Chapter Eight
Sophie
My eyes immediately snap shut due to the sudden cold air and speed, but after a second or two, they slowly open.
Whoa! What an amazing feeling this is! It’s like I’m on a ride at an amusement park, but also not.
The way the wind blows through my hair and all this adrenaline pumping through me…
it’s exhilarating. And I was scared? Ha.
Damian zips through the streets like a pro. Despite how fast he’s going, I feel safe with him. I’m sure my parents would faint if they saw me, though. Well, they wouldn’t have to worry because this is only a one-time thing. I doubt I’ll ride on this thing ever again once he drops me back at school.
We make it to the store in half the time it would take me with my car. I bet my hair looks like it went through a hurricane. I try to pat it down in place, but honestly, why do I care if I look like a witch?
Damian waits for me to get off the bike first before dismounting it. Then he pulls his helmet off and places it on the seat behind him. His hair is on the short side, but it got messier after the helmet. He still looks super hot, though.
“Thanks,” I say.
He nods.
“I’ll probably stay here until they kick me out, so I guess you can drive around or something.”
He doesn’t say anything. Right, I’m sure he has things to do without my giving him suggestions.
“See you later.” I head toward the store—okay, I more like run into the store—and breathe in the wonderful smell of books. The bookstore is pretty big and they carry nearly every book that’s available. I turn around to head to the new releases and smack right into a hard chest.
“Sorry! I didn’t see where I was going—” My mouth snaps shut when I recognize the leather jacket and school-issued white shirt, minus the tie, with the top two buttons undone. “What are you doing here?”
“Figured I’d check out the place.” Damian’s eyes survey the area. “You can get lost in here.”
“Not when you know the place as well as you know your own house.” I make my way to the new releases and squeal when I see the romantasy book.
“Yay! It’s not sold out.” I grab it and hug it to my chest. “You and I are going to get to know each other very well the next few days, my precious.” I bounce happily in my place.
“Let’s see if your friend is here.” I scan the books for the mystery book I’m dying to read, but I don’t see it here.
“Oh no. Please don’t tell me they’re sold out. ”
“What’s the title?” Damian asks.
“Dying to Kiss You. Why?”
He walks to the other end of the table and rummages through messy piles caused by other customers.
“I doubt you’ll find it there,” I say in a dejected tone. “I told you this book is one of the best romances in the world.”
“No.” He pushes some books aside. “I believe your exact words were ‘the romance subplot is supposed to be, like, the best thing that has ever graced our planet.’”
Again, my cheeks flame. And again, I have no idea if he’s teasing me or making fun. So I say, “You have a good memory.”
“It’s all right.”
“You should put it to use for school.”
His eyes flit to mine for a moment before he focuses back on his piles of books.
Surrendering to the fact that I won’t be coming home today with the amazing mystery book, I search the other new releases for something that sounds interesting. The problem? Every single one that I read sounds super interesting. I find myself holding five books.
“Got it,” Damian says.
My head snaps to his so fast it nearly cracks off my neck. “What?”
“Here.” He digs the book out from the bottom of the pile and holds it out. “This is the book, right?”
“No way.” I rush to his side and grab it out of his hand, nearly dropping all of my other books.
“Oh my gosh, thanks so much!” I make a move to wrap an arm around him, but he staggers back.
“Sorry,” I say. I guess he’s not a hugger.
“You’re determined, Damian. That’s a good quality to have for school. ”
“Are you going to stick it to me every chance you get?”
“Yep.” I smile widely. “It’s my job as your tutor.”
“I’m not determined,” he says.
“Oh? Then what do you call refusing to give up finding the book when odds were there were none left?”
“Preventing a heart attack?”
“Sure.”
“I’m serious. What would everyone think if I left with you and then you died of a heart attack? I’m not going to jail because of your love for books.”
“That would be funny, though. Imagine the headlines: Damian Harrington Lawrence sentenced to life for causing heart attack of fellow student.”
I thought he might laugh, maybe even smile. But he turns away and looks at something in the distance.
“So…I’m going to go to the YA section to look for that other book.”
He glances at the six books in my arms. “Isn’t that enough?”
I snort. “No. I usually leave the bookstore with at least ten books.”
He follows me to the YA section. “How do you have time to read so much?”
