Page 9 of Forbidden Bond

“No,” I say. “I should have known that’s where you were going. Absolutely not, Jameson.”

“You didn’t even let me finish.”

“I’ll finish it for you. There’s a party tomorrow. You’re probably throwing it. I’m guessing it’s at your house and you probably need me there to help make sure none of your things get damaged.”

His blue eyes widen in surprise. “Damn, Katie. You a mind reader or something?”

“No,” I say, getting to my feet. “I just know you, Jameson. And I’m not going to your dumb party.”

“Anyone that refers to a party as dumb is uncool, Katherine,” he says, getting to his feet as well.

He follows me as I walk out of the café.

“A 21-year-old senior with nothing better to do than spend Friday nights partying and getting drunk is uncool in my book, Jameson.”

“What? That’s exactly what we should be doing,” he states. “Come on, I need you to do me a solid here.”

“Get somebody else to do it,” I tell him, heading down the path to my house.

It’s a twenty-minute walk and I would have brought my car to campus but it’s still at the repair shop. Turns out, it wasn’t just the alternator that needed fixing. Jameson keeps on following me. We pass by his Range Rover but he doesn’t make a move toward it.

“Come on, Katherine. I need you.”

Something about the desperation in his voice gives me pause, and I whirl around to face him.

“There’s something else. What is it?” I question.

He smirks. “I may have told one of my guys that you’d be there so he would invite this really cool dude to the party.”

I blink. “That makes no sense. Explain.”

“Fine. You know Maximus, right?”

“Blonde hair, blue eyes, douchey attitude. We went to the same high school, Jamie, of course I know him.”

“Well, he’s in town, and rumor has it, he’s rolling with this really cool guy and any party this guy attends is made infinitely cooler with his presence. We don’t need to concern ourselves with the cool guy now,” Jameson states. Something flashes in his eyes that makes me suspicious but I don’t comment on it. “It’s Maximus that has requested your presence. You know he used to have a crush on you, right?”

“No, I don’t. And I don’t care. I’m not going to a party. I have better things to do with my time than spend a night with a bunch of strangers so drunk they can’t see two feet in front of them.”

Jameson places his hands on my shoulders, keeping me in place. He leans down to look me in the eye.

“Katie, I want you to listen to me very carefully. We’ve known each other since we were in diapers. I know you better than anyone in the entire world. You’re my best friend. But honestly, you’ve really got to let yourself go. I’ve watched you the past four years. I thought college would finally be a fresh start, an opportunity for you to finally learn how to be free. For once, you would be out from under your dad’s thumb. Instead, you chose to do the exact opposite. You folded in on yourself and became even more closed off. I love you, but you can’t do that anymore.”

My eyes narrow and I shift out of his grip. “Is there a point to this little lecture?”

“I triple dare you,” Jameson announces, making me roll my eyes. “You’re going to the party tomorrow. You’ll have a drink or two, maybe flirt with a guy—it doesn’t have to be Maximus. But you’re going to have fun. Everyone thinks you’re a stuck-up bitch, Katherine. Prove them wrong.”

“Maybe I am a stuck-up bitch,” I tell him.

“No, you’re amazing. And we’ve only got a few weeks to prove that to everyone else.”

‘I don’t give a fuck about everyone else.”

“That’s good. But everyone else certainly gives a fuck about you. They’re watching you, Katherine. You’re a Malone. And they’re all curious about what you’ve got.”

I sigh softly. “All this talk just to get me to go to a party.”

“It’s working, isn’t it?” he asks, grinning.

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