Gritting her teeth, she picked up the soap and, after rinsing it thoroughly, lathered up. It smelled like straight lye and would probably dry her skin to paper but at least she’d be clean. If she’d known they were going to hole up in hell, she would’ve showered at her mom’s place before leaving. She’d mistakenly assumed he was going to take her to the Four Seasons or some other suitably luxurious hotel. She cast her gaze around the sorry bathroom and shuddered at how off the mark she’d been.
The fact that he’d done this to her on purpose, perhaps to teach her a lesson, really burned. It was hard not to fall headlong into a temper tantrum but she held it back—only because she didn’t want to further fuel his clichéd expectations of her. She hated that he thought so little of her but there wasn’t much she could say that would change his mind because she hadn’t really done much to crow about. But why should she feel guilty about that? Was it her fault that she’d been born to money and he hadn’t? Why was it okay for him to punish her for something that had been out of her control?
She scrubbed a little harder. He didn’t have the right to judge her for anything. So what if she couldn’t remember the last time she’d made a sizable donation to her favorite charity? Her father made giant donations every year to a number of causes in the family name. So, in a way, she’d donated, too. Oh, that was flimsy, even by her standards. The fight evaporated and she was left with a black hole of sadness that felt familiar even as she tried to ignore it.
All her life she’d tried to fight that gnawing ache inside her, and it felt a lot like this. She ducked under the spray and tried to stop sinking further but Rian’s words weighed on her. No one expected anything from her because she rarely mattered. Even though she adored her father, it wasn’t as if he’d actually had a hand in raising her. She’d had countless nannies to do that. And her mother hadn’t been much better.
CoCo had been an afterthought, a pretty extension of the family name, brought out at parties and then returned to the nursery when it suited them. Tears burned under her lids. Why was she crying? What was wrong with her? It was Rian’s fault. Everything had been fine until Rian had shown up sowing seeds of unhappiness and discontent. Hadn’t she had a blast at her party last night? Yeah, up until that dickhead Drake had decided to push things too far. Well, that was an isolated incident. Before that, everything had been peachy. So the problem was clearly Rian.
CoCo shut off the water and snatched the scratchy towel from the rack. She wrapped the towel around her with a grimace as it scraped against her tender skin and then she emerged from the bathroom in a cloud of steam. The towel was barely larger than a hand towel and hardly covered her but she didn’t care. If Rian wanted to be her babysitter, then he could do it on her terms. She was going out tonight.
“What are you doing?” he asked, sitting up straight as an arrow, his eyes wide. “Why aren’t you dressed?”
“You know what, this is bullshit. I don’t want to sit in this dinky, gross, completely unsuitable hotel for the next few days with nothing but your judgment to keep me occupied so I’m going out tonight. If you want to babysit me, fine, then you’re going to have to do it while I’m having some fun.”
“Like hell you are. Now get some clothes on,” he growled and she taunted him with a smile.
What are you going to do about it?
He shot her with a warning look. “I mean it. Don’t test me, CoCo.”
“What? You don’t like me in my towel? Is there something wrong?” she asked coyly, enjoying the sudden flush in his cheeks as she toyed with him. This was the way to rattle him, she realized with a spurt of enjoyment. He’d brought her to this place as a punishment and, well, she had ways of punishing him, too. “I wonder what would happen if I did...this?” Then in a deliberate move she dropped the towel to the floor, and she smiled as she watched Rian’s eyes nearly pop out of his head.
That’s right, Rian Dalton...two can play games but only one is going to win.
Me.
7
OH, HELL, SAVE ME.