“I read when I eat. I read when I do homework. I read when I hang out with my friends. I read when I walk around campus. I read until I pass out every night. It’s a talent.”
We reach the YA section, and I search the authors’ names for the book.
Damian stands on the side, and I can feel him watching me.
I still have no idea if he thinks I’m weird or a loser for being so obsessed with books, but I don’t care.
He can think I’m the biggest dork in the world. I’ll still love my books.
“Yay!” I pluck it out and wave it around.
“Now for three more,” he says.
My brows crease. “What?”
“You said you don’t leave the bookstore without at least ten books.”
I glance at the clock on the wall and see there are about twenty minutes until the store closes. “You think I can find three more in time?”
“I think you can do anything you want.”
“Okay.” I glance at the seven books in my arms that are getting really heavy. I wish I could put them somewhere. Usually, I leave them on one of the tables while I search for more books, but there’s no way I’m abandoning the mystery book here. Someone might snag it.
“I can hold them for you,” Damian offers.
I just gape at him.
“What?” he asks.
“Just…um…” I didn’t expect him to be nice. Actually, he’s been nice to me this entire time.
Before I can ramble anything else, he takes the books from me and holds them carefully in his arms. I have to say…a bad boy like Damian holding a stack of books is a pretty sexy sight, that’s for sure.
“Thanks. Be back in a sec.”
I spend the next twenty minutes running around the store like a madwoman. I love so many genres and don’t know which to choose. I end up settling on a historical romance, another romantasy, and a thriller.
“Thanks again,” I tell Damian when I return to him. I reach to take the books from him, but he turns away and marches to the cashier. There’s a bit of a line because they’re about to close. If they announce that I need to leave without my books, there will be blood.
When it’s our turn, Damian sets the books on the desk. I add mine to a pile next to his. The woman smiles when she sees my books. “Avid reader?” she asks.
“Books are my life,” I tell her.
She smiles again. “That’s what I love to hear.”
Once all my books are scanned, she tells me the total. I hand my credit card to the woman and she taps it on the screen. The machine makes an odd sound.
“Hmm...it seems your card was declined, hun.”
“What?” I stare at the screen and see that her words are true. “That has to be a mistake. I just used it yesterday.”
The woman tries again, but it’s declined.
“Are you sure you didn’t go over your limit?” she asks.
My face, neck, and ears feel hot. Oh my gosh, how embarrassing is this? And in front of Damian! He probably thinks I’m so poor.
“I need to call my parents.”
I walk off to the side and yank my phone out of my bag. This has never happened to me before. While my parents are not the richest people in the world, we’ve never actually been so poor.
“Hey, sweetie,” Mom says when she answers the phone. “How’s school going?”
“Fine. I can’t really talk now because the store is going to close any minute. But I need your help. My credit card doesn’t work. Did you or Dad cancel it?”
She’s quiet.
“Mom?”
“Listen, sweetie,” she says in a serious tone. “Your father and I have decided to cut you off.”
I grip the phone as my stomach tumbles. “What?”
“Dad just got the latest credit card statement, Sophia Reed. You’ve spent hundreds of dollars on books!”
I blanch. “Um…it’s not so bad. I mean, spending lots of money on books is normal…”
“Not in one month, Sophia.”
When she keeps calling me “Sophia,” things are not good.
I sigh. “I know I promised I would try to buy used books, but…” What can I say when I love holding a brand-new book in my hands? Plus, I’d have to wait to find used books for the new releases, and I can’t wait.
“Please, Mom. I really need to buy these books—”
“No, Sophie. Your room is packed with books, half of which you’ve never read—”
“But I do plan to read them—”
“And you come home from school every year with hundreds of books. You have no room for any of them!”
“I have been meaning to clear out some of my old books and make room for my new ones—”
“How does it make sense to buy new books when you haven’t read any of the old ones?”
“Trust me, Mom. It makes a lot of sense,” I mutter.
“I’m sorry, sweetie, but you are not allowed to buy a single book until you finish reading every single one you bought in the past.”
“But, Mom!”
“No buts, Sophie. This behavior cannot go on.”
“So my credit card is not going to work on…anything? What if I need something?”
