Page 160 of Tempting Little Thief

Fuck him.

Fuckeveryone.

Chapter 28

Rocklin

Spinning on my feet, I place my heels at the edge and close my eyes. I take a deep, calming breath to clear my mind and prepare myself, but it doesn’t work. It never works anymore. Nothing does, which is why I’m here, fifty feet above the water, ready to throw myself into it, half hoping my lungs decide to seize and take me since no one else will. Or, at the very least, knock me out for a while, if only to give me a fucking break from the chaos inside my own mind.

Slowly arching my back, I push myself off the board, my body a straight line, toes pointed in the air above. The world whips past my eyes as I sail toward the water, my head in a neutral position.

The indescribable rush fills me all at once, and though I’m midair, time going by too fast to process, it’s as if I can breathe for the first time in months. My palms flatten just before I break into the water and then I’m deep within its depth, floating back to the surface before I’m ready. I don’t wait or take a breath, but swim to the edge, climb out and make my way back up the stairs. Then I do it again, and again, and again, until my lungs are heaving, the muscles in my neck straining, desperate for air my stupid, broken body refuses to allow.

This time, I left my inhaler in my locker on purpose. I don’t want it. I don’t want the help to breathe. I just want to erase him from my memory, but he won’t fucking go away. It’s been months, and still, every time I close my eyes, I see him.Every time I open them, I look for him. Every phone call I get or incoming text.

It’s disgusting and pathetic, and I hate him.

I may even hate my father more at the moment though, which is saying something. Here at school, it’s the only time I have for myself. He’s still obsessed with whoever the hell is following us and it doesn’t seem to be something that will end anytime soon. I don’t get to see my girls unless they’re here because he refuses to allow them to come over. He’s held a meeting without me, explaining to everyone why a Greyson isn’t at Greyson Manor where she belongs.

Shaking and tight-chested, I climb the ladder once more, but this time, only to the middle plank with no bounce. I move up to the edge and bend, placing my palms on its base, and kick my feet into the air, toes pointed until I’m in a handstand. I close my eyes, taking a deep breath.

“Look who’s back in the water.”

My concentration slips, and I tumble over the side, skilled enough to tuck my body halfway, but my left hip still slaps into the water with a small sting. It’s nothing I can’t handle and nothing I haven’t felt before, but I’m a perfect fucking diver. I shouldn’t have felt it at all.

I fly up to the surface, whipping around until my eyes connect with the person who interrupted, Oliver fucking Henshaw.

His eyes travel over my face. “I haven’t seen you in here in a long time.”

“I don’t come in here when other people are around,” I snap, kicking so I float in place.

“You don’t come in here at all.” He smirks, hands sliding into his uniform pockets as he makes his way closer.

I force my eyes not to narrow, and as if he senses it, his smile only spreads. It’s a little calculating but not unnerving.

The only reason this guy is still here is that it’s easier for the others to keep an eye on him here than it would be if he were sent home.

“Or at least you haven’t in months, maybe even longer than that?” He pretends to guess, but there’s a sureness in his tone that has my eyes narrowing.

How would he know that if he wasn’t watching?

He comes to stand by the pool’s edge, mere feet from where the ladder is located. “I assumed you’ve been using the pool at the manor? I hear it’s nice.” He nods to himself. “I’m sure it’s better than the one we have at the dorms, but everything is better at the manor, right? Better food, better company … maybe even better security?”

His words are like a trigger, causing my gut to stir, but I mask my facial expression as I swim toward the stairs, gripping the right handle, leaving my left beneath the water.

“Shouldn’t you be, I don’t know, anywhere but here?”

He lifts one shoulder, eyes bouncing around the space, and I can’t help but think he’s checking to see if we are alone. He should know better. There’s no such thing as being alone on the Greyson Estate. There are eyes everywhere. More so nowadays.

Then again, not enough to stop a certain someone from sneaking in wherever he wanted …

A small pain hits my chest, and I ignore it, tearing myself from the pool, accepting the outstretched towel Oliver hands me from the bench he swiped it off of.

“I’m going to a fundraiser this weekend. Some big investors my father is looking to sweet-talk, and he wants you there, at my side.”

I scoff, swiping at my legs and then wringing my hair out as I lift a brow at him. “And I’m supposed to care why?”

“Because you’re bored and locked away like a bad princess.” He cocks his head.

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