Page 230 of Filthy Elites

I look back at Dare.

He smirks.

“I hate you,” I tell him flatly.

His smirk morphs into a grin. “Just give me what I want and we can all get on with our day.”

The guy in the carbehindthe guy behind Dare calls, “Come on, Aubrey, we’ve got places to be.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I mutter to Dare.

“Sorry,” he lies, still smiling. “What do you say? You wanna come to my bonfire after work?”

“No.”

Unfazed, he says, “But you’re gonna do it anyway, right?”

I think about thwarting him. I should be able to if I’m determined. He can’t literally blackmail me into coming to his stupid bonfire. Surely if I called the non-emergency police line and told them some asshole is blocking traffic and I can’t leave the school, someone would come and help.

Maybe I could even walk into the school to tell the principal. I probably wouldn’t even have to. Surely if I disappeared from his sight for a while, Dare would get bored with sitting here and give up.

Right?

I can’t bank on any of it, though. Filthy rich kids like him get special treatment by the cops in this town all the time, and he’s a liar, so if I go to the principal, he’s likely to pop his hood and rip out a belt or something so he’s “stranded.” The other cars may eventually be able to get out of here, but I’m parked next to a curb, and the way he has me boxed in, if he decides to be a dick,Iwill be stuck here until his car is towed.

The answer hits me, and when it does, it’s so simple, I can’t believe I didn’t think of it first. It’s not my natural impulse. In fact, I really dislike doing it, but it’s probably what he would do if the tables were turned.

I lie.

“Fine.”

He looks victorious. I feel a twinge of guilt even though I know I shouldn’t. He’s a spoiled jerk using totally unfair methods to try to get me to comply, so he deserves to be disappointed.

I still feel a little bad.

I don’t like disappointing people, even if they suck.

I’m surprised I’m even capable of disappointing him, but I remind myself it’s not about me. Dare just likes things to go his way. He’s only so adamant that I give in because I said no in the first place. If I fell all over myself just because he invited me somewhere, he’d be bored in three seconds.

I hope he finds some new shiny object to distract him soon because I donothave energy to dump into fighting off the attention of Chase Darington right now. I just don’t.

I go back to my car and look in my rearview mirror.

He watches me for a few more seconds, but since he thinks I’ve ceded to his ridiculous demands of my time, this time, he drives away.

___

“Thanks for covering tonight.”

“No problem,” I tell the manager as she heads to the office to retrieve her things. She asked me to come to the office with her, so I figure she has some paperwork to show me since I’m closing on a night I normally don’t.

“I need you to sign this,” she says, grabbing a white sheet of paper and handing it to me along with a pen.

I take the pen and scan the page before I sign it. My heart sinks into my stomach when I see it’s an employee write-up form. “What is this?”

“It’s just a formality,” she assures me. “You’ve never been in trouble before so it’s literally nothing to worry about.”

My heart races faster and faster as I skim the “employee warning” form. There’s a box for me to write a statement and give my side of things, but I’ve literally never been in trouble foranythingbefore, so that doesn’t make me feel any better. I’ve never had a detention or a speeding ticket. I’ve damn sure never gotten in trouble at work.

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