Dare You to Hate Me by B. Celeste (classic fiction .txt) 📕

winding around my windpipe and choking me. “Are you going to help me pack or not? I want to leave.”

Want. It’s hard not to snort at the word choice as if this is my decision, but it’s better than facing reality and accepting that unwanted is the most accurate term that surrounds my existence.

I think back to the first time Mom indicated I should go to Gertie’s house. How she constantly reminded me it’d be better if I left by feigning false excitement as if there were better things waiting for me at my grandma’s place. How many times had she pushed me in that direction? Made it seem like it was the best option for everybody?

For a moment I think Raine’s going to tell me no, but eventually she helps get my things divided between my two duffle bags until there’s no room for anything else.

I grab one and put it over my shoulder. “I don’t need the bed or bedding, so someone else can have it. Or throw it away. I’m sure it’s not quality standard around here and doubt it’ll sell for anything.”

Pain laces into Raine’s features. “Ivy—”

“Don’t worry about it.” The smile on my face is effortless because I’ve had to mold one like it countless of other times to show my sanity, as fragile as it may be.

I sidestep her and walk upstairs, refusing to acknowledge the people I pass. I’m sure Sydney is among them, looking smug like she just won a competition I had no chance at winning. My skin itches from the acceptance that this walk of shame is being witnessed by a houseful of people I never got along with, making it somehow worse than if they were complete strangers.

Hearing Raine call my name as I close the front door a little too hard, I keep my gaze forward as if I’m walking with a purpose.

You can break when you’re alone, I tell myself bitterly, holding back the frustrated tears that well in my eyes. Head in the game.

When I’m halfway down the street, headlights come into view and blind me. I block the light with a raised hand as the fancy sports car stops beside me, the window rolling down until a familiar cocky smile fills the space. “Need a lift?”

I should tell him no. Sydney certainly wouldn’t like me getting into Remi’s car. But then again, since when do I care?

“Sure.” When I hear the locks click, I open the backseat to toss my things inside. Another vehicle rounds the bend, causing my stomach to sink when I realize who it is.

As soon as the black truck stops, I quickly drop my other bag into the seat and slam the car door shut hoping to get away before anything is said.

Luck is never on my side though.

“Don’t even fucking think about it,” Aiden yells as he jumps out of his truck and storms toward me.

Opening the passenger door, I’m bending to get into the pricy set of wheels when a hand snakes around my arm. I snap my head toward the person holding me back. “If you don’t let me go I’ll scream, Aiden.”

He’s openly glaring right back. “Don’t go with him.”

I yank my arm away. “It’s none of your business who I get into a car with. I swear to God if you— Son of a bitch!” My body is being thrown over a broad, muscular shoulder before I know what’s happening.

Another door opens and Remi’s obnoxious voice calls out, “What the fuck, man?”

“Sorry,” Aiden says. “You’re going to have to find another way to get your dick wet tonight.”

I smack his back with my fists. “You asshole! Who said I was going to sleep with him?”

When he opens his truck door and drops me onto the bench seat, I grunt on impact and do my best to show my displeasure with being thrown around. My face goes completely slack when he says, “Isn’t that what you do, Ivy? How you pay them for somewhere to sleep?”

Before I can even think of a reply, he’s moving my legs out of the way and slamming the door. I’m frozen in my seat with gaping lips when he confronts the snobby frat boy by his car. I don’t know what’s said and I’m not sure I want to. All I see is Aiden fishing my bags from the backseat before tossing them into the bed of his truck and climbing in beside me.

My arms hug my knees tightly to my chest, my feet propped on the edge of the seat in a protective stance. “I’m not a whore,” I whisper, failing at patching the internal wall up as a tear slides down my cheek.

He turns the truck on, not looking at me once as he puts it into drive. “No, baby. You’re a survivor.”

Chapter Eleven

Aiden

The guys are all packed in the kitchen, arms crossed, shoulder to shoulder in silence as they stare at me with a mixture of raised brows, stoic faces, and indifference. Nobody has said a word since I told them Ivy is going to stay downstairs with me.

Justin leans against his crutches and reaches for the closest pizza box I brought home as bribery. “I don’t know why you called this meeting. The girlfriends stay here all the time anyway and nobody cares.”

Raine does spend a lot of time here with Caleb, though she’s absent for this conversation because of some school event, and a couple of the other guys have steady girlfriends or consistent hookups that spend the night a few times a week. “Ivy isn’t my girlfriend though.”

DJ hops onto the counter with his go-to energy drink in hand. He has enough energy on his own, but he doesn’t go without one a day at the least. “You know I don’t mind having a chick like that as a roommate, especially if she’s up for dibs.”

A few of the guys try hiding their snickers and choke them down behind their fists when I eye