Page 176 of Vile Boys

“Because hewantsyou.”

My whole body suddenly feels cold as ice. “He’s using my mom as leverage to keep me as a prisoner.”

Caleb slowly nods. “I told you I wasn’t the worst thing that could happen to you.”

I jerk my finger free from Caleb’s grip. “Why? Just because your father wanted to marry my mother, I deserve to be treated like a toy?”

When he doesn’t say a word, I slap him. Hard. And he doesn’t even flinch.

He just stands there and takes it … like it does nothing to him.

Or maybe the exact opposite, I can’t tell at this point.

I slap him again. “You asshole!” When he doesn’t respond, I add, “Fucking say something, dammit! Why would it matter if your father fell in love with someone? My mother isn’t trying to steal your goddamn fortune. She just wants to be happy.” More tears sting my eyes, but I slap him once more until his cheeks are red. “My mother deserves to be happy. My father would’ve wanted her to be.”

I sniff and push back more tears, but the way Caleb gazes at me completely catches me off guard. The complete and utter distraught look in his eyes undoes me.

“Your father?” he mutters, his face contorting.

“He’s dead,” I growl, ignoring the shock riddling his face. I’ve seen that look of surprise and pity so many times before that it does nothing to me anymore. “My mother is all I have left. I wished for so long she’d smile again. Why are you so desperate to destroy their relationship that you’d try to ruin my life over it?”

His teeth grind together, but then his hand rises, and I almost expect a slap back.

Instead, he picks up one of my leftover tears on his thumb, caressing my cheek so softly my breath falters.

Suddenly, he grips my arm and shoves me into the car.

“Stay,” he growls before he opens the driver’s side and gets in, locking both doors.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“You want to know why? I’ll fucking show you why.” He starts the car and veers across the street, plowing through my mother’s freshly mowed lawn, destroying it in the process as slices of dirt and grass are chucked in the air.

“My mom’s going to be pissed when she finds her front yard in the morning,” I say.

“Trust me, she’d be much more pissed if she found a gun in her face instead,” he replies.

I stare at him in shock as he continues to drive. “You’d actually kill her?”

“What makes you think I was talking about me?”

I slam my lips shut and look out the window, angry that he’d found me in the first place. I didn’t tell anyone, not even Blaine.

“How the hell did you find me anyway?” I ask after a while.

“I had Blaine install a tracker on your phone.”

I snort, shaking my head. “Of course, you did.”

“You think that’s funny?”

“Of course. Everything’s a fucking game to you guys.”

“This ain’t no fucking game, Crystal,” he growls. “I’m trying to keep you alive.”

“Yeah, well you’re doing a damn bad job at it,” I say, pointing at the red light he just ignored. When a truck shoots right past our rear while honking, I scream, “Look out!”

The car veers sideways to avoid another oncoming car, and I look at him, wondering if he’s gone insane or if he has a death wish. Maybe both.

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