Arrogant Billionaire: Love vs Hate

Chap. 13

"Love is an adventure and a conquest. It survives and develops, like the universe itself, only by perpetual discovery."

-Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

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"Hey, that was rude," Clara complained as we walked toward her car. "You literally jumped on me like a monkey the moment I arrived. You didn't even let me say hello to your mom."

She wasn't wrong.

From the moment I woke up that morning, I had been determined to stop Clara from stepping inside the house. If she had walked in and started chatting with Mom, my carefully constructed lies would have collapsed in seconds. The moment her car appeared outside, I rushed out like a crazy person and practically dragged her away before Mom could even come to the door.

"Stop whining, big baby," I said lightly, slipping my arm through hers and pulling her toward the car. "We're already getting late."

Clara rolled her eyes dramatically as she unlocked the car. "Whatever."

I slid into the passenger seat, trying to act normal while quietly releasing the breath I had been holding.

That had been dangerously close.

At lunch break Clara and I were sitting in the cafe, sharing fries and laughing about one of Frederick's ridiculous jokes from earlier that day. Liam and Frederick had joined us briefly, but they had to leave early for football practice. The two of them had spent the entire walk out of the cafeteria arguing about something that sounded suspiciously like another one of Frederick's exaggerated sports stories.

Clara was still laughing when suddenly her expression froze.

The color drained from her face.

"An—Andy..." she whispered, her voice low and tense. "He's coming this way."

Her sudden fear caught me off guard.

"Who?" I asked, turning slightly.

The moment my eyes landed on the person walking across the cafeteria floor, my breath caught in my throat.

Mark.

He was walking beside Chase, moving through the crowded room with the same calm authority he always carried. Conversations around us seemed to quiet slightly as students noticed him passing by. Several girls at nearby tables watched him with dreamy expressions, whispering to each other as he walked past.

My heart immediately began beating faster.

For a brief second the memory of yesterday flashed through my mind—the locked room, the threats, the humiliating contract I had signed.

I forced myself to remain calm.

Around us the girls in the cafeteria continued watching him like he was some kind of celebrity. I couldn't stop myself from rolling my eyes at their naive fascination.

If only they knew.

I inhaled slowly and lifted my gaze toward him, meeting his eyes with a silent warning. 

For a moment his expression remained unreadable. Then his eyebrows lifted slightly in quiet amusement. Without breaking eye contact, he continued walking directly toward our table.

Clara's fingers tightened nervously around the edge of the table beside me. My heartbeat pounded loudly in my ears.

When he finally reached us, he paused for a brief moment.

But instead of saying anything, he simply walked past our table and took a seat at the empty one beside us with Chase.

My jaw tightened.