Her Spite: A Reverse Harem Bully Romance (The Forgotten Elites Book 2) Eden Beck (best book club books TXT) 📖

his father finds out that I have lied to him; I might as well kiss even a one percent chance of getting back into Brown goodbye. On the other hand, if I tell him that his son and I are more than friends, it will play right into his preconceived notion about me. He picks up on my obvious unease.

“It’s okay, no need to answer me. I already know the answer to that question myself. Even if you weren’t the campus floozy, I know my son.”

I can feel all the heat rushing to my cheeks and I know that I am probably turning fifty shades of red right now.

I’m ashamed and embarrassed, but most of all I am angry. He doesn’t know anything about me, and from the sounds of it, he doesn’t know anything about his own son either.

I open my mouth to say something, but then quickly realize that I have no idea what to say. This man isn’t going to believe me no matter what I tell him. He has already made up his mind about me—that much is clear.

All of a sudden, the thoughts of how I won’t be able to go to Brown and will be stuck here in this reform school for another term after all come crashing down on me. If I don’t start Christmas break off next week with a letter informing me that Brown has rescinded their invitation entirely.

My thoughts spin out of control here, right in the middle of the gala in front of Sterling’s father and the rest of the review board—and there’s nothing I can do to stop them.

If I can’t get into a decent college, then how will I ever be able to financially support myself? Not that I had been counting on my parents’ help ever again, but I thought they’d at least keep paying for Brown. Even if they didn’t … surely, I’d be able to get some kind of financial aid. Loans. Something.

But without Brown, where does that leave me?

I can’t exactly walk into a bank and ask for a housing loan for … for what? For where?

I feel as if I am watching my future slowly die a pathetic and withering death right in front of my eyes. And the person that has killed it is this pompous ass with a half-empty martini glass hanging precariously in his hand.

My breathing has grown short and shallow. My head swims, my vision blurring and turning fuzzy.

If I stay here for even one more second, I’m going to pass out.

So, without thinking about how it will look, I turn and run.

It’s the only thing that my body can do, even though my mind is telling me to stay put in order to avoid looking like some sort of guilt-ridden, emotional, idiot. But it doesn’t matter. My body is already opting for the “flight” part of fight or flight.

I push through the crowd of people and nearly knock over some lady’s drink when I bump into her arm. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Warren and Chase look over at me and as soon as they see my face and realize that I’m running out of the main hall; they both start to walk quickly toward me. Even Sterling is within sight, leaning up against the corner near the door and keeping an eye on me.

He is the first one to reach me when I get out into the hallway.

“What happened?” Sterling asks as he rushes up to me in the hallway where I stop to catch my breath. He looks angry—but not at me.

“Nothing,” I say just trying to avoid further drama and controversy. Chase and Warren arrive at my side just as I answer him.

But I can’t fake how I feel. I double over, my hands clutching at my knees as my breaths come out ragged and broken.

“What’s going on?” Warren asks in a panic.

“Nothing,” I say again, this time with more emphasis than before.

But then, as much as I want to just hold it all in—I can’t. The weight of everything comes crashing down on me. All of my hopes of getting into Brown, all of the shit that I’ve ignored about the past events. I start to feel so overwhelmed that I need to let it out.

I break down into tears. Not even the pretty kind, but the full-on sobbing, snot-filled kind. Sterling grabs me and pulls me against his chest to hold me tightly and I bury my face against him.

I can feel his heartbeat start to pound against my ear.

“What did my father do to you?” he asks. There’s a ferocity in his voice this time and I can hear him gritting his teeth and feel his clenched jaw against the top of my head as he rests his chin against me.

I blurt out everything all at once without even taking a breath between sentences. I tell them everything that he said about me, and about Sterling. By the time I have finished relaying all of the horrid details of my encounter with Sterling’s father, I am a complete and utter mess.

Sterling was right—we shouldn’t have even come here tonight.

It did more harm than good, I fear.

“I will never get into Brown now,” I cry. “My future is over. I’m going to be stuck in this shitty place forever.”

“No, you will not be stuck here in reform school forever,” Sterling says. The way he says it makes it sound less like an empty prediction and more like a comforting promise. “My father isn’t the only Brown member on the board. You don’t need him. We’ll just go around him.”

“Why can’t we all just go tell him that he’s wrong about Aubrey?” Chase asks naively. “Maybe if he hears it from all three of us—”

“No,” Sterling says as he lifts his chin up from against my head. “You don’t know my father. That’s definitely not a good idea.”

“Well, I think maybe it’s time you told us a little