K. Linde - Take Me for Granted

As I handed the phone back to a shell-shocked Cheyenne, it started ringing again.

“Don’t answer that.”

“What just happened?” she asked.

“Grant asked me out, and I told him no.”

This probably killed her, but it didn’t kill me. I had no interest in someone like Grant. I’d grown up in a wealthy suburb of Boston. My father was the CEO of a prominent bank in the city. My entire family were Princeton alums. That was the kind of person I was supposed to bring home to my parents—not Grant McDermott. Not even one date.

He didn’t care about me or respect me. He just wanted to sleep with me.

It was Gabi’s turn to look astonished. “He asked you out?”

“Grant McDermott does not ask people out!” Cheyenne cried.

“Well, he just did.”

I crossed my arms and leaned back against the pillar in front of the math building, which I’d tracked down after Aribel had hung up on me. Fuck, I’d even called her back. I didn’t know if I was more pissed or intrigued. The combination was making me crazy.

When had I ever staked out a chick’s class to see her?

Never.

But I wasn’t fucking leaving now. How much longer could she possibly be?

Just as the thought crossed my mind, a stream of people exited the building, and at the back of the group was my target. She was as hot as I remembered—short with stick-straight natural blonde hair. Her nose was buried in a book, and her lips moved as she read the words while she absentmindedly picked at the top button of her cardigan.

I took a step toward her right when some other guy walked up to her. Who the fuck is that? Her boyfriend? Well, that wasn’t the biggest obstacle, but I thought I’d gotten that one out of the way when I’d kissed her last night.

When he spoke to Aribel, her head popped up, and she snapped her book closed. They exchanged a few tense words, and she shook her head a lot, but he kept speaking and gesturing in short, sharp motions. Her frown deepened.

All right, enough is enough.

I strolled across the small courtyard to the front doors where Aribel was standing. “This guy bothering you?” I asked.

They both turned to look at me. Aribel pursed her thin lips and hugged her textbook to her chest. The guy just looked irritated that they had been disturbed.

“What are you doing here?” Aribel asked.

“You know this guy?”

“Benjamin, just leave it alone.”

“Yeah, Benny, leave her alone,” I said with a chipper smile.

“Benny?” he retorted, clearly offended.

“Good Lord,” Aribel said.

“Who is this guy, Aribel?”

I stuck my hand out to Benny. “Grant McDermott. Nice to meet you.”

Benjamin stared down at my hand, but he apparently had the manners to shake my hand anyway. “Benjamin Curtis. How exactly do you know Aribel?”

“Oh, recent acquaintance.” I winked at him because I couldn’t resist poking at his jealousy.

“I don’t have time for this. I’m going home,” Aribel said.

She turned to go, but Benjamin stopped her. “Aribel, wait, I really want to talk about last night.”

“And I think I’m done talking about it.”

“Last night?” I asked.

She didn’t seem like the type to bed-hop. She was clearly a bit uptight. I needed to shrug her out of that cardigan because there was only one thing I liked tight about my women.

“I don’t want to talk about last night with either of you,” she snapped and started storming across the courtyard I’d just crossed.

“Aribel, were you with this guy last night?” Benjamin asked, grabbing on to her wrist.

“Yes,” she spat, snatching her hand back. “And why should it matter to you, Benjamin? You broke up with me. I told you I didn’t want to be friends, but you did. I don’t think any of my friends would act like a jealous ex-boyfriend if they found out I’d been with someone else last night. In fact, all of my friends are encouraging me.”

I cracked up, and Aribel sent me another stern glare. Her eyes dropped to my mouth for a fraction of a second, and something in her softened.

Benjamin drew her attention again. “Fine. I thought I’d made a mistake, but if you’re already hanging out with someone else, then I guess I didn’t.”

Her eyes turned stony dark blue, like the sky in the middle of a hurricane. She looked fucking fierce, and it was turning me on.

“I guess you didn’t,” she agreed.

I jogged lightly alongside her as we left Benny behind. “Ex problems?”

