Love & Hate (Book One: Hate) (4 page)

People have been coming and going this whole time but at this moment we are alone. I am hoping Porsche just went to the bathroom and will be right back. The guy I am talking to seems to notice we are totally alone too and scoots closer to me.
Oh double crap
.

It isn’t that he is bad looking or anything, he is cute. He is short but really fit. He kind of reminded me of one of those guys you see in the gym every time you go there without fail. I know I need to get back to the party. So I stand up and immediately Gym Rat grabs my wrist trying to pull me on top of his lap.
Oh hell no.

“
Uh what are you doing?”

“
Come on baby, I’ve been up here putting in the time listening about your horses for like over an hour. It’s time for some payback.” He spits as he tries to pull me onto his lap.
Shit, how I’m I going to get out of this mess?

“
I suggest you let her go asshole.” A gruff voice says from the shadows.
Where the heck did that come from?

“
Yeah let me go.” I add for good measure not wanting to seem complicit in this situation.

“
She says let her go.” I watch in complete awe as Cutter Daniels comes strolling out from behind the shadows of the porch.
Oh shitballs!

“
Cutter?” I ask totally confused.

“
Who the fuck is this? Your boyfriend?” Gym Rat demands as he releases me.

“
No.” That’s all I can manage to choke out before Cutter comes up next to me and grabs my forearm dragging me off the porch with him. He yanks me down the hallway after him. He pushes me inside a dark room and closes the door.
I’m sure Gym Rat’s head is still spinning from what just happened because I know mine is.

“
What the heck Cutter? What are you doing here?”

“
I could ask you the same thing, Paige. You know for having a boyfriend you were getting pretty friendly out there with that guy. I don’t think Jasper would appreciate that type of behavior.” He is pissed.
Oh hell no.
What right does he have to tell me how to act or try to make me feel guilty. This guy is one of the biggest jerks I know.

“
What are you talking about? I can do what I want. You are not the boss of me Cutter Daniels.” I place my hands on my hips.
Take that jerk face!

“
I am talking about the fact that you are sleeping with one of my best friends and I don’t think he would appreciate it much if his girl was fucking someone else.” He growls angrily.
Okay, now I am pissed.

“
First of all, I was not fucking anyone and secondly Jasper and I are not together. We broke up.”
Now who looks confused? What a moron.

“
Since when? Jasper didn’t say anything to me about you two breaking up.” He still looks totally angry.

“
We broke up the day before I left for school.” I state coolly.

“
Well regardless, you shouldn’t get drunk and let some guy be all over you. It’s not attractive.”
Okay, I can’t believe I am still getting a lecture from Mr. Morality over here.

“
What do you care what I do?” I decide to ask the obvious question.

“
I don’t. But I promised Jasper I would keep an eye on you. I said I would make sure you were safe.” He says coldly almost like he resents it.

“
Well you can tell Jasper I don’t need a babysitter. And I certainly don’t need one as rude as you!” With that I turn on my high heels and start to storm out of the room. But Cutter is quicker than I am. He slams the door shut with one hand and pushes my back against the door. He crashes his hands down on either side of my head against the door, effectively caging me in.

“
This is how it’s going to go Princess so listen up. I will not tolerate you coming into my house and causing drama. That shit isn’t going to happen here. Do you understand me?”
Oh I caused the drama? Fuck this.

I can feel the rage in him. He is shaking. I need to get the heck out of here and fast before this really gets out of hand.

“
You know what? Screw You! I only came here because my sorority was having a mixer. If I had known this was your house I would have never come here. I hate you!” I scream back at him.

“
Good” is all he says with a sigh and drops his hands releasing me. I quickly find the doorknob and fling the door open. I run down the hall.
Maybe college isn’t going to be much different than home.

A couple of days later I decide to call Tess and tell her about my horrible first fraternity party.

“
Paige, I just don’t understand. What do you mean Cutter Daniels protected you?” Tess is totally confused on the other end of the phone.

It has been almost a week since my run in with Cutter. After I ran out of that room he had me trapped in, I left the party and walked home to my dorm room. Probably not the smartest move but I needed to be alone to think.

“
He just came out of nowhere Tess and pulled me away from this total jerk that was pawing all over me.”

“
That makes no sense, why would Cutter care what you are doing, or what happens to you for that matter?”

“
He says it was because Jasper asked him to keep an eye on me.”

“
Well I guess that’s good, right?”

“
Yeah I suppose it was nice of him to intervene when he saw I was in trouble, but he was so pushy and rude about the whole thing. He acted as if I embarrassed him.”

“
Oh please, Cutter Daniels can get over himself. He has always been such a dick and a total manwhore. Paige you need to just stay away from him. Don’t let him ruin your good time, okay?”

“
I’ll try. I am going to avoid his frat at all costs.” I tell her solemnly.

