Page 27 of Cruel Devotion

ELI

Itried not to let my annoyance over Haley’s dismissal ruin the rest of my day.

Sure, in some stupid fantasy, I imagined that she’d be grateful. That when I sat with her at the food court, she would appreciate not being alone for once. And that when those bitchy girls teased her and talked shit about her, she’d admire me for standing up for her and coming to her defense.

I was wrong.

She was more of a loner than I realized.

And she was way too jaded and skeptical to believe that I’d come to her defense out of the goodness of my heart.

Damn you.

Of course, she wouldn’t be fooled so easily.

I hadn’t approached her to be nice. Going to sit and eat with her was my first idea of trying to get her to warm up to me so I could save my ass.

If Preston tells his parents I ruined that car…

I blew out a deep breath and walked into my dorm room to change for my mom’s birthday dinner. Now that I was finally done with the day, I couldn’t even count on relaxing here.

All I wanted to do was sleep. A full load of attending classes and staying awake during lectures wore me out when I hardly slept last night. And I was hungover, too. My headache faded with water and painkillers for a while, but it was back with a vengeance.

I sighed, hating the idea of having to spend more time than was necessary with my dad, but I didn’t want to mooch off Finn for a ride to the restaurant. He had a date with Britney later, and he was already nervous and getting his reading and homework done before getting ready for it.

Eli:Hey, Dad. Is there a chance you and Mom could swing by and pick me up, please?

I doubted he’d be that generous.

Three dots appeared under my text as I lowered my arm and let my bag slide down to drop on the floor. I had no energy to pick it up and put it on my chair.

Dad:How much of a whiny brat can you be?

“Here we go,” I muttered.

“What’s wrong?” Finn asked, pulling an ear bud out as he turned from his desk where he was studying. He likely saw my mouth moving and assumed I was talking to him.

“Nothing,” I replied.

Dad:It’s one thing for you to bitch about what day of the week your mother’s birthday falls on.

Dad:Like it’s some hardship to give a damn to celebrate and care about someone else for a change.

Dad:The world doesn’t revolve around you.

“Oh, fuckoff,” I groaned, falling back onto my bed. It was always like this with him. Always. He’d turn everything I said into some major grievance, where I was the only bad guy, never doing anything right.

Dad:And now you’re asking me to go out of my way and spend more gas just to pander to you and make YOUR life more convenient?

“Never mind, asshole. It’s not like I want to go at all.” I dropped my phone to the mattress next to me.

“What’s wrong?” Finn asked again.

“My mom’s birthday dinner. They want me to come out to eat and celebrate with them.”

Familiar with how crappy my parents could be toward me, he cringed. “And you can’t get out of it?”

I wouldn’t dare try. I’d never hear the end of it.

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