Play With Me: A High School Bully Romance (Diamond In The Rough Book 1)(14)

I carried my things up the stairs, brushing quickly by my mother. Of course she’d take this time to invite D.J. over. What the hell else did I expect? I made my way into my bedroom and closed the door, ready to tear into my reading for English while I munched on some cookies. I flopped onto my bed and pulled out my books. I spread out my snacks as my mouth began salivating. I didn’t know what it was about the on-brand cookies that tasted so good. But they were always better than the off-brand ones my mother bought.

However, I didn’t even get halfway through my reading before the fighting started.

“I’m sorry, D.J. I didn't realize you wanted me to get wine.”

He sighed. “Beer doesn’t go with Italian food. Are you that thick-headed?”

Mom scoffed. “Well, I’m not a wine connoisseur. I wouldn't even know what kind to get with noodles and shit.”

“No, you just know how to open your throat and chug it back so you can get drunk all the time. Right?”

“You’re the one always dragging me off to parties when I’m completely content hanging around here with you. Just you. In your arms.”

“Well, maybe if you weren’t such a boring little fuck, I wouldn’t always have to drag you to parties to get you to loosen up!”

I rolled my eyes as I reached for my headphones. Then I remembered that D.J. had thrown my iPod full of music against a fucking wall. Great. I hunkered down in my bed, pulling the covers over my ears. I tried blocking out their fighting as I struggled to get through my reading. But finally I couldn't take it any longer. It had taken me two hours to do what should have only taken forty-five minutes, and I couldn't take their arguing any longer.

Homework can wait.

Mom cursed. “Fuck, D.J.! I just wanted to have a nice night with you. Why did you have to come in here and blow a gasket first thing?”

D.J. snarled. “You cuss at me one more time and I’m going to show you exactly what dirty mouths like yours deserve.”

“Oh, really. A threat to hit me? Like you don’t do that enough as it is. You keep slapping me around enough and I just might hit back!’

“I’d like to see you try, you pathetic excuse for a woman.”

I shook my head as I slipped out of bed. I stored my snacks underneath my bed for a rainy day, then changed my clothes. I put myself in the only sundress I had. I wanted to feel the cool summer air on my legs as I walked around. Because being anywhere right now was better than being here. D.J. was hot, then cold. Good, then bad. One week, he brought over flowers and money and gifts. And the next week, they were fighting downstairs until he decided to beat on my mom. I felt it coming, too. The beatdown. The cold to his hot.

And if I was here for it, I wasn’t too sure I wouldn't try to kill him.

“Just get out!” Mom yelled.

Something crashed against the wall before D.J.’s voice sounded.

“You’re lucky that didn’t land, you little bitch.”

I heard my mother on the verge of tears as I slipped into my tennis shoes. I pried open my window, feeling the cool summer breeze against my legs as I slipped out onto the roof. I shimmied down the drain pipe, dropping to my feet. And after smoothing my dress down over my knees, I took off for the road.

I couldn't stand it any longer.

I had to get the hell away from this place.





12





Clinton





I pulled into the driveway of my father’s mansion and sighed. Ten o’clock at night, with the party just getting started, and Marina’s parents had to ruin the whole fucking thing. I mean, come on. Women were practically fighting over me. I was teasing them to the high heavens, too. Acting like I’d kiss them, only to turn my head and start flirting with another. Chicks loved that shit. Loved working hard for a man they wanted. And I was working them in the hot tub like magic.

Until Marina’s parents busted the damn thing up.

Roy got to stay, though. I watched the way he sucked up to her parents. The way he started rattling on about trying to keep everyone safe and keep Marina away from the ‘ruckus.’ Oh, he sucked up well to them. Kissed their asses so much they actually let him stay. Roy! Of all fucking people! The boy who was fucking their daughter in the middle of the damn football field after school, and they let him stay. All because he knew how to put on a good show. All because he knew how to appear like the good boy before seducing his girlfriend.

I wish I had a girl to have some quality time with.

