Page 573 of Filthy Elites

If I’d thrown myself at her feet the very first time I met her, instead of calling her mother a whore and making her life hell, she would still have rejected me. It’s not about me. It’s about her, and her desire to leave anything to do with Thorn Falls behind.

I’m not blind enough to miss that this town is sick at the core. The privileged riverside inhabitants needed employees, people to wipe their tables and raise their brats, so the westside was developed to house the help. Low wages and few opportunities or promotions mean that the westside only grows poorer as the riverside thrives. Some people are content with the cards they’re dealt. They learn to adapt, forge a place for themselves in the mud. People like Erica, though? She would never have been content in Thorn Falls, not even if she’d been born on the riverside. Her mind’s too bright for this town.

“There’s a new restaurant on Main Street.” I ate there with my parents and grandfather. A little uppity, but the food was good. “Dinner at seven?”

“No, thanks.” No hesitation. She keeps her gaze set out the window.

I park in front of Starbucks. “You can stay in the warmth if you’d like. I’ll bring you your order. Caramel latte, right?”

“I’ll get my own coffee, Chase.” She gets out of the car.

Of course she does.

Rolling my eyes, I join her in the line. We’re served by the same guy as we were Monday, an Asian student shorter and leaner than me, though I’d say he’s in his twenties. The way he smiles when he looks at Erica makes me want to punch his face. “An espresso and a caramel latte, please.”

“A frappé, please, Tom.” Erica shoots the barista her best smile. The one she’s never given me. “And Iampaying today.”

It goes against my instincts, but I let her settle the bill, including my drink.

“Getting a different drink just to contradict me? Mature, doll.”

“Oh my god, Chase, do something about that ego of yours. Not everything is about you. I like to switch my order up.”

“That’s true, she does,” Tom puts in. “Latte, frappé, and iced, right?” He beams at her.

I look between the gawky kid and my girl, hating that he knows anything about her I don’t.

“That’s unusual. Most people stick to the same poison.” I drink coffee because it helps keep me awake, but the stuff tastes bitter and vile to my palate, hence why I drink espresso. It’s basically medicine.

“Maybe I don’t want my life to be as boring as yours,” she mutters.

I down my drink as soon as it’s in my hand, and she happily sips hers through a paper straw.

“So, dinner,” I say once we’re in the car again.

“I’m never going to go to dinner with you, Chase Archer.”

I exhale and shake my head. “I’m trying to give you a chance at normal, doll. You and I both know I can and will get into your room to fuck you into tomorrow when I feel like it. You might as well get a few dates out of it.” I swerve into the parking lot.

“Excuse me?”

I drive to my spot at the front. As soon as the engine’s off, I move my hand to her knee. She grabs my wrist with both of her hands, and I ignore her, caressing my way up her thigh until I reach the top.

She wiggles her butt and makes a show of trying to push me away, only using a tenth of her strength because it’s just that. For show. A game of pretense, to tell herself she doesn’t want this.

“Have dinner with me,” I say against her ear.

Her mouth’s slightly open, lower lip trembling. “No.”

I lower the band of her tights and slide under the fabric.

“We’re in front of the school!” she seethes.

I grin, my finger getting coated in hot warmth. My cock twitches in my pants. “If we weren’t, my cock would be balls deep in your drenched pussy by now. Dinner, Erica. You’re taking my cum inside you tonight either way.”

“Keep dreaming.”

I’m starting to get to know what she likes. Erica prefers roughness to soft touches. I wish I had the time to tease her, but I don’t, so two of my fingers enter her sheath, pushing in and out. Her legs tighten around me, as the hold of her hands over mine all but disappears. “That’s it, doll. Let it go.”

---