The Bad Boy's Dance by Vera Calloway Read Free Book Online Page B

I’m working on it with a partner.” There, that was truthful. No way in hakunna matata was I telling my parents the identity of my partner. Mom was a nurse, meaning she’d probably met some of the people Asher put in the hospital, and Dad was a lawyer. Maybe he’d even convicted Asher to his time in juvie!
                  Maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration. I was in the arts, and my imagination ran away with me. He wasn’t on FBI’s Most Wanted or anything.
                  Yet.
                  What I- and most of Darwin High’s student body- couldn’t understand was why would someone who didn’t care about pretty much anything be willing to sacrifice anything for his future? Asher went above and beyond in school, but that was the only area he showed any amount of effort. I was pretty sure he was the top of our class. Probably why Mrs. Knut could rope him into this so easily.
                  “Ivy!” Spencer flicked a Cheerio in my face. “Earth to Ivy!”
                  Jodi took the Cheerio from my cheek and popped it into her mouth. “Ew, Jodi, no!” 
                  She smiled at me. Mom took her from my lap and stuck her in her high-seat, where Jodi promptly knocked over her food.
                  “I’ve got to go,” I bid my family goodbye and headed to my car. Asher had texted me his address at four in the morning- why he was awake at that hour wasn’t something I wanted to know- and I typed it into my Dad’s GPS.
                  It wasn’t hard to locate Asher’s house- pardon me, mansion. The dude was loaded! The neighborhood was ritzy, with manicured lawns, jumbo-pools, and Pomeranians wearing bedazzled shirts.
                  Asher’s place might have been the grandest of the entire street. The lawn stretched endlessly, and the house was painted a rich mahogany color and lined with gold. The door was ornamented and heavy.
                  I almost turned tail and went home.
                  Relax, it’s not a big deal. So the house could probably fix the country’s debt problem- so what?
                  My phone buzzed. I answered it absently, still fixated on the mansion in front of me.
                  “Are you planning on knocking soon or do you want to stare some more?” a deep voice rich with humor asked.
                  I looked from the phone to the house. Was that curtain drawn a little bit? “Are you watching me?”
                  “Yes,” he answered unashamedly. “You’re on my property, remember?”
                  “Well, if it’s not a problem with you, I think I’ll stare some more,” I huffed, hanging up.
                  Slowly, I locked my car and made my way to the front door, clutching my tote bag to my chest like a shield. The door swung open before I could knock.
                  “Thought you were going to stare some more,” Asher smirked.
                  “And give you the satisfaction? I think not,” I replied. He gave me a wide berth to enter, but I was still unmoving. It was sinking in that I’d be all alone with Asher Grayson in his house, with the nearest house like an acre away.
                  His smirk grew at my hesitation. Hitching my tote bag higher on my shoulder, I stomped in, hoping I left dirt stains on his spotless marble floor.
                  My breath caught as I walked into his house.
                  Oh…wow…
                  Spiral stairs curved upwards, like a path to heaven. Marble hallways branched to different rooms on the lower floor, and I spotted the edge of a screen door leading to another jumbo pool.
                  That wasn’t what left me astounded, though. Instead of a roof, the house had a curved into a glass at the top of the