Desmond

Of course she's not the first.

To deny me, I mean.

There are other instances. Sometimes, they didn't know who I was. Sometimes, it was very dark and they would think that my looks would be deceivingly different under the sunlight. Sometimes, they knew who I am and decide to say no just to spur me into actions.

In the end, I always win. I always have them come back.

None of the people who have rejected me is like Cassandra Bellington. And I don't mean physically. Cassie is pretty. Even before she shaved off all the extra weight. She has nice skin, she has smooth blond hair. She looks well-cared for, a face that belongs to the upper society.

She just.. doesn't look like a player. Or someone who knows the game. She looks dumbfounded, she looks new. She's nervous and awkward and she tries horribly hard to fit in now, which would be a problem for her, because she has spent the first 17 years of her life running to the side that offers anonymity.

But Cassie is a fast-learner. I can tell when she suddenly cozies up to Tyra like a hyena and flirts with August condescendingly as if he's a fat kid with a bad case of pimples. I can tell when she suddenly has my despicable half-brother wrapped around her little finger.

And maybe that's why I end up in front of her house. Maybe that's why I bang my head, literally, to my steering wheel before I send her that text message. I should have unsent it. Have someone come and steal Cassie's phone so that she can never see what I wrote. I'm in front of your house. What kind of creepy shit is this?

But instead, after getting no reply for quite a while, I call her.

What the fuck are you doing, Desmond?

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16: Just Animals in Heat

Cassie arrived at school with a new determination.

And a whole new wardrobe.

She drilled her whole household assistants to alter all of her uniforms. Tighter on the waist. Shorter. Fitted into the immaculate measurements of Cassie's curves. Now the clothes clung to her body like a second skin, and almost in a way that made it scandalous. Cassie wasn't the only one who did this, but she was the first to make such drastic changes in just a span of one night.

Tyra spotted her on the school halls and linked arms with her. "You look like a slutty catholic schoolgirl."

"Thanks."

"And where's the poop, Cassie?"

It took a second for Cassie to realize what Tyra was talking about. Tyra light brown eyes were cold, even though she was smiling on her lips and everywhere else. Nobody but Cassie would have thought that this wasn't just a case of two girlfriends catching up with each other.

"Excuse me?" She tried to feign confusion, if only to stall a little longer.

"You're one little tryhard bitch, but you didn't go to this Desperado level before. So where's the poop, Cassie?" Her name was enunciated slowly, and the grip on Cassie's arm tightened.

Cassie didn't want to tell Tyra that her boyfriend just drove into her house last night and practically begged her to love him. She knew that on some levels, Desmond's desperation would excite Tyra. But she would be far more comfortable telling about this in the safety of the Ping Pong Room with other people to ensure that Tyra wouldn't do anything to endanger her life.

"I got smaller," Cassie lied. "Lost another 2 kilos this week."

"Yes and your boobs are shrinking like the Venezuela's currency," Tyra didn't want to let this go, but a hand grabbed her shoulder from behind and spun her around.

Since Tyra wasn't lashing out within three seconds, Cassie already knew that it was Desmond.

There were no words exchanged between them. In fact, as Cassie tried to remember, they rarely talked to each other. Tyra and Desmond just circulated around each other a lot, and they touched hands a lot. And sometimes, at some parties, Tyra would sit on Desmond's lap. But that was the full extent of their PDA.

Desmond wasn't the kind of guy who liked to flaunt his girls publicly. It was one of the things that made him annoyingly chivalrous. But apparently, all of that stopped today, because Desmond cupped Tyra's cheek, and started kissing her right in the middle of the halls.

This little action spurned a wave of celebration from the guys, especially from most of Desmond's louder athelete friends. Jocks always seemed to find an excuse to cheer loudly together, as if showing off their solidarity to people who were not part of them.

The kiss lasted a little bit longer than Cassie would have liked. She contemplated her position. Should she leave, or should she stay and watch this monstrosity?

It would be a vast understatement to say that she was annoyed. Yes, she did reject Desmond (the thought still made her giddy with pride and a little bit prickled with regret. What if there is not a second chance?), but both of them knew that there was a small, lingering part inside Cassie's faulty brain that still held onto him, fast. For about four years of knowing him and sharing some of his classes, Cassie had never seen Desmond make out with another girl. A peck, yes. A small, quick kiss on the cheeks mostly. But he always made sure to take the more intimate business inside. He always made sure to never let himself be vulnerable, exposed, losing control.

And yet here he was, his hand was now sneaking under Tyra's tight shirt, the cloth mimicking his hand shape on Tyra's back.

Leave, and Desmond would know that Cassie wasn't as over him as she wanted him to think. Stay, and let her temper flare quietly inside her body, blinding her psyche with darkness and charred ego.

"Wow," Tyra said, as soon as her boyfriend (not Cassie's boyfriend, but Tyra's!) let her go. Tyra's back was against Cassie, and she could see Desmond's face softened as he looked down to his girlfriend. It was the kind of face he always wear before he said something gentle, something that would make most girls swoon.

And sure enough, he leant in and whispered to Tyra.

Since Cassie was very close to Tyra and she had exceptionally good ears, she caught it.

"I've missed you, Love. Please let me know when I can make you scream the way you like it."

Cassie never would have thought that a single sentence could expel so much heat. There was no vulgar words, no cheap cliches that guys often say to lure girls. And it was so... polite. Polite and thoughtful and... Cassie felt her whole face hot and she put her palms on her cheeks to cool herself down. She never would have thought that having a guy say 'please' would respond so well to her inner desires.

Maybe she was a sadist, after all.

And as she dared herself to take a peek to Desmond's face, only to know how he looked when he said those words, she saw his green eyes looking at her back.

The eye-contact lasted less than a second, but it was enough to convince Cassie.

Desmond was doing all of this for her.

Not for Tyra. Not for his personal mission to get over Cassie or something equally healthy and stupidly wholesome. No. This was the St. Pulkeria King Cassie was dealing with. And he didn't do things in the order of a normal, baggage-free people do.

He did it in the most destructive way possible.

And his first way to force Cassie to notice him again? He would make her want him.

Fortunately, two could play at this game. After all, Cassie had gone to the other side of crazy and got herself a fake-boyfriend, anyway.

She walked away from them, and she chose to walk past Desmond. Sure, it was tempting to walk to the other side and let him see how her ass look in the new, altered short-skirt. But she wanted to make it hard for him. And she wanted to let Tyra know that she had gotten her boyfriend's attention. She did it with panache.

Right as she bypassed Desmond, though, her hand swung back and copped his ass. Just a second. Just a feel. It would have felt like an accident. Hands swing all the time. But she made sure to give enough pressure so that Desmond would know that it was very much intentioned.

And as Cassie walked away, she knew that Desmond turned around to watch her ass on her brand new altered, short skirt.

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Author's note:

I'm in BALLIIII.
So sorry that I haven't been updating as fast as before. Believe me, I tried, but I got food poisoning on my first day here so.... yeah.
Thank yoouu veryyy much for the response for this story! <3 It's been a while since the last time I'm so excited for a story! I know that my books won't win any awards or whatever, but I like writing because I like to stir emotions to my readers :) My books are the kind you bring to your holiday or to the beach to read for leisure, and I make sure to pour content that feels like that
Anyway, please don't forget to vote and comment on this chapter! If I get more than 200 votes, I will update tomorrow, despite me still being in holiday :) if i dont get it, am not gonna withhold chapters from you, though 😂 im really bad at threatening