Page 30 of The Chemistry of Us

They were VIP members at the country club.

They bought new cars every year.

We went on expensive vacations.

The whole nine yards.

To me, they were just keeping up with the Joneses. Everything had to be about them and the latest gossip. It really was like living in a movie with nothing but rich people who smiled all the time in the creepiest way possible and tried to outdo every friend they had in their social circle.

They didn’t own our things; our things owned them.

At the end of the day, I knew they wanted what was best for me. Not thinking that maybe I already knew what that was. They were suffocating me, and they didn’t even realize it.

In their eyes, everything was the way it was supposed to be. It was normal for them to act like they did, and I was the outlierfor looking at them like they were crazy half the time. I played by their rules because I had no fucking choice but to be a part of their world. I understood I was crying rich-boy tears, but at the same time, pain was pain, and there was so much of it that I was smothered.

All my life, I felt like my parents tried to mold me into something I wasn’t. Something they wanted me to be. I never felt accepted or good enough, and that killed me the most. That ate away at me, piece by piece. Day after day.

At the end of the day…

I needed to make myself happy. Life was too short, you only lived once, and all that other Hallmark bullshit.

I wanted to make the best of it.

For the first time in my life, I was almost done with college, and I just hoped they loved me enough to let me come into my own. Whether that be part of their trust fund agreement or not. If I wanted them to accept me for who I was or who I wanted to be, I guess I should start by giving them a chance.

“Vaughan, there you are, honey. I was about to call you and see where you were. Dinner’s almost ready. Will you help me set the table?”

I nodded, helping her. I tried to have dinner at the house I grew up in a few times a month. The truth was, I was avoiding the pain in the ass who slept and lived in the room next to me. She still hadn’t realized that I had snuck into her bedroom after she had been asleep the other night when I forced her to have dinner with me. The little shit didn’t talk to me the entire meal and then slammed her bedroom door in my face when I wanted to call her out on it.

That was three days ago, and we hadn’t spoken since. I borrowed her planner, wrote down all the names and numbers of the students she was tutoring, and reimbursed them all theirmoney. She needed to focus on her classes and not worry about someone else’s.

I knew she hated taking money from her fosters, which was why she was tutoring everyone and their mother. Now, I was her only student, and I planned to keep it that way. It was a war I knew better not to start, but fighting with her was always one of my favorite things. I liked the way she fought back, and I liked everything about her sexy-as-fuck mouth.

It always led to us making up.

We sat down shortly after for dinner, and I waited until my dad asked me his usual dinnertime questions.

“How is school?”

“Fine.”

“How’s the tutoring?”

“Fine.” God, could this be over already?

“I heard you’re getting tutored by that foster kid from the Hamptons.” He smirked and stared down at his plate. “Kind of like a Cinderella story, huh? She gets adopted and suddenly has the world at her fingertips, yet you’re getting tutored by her.”

Of course, he kept tabs on me.

My jaw clenched. “Her name is Tru.”

“She was always such a lovely girl. It’s hard to believe she was ever an orphan.” I thought he was trying to be nice, but it hit wrong, and I wanted to punch him for it.

My mom took a sip of her wine. “Vaughan could do better. He needs someone on his level.”

“I know, honey, but she was still lovely, don’t you think?”

I scoffed. “You guys do realize I’m sitting here, right?” They always did this, talking about me like I wasn’t in the damn room. “Can’t you wait until I at least leave to talk shit about people who are important to me?”

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