Page 139 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 11

“Or you could vote for one of those G girls,” my dad said. “Whatever their names are.”

Well, I actually kind of loved how dismissive he was of the Triple Gs. But...still. “Jacob was nominated too,” I said. “So maybe the two of us will win.”

My dad didn’t acknowledge my comment. Even though he’d been on board with that possibility yesterday.

Now being homecoming queen meant I was a bad girl that wanted sexual attention?

Gross. My dad was losing his mind. I’d told him nothing was going on between me and Mr. Halifax.

But it was pretty clear he didn’t believe me.

“Speaking of homecoming,” Axel said. “Are you and Jacob renting a room at the hotel?”

Axel!

It looked like my dad’s head was going to explode.

“No,” I said firmly. “I’m coming straight home.” Which Axel knew. Because he’d already asked me that in private. What the actual F?!

“I will be driving her home afterwards,” my dad said.

“We have a limo, Dad.”

“But...”

“James.” My mom placed her hand on top of my dad’s. “Let the kids have fun at homecoming. We’ll be there the whole time making sure everything is good.”

“Wait, you’re coming too?” I asked. Both my parents were out of control.

“Of course,” my mom said. “The chaperones always bring a date. I mean...right? That is a thing, isn’t it?” She turned to my dad.

But he seemed lost in thought.

Maybe Mr. Halifax would bring someone and put my own chaotic thoughts to rest.

“This is going to be lots of fun,” Axel said.

I laughed. I needed to change the subject. “Dad, could we maybe go to the store tomorrow? I dropped my phone and the screen shattered.”

“Just give it to me. I’ll fix it.” He put his hand out.

“What?”

“I’ll fix the screen for you.” He kept his hand out.

“I’d rather just have a new one,” I said.

“Money doesn’t grow on trees, Scarlett. You just got that phone.”

“You’re a billionaire.”

“But you’re not. Give me your phone.”

Screw me. I did not want my dad anywhere near my phone.

Liam laughed. Probably at the look of horror on my face.

“I’ll grab it after dinner,” I said. “It’s in my room.” It was in my pocket, but I was freaking out.

I tried my best to focus on eating and not the awkward conversation around me. When dinner finally ended, I pulled Axel into the living room.

“How do I set a passcode?” I asked.

“For what?”

“My phone. Axel, I don’t want my dad looking through my texts. And...pictures.”

“Why?” He smiled. “What have you been taking pictures of?”

“Nothing. Just...help me. Please.” I pulled out my phone.

“Okay.” He grabbed my phone. He started doing something, and I had a feeling he wasn’t doing what I’d asked.

“Are you looking at my photo gallery?”

He didn’t respond.

“Seriously, what are you doing? We’re running out of time.” If my dad saw the texts from my kiss thief or my illicit photos, I could kiss homecoming goodbye.

Axel kept doing something on my phone.

“Just give it back to me. I need to delete a few things.” I hated the idea of deleting the texts the kiss thief had sent. But what choice did I have? “Axel,” I hissed when he didn’t listen to me.

He lifted his gaze to mine and snapped a photo of me instead of responding.

“Axel, what are you doing?”

“Now you need face recognition to get onto your phone. Although, it might not recognize you without your glasses now.” He handed me my phone back with a cocky smile.

“Well, let me take my glasses off real quick.”

“No time, your dad just walked in.”

Great. “Here,” I said to my dad and handed him my phone.

“Give me a couple hours,” he said. “I have some papers to grade first.”

I nodded and watched him walk down the hall.

My heart was pounding as I turned to Axel. “You swear he can’t get into it?” I asked.

“I mean...he’s a tech genius. He can probably get into it if he wants to.”

“Axel.”

“Come on,” he said and grabbed my hand. “Let’s go back to your room.”

I pulled my hand out of his. “You promised my dad we’d work on our project in the living room.”

“That was before you had a boyfriend.”

“Are you trying to get me grounded so I can’t go to homecoming?”

“Of course not,” he said.

“Then why did you ask that question about Jacob and I getting a room when you knew we weren’t?”

“I thought you might have changed your mind. I was just wondering.”

I stared at him. “Could you maybe not wonder aloud in front of my dad?”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “So what do you want to do?” He collapsed backward onto the couch. “We have all night. Want to watch a scary movie?”

“Shut up.”

He smiled. “I know you’re dreading counting down the days until I’m not sleeping with you every night. We can reset the week right now.”

Counting down. I’d totally forgotten about the weird countdown in his journal. “Have you been counting down to anything else fun recently? Or...something far away?”

“Nope.” He grabbed the remote for the TV.

“Are you sure about that? Not looking forward to anything in particular?”

He shrugged.

“I used to make these chains out of construction paper before Christmas,” I said. “Each link removed was a day closer to Christmas.”

“I know. I used to make them with you.”

“Ever want to make a really long one? Like...years and years’ worth of them? Like a whole room filled with one of those chains?”

“No, I’m not a psychopath,” he said.

I stared at him. Was it possible the journal wasn’t his? Maybe it was Parker’s or something? I honestly didn’t know if she could even count that high though.

“I’m thinking we should watch Halloween or Scream,” Axel said. “Halloween is coming up, so it seems appropriate.”

“Don’t you dare.”

“Then don’t pretend you don’t want me in your bed every night.”

“You’re full of yourself.” I bit the inside of my lip. I’d said the exact same thing to Jacob earlier. I quickly sat down next to him on the couch. “You know, I don’t need to be scared for you to spend the night.”

“Good. Because I wasn’t planning on stopping.”

I swallowed hard. “Why?”

“Your bed is more comfortable than mine.”

“I doubt that.”

He shrugged and turned on some romcom that he knew I’d like way more than he did.

It wasn’t a scary movie, but my heart was racing so fast it might as well be.

I stared down the hall instead of paying attention.

What if my dad unlocked my phone? And saw Mr. Halifax texting me?

Or worse. Me texting those saucy pictures to Mr. Halifax?

Because my kiss thief was Mr. Halifax, right?

No normal senior would be talking about marriage. Screw me.

“You okay?” Axel asked.

“Yeah, I’m just worried about my dad hacking my phone.” I pushed my glasses up the bridge of my nose.

Axel smiled.

“What?”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you do that.”

“Axel, please, I’m freaking out. If my dad sees my phone I’ll be grounded forever.”

Axel lowered his eyebrows. “Seriously...why? Are you sexting the boyfriend or something?”

“What? No. Of course I’m not sexting Jacob, perv.”

“Huh.” He smiled.

I sighed. “What now?”

“Nothing.”

“No, what were you thinking?” I asked.

“I was wondering if the boyfriend has seen that inappropriate satin number you snuggle up to me every night in.”

I swallowed hard. “No.”

“How ‘bout that. Have you told him we’re sleeping together yet?”

“No. And don’t say it that way.”

“What way?” he asked.

“You make it seem like you and I are being intimate. And we’re not.”

Axel stared at me. “But we are sleeping together. And you haven’t told the boyfriend?”

“I already told you that I haven’t.”

“How ‘bout that,” he said again.

Whenever I wasn’t thinking about kissing Axel I was thinking about slapping him.