Carter Ortese is Trouble - completed (The Boys #1)

Chapter 7: Carter

She doesn't take my arm, instead whirling around and marching back toward her car. The hem of the dress flairs out at the bottom with her spin, and I can't think anymore. My brain is lost into the abyss.

As she crosses over to the driver's side, I let out my breath and follow her. She jumps into the front seat and starts the engine before I have the chance to wrap my hand around the door handle. I let myself in and sink into the plush seats.

"This car smells new."

"It is," she says, putting the car into drive and pulling out of the parking lot that nestles my apartment building.

"You have a brand new car?"

She shakes her head. "My dad insisted I take his, as it's more ... impressive."

"Why would—" It clicks into place. "Your parents have no idea you're on a date with me."

A curt laugh escapes her pale pink lips. "I'd be grounded instantly if they knew."

"So who are you on a date with?" I ask.

As we pull up to a red light, she shifts to look at me. Her eyes are a bit paler than they were when she met me at my front door. "Let's not talk about it."

"Can I guess?"

"No."

"Jacob Caulswell."

"No." She sighs as the light turns green.

I fiddle with the edge of the seat belt, unsure if I want to know the answer. Of course no one's parents would let their daughter go on a date with me, not with my reputation.

A part of me is impressed that she's lied to her parents to be able to date me, even if she never really wanted this date to begin with. The other half of me fumes. 

"Lawrence Bu—"

"No."

"Zachary—"

"No." She cuts a glare at me.

"Nicholas Daniels."

Her grip on the steering wheel tightens, and she focuses back on the road in front of us.

"Whoa," I say.

"Yeah."

"That's quite a drop, going from Nicholas Daniels to me." There's a teasing lilt in my voice, because everyone knows he's an egotistical prick. While I have a reputation, Nicholas is just an ass.

Emma lets out a breath, and her fingers loosen around the wheel, almost like she had been worried I would judge her. "My dad loves him, thinks he's going places."

I roll my eyes. "College debt."

She lets out a chuckle, but it comes out more like a snort. "My dad also doesn't know how ... gross he is." She taps the wheel a few times with her pointer finger, merging us onto the highway to get to the Cineplex one town away. "I mean, he's cute, but he's also Nicholas, you know?"

"I'm sorry, he's cute?" Disgust curls inside me.

"Not like that, but like how a lost puppy is cute. You don't want to have sex with a lost puppy." Silence fills the car, and her eyes widen. She sucks in another breath, and her cheeks grow rosy.

"Well, if you do, you should probably see a therapist," I quip.

Emma nods, but stays quiet, apparently too embarrassed to say anything else. She turns on the radio and flicks through some stations, getting nothing but advertisements. Growling at the radio, her fingers aim toward the off switch.