Hate me

Aspen

I try not to make eye contact with Trent over breakfast, but it’s hard because he keeps trying to talk to me. 

Even going as far as to offer to take me car shopping again, which I, of course, decline. 

I just want to save up money and get the hell away from all of them.

I’m pouring myself a second cup of coffee when my mother a

Knox and I exchange a curious glance. Clearly, this trip is news to him, too.  

“When?” Knox asks at the same time I utter, “Where?” 

Trent wipes his mouth with a napkin. “Not this weekend, but next.” His eyes narrow on his son. “I expect you to be on your best behavior while we’re gone.” They swivel to me next. “Both of you.” 

“We’re going to a beach house a few hours away,” my mom says with a smile. “Given our wedding was so close to Christmas, we didn’t really get a proper honeymoon.”

Whatever. It will be nice to have them both out of my hair for a weekend. 

I glance at the clock on the wall. “We should leave before we’re late for school.” 

Knox pushes his chair back. “Let’s go.” 

After leaving the table, I grab my knapsack off the floor of the mudroom and follow him out to his jeep. 

I wait until we’re buckled in and he’s peeling out of the driveway to speak. “Thanks for the warning about locking my door.” 

The muscles in his forearm flex as he clenches the steering wheel. “You should get a deadbolt for your bedroom.” 

“I was pla

His nostrils flare on an indrawn breath. “You should also keep your fucking mouth shut around him and quit pissing him off.” 

I want to ask him why he’s defending a creeper, but I clamp my mouth closed for the rest of the ride. 

Knox will take his dad’s side. Just like he always does. 

Besides, a horny old man looking for a piece of teenage ass for the night is something I’m used to fighting off at the club. 

I can handle myself.

The school is up ahead on the left, but Knox speeds past it. 

“Where are you going?” 

He brings a cigarette to his mouth and lights it. “I have to run an errand.” 

I glance at the clock on his dashboard. “Well, you better do it fast. School starts in five minutes.” 

I’m expecting him to pull up to a gas station or a store, but he drives past those, too. 

“What kind of errand?” 

He doesn’t answer, but instead makes a right-hand turn onto a residential street.

The same street Leo lives on. 

My stomach dips. “Where are we going?” 

Knox stays silent as he pulls up to his uncle’s house…

And I hear the locks on his doors click.

The weird flutter in my stomach turns to full-on dread when he latches onto my seatbelt, preventing me from undoing it. 

“Last chance to tell me the truth, Stray. Are you fucking my uncle?” 

I adamantly shake my head. There’s no way I’ll let that secret leave my lips. Not only because it’s none of his business, but it will ruin Leo’s reputation. 

And mine. 

“Are you crazy? Of course not.”  

He makes a low growly sound in his throat before he opens the driver’s side door and gets out. I attempt to climb out too, but he comes around to my side, blocking me from escaping. 

After undoing my seatbelt, he grips my wrist…so hard I wince. “Well, if you won’t tell me, perhaps you’ll tell her.” 

Her?

I stop breathing when I realize what he’s implying. 

Oh, God. No. 

My chest twists, everything going blurry as he yanks me out of the vehicle. 

“Knox, please,” I plead as he drags me up the walkway like I’m nothing more than a rag doll. “I’ll do whatever you want, okay?”

I’ll suck him off every day. I’ll humiliate myself on his command so he can point at me and laugh. I’ll be his goddamn slave. 

I’ll do anything. 

Because there’s no way I can look that poor woman in the eyes and tell her I’m sleeping with her husband. 

“I wanted you to tell me the truth.” 

“Fine,” I admit, both my voice and resolve cracking like glass. “You’re right. I’m sleeping with him.” 

“And there it is.” I see the tendons in his neck coil before he goes still. “You have the nerve to stand there and judge me, but you’re no angel. You’re screwing a married man almost three times your age while his wife sits like a goddamned vegetable. You’re just as fucked up as I am.” 

I inhale a shaky breath, hating that he’s right. “I know.” My throat feels like it’s closing in. “I’m sorry. I’ll end it—”

Lifting a finger, he presses the doorbell. 

I try to run away, but his death-grip on my wrist tightens. “Every action has a consequence, Stray. This is yours.” 

God, I thought I hated him before, but that was nothing compared to the way I feel about him now. 

I will never forgive him for this. Ever. 

A woman dressed in scrubs answers the door. I’m assuming she’s his wife’s private nurse. 

“Hello.” Confusion crosses her face as she takes in our school uniforms. “Can I help you?” 

Knox brushes past the woman, tugging me along. “I’m here to see my aunt.” 

“Oh,” the nurse exclaims, trailing behind us. “I didn’t realize she would be having visitors today. Can I get you something to drink?” 

My heart flies to my throat when we round a corner and walk into the living room. 

One look at the stoic, sad woman in her wheelchair is enough to make me want to fall to the floor and start crying. 

With my free hand, I tug on Knox’s sleeve like a child begging not to leave a toy store. “Please—”

“Shut up,” he grits through his teeth, before walking over to his aunt.

 Dropping down, he plants a kiss on her forehead. “Hi, Aunt Lenora.” 

Her eyes widen in recognition—and bewilderment—when she sees him. 

Turning his head, Knox regards the nurse. “I need to speak with my aunt. Alone.” 

She’s clearly taken back by his austerity, but she gives him a nod, anyway. “I was just about to make her some breakfast. Holler if you need anything.” 

With that, she rushes toward the kitchen…leaving the three of us alone. 

Knox wastes no time getting down to business. “Aunt Lenora, you remember Aspen Falcone, don’t you? She’s Mile’s—Leo’s dead friend’s— daughter.” 

His words are the equivalent of a slap across the face. 

Given she can’t move or speak, there isn’t much reaction to that. However, I notice her size me up with her big brown eyes. 

I met her once when I was a kid…long before she was diagnosed with ALS. 

She was beautiful and kind. She offered me chocolate chip cookies and complimented my hair. 

Now she’s stuck in a wheelchair. 

And I’m the whore sleeping with her husband. 

The guilt pummeling through me is so thick—so visceral—I’m choking on it. 

Knox looks between us. “I brought Aspen by today because she has something very important to tell you.” 

Lenora blinks, no doubt expecting me to speak. 

But I can’t. 

I look at Knox one last time, pleading with him not to make me do this. 

But he doesn’t fold. If anything, my desperation only pisses him off more. 

“Tell her, Aspen.” His grip is so tight I’m positive it’s cutting off my blood supply. “Or I will.” 

I open my mouth, but the words don’t come out. They’re stuck inside of me…unwilling to break this poor woman’s heart. 

God, I’m such a slut.