Chapter 38Jasmine's POVSomething had changed with Hardin since that fight with Lorenzo and I knew it.I could feel it in the way he looked at me that night when I came out of his father's office after telling him about what had happened because they had called from the school about the incident, a situation that I wanted to avoid. It was exactly the way he used to in the beginning, when my mother and I first moved here.No, it was worse. I noticed it the next day when the principal had called all three of us to his office and the disciplinary committee had asked to hear our sides of the story and Hardin hadn't said one word, only asking what his punishment would be. Lorenzo had gotten one week suspension, with three days out of that week in school, to be served working at different places according to the discretion of the school. Hardin's was worse. And by worse, I meant infinitely worse. And it was not the fact that he was going to be at home for one week. It was that for that
Chapter 39Jasmine's POV"Thank you for coming out." Lorenzo said with a smile as we sat in one of the booths of the town's diner and I nodded, knowing that I had only one hour before Hardin started looking everywhere for me. Because since the shooting in the woods, Russo had unofficially made him my bodyguard even though I had tried to argue against it. But last night when he had finally broken the news at dinner that Hardin would be the one to go with me since he felt it was better than a stranger, I had been too afraid to tell him no, especially because I could not tell him that I wanted to be nowhere around his son, especially after what had happened at my birthday party three days ago. It still gave me nightmares anytime I closed my eyes because I wondered if the door to my bedroom would burst open and he would come to molest me again. I had even tried to go to school the next day after it happened but all that anybody could talk about was what had happened at the party. I h
Jasmine As I stood in the crowded party, surrounded by people and music, my thoughts were far from the festivities. I couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of fear and anxiety every time Hardin was nearby. Every touch, every word, made me cringe with revulsion. And the way he had mouthed the words that I was next made me want to puke. “Come with me Jasmine, let’s go over to the balcony,” Nadia mentioned, but I simply shook my head with a forced smile, while her eyes searched mine worriedly.“You are sure you don’t want to go?”“Yes,” I voiced out, then Nadia gave me a warm hug before leaving to join the rest of the crowd.My mind was consumed with doubts and questions about what I did feel for Hardin. I had accepted the fact that whatever I shared with Hardin was mainly because I had no choice, and I definitely had no romantic feelings for him. But still, the thought of him being with other girls made my blood boil with anger. How dare he violate me whenever I was with Loren
Chapter 41HardinGuilt and frustration were the exact words to describe how I felt every time that I made Jasmine break out in tears. I was toxic, and I did not need to be told.I was gradually becoming the image of me that my mother would not like and anytime I thought about how she felt watching what I suddenly turned out to become, I cursed severally. From where I stood at the balcony, I watched Jasmine leave the party with Nadia tagging behind her confusedly. I only realized that I had been staring at her for so long, when the twins came behind me, calling me out of my thoughts."Weird right? We also feel that way, I mean the way you pay special attention to her. Is there something we do not know?" Sandro pointed out, and I furrowed my brows like I had no idea what he was talking of."Who?" "Your step sister, man. I don't think we can hold back from saying it," Alex joined. "Ohhh... Jasmine. My father suddenly added a responsibility on me by making me her personal body guard w
Chapter 42 - HardinHardinIf I was right, I had exchanged barely six or seven words with Dad ever since the incidence at the dinning room. Maybe once when I had answered 'yes' to all of the advice that he was feeding me with, and some forced 'good mornings' to him. The only reason I still stayed back at the mansion and had not moved to the cottage where I always found comfort was because Dad had intentionally added much more duties to me, which at the end of the day will not only be exhausting, but will be so late that I won't be able to leave the mansion anymore.Whenever Camila had the opportunity to talk to me, she came up with the thing of how everything Dad was doing was solely for my care and growth, and how I was just misunderstanding him.I never answered any of the things she said though, because none of it made any sense. If Russo actually cared like Camila said, then instead of placing more jobs on me, the exact thing that he would have been doing will have been to find
Chapter 43Hardin"You really think Lorenzo can make a good team captain?" Someone whispered to her friend down the hallway and thanks to supernaturally enhanced hearing, I could not help but listen to the conversation even though the last thing that I wanted to do at this point was hear anything about that darned competition that should not even be happening in the first place. And even though I wanted so badly to punch Lorenzo in the face, I knew that it would only make things worse for me. After all, this silly idea had started right after the incident between us that had made me go on suspension as team captain. And now that the time had elapsed and it was now time for things to go back to the way they were, it was a perfect opportunity for Lorenzo to strike and declare his intent to be captain of the lacrosse team. A team that I had been the captain of since I was in sophomore year. "I don't know but with the way things are going and how he is becoming everyone's favorite, it
JasmineI had no idea why I felt like Hardin had casted all his hatred on me with that single stare. He was angry, and it was obvious on his face, however I was unaware of the wrong that I had done to receive such a threatening glare from him.He had no idea that I was there to support him, so I couldn't really blame him. After I had overheard his discussion with Sandro and Alex, I had been worried sick for him. I knew his love for lacrosse, though his performance had not been really great at recent times from what I heard I had gained information from my eavesdropping that the captain of the lacrosse team would be selected through the feats and performances on the field, as well as academic performance too. It was obvious lacrosse practice wasn't going entirely well for Hardin, and with the decline in his academics, there was no way he was going to make captain.After I had finished eavesdropping on his conversation that day, I had rushed towards the cafeteria to have a chat with Lo
Chapter 45Hardin's POVI knew that I had not turned in any assignment for History the minute Mr Mert announced the scores because with everything going on especially after that shitty game two days ago, the last thing on my mind was some lame assignment at school. But lame might probably be a stupid word to use, considering that being captain of the team meant that I had to ensure that my grades were up, and by up, a lot higher than the way they were and doing assignments was necessary to achieving such a goal. Which meant that whoever had somehow managed to turn in the assignment –and by whoever, I meant Jasmine, my step sister that I would rather have my fangs removed than claim publicly as part of my family, because with our eyes locked on each other and the way she looked away, unable to hide her emotions and ultimately giving away that she was the culprit– had just saved my ass. But why? Why was she being nice to me all of a sudden? Okay, maybe that was a bit far fetched bec