She held her book tighter against her chest and blatantly ignored me.

“So, after your phone died earlier today, you didn’t call me back.”

Aribel rolled her eyes and picked up her pace, carrying us out across an open field.

“Do you need my number for next time?”

She humphed and kept walking.

Jesus, what is with this chick? “You don’t take jokes very well, do you?”

“Excuse me, but did I lose a glass slipper or something?” she asked.

“What?”

“A glass slipper. Do I look like Cinderella to you? Are you some kind of prince trying to sweep me off my feet? What is this whole charade, Grant?”

“No charade, babe. I just wanted to see you and take you out.”

“Uh-huh. Where exactly are you taking me?”

I smirked at her. “Dinner.” My bed.

“Why do I have a feeling that we’re not talking about eating the same thing?”

I chuckled to myself. She had me there.

“Oh, come on. I didn’t even say that.” Though, if I had it my way, I’d be doing more than that tonight.

“You didn’t have to,” she called over her shoulder.

I caught up to her again and started walking backward in front of her. I was probably making a spectacle of myself, but I didn’t really care. She didn’t even seem to notice that people were staring at us.

“Look, I really do want to take you out. I’m not one to deny myself the things I want, but I was talking about eating food with you.”

“No. And anyway, how did you know to find me? Are you stalking me or something now? Should I invest in a rape whistle?”

“No, but you can blow my whistle, baby.”

“Oh, dear Lord.”

She tried to push me aside to continue walking, but I circled her wrist and pulled her back toward me. Her hand landed on my chest, and she lightly tugged on the dog tags there as she tried to regain her balance.

“All joking aside, I want to go out with you. Why won’t you go out with me?”

“Because I don’t want to,” she snapped defiantly, taking a step back.

“What can I do to change your mind?”

“Enroll at Princeton, get a higher IQ, stop having sex with the entire school,” she ticked off on her fingers. “Oh, and be someone else—someone who cares about his future, his career, and not just some stupid band.”

I leaned forward into her until our noses were almost touching. “For someone who doesn’t even know me, you’re incredibly judgmental.”

The hiccup in her breathing was the only thing that gave away her racing heart. Her eyes were fiery as if my words only fueled her, and saying no was her challenge as much as getting her to say yes was mine.

“It’s hardly judgmental when everything I said was true.”

“Just give me a chance,” I whispered, releasing her wrist and snaking my hand down to her waist.

She was skinny but soft everywhere I was touching her. She had smooth skin with just enough extra padding, and she wasn’t too muscular. I trailed my hand down lower and knew that her hips would fill out something beautiful in the next couple years. I wanted to grip them as I slammed into her. I wanted to see her pale skin flush as I fucked her.

Fuck, I’m getting turned-on again.

Her pupils were dilated as she stepped away from my touch. Whatever had just torn through me, she was feeling it, too. If she said she wasn’t, then she was a fucking liar. She wanted me, and I was going to fucking give her what she wanted.

“You have a million other girls dying to fall into your bed. Give that chance to someone else.”

“I’m giving it to you.”

“Then, you’re only going to be disappointed, so just leave me alone.”

She scurried away, and this time, I let her. I glanced around and saw just how many people had been staring at us.

“Nothing to see here people,” I called out to the crowd.

Everyone’s eyes shot back to whatever they had been doing before and left me to stand in the middle of the field, looking out after Aribel.

What the hell am I going to do now?

My hands were shaking as I dashed across the open quad. People were staring at me from all directions. I hated the spotlight. I was supposed to be invisible. I was supposed to get high marks in all my classes, graduate at the top of my class, and then start my career as a lab researcher. My parents expected me to eventually meet the right kind of guy—someone confident and ambitious, a Princeton alum preferably. These things were important to me. I couldn’t forget that the next time I was trapped in Grant McDermott’s heated gaze. Better yet, he just needed to leave me alone.

When I made it to the chemistry building, I plopped down into the first available seat in the lecture hall, and I placed my hands flat on the desk to keep them steady. What is wrong with me? I’d never acted like this before.