Page 10 of Envy

“All the girls do.”

I shake my head.

“You can’t blame them. He’s filthy rich. Captain of the swim team. Good-looking. He’s like a walking lottery ticket.”

I look him dead in the eye. “Well, I’m not one of them.”

Luke searches my face. He’s not convinced. But he’s not wrong, either.

Garret is tall. Gorgeous. Dangerous. The kind of man who could make a girl lose herself. But I don’t want him.

I want freedom. A place to start over. Somewhere where people don’t ask questions. Where I can say “no” and it will actually mean something. Where I can be just a woman. Where a man will ask my name, and I can give him one I chose.

Where he’ll smile and ask how my day was. He’ll never think of me as polluted. His scent won’t remind me of something dark and he will never touch me without permission.

“You’re not interested in Garret?”

I roll my eyes. “No, I’m not.”

Luke leans in. “You like women, then?”

“No.”

A pause. “Do you like anyone?”

I exhale. “No.”

“So what’s it gonna take for you to go out with me?”

There it is. His real reason for sitting here. I push my plate away. “I don’t date.”

“Are you a virgin?”

I go still. Then I look at him, tilting my head. “Are you?”

Luke chuckles.”No. But you already knew that.”

I arch a brow. “How observant of you. Are you going to show me a trick?”

He laughs. But it’s not funny. “You know what? I like you.”

I raise a brow. “How is that? You don’t know me.”

Luke leans forward. “There’s a party this weekend. At Garret’s house.”

My stomach clenches. The memory of his bed. His sheets. The way he promised to burn them after I touched them. “I don’t like parties,” I lie.

I’ve never been to one. Never been asked out, either. Not even in high school. Back then, I was too socially awkward. The only kids I knew were hopped up on drugs, waiting to be sold.

And Luke? He’s not asking me out. He has a motive.

He places his forearms on the table, and it’s then that I notice his jacket with the Kenyan swim team logo. He’s on the swim team with Garret. “Come on,” he says. “It’ll be fun.”

Garret wouldn’t want me there. “I wasn’t invited.”

And I wouldn’t want to go.

“I can change that.”

---