Drown me in your Holy Water

Prologue

The party in the Hollywood Hills was super loud, crazy expensive, and honestly? Sobrang boring.

From my spot on the velvet balcony railing, like three stories above this glittering infinity pool, I was just watching the high school royalty drown themselves in vintage champagne-that their parents paid for, obviously. Down there, the guys were trying so hard to look dangerous in their linen shirts, while the girls were laughing way too loudly just to get noticed.

I took a slow sip of my drink, letting the ice clink, and let out a soft, amused sigh.

Idiots. As in, all of them.

"You're ignoring everyone, Sienna," a deep voice purred behind me.

I didn't even bother turning around, I'd know that smell of expensive Tom Ford cologne and absurdly high ego anywhere. It was Julian-star quarterback, heir to some massive real estate empire, and the guy who spent the whole semester acting like he was the king of Brentwood Prep.

"I'm not ignoring everyone, Julian," I said, turning my head just enough to give him a cat-like smirk over my shoulder. "Just the ones who aren't interesting."

He stepped closer, leaning on the railing with his eyes locked on mine. Handsome, sure-that golden-boy type that usually makes girls stutter. Kala mo naman untouchable just because of his last name and his dad's platinum card.

He had no idea he was just a toy to me. A temporary distraction to pass the time before graduation.

"And am I uninteresting?" he asked, dropping his voice into that low rasp he probably practiced in front of the mirror.

I turned around fully, smoothing down my silk slip dress, and stepped right into his space until he could feel the heat. I casually dragged my manicured nail down the lapel of his jacket.

"Not yet," I whispered, holding his gaze until his breath hitched. "But you're walking a very fine line.

Hook, line, and sinker. He grabbed my wrist-not hard, but with that arrogant *'I won'* certainty. "Let's get out of here. My parents are at our beach house in Malibu anyway."

I gave him a sharp, intoxicating smile. Promised everything, meant absolutely nothing.

---

By 3:00 AM, the ocean waves were crashing right outside his family's cliffside mansion. The bedroom was totally silent except for our breathing, the tangled cotton sheets, and the cool sea breeze.

Julian was fast asleep beside me, one heavy arm thrown over my waist. He looked so peaceful, kawawa naman0. Earlier in the dark, he was dropping all these heavy, foolish promises about next weekend, about college, about how I was "so different." He actually thought tonight was the start of something. He thought he had claimed Sienna Cruz.

Gently, without waking him up, I lifted his arm off me and slid out of bed.

Sobrang quiet, I picked up my clothes off the floor, slipped into my heels, and went to the bathroom to check my hair. My lipstick was slightly smudged, but my eyes were sharp. Satisfied, but totally unbothered.

I grabbed my purse, pulled out a gold lipstick tube, and uncapped it.

Right on the big bathroom mirror, over my reflection, I wrote a short note in bold crimson wax:

> Thanks for the night, King. Don't call me.

I capped it, dropped it back in my bag, and walked out into the cool air where my driver was already waiting at the driveway.

I didn't look back at the mansion, not even once. Ganyan ako, e. I didn't care about his feelings or the drama that would blow up at school on Monday. Guys like Julian spent their whole lives being hyped up-I just liked reminding them how easily they could be broken.

Love is for desperate, gullible people anyway. I was just playing for the thrill of the win.

I slid into the back seat of the SUV, rested my head against the leather, and closed my eyes-completely unprepared for the fact that my world was about to crash into someone I couldn't manipulate. Someone soft, innocent, and completely untouchable.