“Is that how it works?” I choked out, not even caring where he was taking me. “You tell a girl you want her, and she just, what? Lays back and spreads them for you?” I flung the obnoxious folders at him, not the least surprised that he’d had them, and he didn’t even try to deflect the rainfall of papers and pictures. “Is that it? Ramsey Reed Jr. wants, so Ramsey Reed Jr. gets?”
There was a dark edge to his voice when he replied, “Did I say I only wanted to fuck you?”
The crudeness of his words heightened what my body already felt for him, and that just pissed me off further. “What else could you have possibly meant?”
He didn’t reply right away. I sat seething in his car as he pulled up to a clearing with such beautiful landscape, we had to be behind the golden gates of Sands Cove. We didn’t have this kind of scenery in town. There were rumors of these clearings all over Sands Cove, the nicest being the one with the ocean’s inlet, but like I said, we never ventured past where we’d been stationed.
Turning the car off, Ramsey twisted in his seat until he was directly facing me. “As a matter of fact, that’s exactly how it works,” he finally replied, his voice tight and raspy. “If I want something, it’s mine.”
“I’m not a something,” I replied coolly.
“No, you’re not,” he agreed. “But it works the same way.”
This bastard.
“Maybe it does for all those gold-digging sluts at Windsor, but-”
His laugh was grating and condescending. “Windsor girls already have their own gold,” he coldly pointed out. “They don’t need mine.” Ramsey lifted his chin, and the arrogance poured off him in waves. “Those girls are willing to ride my dick for a lot of other reasons, besides money.”
“Then what am I doing here?” I seethed.
“Because I don’t want them!” he roared, his cool demeanor gone. His calm act a farce. “I want you!”
“You can’t have me!” I yelled back.
“You sure about that?” he asked, his voice back to its cool tenor.
This was insane. It made no sense. I was nothing remarkable. There was no reason I should have captured Ramsey’s interest. And I refused to put any significance into how I was unwisely attracted to him. “Look, Reed-” I let out a sharp cry as his hand shot out and fisted in my hair.
“Call me Reed one more time, and I swear to God, I will make your life a living hell,” he spat.
“What difference does it make what I call you?” I cried out.
“Because I want to hear Ramsey coming out of your mouth when I finally get you underneath me,” he snarled. “Not Reed.”
Oh, Sweet Jesus.
“Let me go,” I hissed through clenched teeth. “You don’t just get to put your hands on me.”
Ramsey let me go, but not before calling me out on my shit. “You didn’t mind my hands or lips on you when your boyfriend was getting an eyeful,” he scoffed.
“I didn’t want to cause a scene,” I semi-lied. “What did you expect me to do?”
“I expected you to fight me,” he said. “If you truly didn’t like my hands on you.”
I couldn’t stop the shiver that raced down my spine at his words. They sounded seductive and dangerous. Seductive because his hands and lips on me had felt divine. Dangerous because I knew better than to get tangled up with anyone from Windsor Academy. And trouble didn’t come any bigger than the guy glowering at me right now.
I let out a deep breath. This arguing back and forth wasn’t going to solve anything, and it wasn’t going to get me any answers. Ramsey was playing a game, and I needed to make it clear that I wasn’t interested in playing it with him.
“Look, you saw for yourself I didn’t have any pictures of what you were doing Sunday night,” I started. “And you got the photos you wanted. What’s this really about?” I eyed him. “I already told you I didn’t see anything.”
“And I already told you I think you’re lying,” he countered. “So, let’s just agree to disagree on that one.”
I was starting to feel confined in his car, and I just wanted to go home. “What do you want, Ramsey?”
He drew back and straighten. “I already told you what I wanted,” he replied. “I want you.”
“I don’t believe you.” He just shrugged a shoulder, like it wasn’t his problem. “Why?”
“It doesn’t matter why,” he smirked. “All that matters is that I do.”
I shook my head. “That’s not good enough.”
“Tell me about Curt,” he said, switching topics.
“What about him?”
“I want the details.”
“The details are none of your business,” I retorted.
“Those papers scattered around my car are not for show,” he countered smoothly, and I hated him just a little more for it.
“We dated for about six months. He cheated on me. We broke up. End of story.”
“You still in love?”
I shot him a look. “I was never in love,” I corrected him. “But that didn’t mean I hadn’t taken our relationship seriously.”
“Did he beg forgiveness?”
“Yes,” I answered, hating the topic and hating that I was giving in. “But I didn’t care, and still don’t.” I shrugged a shoulder. “Even if I can’t really blame him.”
Ramsey reared back in surprise. “Oh, really? And why’s that?”
I wasn’t being catty when I asked, “Have you seen Erica Chambers?” I let out a soft laugh. “She’s beautiful. She’s the prettiest girl at SC,” I went on. “While I expected Curt to be faithful, I can hardly blame him when she came on to him.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he snapped, sounding outraged, but I couldn’t understand why. He wasn’t the one who was cheated on.
“You wouldn’t be surprised if you met her,” I argued.
“I’ve seen pictures of her,” he said, surprising me. Gesturing towards the papers all around, he said, “She made an appearance in Curt’s folder.”
“Well, then, you know she’s beautiful.”
His hand reached out and grabbed me by my chin. “What I know is that a girl doesn’t go after another girl’s man unless she feels threatened or inferior.”
I snorted. “That last thing Erica Chambers feels from any of us other girls is threatened or inferior.” Ramsey let go of my chin but didn’t comment.
I sat, looking at him, as he turned to face the front of the car. He stared out the windshield and didn’t say anything for a long while. We kind of just sat in his car, quietly, as thoughts ran through my head and his. I wasn’t privy to his thoughts, but I knew mine were all chaotic.
This guy was dangerous.
This guy was out of my league.
This guy was not supposed to know me.
“Stay away from Metcalf,” he finally said.
“Rams-”
He turned back to face me, and the look on his face was the single most menacing thing I’d ever seen. “I want you, Lake,” he said. “And, one way or the other, I’m going to have you.” I started shaking my head. “You think of fucking around on me, I’ll make it the biggest regret of your life.”