Wrong (Breaking the Rules) by K Webster Read Free Book Online Page A

I smiled because whoever sent them was very thoughtful.
    Opening the card, my smile dropped.
    Pepper,
    I’m sorry if I offended you yesterday. Like I told you before, I just want to get to know you. I hope you like the peppermint roses. With a name like Pepper from a girl who chews peppermint gum like it’s her lifeline, the roses seemed to fit. They’re only half as beautiful as you. I look forward to seeing you at my mother’s tomorrow.
    Jordan
    A tear slipped down my cheek. Damn him for making me cry. Every time I was with Jordan, he weakened the woman I’d tried so desperately to be. I was tough, bitchy Pepper. The girl who had embraced the hateful nickname from high school and wore it with pride. So why did it seem like he was siding with all of those terrible people who chanted, “Peppermint Pussy!” in the halls? He didn’t even know the story, but I lumped him in the same category.
    “I don’t have time for this shit.” I dumped the flowers into the trash and left work to go have dinner with my parents.

    “How is your modeling going?” my mother asked Olive at dinner.
    “Great. I have a huge gig for Express on Saturday. I am really nervous about it,” she admitted, sipping her wine.
    “Olive, you will do great. I think, if you will allow it, this could really make your career,” I told her honestly. She grinned at me.
    When we finished dinner, Daddy asked to speak to me privately in the study. The nervous look on his face had butterflies dancing in my belly.
    “Princess, please sit down. I want to talk to you about something.”
    I took a seat in one of the chairs at his desk while he went around to the other side and sat down. His frown made me worry that something was wrong with Will or Mom.
    “Sweetie, I’m afraid I’ve done something to possibly put you in danger.”
    I frowned because he looked really upset. “I don’t understand, Daddy. You always take care of me.”
    “I know. I’ve always done my best to protect you. Even when that asshole Cole Stine tried to take advantage of you.”
    I shuddered at the memory and looked away from him. My hands trembled a bit so I clasped them together on my lap to get them to stop.
    “Anyway, I know I told you there was nothing legally we could do about what Cole tried to do to you. It was true. Nothing legal. But the more I thought about what he did, I was overcome with rage. I wanted to ruin his life. He nearly ruined yours. I can see that you still live with the effects of what he did. I mean, you go by Pepper for crying out loud. That didn’t come from nowhere. My friend Dan, your history teacher in high school, overheard the awful things those kids said to you because of Cole.”
    I just watched as my daddy feared what he had to say next.
    “So I pulled some strings. I represent the Chairman of the Board at Syracuse, where Cole’s scholarship was, and he owed me some favors.” He paused to look at me.
    I swallowed, worried about where he was going with this.
    “I spoke to him about the terrible thing he tried to do to you. He’s got daughters of his own, so it didn’t take much persuading to have him find a way to drop Cole’s scholarship. I thought that would be sufficient, but the Chairman took further steps to contact all of his people in the education system. No college would give him a scholarship to play football. He was on his own and his parents couldn’t afford to send him to the best of the schools. Cole was able to go to CUNY with the help of student loans, but football was out of the question.”
    My stomach churned at his confession. As much as I hated Cole and feared that he might try what he did to me with another girl but succeed, I still didn’t like the idea of Daddy taking such measures for a vendetta.
    “Daddy, I don’t approve of what you did, but I understand you were looking out for me and other girls. So why does this put me in danger?”
    His face blanched as he prepared himself for his next words. “Well,