“
Good plan. So speaking of plans what are you doing for the long weekend? School starts for you after Labor Day, right?”

“
My sorority is going on a rafting trip on the Snake River over in Idaho. It’s a tradition I guess. And a lot of the sororities and fraternities will be there. We are rafting all day and then camping out at night. I’m really excited for it. We leave this afternoon. I’m kind of bummed though I have to come back early. My Dad called and says he bought a new horse for me to look at. So I am leaving Saturday. Everyone else comes back Sunday night.”

“
That sounds like tons of fun! I am jealous. I think I’m going to just be a beach bum all weekend and see if I can’t catch me a nice surfer boy.”

“
Well don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” This is what I always say to Tess because we both know I don’t ever do anything.

“
Oh I plan on it. Love you lady. Be safe and don’t drown on me, I couldn’t handle that.” She says teasingly.

“
I promise to be safe. Love you too.” I hang up the phone, finish packing and head over to the sorority.

CHAPTER 4

The drive to the Snake River in Idaho takes about two hours. I rode in a large SUV with a bunch of girls from my pledge class. The entire ride we discussed how excited we are and how we hope our raft guides are hot. I arranged to share a tent with a pretty red headed girl named Millie. She was really nice and she had horses at home so we spent a lot of the drive talking about horse stuff.

When we arrived at the launch site we met our river guides, and oh man they were all very good looking. The guides divided us into groups of six or seven. They went over all the safety items with us and then we started loading our gear into the rafts. I was a bit nervous because I had never rafted before. I was reassured when our guide told us there weren’t any large rapids just baby ones.

We floated down the river for most of the day. Several times we have all jumped out to swim. It is over 100 degrees outside and the river feels great. Most of the girls in the boat opted to wear skimpy bikinis the entire trip. I however, chose to wear a black swimsuit cover up that looked more like a short black halter dress. I sat in the back near our guide and chatted with him off and on all day.

His name is Tanner and he is a junior. He is tall and has a rich dark tan from being a raft guide all summer. He has the prettiest green eyes, they are almost haunting. He is bald but not in an unattractive way. I have never really been into the whole bald headed guy thing but Tanner has changed my mind. His bald head suits him. It also helps that he has a phenomenal body and doesn’t feel the need to wear a shirt. I can tell he is more mature than a lot of his peers. He told me he is in fraternity at school. He indicated that he isn’t there much though because he works as a raft guide and also as a bartender at the local bar. I like him, he seems to be very genuine and that is refreshing to be around.

At about seven that night Millie and I finally got our tent all situated and we went to eat some dinner with the rest of the group. The shore of the river is littered with tents. There are several bon fires going with lots of music and laughter. Other sororities and fraternities are camping on the same shore as our group.

I have found myself a comfy seat and was just about to take a bite of my hamburger when I hear the undeniable voice that makes my spine stiffen. Damn it. What is Cutter doing here? I look across the bonfire and see him. He is sitting in a lawn chair with a skinny brown haired girl straddling him. He is drinking whisky straight from the bottle and is seemingly unaware that he has a bikiniclad girl in his lap. I watch the bikini girl work overtime to get his full attention.
Well there goes my appetite!

I stand up and start to maneuver between chairs so I can relocate to a Cutter-free zone when I accidently kick over someone’s beer sending it tumbling across the rocky riverbank. I immediately start to apologize to whoever’s beer that was; when much to my relief Tanner’s hypnotic green eyes meet mine.

“
Oh no worries Paige. I was almost done with that one.” He tells me reassuringly.

“
I’m sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was walking. Do you want me to grab you another one?” I am totally embarrassed at my clumsiness.

“
No that’s okay. Why don’t you sit down and hang out for a bit.” He suggests.

“
Uh no thank you. I am beat so I’m probably just going to head to bed.” I really have no intention of going to bed. I actually just wanted to go for a walk and get away from Cutter.

I don’t know what possesses me to do it, but as I turn to walk away I look over at him. He is now sitting straight up in his chair and is staring right at me. He still has bikini girl on his lap but he has moved her to the side a bit so he can get a clear view of my embarrassing moment. Great, just what I need is Cutter to see me make a total foul of myself. As I walked away I feel his cold eyes on me and I’m positive he is making fun of me.

I have been walking down by the edge of the river for what seemed like just a few minutes but my watch told me it has been well over two hours. I am enjoying the peacefulness and tranquility of the river. The shimmering water is lit up perfectly by the huge full moon that hangs in the sky. Frogs are croaking along the banks of the river and once in a while I can hear a fish jump. I decide I should start walking back towards the tent when I feel his presence. I know its Cutter without even looking. The air around me becomes thick with electricity and I feel like shivering.
Crap, what am I going to do now? Should I turn around and face him? Maybe if I just stand perfectly still he won’t notice me.