“Sure. Now tell me, where are you going to find ten grand to cover Grammar’s tuition fees? Sell some drugs? I’ve heard people like you are good at that.”
The world goes silent. When I speak, my mouth is dry. “Tuition fees?”
His laugh is derisive. “What, did you forget private schools cost money?”
“Senior isn’t paying for my school. My dad is,” I say.
“Shit,” Jasper murmurs. “You don’t know.”
My stomach sinks. “What are you talking about?”
“Figure it out yourself,” Jasper snaps.
It can’t be true. Senior wouldn’t be paying my school fees — that would be too generous, even for something rich and charitable like him. But I can see it in my mind. Senior paying the school fees and Dad promising to pay him back.
My stomach swoops. I wonder just how much Senior is paying for. Groceries. Utilities. My school uniform. My textbooks. This holiday.
“Finally realising how much of a freeloader you are?” Jasper asks.
The worst part about all of this — worse than realising how naïve I’ve been, worse than the embarrassment turning my skin hot — is that Jasper is fucking right.
“Just…shut up,” I say. “You don’t have to be such an asshole.”
Except he does. He just can’t help himself. “I can’t believe you didn’t know. How oblivious are you?”
Fine. If he’s going to be an asshole, I’m going to be so much worse. “I thought jerking off was supposed to mellow people out.”
He goes silent.
“You did jerk off, didn’t you?” I continue. “Rub your dick all over the sheets? Or did you do it in the shower, coming on the wall? Yet you’re still acting like a dickhead — ”
Something whistles through the air and slams into the pillow, right beside my cheek. It’s his phone.
I pick it up and stalk over to his bed, and he scrambles up. “You fucker,” I hiss once I’m beside his bed. “That could have left a bruise.”
He tips his chin forward, as if he isn’t afraid. I know it’s an act. “How did you know?” he asks.
I ignore him, waving his phone. “Every time I think I’ve seen the worst of you, you have to do something like this.”
“Did you follow me?” Jasper continues. “Did you listen to me like a pervert —”
In a second, I’m on top of him. My legs straddle his body, and he tries to push me off, but I hold his wrists down.
“Do you think that’s my idea of a good time?” I hiss, bringing my face down so it’s inches away from his.
“Get. Off.”
“I didn’t see anything,” I say. “Except you running out of the hot tub with a boner. You’re not very subtle, are you?”
He breaks eye contact, and even in the darkness, I can see his skin turning pink. “Get off,” he repeats, voice smaller.
“Did you imagine you were finally fucking someone?” I whisper.
Jasper tries to use his hips and legs to push me off, but he’s helpless.
“Or was it something else?” I continue. “Did you imagine someone was fucking you?”
Jasper goes still, his wrists limp under my hands. His mouth parts, and for a moment, I imagine sliding two fingers in, watching him suck on them…
