservations disappear.

“Wow, you know about that too, huh? I was beginning to wonder if you hated me, but it sounds like you and your dad chat about me a lot. Keeping tabs on me, stepbrother? Maybe you were even worried that I was injured?”

The truth rings out into the room like alarm bells.

Does she know?

Her eyes slowly widen. The smartass look on her face relaxes and her lips part slightly.

Dammit, I won’t let her get the better of me.

“Woods, I…” She reaches for me, but I lash out instead.

“He’s tried to make your case to me once or twice before,” I interrupt, blurting the words. “But I’m sure he’d say anything to make your gold-digging snake of a mother happy. She’s already strangled his good sense out of him.”

“Don’t—” She rushes forward, but I stay still even as she stabs an angry finger toward my face. “Don’ttalk about my mom that way. You don’t know anything about her,orme.”

I shrug. “I know all I need to know. She wanted my father’s money and lured him in when he was still grieving over his wife after she lost a long battle to cancer. My mother was gone for less than ayear, and there was no way he’d betray her memory unlessyourmother tricked him into it. He forgot about my family, left me in the dust, and made a whole new one.”

“No… Youleftusin the dust.” The emphasis in her words pound against my stubbornness, trying to convince me they’re the truth. Irritation boils in my veins, but before I can respond she sighs. “Look, Woods, I promise, my mom adores your dad. She wants you to be a part of our family, and she respects what he had with your mom?—”

“If she ‘adored’ my father and ‘respected’ my mother so much, then why did she insist on getting married right away? If your mother had cared, she would’ve seen how he’d spiraled into delirious grief and talked sense into him.”

“It wasn’t disrespect.” She shakes her head and the sympathy on her face makes me want to hug her and lash out at the same time. “They fell in love, Woods.”

“They fell inlove?”The words roar from me as years of bubbling, pent-up emotions unleash. “That’s what she wanted him to think, but she only wanted his money. And as for you…” I ignore the mix of concern and anger furrowing her blonde brows and look her up and down, enjoying her gorgeous curves even as I snarl my lip in a show of disgust.“You’rejust like her, aren’t you?”

The confused wrinkles in her forehead disappear along with any grace she had for me.

“God,mommyissues? Really? I should’ve known. The hottest bullies always have the worst mommy issues.”

Rage flares in my chest, pushing me closer to her. “Better than a spoiled brat with daddy issues. What did you really do to get here, Everly? Because we both know you didn’t get in on your own merit.” Her plump bottom lip pokes out, and the way my cock twitches infuriates me. “Come on, be honest. Who did you blow to get into Graveston?”

Pure hate narrows her eyes, but it drops suspiciously quickly before she completely closes the gap between us. I refuse to move an inch, not even when her perky tits brush against my chest, making my cock thicken.

“You want to know who I ‘blew’to get intoyouruniversity, dear stepbrother?”

Lust hazes my mind while I watch her lips wrap around each syllable. But then she says two words that flip a fucking switch.

“Your.Dad.”

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