Sweet Like Poison: A College Romance
Genres: Romance
Book Preface
Elena
Freshman Year
ALL I WANTED WAS a milkshake.
A thick, strawberry milkshake with piles of whipped cream on top. And a cherry. There had to be a cherry. Why else bother?
This would be my first one in…I couldn’t remember the last time I had one. All I could think about were the milkshakes I used to get at the T when I was a kid. I couldn’t get them out of my mind.
I’d be back in Berkeley tomorrow. Thank Prada. This had been a hell of a trip back to Savage River for Thanksgiving. My mom wasn’t good, and my dad was too busy to really notice. He did notice the scratch on the Porsche and my abysmal showing at midterms. Threats flew like paper airplanes. There was no room for mistakes or failure in the Sanderson household. At least, not from me. Dad didn’t stop to ask why my grades were shitty or the bags under my eyes could use their own luggage cart. It was all too much.
Hence, my burning desire for a milkshake and an excuse to escape my house.
The T had been the hangout post-football games in high school. As I stepped inside the old-fashioned diner and glanced around, I could almost see the ghost of my former self, queen bee-ing it in my skimpy cheerleader uniform.
Raucous laughter drew my attention to a booth on the far side of the restaurant. A group of skater boys and a couple girls were crowded into a corner booth, shooting spitballs or whatever those types did. I recognized one of them. Helen Ortega’s red lips gave her away. It was sad a girl like her was going to be stuck in this town forever.
I shrugged.
The counter was mostly empty. I took a seat near the cash register, away from the random old guys farther down. The menu trembled in my hands. Or maybe that was my hands trembling.
This trip needed to be over. I loved my family, but they weren’t easy. Berkeley wasn’t a walk in the park, but compared to this? I put the menu down and caught the waitress’s eye. I really needed that milkshake.
“Hello, honey. What’ll it be?” The waitress was older, silver-blonde, wearing an impeccable white button-down. I respected that she was able to keep her clothing stain-free.
“Strawberry milkshake, please. I’m trying to suck away my problems, so the thicker, the better.”
She winked. “That’s what she said, baby doll. I’ll be right back with your shake.”
I must have been out of my mind because I snickered at her played-out joke. I mean, really, I’d walked into that one. How could she not go with it?
Sitting at the counter alone was strange. I never did anything by myself. I could have called someone to join me—Annika most likely wasn’t going back to USC until tomorrow—but I had every intention of drinking this entire milkshake. I could picture her face now, counting the calories I was ingesting, gloating internally that it would land on my ass. Besides, it would be strange for me to call Annika. I hadn’t returned any of her texts or Snaps since we went our separate ways for college, why start now?
The waitress came back with my shake before I was forced into too much introspection. I did enough of that in therapy. Shudder. She winked at me again. I decided I liked a woman who winked unabashedly. Especially one who kept her white shirts crisp, even in the face of adversity.
The first hit of milky strawberry sent my eyes rolling back in my head. Yes. This was exactly what I needed. I had to suck so hard on my straw, there was no room in my body for thoughts or worries. My concentration went to the goal of transferring shake to mouth.
Halfway drained, I took a break to catch my breath. My stomach was churning. It wasn’t used to being full, much less with full-fat dairy.
Chewing on the end of my straw, I spun on my stool, idly scanning the diner. The skaters were still there. I accidentally caught Helen’s eye. She flipped me off. I made two of my fingers into a V and waggled my tongue between them. She rolled her eyes and gave me the back of her head.
Good. The last thing I wanted was to spend time looking at a Savage River nobody.
There were a few people on the other side of the diner. An older couple, a family, a group of friends—
Oh.
I’d know the shape of Nate Bergen’s head anywhere, even from the back. I’d spent my high school years crazy in love with him—emphasis on crazy—and mortally terrified of him. He’d ruined me in every way. Or maybe he’d just activated the poison that had always festered inside me.
He was with a girl. I could see her face from my angle. She was young. Had to still be in high school. Her cheeks were rosy as she smiled at him. I recognized that look. Nate could be charming and funny. He was uncommonly good-looking—and he used that as a weapon. Once you were his, so fully under his spell, you had no chance of recovering, he’d reveal his true self.
