Page 14 of Corrupt Me

The test was over. And so was this relationship. I’d been dreading this moment all night. I didn’t know what I was doing or why I let Tristan dictate this part of my life. Did I care about the pictures on his phone, or was I using it as an excuse for what I’d been avoiding? Preston and I had talked about what would happen when we both went to college. Although neither of us was thrilled about a long-distance relationship, Preston had promised we’d text, including all the dirty pictures I could take, and FaceTime so much it would be like we were at the same school.

His roaming hands unbuttoned my shorts and dipped under the waistband. This would get out of hand if I didn’t stop it now. It would be better to get this over with and rip off the Band-Aid. It would do no good to prolong the inevitable. I angled my head to the side away from his lips and pressed firmly against his chest again, turning my voice chilly. “What you need is a cold shower and your hand.”

A flash of anger darkened his eyes, washing away traces of desire, nothing that frightened me but enough to tell me Preston was thinking a little less with his dick. “Christ, you’re a piece of work, you know that? Do you have any idea how many girlswould kill to be in my bed?” He took a step back, shoving a hand into his caramel hair.

“You should probably date one of them,” I advised, wiggling to put more space between us. Once again, I found it difficult to breathe. Things were about to get ugly. My regret escalated to anger at having all the sluts at school who were more than willing to drop their panties for Preston thrown in my face, something he liked to remind me of now and then as if I was a dog he needed to keep in line. I was no idiot. I knew girls flirted with him and hung all over him, but I’d always been secure that Preston went home withme.

His eyes roamed over my face, and he could see I was brewing for a fight. It would make what I was going to do easier, and that might have been the coward’s way out, but I didn’t care. “Maybe I will. At least my dick would be happy,” he retorted, an edge in his voice. Our fights seemed to be more frequent the closer we got to leaving.

I ground my teeth. This wasn’t the first time we’d had the sex conversation or, more appropriately, the lack of sex conversation. I never meant to be an eighteen-year-old virgin and assumed Preston would be the one, yet for some reason, I always found an excuse. The latest was my mom. Perhaps that should have told me something. “Is that all you care about?” I barked.

“You know how I feel about you, Ev.” He grabbed my hand and cupped it over his junk, which I could indeed verify was more than adequate in the thickness department. “Isn’t this proof enough?”

I rolled my eyes and tightened my grip on his balls, making him hiss. “I think you’ve confused lust with love.” I released him, my eyes blazing with rage.

“Jesus, Ev. What’s your fucking deal? You’ve been acting weird all night. What happened? What aren’t you telling me? I know something is wrong; that’s why you left yesterday.”

Oh, how right you are.

My heart stuttered in my chest. “I think we should break up,” I blurted. There. I’d said it. Now all I had to do was get in my car and leave.

Preston blinked before he laughed. “You’re kidding, right? What is this? Some sick joke Tristan put you up to? Ha. Ha. Funny. He’s such an asswad.”

“You’re telling me,” I muttered under my breath before steeling myself to keep going. “Listen, Preston, it’s not a joke. I think the distance thing is too much. I need some space.”

Confusion wrinkled his brows. “From me? Look, I didn’t mean what I said. I’m just sexually frustrated, and I thought we’d, you know, finally do it before we both went off to different schools.”

Well, even if I wasn’t breaking up with him, I still wouldn’t be in Preston’s bed. So, either way, he would have been disappointed. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be,” I said, fishing in my purse for my car keys. I had to get out of here. Now.

“Does this have anything to do with your mom?” he asked sharply in a way that had my spine going rigid.

The question was like a knife to my gut. He knew bringing up my mom would hurt me.Asshole. “No... Yes. I don’t know. Maybe.” I’d never broken up with someone before, but I was pretty sure I was botching the delivery. “It doesn’t matter. This is something I need to do. We can still be friends,” I added, and then felt like a fool. How cliché.

Preston didn’t find any comfort in the idea either. “Friends? You want to be my friend?” he proclaimed with a forced laughthat sounded deranged. “Thanks for wasting my time. You’re such a cock tease, you know that, Ev.”

Cock tease, huh?This conversation was over. Kind of like our relationship. “Piss off, Preston.” I spun on my heels and slammed the car door behind me as I got in.

After I rammed my keys into the ignition, my foot hammered the gas, sending my tires peeling over the blacktop. Before I was completely out of view, I stuck my hand out the window and flipped up my middle finger. “Suck on this, you prick!”

And to think I’d thought I was in love with him.

seven

It was move-in day. And on a day that I thought would be filled with a mixture of heartache and excitement, there was just relief and trickles of excitement. I needed this change. I needed something of my own.

The drive to college with Blaine and Anna was quiet. I was lost in my thoughts, still torn up about Tristan’s bullshit and my breakup with Preston. Regardless of Preston’s behavior, he’d been a part of my life for so long it was hard to imagine not talking to him. I had Sam coming with me, I reminded myself, and this was going to be our year.

I hadn’t bothered to say goodbye to either of the Malone brothers, not that they wanted to see me. Anna definitely picked up on the sudden tension between her sons and me but was too polite to pry. She knew her sons could be difficult and a lot to handle, but she worried. I tried to keep my smile bright for her sake, but it took a toll, and I was relieved to see FSU come into view.

The campus was gorgeous and just far enough away from home to make me feel as if I’d left behind all my problems. Ididn’t want the garbage to follow me here. This was supposed to be a clean slate.

Palm trees flanked the orangish and cream-colored brick buildings, their large leaves swaying with the warm breeze. In the center courtyard, a round fountain trickled water into a crystal aqua pool. Everything about the school looked bright and promising. That gave me a sliver of hope in my otherwise gloomy life.

We weaved through the campus, following the directions on my school packet for my house assignment. I had my nose pressed to the glass, gazing at all the housing buildings as we drove by.

“Here we are,” Blaine said, parking in front of a redbrick three-story house with black shutters.

At least, I thought it was a house. It looked too small to be a dorm complex. I was confused. “This can’t be right,” I said, gazing at the house and then glancing back down at my papers. Freshmen were normally housed in dorms on campus. If I wasn’t mistaken, this complex was just off campus.

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