Page 61 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 11

Thursday

Yesterday Axel had given me his varsity jacket. He’d told me I looked better in it than he did. That should have meant something. But he’d also told me he liked my old glasses more than my new contacts. And I had no idea what to do with that combination of information.

I took a step toward Axel’s jacket and then a step back. I crossed my arms and stared at it on the end of my bed. Was wearing it to school today a good idea or a bad idea?

I stood up and stepped away from it again. As if staring at it from a distance would give me clarity. God, what do I do? I bit my lip as I stared at the jacket.

Sophie would know what to do. I grabbed my phone, shot a picture of it, and texted her an SOS message. “To wear or not to wear?”

She responded right away: “Wear it. You’re still in the incest phase of Operation Too Hot to Handle. So while you’re wearing Axel’s jacket, keep flirting with Jacob. Total power play.”

I pressed my lips together. That kind of was a boss move. But really, why were we sticking with the name Phase Incest? It was terrible and made zero sense. I wasn’t even related to Jacob. I much preferred good old-fashioned Phase Three of the plan.

Flirting with Jacob was a little easier than I’d thought it would be though. I lifted up one of the framed pictures on my nightstand. It was of me, Sophie, Jacob, and Axel a couple summers ago. We were at my parents’ beach house sitting on the edge of the pool.

The four of us had grown up together. We were all practically cousins even though only Sophie and I were related.

But it was very important to note that I was not related to either of the guys.

Not even a little bit. Hence no incest. I’d always thought of Jacob as just a friend.

Always. Because for as long as I could remember, I’d been in love with Axel.

But now? I stared at the picture of the four of us.

It didn’t quite fit in the frame because there had been some blonde girl next to Axel that I’d cut out of the picture.

I wasn’t focused on that now though. I was focused on the fact that Jacob’s arm was around my shoulders.

He was making a funny face down at me and I was laughing so hard I could almost remember the feeling of my cheeks hurting.

He’d been trying to cheer me up because I’d been glum all day, thanks to Axel’s blonde that I’d cut out of the image.

Jacob was always there for me. He was funny, and kind, and smart, and actually cared if I was in a good mood.

Clearly Axel didn’t care what kind of mood I was in.

He’d been slowly torturing me for years with all the girls he dated.

And when I stared at the picture now, my eyes gravitated to Jacob.

I didn’t have just friendly thoughts anymore.

I thought about the way that he’d stared at me as I’d licked the side of an ice cream cone.

My phone buzzed.

I looked down at another text from Sophie: “And if you’re wearing glasses when I see you, I’ll disown you.”

I laughed. I wasn’t going to wear my glasses again just because Axel suddenly decided he liked them. He didn’t control me. And I’d worked so hard to convince my dad to let me get contacts. I texted her back. “Axel can bite me.”

“Atta girl. I bet he will want to bite you when you show up in his jacket.”

I rolled my eyes. Unlikely. I eyed the jacket.

Here goes nothing. I shrugged on Axel’s varsity jacket before I had a chance to change my mind.

His expensive cologne made me sigh. It would be a lot easier to not drool over him if he didn’t smell so damned good.

I walked over to my window overlooking New York City.

I took a deep breath and raised my head a little.

Sure, yesterday hadn’t gone exactly as planned.

But today was going to be better. This was still my year.

I walked out of my room and over to Liam’s. I knocked before opening the door. “Almost ready for day two of hell?”

He laughed as he sat up in bed.

Why was he still in bed? We needed to leave in ten minutes. He knew how much I hated being late for things. “And hurry, please,” I said. “I can’t be late.” The only good thing about yesterday was that Mr. Hill didn’t yell at me once. He would if I was late though.

“We’re not going to be late, Scar. Dad’s never late for anything. And now that he’s our teacher…”

“Don’t remind me.”

“Hence the day two of hell? You’ve always acted like high school is terrible, but it’s actually kind of fun,” he said with a smile.

Were we even going to the same school? It was not fun.

It was a chess game of social standing. But unlike chess, I was bad at this game.

“Easy for you to say. You haven’t been waiting all night to find out if you’re grounded.

” So what if I rolled my skirt at school?

Everyone did. But not everyone had a controlling father who took a job at said school just to keep an eye on them.

Liam stood up and stretched.

God, he was going to make me late. “You have eight minutes,” I said. I hurried down the stairs and into the kitchen.

When my mom saw me, she slid a waffle across the kitchen counter at me. “You’re wearing Axel’s jacket again today, I see.”

“Mhm.” I could tell she’d been dying to ask me about it when she saw me come home from school yesterday. She was probably hoping I’d just tell her what happened. But…I didn’t exactly know what had happened so what was there to say?

She put her chin in her hand as she stared at me. “So…does that mean you and Axel are back together?”

Back together was a very generous way to put it. “We dated in preschool. It hardly counts.” Saying it out loud hurt my heart a little. And I knew my mom could tell.

She raised her eyebrows at me. “You two have been glued at the hip your whole lives.”

“As friends. And we’re still just friends.”

