Page 244 of Filthy Elites

I do my best to ignore it, breaking his gaze and opening my purse to dig out my wallet. The cashier isn’t finished ringing things up, I just need a distraction.

Finally, she tells me the total, but before I can take out my credit card, Dare hands her his.

I look up at him, surprised. “You didn’t have to do that.”

He shrugs. “I wanted to.”

“Thank you,” I say softly.

He nods wordlessly, then takes his credit card. I wait for him to move forward so I can grab my grocery bags, but he grabs those, too.

As we head for the entry and exit doors, I can’t bite back a faint smile. “You better be careful, Dare.”

He looks down at me, his brow furrowing.

I let my smile widen and tell him mischievously, “If you keep this up, I might think that deep down, you’re actually… kind.”

His confusion clears and he smirks at me. “You better not go around telling people shit like that.”

I laugh, looking both ways before we cross the parking lot. “Don’t worry. I promise not to ruin your big, bad reputation.”

“You better not.”

His words are playful, but they unlock a few memories of things I’ve heard about him, things it’s a lot easier not to think about when we’re together.

He’s not a nice guy.

I don’t ignore that voice of caution in the back of my head, but it’s hard to entirely heed it when I look over and see him carrying groceries he bought for me to his car, the car he’s giving me a ride home in because he’s paying for the repairs on mine.

These are all really nice things to do, and what ulterior motive could he possibly have?

Maybe he really justlikesme.

I guess it’s not so hard to believe. It’s not like I’m some ogre, and maybe he’s right—even if he was joking—about saving my life forging some kind of bond between us. I certainly didn’t feel it that night—he was too busy being an asshole—but when it’s just the two of us, he’s like a different person.

A person I like?

I shove the thought away because it doesn’t matter.

Dare is with Anae—even if it doesn’t seem like he even likes her very much. I don’t like her, but maybe that doesn’t mean he and I can’t be friends.

Friends?

I guess maybe we are becoming friends.

I don’t havetimefor friends, but with my stupid car being in the shop, it does give us an opportunity to get to know each other we wouldn’t have otherwise had. I don’t get the feeling friendship with Dare would be as much of a time commitment, either. He has tons of friends; he won’t wilt without my attention.

It could be kind of perfect.

TEN

Aubrey

I standon the curb in front of my house waiting for Dare to pick me up for school.

It feels strange waiting for him. Self-consciousness creeps up on me and I’m not sure why.

It’s a nice, warm day, so I decided to wear a skirt. I don’t have many skirts. I rarely wear them, so I’m not sure why I wanted to today, but I can’t stop tugging at it. The soft white fabric only extends to the edge of my fingertips if I lift my shoulders, so hopefully, no one bothers to check and see if I’m obeying the dress code. Faculty members never bother the rich kids, but sometimes if the less privileged students wear something that breaks the rules, they get sent home to change.

---