Page 15 of Star Pupil

Chapter 7

Avery

“She really did it,” I whispered. “She left.”

“I’m sorry, bright eyes.”

“It’s not your fault.” It really wasn’t. My mom had always been difficult, but she’d become downright impossible since we moved to California. “Hopefully we’ll be able to move past all this someday. My dad walked out of my life when I was just a little girl. It’s hard to believe my mom just did it too.”

I’d been so angry when I told her it would be better for her to go, and I hadn’t really thought about how I’d feel if she actually went. It hurt.

“Hey,” he murmured, coming over to pull me into his embrace. “Just remember that I’m not going anywhere. You’re stuck with me.”

“You sure you want to be stuck with a homeless girl?”

He leaned back, tilting my head up to look into my eyes. “What do you mean, homeless?”

“I lived with my mom, and her being gone means I don’t have anywhere to go. I don’t have a credit card. She didn’t even let me have a debit card attached to the account with all the money I was paid. Even if she had, my guess is her first stop is going to be the bank so she can clear me out,” I sighed. “I guess I’ll be bunking in here until filming wraps up next week, and then I’ll need to figure out what to do from there.”

“You’re coming home with me.” He said it as though it wasn’t a big deal for him to basically tell me I was moving in with him.

“Umm, do I get a say in where I live?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You had your say already.”

“I did?” I shook my head and wrinkled my brow. “Because I don’t remember that part.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the first time I made you come,” he teased before turning serious again. “You had your chance to run the day I took you to my boat. Instead, you let me kiss you in my car, giving me my first taste of your sweetness. Then you took my hand and followed me onto my boat, looking fucking gorgeous as you enjoyed the ride. After that, you spread your legs for me on my bed and let me get a taste of your pussy. There was no going back after that day.”

Did he really just say all that?

“Although, I’m pretty sure it was too late for me the very first day I saw you.”

I reached up on my tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his lips, blown away by his admission. “It was the same for me the day we met, except I never imagined it was possible for you to want me back.”

“I more than want you, bright eyes. I need you.”

“Take me to my new home and show me,” I urged.

He wasted no time, gathering our things and dragging me to his car. I didn’t want to know how many rules of the road he violated during the drive to his house. Not that it mattered since we didn’t get pulled over, and his speeding meant we made it there in under twenty minutes. Considering how bad traffic was around here, he managed to accomplish the impossible in his determination to get me settled into his home.

I was stunned when he pulled into a gated driveway and it automatically swung open. “There’s a sensor,” he explained, pointing at his visor.

I didn’t know if I should look left or right since the view in all directions was amazing as he drove towards the mini-mansion in front of us. “You wantmeto livehere,with you?”

“Of course I do.” He pressed a button on the dash, sending the garage door closest to us upwards while the other five remained down. “Unless you hate the place, then we’ll have to go house hunting for something you like.”

“You could fit at least a dozen of my houses into your home,” I muttered. “There’s no way it’ll be anything but perfect.”

“The place is nice,” he downplayed. “But the only way I’d call it perfect is with you in it. You hate it, we’ll move. You like it but want to change something, tell me and I’ll get it done. I could give a fuck about the house, Avery. You’re what’s important.”

“I think I love you,” I whispered.

As soon as the car was in park and the engine was off, he hit the button again to send the garage door back down. “You want to repeat that for me?”

“Not really. No.”

“Wait right there,” he growled.

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