Page 31 of The Darkest Note

“Not exactly.” Hunter flashes me a handsome grin. Laugh lines form around his mouth, giving him an approachable, warm look. “Can I come in?”

“No, you may not,” I say firmly. Having a drug addict for a mother taught me many things. Like how gullibly inviting a strange man into the house when I’m home alone can lead to his hand edging down my thigh.

One broken bottle over the head stopped what could have been a disaster, but it was a lesson I didn’t need to learn twice.

The handsome stranger smiles, revealing twin dimples. “Okay, I can see why you wouldn’t roll out the red carpet. Your brother’s been kind of a jerk to you.”

“Kind of?” I scoff. Rick made all kinds of promises to the social worker and then he spit in our faces in our time of need. I don’t think his jerkishness needs a precursor.

“Me being his friend probably doesn’t endear me to you either,” Hunter adds.

“What do you want?” I ask impatiently.

He holds an envelope out to me.

I frown at it. “What’s that?”

“I was there when you called Rick and told him about your electricity shutting off.”

Flames of humiliation spring to my cheeks. Great. So our family laundry’s been aired to Rick’s entire friend group?

“He was a prick to you, but he’s having a hard time too.” He shoves the envelope toward me. “I’m not sure how much the bill is, but I think that’s enough to cover it.”

I keep my hands at my sides. Not only do I have to deal with The Kings of Redwood Prep calling me poor, and accusing me of sleeping with a teacher, but now complete and utter strangers think I’m so pathetic they’re randomly handing me cash?

“I don’t want it,” I say, pushing it back to him.

“Look, I know how this might seem. If I were in your position, I wouldn’t want to take this either. But here’s the thing.” He tilts his head and his curly brown hair falls in front of his eyes. “Ihavebeen in your position before. Oldest sibling. Looking out for my little brother. Trying to make ends meet with the world breathing down my neck. I get it.”

I fold my arms over my chest and look up at him.

His lips hitch up slightly. “Your brother’s got complicated feelings about his mom. It’s inevitable that he’d take it out on you. This is my attempt at asking you to cut him some slack.”

“You said you were Rick’s friend?”

“We grew up in the foster home together.”

That statement knocks the wind right out of my sails. Rick never told us anything about how he grew up and mom, in all her delusional wisdom, hadn’t divulged that information either.

I frown suspiciously at Hunter. He’s cute and it seems like he has good intentions, but I’m not falling for that play twice.

“I appreciate you coming down here to say all this and to throw cash at me,” I gesture to the envelope, “but I’m fine. Really. So you can go back to Rick and tell him I don’t need him or his friends’ guilt money.”

After swinging the door shut on Hunter, I scoop my bag off the floor and march to my room.

All I want to do is flop onto my bed and let someone more mature than me solve my problems. But that isn’t going to work. I need to make dinner for Viola and then I need to report to my shift at the diner. I work as a waitress on the nights when I don’t play music at the lounge.

My phone vibrates.

I stiffen, wondering if it’s Jinx again. The creepy know-it-all has been hounding me since my first day at Redwood Prep. I have no idea who he or she is but, after what happened today, I definitely don’t want any part in her twisted game.

Thankfully, it’s not Jinx.

It’s Breeze.

Breeze: I heard there was a teacher-student scandal at Redwood. *gasp* Can you believe it? Seems like even the rich have their secrets.

I moan and throw an arm over my face. This is bad. If the news has spread outside of Redwood Prep, there’s no way things will end quietly. Mr. Mulliez is in more trouble than I thought.