Obsessed (Hostile Takeover #1) Read Free Page B

trudged back to my room to stuff it in my purse. Before I put it in, I counted bills inside. They were all one hundred dollar bills. And there were twenty of them. Twenty.
    Holy crap. That was a lot of cash!
    Thank you, Kent! I think I love you.
    I was not going to blow this money on stupid stuff. This much money would come in very handy at school. I was always running short on cash and scraping together pennies for food.
    But for once in my life I could let myself loosen the purse strings a little.
    I knew where I was going today.
    Hello, Coach .
    A lot of the girls at school had Coach bags. Thanks to Mom’s new husband and his crazy-rich son, maybe I could have one too.
    Maybe.
    I changed my top, since the t-shirt I had been wearing was a little worn out and faded, fiddled with my hair and makeup a bit and grabbed my cutest pair of shoes before slinging my purchased-at-Walmart faux-leather handbag over my shoulder. I didn’t hear, or see, any sign of my gracious, generous host as I hurried to my car. Using my phone as a GPS, I headed to the closest mall with a Coach store.
    Thank you Mom! Correction, thank you stepfather and stepbrother, dearest.
     

     
    I came home empty-handed but stuffed full of Starbucks. After seeing the prices of those bags in the store, I’d decided I didn’t need one that much. But I’d allowed myself one small luxury. I’d indulged in an overpriced coffee to see if it really was worth all the hype.
    It was.
    Java Chip Frappuccino.
    Holy.
    Freaking.
    God.
    There was a heaven.
    I brought home an extra drink, along with a bag full of brownies and chocolate chunk cookies for later. The drive home was delicious. I slurped and munched as I sailed down the freeway, singing along to my favorite tunes.
    How strange was it that my life, and my mother’s, had taken such a drastic and unexpected turn? Here I was, whizzing along I-94, heading back to my step-bro’s mansion while my mom was out on some tropical island somewhere saying her I-do’s to a man I’d never met.
    Not in my wildest dreams had I ever imagined something like this happening. Dirk Payne had to be something special to convince Mom to trade in her bachelorette card. Very, very special, since she’d told me lots of times how much she’d loved my dad and even he hadn’t been able to drag her down the aisle.
    In an excellent mood, thanks to the caffeine and chocolate, I flounced back into the mansion with a spring in my step. I kicked off my shoes at the door and returned to my room to empty my hands and check my phone. Nothing from Ransom. I was beginning to think she wasn’t really sick but was just trying to blow me off. I hoped that wasn’t what was going on, but she’d done it to me before. I texted her then stared at the wall.
    Bored. I was bored.
    My sky-high mood sank.
    I clicked on the TV.
    Blah, blah, blah. Infomercials. Blah, blah, blah. Reruns. Old, stupid movies. Nothing worth watching.
    Crap. This sucked.
    Having lived on campus for over three years, I was used to constant activity, noise, parties, friends. Sitting on my bed, the only sound I heard was the soft crinkle of something that had fallen into the air duct, blowing when the heat kicked on. I couldn’t handle the silence. I tuned the cable to a music channel that played current hits. I loved music as much as the next girl. But, that didn’t amuse me for long either.
    I was so freaking far away from my at-home friends—the few that I hung out with during school breaks. What would I do for a whole week and a half? If only Mom had had enough money for me to go with my school friends to Mexico. If only. I knew what my friends were doing right now. Drinking, partying, sleeping on the beach, having sex with guys they didn’t know…having a freaking blast.
    But not me.
    While I wasn’t crammed in Mom’s crappy old apartment, I wasn’t exactly living la vida loca . I had money I didn’t dare spend, since I knew I would need it desperately at school next