I Just Need You - J. Nathan Page 0,9

money.”

“Fuck you,” I spat, unsure what had come over me. I’d always been taught to remain proper and composed, even in the most difficult situations.

His features remained stoic, totally unaffected by my words. “Not a chance.”

My eyes widened. “You’re fired.”

He crossed his arms across his chest. “Some might say that’s sexual harassment.”

I gasped. “You’re insane.”

“You just fired me because I said I wouldn’t sleep with you.”

I could feel the heat rushing to my cheeks as my body trembled with rage. “We’ll see what my parents say about this.”

“Yeah, I’d love to hear what they say about their daughter propositioning an employee.”

My words wouldn’t come fast enough for the way I felt. “I…did not…proposition you.”

He quirked a brow. “Didn’t you?”

I spun around and stormed into my room, slamming the door behind me so the entire hallway wall rattled with the force of it.

Asshole!

CHAPTER FOUR

Kresley

My mom called the following morning after I’d just slipped on my cutoffs and T-shirt to wish me luck on my first day. I think the call was a lot less about wishing me luck and a lot more about hearing my voice. I knew it made her feel better to know I was okay. We chatted for a few minutes, but I was too embarrassed—and still pissed—to mention the encounter with my new bodyguard. But one more bad encounter and his ass was fired.

I said goodbye to my mom and threw my backpack onto my back. I stepped into the hallway and stopped short, nearly turning back around when I found Tristan against the wall in black cargo pants and a black shirt with his arms crossed.

“So much for granting requests,” I grumbled as I walked toward the stairwell. Given the sound of footsteps behind me, he’d followed me.

“Nice to see you left off the jewels today,” he mumbled behind me.

I said nothing, my insides twisting with so much hate I didn’t know what to do with it. How could one person elicit so many negative feelings in such a short period of time? Was it his total disregard for my feelings? The fact that he pushed my buttons whenever he spoke? Or, that he thought I was high maintenance and desperate?

I stepped outside the building, instantly greeted by a thick wall of heat. I’d forgotten how warm September in Southern California could be. I stopped on the sidewalk in front of my dorm and glanced from left to right as other students moved in all directions around me. Unfortunately, I had no idea where my first class was. I figured Marco would know, but Marco was nowhere to be found. And there wasn’t a chance in hell I’d ask Tristan. I shoved my hand into my back pocket, grabbing my phone and searching my email for my schedule. It had to be there somewhere.

“It’s this way,” Tristan huffed, taking off to the left and onto a path that led away from the dorms toward the heart of campus.

We walked in silence as students hurried by us in a rush to get to their classes. Tristan and I didn’t walk side by side up the slight incline; it was more like he followed me.

“Where’s Marco?” I finally asked, not looking back for his response.

“He thought it would be better if I accompanied you to your classes. You know. Blend in more.” He definitely said the last part to spite me.

“Let’s get something straight,” I said, stopping in the middle of the path and whirling around to face him. “You chose this job. I didn’t choose this life.” Since we now blocked the path, students needed to move around us to get by. “I was serious about you not working for me,” I said, lowering my voice. “You clearly don’t want to.”

He said nothing, just stepped around me and kept walking, his head moving from side to side while he took in everyone who walked near us.

We finally reached the quad, a grassy expanse surrounded by beautiful old buildings with stone exteriors and Coral trees lining the perimeter. If I wasn’t so aggravated with Tristan, I would’ve stopped for a minute to take in the beautiful view.

He eventually stopped outside a two-story cobblestone building. He buried his hands in his pockets, and his eyes averted mine. “You’ve got Communications in room 125.”

“You’re not coming to class with me?”

“It’s already been checked. Marco’s inside looking over the class roster.”

Thank God for small favors. I walked past him and entered the building. Relief washed over me knowing I was away