Page 18

Kota

“Y es, Mom, I made it home safely,” I walked inside, locking the door behind me.

“Alright, sweetie. Just wanted to call and make sure.”

“Okay, well I hope you have fun at your gala next week. You’re gonna turn heads in your dress.”

She chuckled through the phone. “Thanks, honey. I’m gonna get started on dinner. I’ll talk to you soon, okay?”

“Okay. Love you!”

“Love you too, Kota girl!”

I set my phone and the few shopping bags I had on the counter. Bridget and I had a double date with Mitch and Bobby tonight. We didn’t realize until recently that they had a class together and knew each other, so we decided it was time to plan something fun for all of us.

There was a fun entertainment place in town called Rave ‘N’ Roll that had bowling, an arcade, and a bunch of other things to do. They also had some fun drinks, which was a huge plus.

I took a frozen pizza out of the freezer and tossed it on the counter before turning the oven on to preheat. Rave ‘N’ Roll had really good appetizers, but they didn’t have much actual food to order from, so Bridget and I agreed earlier that we’d eat something before heading there.

I grabbed my shopping bags and phone, heading towards my room to start getting ready while the oven heated up.

The second I opened my bedroom door, my mouth was on the floor— along with everything I’d been carrying.

There was a blur of silver that spanned across the entire room, not a trace of any other color.

Cautiously, I stepped inside, and every pulse of blood going through my veins was raising my blood pressure.

That. Fucking. Dumbass.

Each square inch of the room was covered in tinfoil. From my vanity to my nightstand to my bedside lamp. Every single item on my desk. The fucking walls. My fucking bed.

My cheeks flushed with anger as I let out a fiery, raspy screech. Stomping around the room, I ripped the tinfoil off everything I could, crumbling it up and tossing it into a pile on the floor.

There was some shit that I couldn’t even reach though, no matter how hard I tried, which only made me more enraged.

Fuck this.

I muttered to myself, cursing Crew all the way to his room. I didn’t bother knocking, basically busting down the door.

Crew was practically dead to the world, sound asleep with his mouth hanging wide open and his limbs stretched all over the place.

I didn’t hesitate to stomp over to his bed and lean over, screaming in his face. “Wake the fuck up!”

Slowly, his eyes peeled open, and an annoyingly pompous smirk appeared at the sight of my livid face.

“Oh, hey,” he casually said, voice sounding gravelly.

“My entire room? Really?” I fumed.

Crew shrugged against the mattress. “Did you like it?”

“Did I li—” I cut myself off, stepping away from the bed to stop myself from jumping onto it and suffocating him with a pillow. When I let out a scornful shriek, he barely batted an eyelash at the sound.

Crew looked way too pleased with himself right now. I hated that I was contributing to him feeling that way, but I couldn’t contain my fucking irritation. It felt like my body was on fire from the rage.

“Are you forfeiting?” he asked, looking hopeful.

“Absolutely the fuck not.” I stepped forward, disdain dripping from my tone. “I’m not forfeiting until you’re on your knees, begging for mercy.”

His dark eyes were overly content, resting an arm underneath his head and staring up at me like my reaction was the best thing he’d ever seen.

“I don’t get on my knees for any girl,” he smugly said.

My voice didn’t waver in the slightest as I spoke. “Well, you’re about to fucking start.”

“Mhm,” he grinned, “we’ll see.”

***

I wasn’t at all surprised when Lane forced Crew to take down the rest of the tinfoil.

This was exactly why Lane was the better one.

And now, I was already thinking of what to do to Crew next.

I wasn’t exaggerating when I said I wouldn’t stop until he was begging on his knees. I refused to lose anything to a man, especially one as egotistical and ludicrous as Nicholas Crew.

“You’re so damn tense,” Bridget whispered as we walked behind the boys into Rave ‘N’ Roll.

“Yeah, well,” I muttered.

She sighed, “Stop thinking about Crew.”

“I can’t. He’s under my skin.”

“Clearly,” she murmured, hooking her arm onto mine.

After Bridget confessed and apologized that she slyly let Crew go through with his evil plot, I couldn’t even be mad at her.

She said from the get-go that she didn’t want to be involved, so I shouldn’t have tried to force her to be. This war was between Crew and me, no one else.

After two games of bowling and Bridget coming dead last in both, she suggested we switched gears and grab a table to order some drinks and appetizers.

Bridget and I shared a drink menu, skimming over all the fun drinks they had. I ended up ordering a Peach Punch and Bridget ordered something called a Blue Magic because she thought the name was cool.

The best thing about their drinks was also the worst thing about their drinks— they were strong as fuck.

Which meant it only took one to get you pretty tipsy, but they also tasted like straight up alcohol.

Luckily, the four of us Ubered so that we could all get hammered.

I was having fun. Really, I was. But that little devil on my shoulder was loud, contaminating my night with heinous thoughts and playing my earlier confrontation with Crew on repeat like a scratched disc.

Before I knew it, the night was over, and I was angrier than I was when the night started.

He’d gotten me twice now. And he had no idea that he’d just walked straight into a hurricane.