Page 11 of Contempt

“A little longer if I have my way,” Hayden murmurs.

I crack a smile as I hear my mom say, “Stop it, you deviant,” on my way up the stairs.

The real deviant is standing at the top of them.

My smile droops when I feel him looming like a bad dream on a sleepless night, falls off my face entirely when I look up and meet his hooded gaze.

I’m used to running in the opposite direction when that happens.

Now I can’t.

Feigning indifference, I plod up the stairs without looking at him. I keep to one side so he can pass, but rather than come down, he stands at the top and waits for me.

Fantastic.

A wave of foreboding washes over me as I reach the top step. Rather than move out of the way because he obviously saw me coming up the stairs, he deliberately blocks my path.

“Can you move?” I ask, halting on the top step.

“What’s the magic word?”

I’m too tired for his shit. “Don’t be an asshole,” I say flatly.

He smirks, stepping back so there’s enough room for me to step onto the landing. “Not in the mood to play, huh? You must have had a long day. A lot of people talking shit about your golddigging mom?”

I grind my teeth together and turn the corner without bothering to answer him.

He was clearly about to head downstairs, but now that I’m upstairs, he turns and follows me instead.

Great.

“I heard a few rumors myself. Might have contributed to a couple. When’s your mom due, by the way?”

“Look, I don’t really have the energy to deal with you right now,” I tell him, even knowing he won’t care.

“Did you hear the one where you invited me over?”

He doesn’t specify when, but I know when.

The night he broke into my goddamn house.

“Brittany didn’t like that one,” he says, as if letting me in on a secret. “Why’s she the one with a throatful of cum if you’re the one who can summon me with a text?”

I am simultaneously revolted and annoyed by what he just said. “Please stop talking.”

“Am I offending your virginal sensibilities—again?”

We’ve made it to my bedroom, but I can’t go inside because I don’t want him to follow me, so I stop outside the door and turn to huff at him. “What do you want, Landon?”

“You didn’t tell my dad I blew you off after school today, did you?”

“Nope.”

He smirks like my answer amuses him. “Look at you, doing my bidding without even having to be told. What a good girl.”

I give him a dead-eyed look. “Can I go now?”

He ignores the question and holds my gaze. “You didn’t come straight home. Who gave you a ride?”

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