“Really? When I was in school, wearing a guy’s varsity jacket meant you were dating.”

“Well, that was a bajillion years ago, mom.”

My father laughed as he walked into the kitchen. “If your mom is a bajillion years old, I don’t want to know how old that makes me.”

My mom smiled up at him and I looked away as the two of them kissed.

“For the record,” my father said, “I came to the same conclusion as your mother about the jacket. But Axel was just being a gentleman because Scarlett was dressed inappropriately at school yesterday.” He stared at me. “And today. Hopefully he’ll let her keep it.”

“I’m not dressed inappropriately,” I said. Not even a little bit. My dad had made sure of that when he’d confiscated my Odegaards last night. I was back to wearing flats like a peasant.

“Speaking of which…we should probably let you know how long you’re grounded for. Right, Penny?”

My mom nodded her head.

I was really hoping when they said they needed to talk about it last night, that it meant that my mom would make my grounding suddenly disappear. Like she usually did. Besides, I’d already handed over my contraband high heels.

“I know I originally said a month…” my dad’s voice trailed off. “But I think a week will suffice.”

A week? But that meant I’d miss the start-of-school party on Friday night. “Dad, you saw the way the other girls at Empire High dress. I wasn’t wearing anything different than they were. I shouldn’t be grounded at all.”

“I don’t care about what the other girls wear. I care that you lied to me.”

“I didn’t lie…”

“You promised not to roll your skirt that’s already too short.”

“I…” my voice trailed off. Gah, I hadn’t meant to lie. I’d just been trying to get Axel’s attention because he was being an ass. “I’m sorry. I really am. But please don’t make me miss the first party of the year tomorrow night. I promise I won’t roll my skirt today.”

“You’re only promising that because you know I’ll be there. And I don’t love the word today . That implies that you’ll do it again tomorrow.”

“Mom,” I said and turned to her. “He’s being unreasonable.”

My mom held back a smile. “When has your father ever been unreasonable?”

“Literally all the time.”

“Hmm…” she said.

“Prime example – he signed up to be my teacher this year without telling me.”

“Sweetie, he did that to spend time with you before you go off to college. One day you’ll look back at this and be grateful. And you’re only grounded for one week. There will be other parties.”

“Not like this one.” I couldn’t not show up to the first party of my senior year. It was social suicide.

“You know, I never went to a single high school party and my life turned out better than I could have possibly imagined.”

“Mom, the whole good girl act doesn’t really work when you slept with your professor in college.”

“Enough, Scarlett,” my dad said.

But my mom just laughed. “Touché. It doesn’t make it less true though. I didn’t even have my first kiss until college and everything worked out just fine.” She smiled up at my dad.

Vom.

“Are you gonna eat that?” Liam asked as he lifted up my waffle without waiting for a reply.

“What the hell?” I asked. But not because he had just swiped my breakfast. It was because of what he was wearing. “He’s not even wearing his tie. A tie is part of the dress code.”

“It’s uncomfortable,” Liam said which a shrug of his shoulders.

“Dad.”

My father shook his head. “Liam, go get your tie. Your sister is right, it’s part of the dress code.”

Liam laughed and pulled his wrinkled tie out of his pocket. “I have it.”

“Good,” my dad said. “Come on, we should get going.” He grabbed his to-go cup of coffee and said goodbye to my mom.

I stared at Liam as he shoved his tie back into his pocket instead of putting it on.

Seriously, what the hell?! This was so unfair. I snatched my waffle back out of his hands.

“Don’t turn on me, Scar,” Liam whispered. He shifted so his back was to both of the security cameras in the kitchen.

I just stared at him, waiting for him to say whatever it was he didn’t want our security detail to see.

“Or I might not help you sneak out of the apartment so we can go to that party tomorrow night.”

“How do you even know about the party?” I whispered.

“I was invited by some guys on the team.”

Liam was a freshman. He wasn’t supposed to be invited. I was pretty sure my little brother was already cooler than me and he’d only been at Empire High for one day.

He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me toward the door. “I know you think that high school is hell. But have you ever thought that maybe you’re just taking it all too seriously?”

Honestly, he was probably right about that.

My mom probably had a good point too. She’d never been kissed before college.

She never even got invited to a party in high school.

And she was always smiling. It was different though.

She found her soulmate in college. Mine had been right in front of me my whole life and he acted like he didn’t know it too.

To me, high school felt like a nightmare.

“By the way, RJ told me that Sophie is letting him drive her to school. Do you think you could give me lessons too?”

“I’m already grounded,” I said. “And I don’t think she’s teaching him anything. She’s just using him as a chauffeur.”

“I don’t think so. They have a real chauffeur for that.”

I laughed. “Fair.” I was glad when we reached the elevator so he would drop the subject.

I wasn’t going to teach my 14-year-old brother how to drive.

Besides, I wasn’t even very good at it. There was a reason I usually hitched a ride with one of my friends.

But I guess this year we’d be escorted by my dad every day.

My dad who all my female classmates apparently wanted to call Daddy. So gross.