Page 26 of Sinful as They Come
“Oh, thanks,” she said. “I hope you enjoyed your first game.”
“This school needs a hockey team.”
“Good luck getting those boys on ice skates. I don’t even wanna imagine what that would look like.”
“A fun disaster maybe?”
The two of them carried on talking and I kept my eyes on the road. I hated the neighborhood we were about to enter. Rich kid territory. Holly’s territory. The complete opposite of everything I had ever known.
There were lines of mansions either side of me as we glided down the road. Yes, glided. Because there were certainly no bumpy, rocky roads out here in Highland Park. Everything was perfect. Neatly trimmed trees, picket white fences, the greenest lawns I had ever seen in my fucking life.
Insecurity hit me hard and fast. I would never have it. What Holly had. What these spoiled, rich, trust fund babies had. It angered me more than Icared to admit. And I didn’t evenwantto live in a mansion. I just wanted security. I didn’t want to wake up every morning wondering how I was gonna pay for food and rent. All I had was painting. Like that would get me anywhere. Brodie was lucky. He could write. He had a lot of opportunities and I was happy for him. But me? Who the fuck was gonna buy my art?
“It’s this left here. I’ll tell you where to stop,” Holly instructed.
Still not in the mood to even fight with her, I just moved along the road, pressing my foot to the pedal harder. I wanted to leave. I wanted to drop Holly off and never come back to her too fucking perfect neighborhood ever again. Every house was huge. Every one loomed over me, not letting me forget that all I had was my trailer, and that she had everything in her life handed to her.
What a lovely reminder.
Holly told me to take one more left, and that was when we were on her… fucking driveway? I shook my head. The whole thing was her driveway? The whole road that led up to her house belonged to her? Did they even have a fucking mailbox? How the fuck did the mail man function?
My knuckles turned white as we pulled up in front of her house.
It was big. Stupidly big. Three huge floors with probably a million different rooms. The white front looked absolutely pristine and screamed old money. The thing was old school, Georgian style. It made sense that Holly lived there.
I eyed the countless windows out the front and the black shutters that framed them. Which one was Holly’s bedroom? The two oak-colored, double front doors at the front were a stark reminder of my about-to-fall-off-the-hinges door on my trailer. I’d have to fix that shit on the weekend.
We couldn’t have been anymore different.
“I’ll hop out.” Brodie opened up his door and jumped out of the car, his feet landing with a soft thud on the ground.
“Well, thank you for the ride, Sawyer,” Holly whispered. “I know you have to drive all the way back to Cedar Crest. So, thank you.”
“Whatever,” I muttered, looking out the window. Did they have a fucking fountain in their front yard? I heard a zipper being pulled beside me, and Ilooked over to see Holly pulling out her wallet. She was digging through the light brown thing until she lifted out some cash and held it in front of me. “What the fuck is this?”
“Gas money,” she said. There was an innocent tone in her voice, but I knew it was fake “You drove me—”
“I don’t want your fucking pity money,” I exploded at her. No fucking way was she trying to give me ahandout.
“It’s not pity money. You did me a favor and now I’m paying you back for that favor.”
“I don’t need it,” I said with gritted teeth. “And I don’t want it.”
Holly let out a shaky breath. “Well, you helped me out, I thought—”
“I have a job, princess. I don’t need your money,” I continued. “I know that concept is foreign to you since you’re a spoiled brat, but some of us actually have to fucking work. We don’t all have trust funds.”
“Sawyer, come on,” tried Brodie. “She’s just—"
“I don’t need it. You’re fucking lucky I drove you out here in the first place. I’m not your daddy or your boyfriend, Holly, so don’t expect me to do this for you again.”
Her lips parted like she was about to say something before she just pressed them back together.
“Good,” I barked at her. “Keep your mouth shut. I hate the sound of your voice.”
She rolled her eyes, slid out of the car, and then shoved the cash into Brodie’s shirt pocket. Then she swung her bag on her shoulder, giving me a determined stare.
“It would have been better if I had just walked home.” She glared at me.
