Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 155405 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 777(@200wpm)___ 622(@250wpm)___ 518(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155405 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 777(@200wpm)___ 622(@250wpm)___ 518(@300wpm)
Whatever the case, I’m far enough away from him that when he calls, “Parker,” I turn to look back at him.
My yoga mat hangs at his side, so I can see that when I knocked his water bottle out of his hands, it spilled down his abdomen. The water darkens the front of his sweats and trails down his left leg. I realize, seeing the wet, clingy outline of the gray material against his crotch, that I gave him a bit of a cold shower.
I swallow.
Isn’t cold water supposed to make those shrink?
His voice jolts me out of my thoughts, and my gaze meets his.
“Next time you spill something on me,” he says slowly, “I’ll make you lick it up.”
My heart sinks like the Titanic.
Landon tosses the yoga mat at me. My arms are like limp noodles, but somehow, I catch it.
Then I haul ass upstairs, and even though I know he isn’t following me, it feels like he is.
Through the living room.
Up the other staircase.
Down the hall toward my room.
I turn the lock as soon as I get the door shut, but even once I’m inside, I don’t feel safe.
Living in this house, under the same roof as him, I have to wonder if I ever will.
Chapter Two
Parker
I heard Landon Atwater got arrested over the summer.
Duh, everyone knows that. But did you know he got arrested for breaking into Parker Johansson’s house?
I heard she invited him over and then lied about it so he’d get in trouble.
Please, “invited him”? I heard she begged.
It’s like that montage in Mean Girls, but it’s my actual first day of school, and people aren’t speaking into a camera—they’re talking about me in front of me as I navigate the halls on the way to my locker.
Is it true that his dad and her mom got engaged?
Were they even dating?
I heard she’s pregnant.
What a golddigger.
I sigh, stopping outside the locker I’ve been assigned for the year and taking out my backpack so I can fill it up.
It has been the longest first day of school ever.
After a stressful morning—courtesy of Landon, of course—I walked through the doors of Baymont High determined that it would be a good first day of school.
At home, dealing with him is more stressful because I have to try to shield Mom from the idea that living with him makes me uncomfortable. At school, I don’t have to worry about that. Normally, I don’t even have to worry about him because I avoid him as much as I possibly can.
I knew there was a slight chance people might be gossiping about me, but since the incident with Landon happened over the summer, I hoped no one would even know about it.
I should have known better. For all the wealth that lives here, Baymont is a small town, and word of all the crazy shit that goes on here tends to spread like wildfire—quickly, torching whole lives that happen to be in its path.
On top of that, my schedule is wrong. I had to spend half of lunch in the office trying to work out why Landon Atwater is in two of my classes when I always schedule my classes very carefully to ensure he isn’t in any of them.
I guess it doesn’t matter now. I live with the jerk; what difference will a couple of classes make?
As if that’s not enough bad luck, the car I’ve had since my 16th birthday decided to die on me after the first load of boxes I drove over to the Atwater mansion. As frustrating as it was to have to deal with that on top of moving, I like to think the car was making a dramatic protest about its new home, and I can’t really blame it.
Today, Landon is my ride home.
I’d rather walk, honestly, but Hayden reasoned that since Landon and I are coming home to the same place now, he could just give me a ride. It would be no trouble at all.
Mom brought me to school, as is tradition on the first day of a new school year. Before we left, she assured everybody that she would be home waiting for us after school—probably to ensure Landon didn’t kidnap me or something once the lunatic has me in his car.
I’m dreading the ride home with him, but I’ll try not to let him feel that. Even if the first day hasn’t gone the way I hoped it would, I’m committed to this fresh start thing. This will be a fresh start, and it will go well, whether the rest of the world wants it to or not.
It has to.
This is one of those scenarios where failure truly isn’t an option. Mom’s happiness is on the line, and I refuse to stand in the way of it.
Once my bag is full of books, I exit the building and make my way toward the row of reserved student spaces. They’re not for just any students, of course. Only those whose parents make generous donations to the school to reserve one for their little darling. I know Landon has one, so I walk down the sidewalk until I get to his sleek, deep green Jaguar.