Page 53 of A Vicious Rumor

I nodded my head slowly. He patted my hand. "Good. I'm glad you're admitting it. Do you agree to my two conditions?"

"Yes to the first one," I said. "However, I'm not going to be your personal live-in slut," I said, crossing my arms.

Zachary barked out a laugh. "No, no. A girl like you? I never dreamed you'd say yes to that. Once then," he said. "When all this is done. When you've decided that you've made Rock suffer enough, you and I," he traced the inside of my thigh and I shivered but didn't move, "will have one last hurrah."

“No way,” I said to him. I wanted to win back Tyson, yes, but I wasn’t going to do it at the cost of my dignity.

He leaned back and gave me an appraising look. “I’ll raise you one better,” he said. “Mommy dearest has a lot of credit card debt, doesn’t she?”

My eyes widened. Was this more information that Luca told him? How did these guys know so much about me?

“That look confirms it,” he said quietly. “Agree to my terms, and I’ll wipe it out at the end of all of this,” he said.

I hesitated. The calls were becoming more frequent at the house. The debt collectors were incessant, and my mother tried to play it off, but I knew it bothered her. I must have taken too long, because Zachary raised me one more.

“I’ll even make sure you get one of the scholarships that pays for your first year of college.”

My eyes widened, and I lost all bearing. “That’s a thing?”

He nodded his head smugly. “Oh, yes. It’s a fabulous tax write-off while also letting my father look oh-so-philanthropic. So,” he turned his wolfish eyes back on me. “What do you say?”

The practical side of my brain was screaming at me to get the hell out of this situation. But, the other side was justifying every tiny little action I was taking. It told me that by the time I was done with this game, Tyson would be in love with me. So, if Zachary tried to touch me, Tyson would make short work of him, just like he had before. I convinced myself that I didn't need to worry about this--obligation.

"Agreed," I said with a gulp.

Zachary put his finger under my chin and pulled my head forward. I tried to push him off, but he tsked at me. "If we're going to make this believable, you're going to need to put in some effort," he said. "So, kiss me like you kissed Tyson last night," he said.

I didn't even have a moment to process what he'd just said before his lips were on mine. By the time he pulled back, the only thought left in my brain was, what on earth am I doing?

16

TYSON

"I honestly cannot believe you are making me go to this thing," I complained as we got out of Paper's Porsche.

"Scissors has been throwing this party the Saturday before classes resume since freshman year. I'm not sure why you're acting surprised about it," he responded, closing the door behind him.

"I didn't say I was surprised," I said, making my way towards the west side of the house. "I just said I didn't want to be here."

"Noted," Paper responded.

We walked the rest of the way up to the house in silence. Not like we could have talked even if we wanted to. The music was pouring out of the place, just like it usually was. Today’s song was “Love is a Bad Word” by Kiiara, and it was entirely fitting.

I twisted the little bead on the leather band against my wrist. I hadn't talked to Lily or my father for the last week. I didn't give a shit about my dad, but Lily...

Lily was a different story.

My mind was constantly drifting to her. Even doing the most mundane task had me stopping twenty different times to wonder what she was up to, and checking her socials, which she hadn't posted to in the last month anyways, for an update.

I knew I was obsessing over her.

I also knew that I was the one that ended things between me and her, and that I'd done it for her benefit. I just needed to move on. Considering that I wouldn't even be seeing her for the rest of the year, I hoped that would just happen naturally.

As long as I could stop looking at her fucking Instagram.

"Wow, that's amazing!" I heard Lily say. "Let's get a photo!"

My mind tried to register what I'd just heard. I must have been dreaming, right? Because I'd been thinking about her, so my brain just made me think it was her.

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