I shook the thought from my head. I got laid enough as it was. Quality time with a girl would only dampen shit like that. Once a guy started cuddling with a chick, that’s all she wanted to do. Cuddle. I’d have to start begging for blowjobs after that. And fuck that nonsense. Clint Clarke didn’t beg. If anything, women got down on their knees and begged to give me one. Just to say they had the pleasure of tasting my cock in their mouth.

The thought made me grin as I swung my leg over my bike.

Nope, there was no point in going steady with a girl. I hadn’t done it before now, and I had no intention of doing it later on in life. I didn’t see the point in it. Fucking around with one girl and her getting pissed off if I saw a nice ass walking by me. What was the point in that? Why spend my time begging to get fucked when I could go out any night and be guaranteed a fuck? Relationships were pointless. They destroyed people. Turned them into shadows of their former selves.

I should know, too.

I watched it happen with my mother.

I opened the garage door to get inside and paused. Seeing my father’s cherry red convertible in the garage made me groan. What the fuck now? Why the hell was he home? What the fuck did he want to shove up my ass this time?

I braced myself for whatever I was walking into as I approached the side garage door.

“About damn time you showed up.”

His voice hit my ears as I walked through the door. I stood in the sprawling kitchen, seeing him and Cecilia sitting at the table. There was food out. A plate set for me. Their plates were clear of any food they might have been eating and everything had grown cold. I snickered as I closed the door behind me. I shrugged as I slid my bike keys into my pocket.

Then I licked my lips. “Didn’t know family dinners were our thing.”

Dad narrowed his eyes. “Where have you been?”

“Marina’s. Hanging out with Roy.”

“Why the fuck did I get a call from the school saying you’d been in a fight this morning?”

You’re dead, Mrs. Abernathy.

I shook my head. “It was nothing. Some pathetic boy came at me and I defended myself.”

Dad stood up. “Not what I heard.”

“Well, I don’t care what you heard. That’s not what happened. He crossed a line, so I defended myself.”

“Does that crossed line happen to be something he did to that bike of yours? Because I’ve got every intention of taking that away from you right now.”

“You aren’t taking that from me again.”

Dad charged from around the kitchen table and I puffed out my chest. Cecilia stood up, hollering for him to stop as he barreled directly into me. I winced as the pain in my neck grew. He shoved me against the wall, then pinned me with his hands wrapped up in my shirt. Apparently, all he heard was I’d been in a fight. He didn’t give a shit about the injuries I’d suffered during the event.

Typical, for my father.

Cecilia slammed her hand on the table. “You know that nurse said he’s only a few steps away from a concussion. Let him go.”

Dad growled. “You’re so full of shit. Thinking you can walk around here like you own the place. Don't forget who bought you that bike.”

I grinned. “You bought my first bike. I dipped into my trust fund with your permission to buy the second one.”

“And don’t you dare forget who can take that away from you.”

I snickered. “If you did, you’d be stuck with me. Which is something I know you don’t want.”

“Not when you’re a piece of trash.”

“Like father, like son.”

I gnashed my teeth at him before I saw his hand come into view. And before I could even blink, I felt his knuckles crack against my cheekbone. My neck felt as if it were on fire, and I stumbled on my feet. I felt my father grip my shirt again and bring me back into the wall, only to come down against my face again.

He hit me three solid times before Cecilia’s shrieks caused him to pause.

“Howard! Stop it! You’re going to put him in the hospital!”

I felt my father release my shirt and I slipped back down to my feet. But my father spun around and I heard him yelling at her. I knew he was probably spitting on her. I watched him stick his finger in her face, but she stood her ground, her small frame enveloped in the most expensive of fabrics. The two of them yelled back and forth at one another, but I had no idea what they were saying. I didn’t care, either. All I knew was I had to get out.

I had to get away from this place.

I reached for the garage door and ripped it open. I stumbled out, my vision slowly coming into focus. I saw the garage door closing and I made a break for it. I heard my father screaming my name as I ducked underneath the moving metal door. I dug my keys out and slung my leg over my bike. My father’s voice approached me from behind as I quickly struck up my engine.

“Get back here, you son of a bitch. That bike is mine!”