Rebel Heir (Rush Series Duet #1)(17)

Two girls and a guy were hanging out in the living room watching TV when we entered. Several pizza boxes, beer bottles, and rolled-up napkins were strewn about.

Gia introduced me. “Rush, this is Caroline, Simone, and Allan…three of my roommates.” She looked over at me. “This is Rush.”

Your landlord. I laughed inwardly.

“Hi,” I said, sizing up the dude. I was pretty sure I’d seen him around town before canoodling with another dude.

At least, he was one guy I didn’t have to worry about.

I never understood how people could deal with the share house situation. I would never want to live with so many strangers up my ass all of the time. But I knew that for many, that arrangement was the only chance in hell they had of living in the Hamptons for the summer. I hated that I was starting to get a little jaded about that kind of thing, forgetting what it was like to be piss poor.

Gia nudged her head for me to follow her. I had secretly hoped she planned to stay in the main living area.

“Where are we going?”

“To my room…”

The warning bells in my head were officially sounding off. Heading to Gia’s bedroom was a bad fucking idea. Not to mention, walking right behind her gave me a view of her ass in the tight black pants she was wearing. My dick stiffened. The only reason I was agreeing to this was to prove a point, that I wasn’t afraid to be alone with her.

“Welcome to my humble room.” She bounced on the bed. “I lucked out, ended up getting my own bedroom when most of the others have to share.”

I looked around at the mostly lavender decor. “It’s nice.”

She continued to bounce as she looked up at me. Her fucking tits were bouncing right along with her. “You look tense, Rush.”

Fiddling with my watch, I said, “It’s late.”

Gia tilted her head. “Have you given any thought to our bet?”

“Bet?”

“You know…I give up candy and you give up smoking.”

That’s right.

“Sure, yeah.”

Her eyes widened as she leaned in. “And?”

“Why are we bothering with this bet again?”

“We’re trying to save your life and save me from diabetes.”

“Oh. Gotcha. So, how does it work?” I asked.

“You stop smoking cold turkey, and I stop eating candy. Then we have to come up with penalties if we aren’t able to stick to the program.”

I had a light bulb moment. I’d been putting off telling her I’d fixed her car because I didn’t want her to question my intentions. This was the perfect opportunity to have her indirectly find out about it.

“How about if I lose, I’ll fix your car.”

Her eyes lit up. “Oh my God. That would be awesome! Is it sad that I might be hoping you slip and fall off the wagon?” She grinned.

“What do I get for holding up my end of the deal?” I asked.

“What’s something you want?”

Your lips wrapped tight around my cock.

“I know!” She said. “If I lose, I’ll name the main male character in my book Rush.”

I bent my head back in laughter. It didn’t matter what she planned to give me because I planned on intentionally losing. “We have a deal, then.”

“Cool. It starts effective immediately,” she said.

Her eyes followed me as I started to wander around her room. Her closet was open. Running my fingers along the hanging outfits, I noticed a set of eyes looking back at me from atop the shelf. Then, another set of eyes. And another.

Lined up in a row were a set of the ugliest dolls I had ever seen in my life. Their hair was all messed up, and some of them looked downright deformed.

“What the fuck do you have going on in here?”

She couldn’t stop laughing. “That’s my ugly doll collection.”

“Ugly is an understatement. These are hideous! Like they give Chucky some serious competition. You collect these?”

“Yup. Don’t ask me how I started…because the answer is more fucked-up than the dolls themselves.”

“Okay, well, now you know I have to ask. How did you start collecting them?”

She sighed, gearing up to tell me a story. “Before my mother took off on my dad and me…she left me with a parting gift. It was a little doll. It wasn’t an ugly doll or anything…it was generic—blonde hair, pink dress. Her name was Lulu. Anyway…when I got old enough to realize that she was never coming back…I burned it…like literally took it out to the backyard when my father was burning wood and threw it into the fire.”

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah. Well, I immediately had second thoughts. After all, this was the only keepsake I had of my mother. So, I ended up pulling it out a few seconds later. It was all charred and half burnt, but still somewhat recognizable. I liked her better imperfect. She reflected how I felt. When my father figured out what I’d done, he was trying to make me feel better about it. The next day, when he came home from work, he brought home the ugliest doll you’ve ever seen in your life, because he said Lulu needed a friend. That was the moment I realized I had the best dad in the world. And that was the moment I fell in love with ugly dolls.”

I immediately spotted the doll she referred to as Lulu and lifted it. “This is the burnt one, isn’t it?”