Page 17 of The Devastation You Reap

Releasing the seat, she folds her arms over her chest. "No. Sorry. I'm used to people judging me."

"Ironic seeing as you've spent all night doing that to me."

She glances over at me, her lips parting to argue but she hasn’t got a leg to stand on and she knows it.

All too soon, I'm pulling into the parking lot for her dorm building. It's full of cars but there's a brand new baby blue Mini at the other end of the lot that I already know is hers.

"That yours?" I ask, parking in the space beside it.

"Uh…" Her brows pull together in confusion.

"It is, isn't it?"

"Yeah, how'd you know that?"

I shrug. "Dunno. Just looks like the sort of car you'd drive. Brand new, top of the line. You a secret millionaire or something?"

"It was a gift," she lies.

"Aw, Mommy and Daddy send you off to college in her?"

"Something like that," she mutters, undoing her seat belt and reaching for the door handle.

"So I'll pick you up tomorrow night for our date?"

She lets out a long breath as if she'll magically find some strength from somewhere. Not that it matters if she does, she's not going to get out of spending more time with me.

"I'm not going out with you, Leon. Whatever this is," she says gesturing between us, a look of disgust on her face at the fact we're merely sharing the same air. "It ends the second I walk away from you."

"I guess I should take you home with me then."

Her breath catches, her eyes flying to mine. Disbelief fills her stare and it's almost enough to throw my car into reverse and do exactly what I said.

"Yeah, that's not happening. We're done, Leon."

She pushes the door open and climbs out.

"I'll see you tomorrow then. Make sure you wear something cute."

"Are you always this… this… insufferable?"

"I dunno. I guess you'll be able to tell me soon enough."

"Argh," she complains but movement outside her dorm building cuts her groan of frustration short. "Goddamn it," she mutters, slamming the door closed, finally cutting off our conversation as she marches toward the guy who's standing by the main door watching us with his brow furrowed in concern.

He points at me as she gets closer, clearly asking what she was doing with me before she waves her hand around, dismissing me as if I'm nothing and disappearing into the building without so much as a glance back in my direction.

"Motherfucker," I bark, slamming my hand down on the wheel as anger surges through me.

Why is it that the one girl I need to get information out of, the one girl I've waited for years to get my hands on, is the only one on the fucking campus who can turn her back on me, turn me down, without a second thought?

I should have known this wasn't going to be easy.

But then I guess nothing that's worth it ever is.

They do say that the fun is in the chase. So I guess I've just got to enjoy the ride before the inevitable devastation at the end.

The guy is still watching me when I finally throw my car into reverse and back out of the space.