BENEDICT
The drive back from Maya’s waterfront place was long and silent.
My hands gripped the wheel of the brand-new Porsche my parents had bought and had delivered straight to Seattle the day I got shipped here—a sweet ride, but a glorified leash all the same. The sun was dipping low over the Pacific, casting long shadows across the highway, but my mind was stuck back on that poolside patio.
She said no.
The sheer panic in Valerie’s hazel eyes when Nathan grabbed her ankles—the quiet, desperate way she swallowed her pride just to keep the peace—it didn't add up. Valerie wasn't weak. She had a sharp tongue, a proud spine, and a dad like Julian Thorne. If she was letting a high school varsity clown humiliate her in public, it wasn't because she was in love.
Nathan had something o
