Page 2 of Built to Hate You

“Of course, honey,” says my mom. “Whenever’s convenient for you.”

* * *

Up in my apartment,I immediately pull out my laptop and Google Axel’s name. His company website is the top search result, but I keep scrolling down, hoping to find...well, I guess I don’t know what I’m hoping to find. Maybe an article about something unsavory that his company has done? Something bad about him personally?

No dice.

I click on the Yelp page for his business, hopeful that there will be some dirt there. But it’s four-star and five-star reviews one after another. And the couple of three-star reviews aren’t even that negative in their complaints.

Shit.

I go back to the page of search results and click on the name of his company. The website that loads is sleek and professionally designed, with bold lettering and pristine photographs of the projects they’ve worked on. And at first, I avoid looking at the About Us page, because I don’t want to see Axel’s face. But then it becomes so hard to not click it, and I give in.

And there he is. Staring back at me. With a stupid little smile on his face.

Worse, he’s handsome. I mean, I’m not attracted to him—I’llneverbe attracted to Axel Moreland in my life—but I can objectively acknowledge that he’s handsome. And the fact that he’s handsome, and apparently successful, and loved by everyone…it really pisses me off. He doesn’t deserve it in the slightest.

I don’t know how I’m going to convince my parents to fire him. But I know I have to do it.

Chapter Two

Axel

“Mr. Moreland?”

My secretary’s voice pipes through the speaker on my desk, breaking my concentration from the construction plans I’m in the middle of reviewing. Without looking up, I say, “Yes, Riley?”

“There’s a Miss Clark here to see you. Are you available?”

Clark. She must mean the woman I met with a few days ago. She and her husband were looking to renovate their home. They were a sweet couple.

“Of course,” I tell Riley. “Send her on in.”

I quickly tidy my desk, readying myself to greet Mrs. Clark. But when the door opens, it’s not the woman I met with earlier in the week. It’s a younger woman.

Holy shit. It’s Mia. From high school.

I suddenly feel stupid for not making the connection. I can’t believe I didn’t realize that the couple who came in this week were her parents. The thing is, I’d never met them before. And it’s not like I ever went over to Mia’s house when we were in high school.

I’m assuming they didn’t realize who I was, either, though—or I doubt they would have been so eager to hire me.

“Mia,” I say, the surprise evident in my voice. “Hello.”

“Hello, Axel.”

“Please. Take a seat.”

“No. I’m fine.” She stops just inside my office, leaving the door ajar. She focuses on me and swallows. And I know this is the last thing I should be thinking about right now, but I can’t help but think:God, she’s beautiful.

“I only came here,” says Mia, “to tell you that I don’t want you or your company working on my parents’ house.”

I stare at her for a second. My admiration of her beauty shuffles to the back of my mind. There are far more important things at stake right now. “You want me to cancel the contract?”

“Yes.”

“And what reason would I give them for doing so?”

“I don’t know. That’s not my problem.”

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