My Know-It-All Nemesis - Maggie Dallen Page 0,7

as she kept her gaze firmly fixed on the screen even as she took the credit card from my hand.

I couldn’t help myself. I hated it when she ignored me. It was even more irritating than dealing with her claws. “A rousing endorsement for student council president would be nice.”

Her eyes locked on mine as her nose wrinkled up with derision.

“It was a joke,” I said mildly.

“You are hilarious,” she said with a straight face.

I actually felt a laugh bubbling up at how serious she looked right now, so at odds with the chipper, always-happy, always-on image she’d tricked everyone into buying.

After a brief staring contest, I blinked first. “Look, I didn’t come here to annoy you—”

“And yet you’re doing such a fine job of it without even trying,” she said with fakely sweet awe in her tone.

I held back a huff of irritation. The trick to driving Kate nuts was to not let her see the effect she had on me. If she knew she drove me nuts, she’d be unbearably smug, and there would be no living with her.

“Anything for you?” she asked.

“Nah, I’m good.”

She glanced at the credit card in her hand meaningfully before handing it over to me. “Paying for everyone else, huh?” She arched her brows. “What a surprise.”

I glared at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Her head tilt said duh, the answer is obvious, and yet she still spelled it out for me. “Less than a week in, and you’re already trying to buy their love. It’s sad, Miller. Pathetic even.”

Anger swept over me so quickly I forgot to hide it. My nostrils flared as I leaned forward over the counter. “I don’t have to buy anything. I’ll win this election because everyone knows I can get things done.”

She arched a brow, and I caught the glint of triumph in her eyes at my uncharacteristic loss of composure. “And if you can’t get it done, you’ll hire someone to do it for you…right?”

I took a deep breath to try and calm the adrenaline spike that had me clenching the edge of the counter until my knuckles turned white. My dad was the one who threw money around to get his way. He had no problem giving my mom a small fortune in alimony if it meant he got to start a new life without the burden of his old family. That fancy house my mom owned in The Heights? That was a perfect example. My car? You guessed it, that was his way of buying my love before we moved out of state. His latest offer to make some calls to colleges, make a donation here and there—that was still ringing in my ears from our last videocall this past weekend.

How did she know?

Or maybe it was obvious.

Maybe she looked at me and saw a guy who was second best at everything except spending his dad’s money.

She leaned over the counter and lowered her voice to a hiss as she thrust the receipt in my hands and glanced down at her outfit. “If you even think of using...this as campaign maneuver—”

“This,” I repeated, tapping my chin thoughtfully like the sarcastic prick she already thought I was. “Would you be referring to your skinny jeans or the fact that you’re wearing a T-shirt that says Hot and Wild on it?”

Her nostrils flared as her eyes narrowed. That I was used to. It was the flaming pink in her cheeks that caught me off guard. It was the blush that gave me pause and made me feel…

What exactly did I feel? What was this slithery sensation in my gut?

Guilt. It was guilt. Maybe even shame for teasing her about something that actually hit home for her. Kind of like her taunts about my money. But if we were going to get through this election without getting in trouble with Mr. Gentry, one of us had to be the bigger man here.

“Look, Kate, I honestly didn’t come here to cause problems for you,” I said. “I didn’t even know you worked here.”

“Just go,” she snapped.

“Miss Andrews.” Her name was shouted from behind her in a harsh tone.

Her expression froze, her eyes going wide with horror as some scrawny kid with greasy hair came up to join her at the counter. “Is there a problem here, sir?” he said to me.

I looked from him to Kate, but her face had gone expressionless. The claws had been retracted, and in their place was a sweet little smile of complacence