Nate was a monster.
The girl he was with had no idea. She must not have heard the rumors about him. The reason he was expelled from our high school. The money his father had paid out to multiple families to keep his misdeeds hush-hush.
The shake in my stomach curdled. I was off my stool before I knew what I was doing, my feet carrying me across the diner to their table.
They stopped talking abruptly, both looking up at me. The girl smiled. Nate’s face flashed from friendly to contemptuous back to friendly again.
“Hi, Nate.” My fingers curled around the thick glass in my hands. Oh yeah, I still had my milkshake. I didn’t remember walking over here, much less bringing it with me.
“Hey, El. What are you doing here?” Affable. Like we were old friends. Like he hadn’t pinned me down over the summer and—
I gnashed my teeth together, grinning at him. My first love. My first hate.
“Are you on a date?”
He lowered his chin, and that same flash of contempt lingered a little longer.
“Uh, yeah. This is Sera. Sera, this is Elena. We went to high school together.”
If we’d been alone, Nate would have wrapped his hand around my throat and reminded me to behave. As it was, he had the edge of the table in a death grip.
The girl shot me a smile a little shaky at the edges. She was pretty, with freckles sprinkled across her nose, and thick, dark-red hair. Nate didn’t have a type looks-wise. As long as a girl was emotionally vulnerable and physically weaker, he got hard as a rock.
“Hi,” Sera said brightly. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Nate cleared his throat. “We were just having dinner. We’ll catch up later.”
I shook my head. “Oh, right. Silly me. I just have one more thing to say, then I’ll go.”
I focused on Sera. Her sunny demeanor. Her wide smile, even in the awkward situation. I didn’t know her. I’d probably never see her again. But I knew when someone was whole and when they were broken. Sera was still whole. My mouth was moving before my mind was made up to say something.
“Just so you’re aware, Nate has a bad habit of misinterpreting the words ‘no’ as ‘yes.’ If I were you, I’d get up and walk away and block his number. He’ll only hurt you. I know I might sound like a bitter ex—and I am bitter. Though, not because he broke up with me. That was a relief. I’m bitter because this man hurt me just like he’s hurt a lot of other girls. Nate is a rapist, and even though they don’t say it, everyone in this town knows it.”
Sera’s rosy cheeks paled. Her eyes darted back and forth from Nate to me.
“Elena,” Nate gritted out. “That’s enough. Walk the other way.”
I turned to him. “I’m not scared of you anymore. You’ve done your worst.” Then I took my beloved milkshake and dumped the entire contents in his lap. “Fuck you, Nate.”
He jolted out of his seat, swiping the shake off his pants. “You fucking cunt,” he hissed. “You’re dead, bitch.”
I met his date’s wide eyes and parted lips. I hoped she’d listen. Get out. Go. I’d really hate for her to deal with an angry Nate. From the boiling red going on beneath his skin, he was raging.
“Run, Sera.”
Taking my own advice, I spun on my toes and scurried to the exit. It had started to rain while I was inside. It never rained around here, so I hadn’t been prepared, but my car was parked close, illuminated by one of the few parking lot lights. I flung myself inside, slamming my hand on the ignition switch. Creamy bile rose in my throat.
I didn’t have the chance to think or wrap my head around what I’d just done. Nate exploded out of the diner doors, looking for blood.
My dad had taught me to park in well-lit spots in parking lots. For my safety. So no dangers could snatch me up in the shadows. I could use some shadows right about now. I might as well have been under a spotlight. Nate found me on his first sweep of the lot, storming to the hood of my car.
His fists slammed down on my cherry-red paint, sending raindrops flying. “Get your ass out of that car, cunt. You owe me.”
A maniacal laugh burst out of me. That was so rich. “I owe you nothing, psycho
| Download Ebook | Read Now | File Type | Upload Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Download here
|
Read Now | Epub | August 19, 2022 |
How to Read and Open File Type for PC ?
