Page 20 of Love is Angry

He smirks dryly. “Are you threatening me, Miss Willis?”

“Oh, it’s Miss Willis, now? Got tired of calling me a whore?” I can feel at least three dozen eyes on us.

The guys.

The athletic team.

The waterhole girls.

This is it. My opportunity to set the standard on campus dickheads. I may have had a thing for the guy—but it doesn’t entitle him to my honor.

“No, I’m not threatening you. I’m making a promise, in public, with witnesses. Stop this, or I will take legal action. And if legal action isn’t enough, I will go to the media. I’ll make a fucking circus out of this whole thing, if that’s what it takes to stop you. Because you have to stop, Rhue. Punishing me won’t bring her back.”

He comes at me. “You keep her name out of your filthy fucking mouth!” One of his guys puts a hand out in an attempt to hold him back, but he is enraged. It will take more than one guy to keep him away. I have unleashed the dragon. I feel horrible about it, but it had to be done.

“You left me no choice,” I mutter.

Holding my head high, I turn and walk away.

He’s still struggling. Oh, I can feel his hatred burning into the back of my neck. I break into a cold sweat, and my sore muscles twitch with every move. My heart aches, breaking a little with every step as I put more distance between us. Still, I’m proud of myself for what I have accomplished. I made it into this place on my own, backed only by my hard work and my father’s pride.

Rhue, he has ghosts still haunting him. I cannot be faulted for everything. I shouldn’t even let him try. We almost had something, he and I. Then Julian ruined it all. I didn’t help. Or couldn’t. Or didn’t know how… but it was over before it could begin. Rhue’s family was destroyed in the process. But Laura, despite being only a teenager, in her infinite wisdom, expressed the truth through a single text late last night.You can’t blame yourself forever.

I cannot. And neither can Rhue.

I walk away from the track and the lacrosse green. I leave them all behind me.

Him too, with his unresolved anger and hateful growls as his teammates continue to hold him back, gripping him firmly as he hurls a slew of insults my way. Surely, he got my message. And if he didn’t, maybe the guys will help.

Chapter 10

Back in high school: Rhue

I’d say that I can’t believe I managed to pull this off but hey… I am my father’s son in that respect. What Rhue Echeveria wants, Rhue Echeveria gets. I wanted time alone with Madison Willis, and now I'm in the private study with Madison Willis, the legendary Rochester tutor. She’s only a little older than me and one year out of high school—or maybe two. I can’t remember. I think she got bumped up a class; as opposed to me, who got sent to school one year later. Either way, she’s here, and I swear she is as hot as a Vegas sidewalk in the middle of July.

From the moment I met her in that study group, I knew I had to get closer.

She doesn’t even realize how fucking gorgeous she is. And I’m supposed to concentrate while she teaches me stuff we may never get to hear about in high school? That’ll be a challenge.

“I suppose I should’ve paid more attention when you said you always get your way,” Madison mutters as she settles in the guest armchair in front of Dad’s massive ebony desk.

I take the king’s seat behind it. Damn, this feels good. Victory, sweet as honey and ambrosia thinned with a crisp dry chardonnay. I wonder if Madison’s lips will taste the same.

“Well, don’t beat yourself up. It’s extra cash for you in the end, right?” I glance at my notepad and schoolbooks as I reply. One more year, and that’s over with.

I’m told college is a lot more fun. All I can think about is hockey anyway, but I do appreciate Mom’s insistence on me beefing up my college application file. I do need top notch grades if I’m ever going to play on Harvard’s team.

My second option is Cornell, but their crew is more of a lost cause in desperate need of good players like me. Career-wise, however, Harvard’s political science department is top notch. That’ll satisfy Dad. Their anthropology curriculum puts a smile on Mom’s face, though.

I shift a smile at Maddison. “It’s an honor to become your student, Miss Willis. An honor and a pleasure.”

“Please, enough with the Miss Willis crap. I thought we went over that, already.”

“Right. Madison. Absolutely. My bad,” I say, holding back a chuckle.

Man, I am beaming purely from her presence. There is something about her, this silent yet insanely powerful energy coming off, like vapors of energy seeping from her delicate, porcelain skin.

“And you have a point. Private sessions with you do boost my income considerably,” she replies as she takes out a binder filled with copies of several key points. The Federalist issues along with commentary and notes on yellow legal pad paper are sprinkled in-between. Oh, she means business from the get-go. “Your mom says we need to spruce up your political science and anthropology knowledge,” she adds and places the binder on the desk between us. It feels like a sea of almost blackand luscious ebony stretching between us, a hard expanse that prevents me from touching her. “I figured we’d start with The Federalist and see how you like it.”

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