Se connecter"I should've stopped him, Hayesey. God, I knew how he was, and I still brought you into that house," Carter choked out, dragging both hands through his hair. "He had no right to insult your life, or talk down to you like you were something he could just buy off. You didn't deserve a single second of that—"It was completely hollowed out... like someone had scooped all the fight right out of his chest.He finally pushed off the car and turned to look at me. The security lights from the driveway caught his face, and my stomach did this horrible little flip. He looked devastated.He stopped pacing and just stared at the gravel, his chest rising and falling way too fast. I stood there freezing in my thin dress but the cold didn't even register anymore. I stepped closer to him, closing the huge gap in the driveway between us."No, don't be," I said softly, catching his gaze. "Please don't be. You know I am honestly not even mad at you. I am actually really grateful for the way you st
"Dad!"Carter’s voice cracked like a whip across the massive living room. I literally flinched, my shoulders shooting up to my ears.He closed the distance between the hallway and the glass coffee table in three massive, angry strides. He didn't even look at me. His eyes were glued to the little rectangular piece of paper resting near Viktor’s perfectly manicured fingers.Carter slammed a dusty, dark green bottle of wine onto the nearest side table. The heavy *thunk* of the glass against the wood echoed in the quiet room. Before Viktor could even blink, Carter snatched the blank check right off the table."What the hell are you doing?" Carter demanded, his chest heaving under his dark button-down shirt. The veins in his neck were popping, thick and pulsing with pure adrenaline.He didn't wait for an answer. Carter gripped the edges of the check and ripped it in half. The sound of the thick paper tearing was obnoxiously loud. He ripped it again, and again, until the multi-million
The grip Carter had on my waist was literally the only thing keeping my knees from completely buckling underneath me.Viktor Graham just stared at me. He didn't blink, he didn't smile, he just looked at me like I was a piece of trash that somehow blew onto his perfectly manicured front porch.Carter’s fingers dug into the fabric of my black dress. “If you ever payed attention to what I ever tell you, you would remember her name,” Carter said to Viktor, his voice dropping so low it sounded like a literal growl.I swallowed hard, the lump in my throat feeling like a golf ball.Viktor didn't even flinch. He just brushed past Carter’s sharp introduction with a cold, mocking smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth."I see your taste in women remains as temporary as your academic focus," Viktor said, his voice smooth and completely unbothered.I literally felt my face burn up. The sheer disrespect of this man was insane, but I bit the inside of my cheek so hard I tasted a faint metallic ta
My heart was literally beating out of my chest, thudding so hard against my ribs I thought I was going to pass out right there on the cheap living room rug.Allie grabbed my wrist, her grip super tight, and basically dragged me toward the sliding glass door of our tiny balcony.We peered over the rusty metal railing, staring down at the street parking three floors below us.And there he was.Carter was leaning against a sleek, aggressively expensive black sports car that looked like it cost more than my entire college tuition. He had his hands stuffed into the pockets of his dark jeans, looking up at our building. The streetlights hit his sharp jawline, making him look like some brooding villain out of a movie.He spotted us spying on him, and that signature, annoying, arrogant smirk spread across his face. He actually smiled and waved at us like he was just a regular guy picking up his regular girlfriend for a completely normal date.“Ohh my gosh, he's really here babe,” Allie squ
The leather seat of the Uber was practically peeling a layer of skin off the back of my thighs, but honestly, that was the least of my problems right now. I sat entirely frozen in the back seat, staring out the window as the blurry city streets flashed by. My chest felt like a literal washing machine on the spin cycle. I could hardly pull a full breath of air into my lungs. I just made a deal with Carter Graham. And not just a simple, pretend to like each other around campus kind of deal. Oh no, that would have been too easy. I just agreed to step directly into the lion's den. Viktor Graham. Maureen. A high society engagement dinner filled with actual billionaires, cameras, and God knows what else. I gripped the strap of my purse so hard my fingers started cramping. The whole point of this fake relationship was to make Justin jealous. That was it. I just wanted Justin to look at me, to realize I was a catch, and to finally make a move. And it was working! Justin was literal
I was in the middle of a deeply amazing dream where I was lying on a beach in Bora Bora, absolutely minding my own business, when the sound of someone violently shaking my mattress dragged me back to reality. "Babe, babe, wake up." I groaned, aggressively pulling my thick comforter over my head to block out the sunlight filtering through the blinds. "What? I don't have class today, I still want to sleep." Instead of being a normal, decent roommate and leaving me alone, Allie literally shoved me. Like, put both hands on my shoulder and pushed me off the bed. I tipped right off the edge of the mattress and hit the hardwood floor with a pathetic thud, my legs getting tangled in the blankets like a burrito. "Ow! What the hell?" I grumbled, rubbing my elbow. I looked up, blinking the sleep out of my eyes. Allie was standing over the bed, peering down at me with zero remorse on her face. "Are you up?" she asked. "Yes, now what?" I snapped, kicking the blanket off my legs. "Ca







