Page 4 of Resist Me

I gritted my teeth and fought the urge to hang up. “Can I make a withdrawal with the permission of my oh-so-loving father?”

“For what?”

“I need things.”

“This has been a waste of my time.”

“I’m moving into an apartment,” I said before he could hang up. “Me, Kai, and his boyfriend.”

“What’s wrong with the dorm?”

“This works better for us and…” I bit my tongue before I mentioned Willow. He was obviously unaware of her plans. “It’s just good for us and it’ll help us grow, but we need some stuff. Furniture, mostly.”

“You’re not ready to move if you can’t afford those things.”

“Can you just do it? I’m not blowing it on drugs or hookers. I’ll even send you receipts.”

“How much do you need?”

“How much is in there?”

“Enough.”

“A thousand, maybe. I don’t know how much this shit costs, but I’m gonna go to the thrift store.”

“That’s how you get bed bugs. God damnit, I’ll send you what should be enough. Text me if you need more. Don’t get spend happy.”

The call ended, leaving me both satisfied and annoyed. He wasn’t the worst dad on the planet. I’d met Sen’s parents and that was its own sort of hell. Mine had once been loving and took us to the movies and on the occasional vacation. Life could really do a number on someone, turning them into a stranger who looked at you with resentment where there’d once been pride.

At least he’d kept my college fund instead of donating it to charity or some shit. I hadn’t even asked about it up until now because I assumed he’d done something like that.

My phone buzzed, alerting me that money had been deposited into my account.

Holy shit. Maybe I’d hold off on the dad slander for a day or two.

Chapter 2

West

Going shopping in person had actually been a trash idea. Most of the places didn’t keep things in stock and had to order the items online anyway, so I saw no point. I thought about trying to get the car back before Kai noticed, but he’d already sent me an angry text, so I decided to milk this for a while.

I sat in the coffee shop, scrolling through bed frames on my phone. Why were some wood and metal so expensive? I was sleeping on it, not driving it to work. They’d better be pretty damn durable for that price.

Bringing my coffee to my lips, I winced a little at the heat. My stomach growled and I looked at the time. Six. Damn, I’d been out longer than I thought. I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t eaten. I scanned the menu above the register, trying to decide if anything here would satisfy me.

A loud, annoying laugh drew my attention to a table by the window. The guy there was tall and lanky with close-shaved hair. His smile was wide and over-exuberant. I got along with a lot of people, but something about him seemed like it would annoy me.

An awkward- or maybe uncomfortable- laugh made me shift my eyes to the other person at the table. His curly hair wasn’t as voluminous as usual, but it looked damp like he was fresh out of the shower. In just a t-shirt, his tan skin was visible. Colorful tattoos snaked up his arms and over the obvious definition in his biceps.

As I stared at Lincoln, he brought a coffee cup to his lips. His eyes traveled around the space as if he wanted to look anywhere but at his buddy. Were they friends? He didn’t seem to like him very much.

Good. I hoped he was having a terrible time.

Maybe you’ll be better at fetch.

Ever since he called me puppy at the Halloween party, it seemed to be his go-to for name calling. Joke’s on him. I loved dogs. They were loyal and always down for a good time, just like me.

Because I was a bit of a nosey bitch, I continued to cycle between scrolling and watching them. It was hard to tell what was going on, but I didn’t think they knew each other well. Lincoln was nodding along to what the other guy said. He looked like he was trying to be nice while praying for some sort of escape.

---