“Considering all of your charges have been for books, your dad and I think you’ll fare just fine. If there’s an emergency, you can ask the school for help.”
“This is so unfair,” I grumble.
“We love you, Sophie, and we feel this is best. You need to learn that you can’t just throw money around—our money, I might add. We love that you love to read, but you need to be responsible with it.”
I know they’re right, but they’re also not. Like, obviously I want to read all the books I bought, but new books are being released all the time. There’s just so much a human can keep up with.
“And don’t forget the school library,” Mom reminds me.
I make a face. “The librarian doesn’t rush to buy the new stuff. She still hasn’t gotten the sequel to a fantasy book I asked for weeks ago.”
Mom sighs. “I know this is hard, Sophie, but we work hard for our money. When you make your own money, you can do whatever you want with it. If you want to throw it away on books you’ll never read, that’s up to you. I just hope you’ll make smarter choices.”
“The store is now closed!” someone announces. “For all those who are present in the store who want to make a purchase, please head to the cash register. Everyone else, please head to the exit. Thank you for shopping with us.”
“I have to go, Mom,” I say. I have some cash. Maybe I can buy at least one book.
“Call me when you get back to school,” she says. “Dad and I want to catch up. Love you.”
“Love you, too. Bye.”
With my cheeks once again flaming, I return to the cashier and dig in my bag for my wallet. “I think I might just buy one book.”
“Okay, hun.”
When I look into my wallet, I realize I only have a ten-dollar bill. Ugh, did I really have to spend my cash on pizza?
“Is something wrong?” the woman asks.
Humiliation and disappointment wash over me. How could my parents do this to me? They could have at least warned me so I wouldn’t look so pathetic in front of all these strangers waiting in line, and Damian.
“I got it.” Damian taps his phone on the screen.
I gape at him. “What are you doing?”
“It’s okay. You’ll pay me back.”
“But…but…”
“Remember the heart attack?” he says.
“You don’t have to pay for them all,” I insist. “One’s enough.”
“Don’t worry about it, Sophie.” He nods to the woman. “Thanks.”
She smiles as she hands me the books, then winks. “You have a good guy there, girl.”
I’m about to tell her he’s not “my guy,” but she gestures for the next person waiting in line. Damian and I leave the store, with him carrying half the books and me carrying the rest.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to pay you back,” I say when we reach his bike.
“My parents are under the impression that I’m irresponsible with their money and throw it around on books I’ll never read.
But they don’t understand that I do plan to read the books I have.
Eventually. And they don’t understand that I can’t wait to finish my old books before sinking my teeth into a new one. It just doesn’t work that way.”
He makes a face like he doesn’t really get it, either.
“Look, I don’t need to be your charity case.”
“I’m not my mom,” he says, maybe a little too strongly. “I don’t do charity cases.” He must realize how intense his words were because he softens them. “I mean, it’s not charity. It’s not pity, either. Think of it as payment for the tutoring lessons.”
“I told you I don’t accept payment.”
“Not even in the form of books?”
I don’t know what to say. Obviously I want the books, but it feels wrong that he paid for them.
“I know I’m not an easy student,” he says. “You should get some sort of compensation for putting up with me.”
I study his face, noticing a hint of a smile. “I guess…I mean, thanks.”
“Just don’t have a heart attack before we make it back to school.”
He places whatever books that don’t fit in my backpack in the storage in the seat of his bike.
Then we ride back toward school. A whole bunch of emotions overwhelm me on the way.
Damian has been nice to me since he found me in my car.
Why? He wasn’t very nice yesterday or during today’s lesson.
And not only did he help me find books in the bookstore, he also paid for them.
I know his family is rich, but would he really throw money at me? Why?
When we get back to school, I slide off his bike and take my books. “Thanks for everything, Damian. Um…” I tuck some hair behind my ear. “You kind of made my day.”
His eyebrows shoot up. “Did I really?”
“Dying to Kiss You,” I explain. “I would have been very depressed if I didn’t come home with it.”
“Glad you’re not depressed.”
“Yeah. Um, thanks.” I want to hit myself. I already told him thanks.
“See you later,” he says before walking away.
I watch his form grow smaller and smaller until it disappears from my sight. Then I head to the girls’ dorm. I could spend all evening analyzing him, but I prefer to read the awesome book.