Chapter 1
The day I first met Wyatt Rogers, he'd just dumped his ex right at the school gate, efficiently, and honestly, a little cruel.
The girl was sobbing in the rain, her makeup a mess as she clung to his sleeve. "Wyatt, do we really have to break up?"
It was raining, and Wyatt stood under a black umbrella, the dark canopy making his face look even colder and more distant.
He freed one hand and calmly straightened his shirt cuff, not even glancing at her.
"Stella, I thought you were smarter than this," he said.
A smart person wouldn't fall apart like this just because they were being dumped.
I was standing outside a cafe nearby, holding two cups of iced water. My bestie, Nova, had shoved them into my hands. She wanted to watch the drama, but honestly, I just wanted to leave.
But when Wyatt turned his head, his eyes just happened to lock onto mine.
What kind of eyes were those?
They were pitch-black, deep, like a stagnant pool or a poisoned blade.
Nova muttered under her breath, "He's hot, but he's got no heart. Bella, you should steer clear of guys like him."
I just stayed silent.
That was just how it was. The more dangerous something was, the harder it was to stay away.
Wyatt was the guy everyone wanted and the guy who never let anyone get close, at the top of the food chain, and cold as ice.
He had the perfect family, looked like a movie star, and his grades were even better. But after that day, the rumors about him changed completely.
His family got into serious trouble.
His dad went to prison, his mom fell gravely ill, and the golden boy who used to have everyone eating out of his hand crashed and burned overnight.
That was when Stella broke up with him.
Everyone laughed at him behind his back. Wyatt ended up working part-time at the library, sorting through piles of dusty old classics.
I started hanging around the library all the time.
I wasn't like the other girls, no bubble tea, no love notes. I just made sure I was always in Wyatt's line of sight, seriously working through those dry finance textbooks.
Wyatt ditched his favorite biology major and switched to finance.
He needed a ton of money.
That night, when the library was about to close, I pretended to be stuck on a calculus problem. As Wyatt walked by, I called out softly, "Wyatt, sorry to bother you, but do you know how to solve this?"
He stopped and looked down at me, his gaze cold and distant, with a hint of superiority.
His eyes were icy, with a mocking glint that seemed to see right through me.
"Bella Farley, right?" he said, calling me by name.
My heart skipped a beat.
"Don't waste your time," Wyatt said, closing the logbook in his hands, his voice cold as ice. "I'm not buying it."
He walked off without a backward glance.
But I knew, whether he liked it or not, he'd remember me.
Going after Wyatt was a battle of wits.
Nova joked that I was wasting all my IQ on Wyatt. I couldn't deny it.
When he needed cash, I'd take on those high-paying but exhausting tutoring gigs, then casually turn one down and hand it off to him.
When he needed class notes, I'd slip my neatly organized summaries into the book he always read.
I never said I liked him. I just said I wanted to help.
That kind of noble, selfless reason, one that didn't put any pressure on him, was exactly what made a guy like him drop his guard.
On Christmas Eve that year, the back street behind the school was absolutely packed.
Wyatt was studying in the library's study lounge, and I was sitting right across from him.
He got loads of apples and all sorts of pretty gift boxes piled up in the corner of his desk, but he didn't open a single one.
I sniffled, my voice muffled from my cold. "Wyatt, you crush a girl's feelings like that. Aren't you worried the universe is gonna hit back?"
He looked up from his book, a teasing smirk playing on his lips as he glanced at me.
"And you, Bella? Where's your show of affection?" he said.
I was caught off guard.
He grabbed the biggest, reddest apple from the pile and threw it at me.
"Thanks for helping me out all semester, Ms. Farley. Think of this as your pay," Wyatt said.
The apple was cold, but my palms were sweating.
"Wyatt, do you really think I'm just here to be your tutor?" I mustered up the nerve to ask.
He leaned in closer, his breath brushing against my nose, tinged with a faint minty scent.
"What else could it be, Bella? What do you want from me? My empty pockets? My ruined reputation?" he shot back.
I looked him straight in the eye and said, word by word, "I want you."
The smile on his face vanished in an instant.
He sat back down, opened his book, and spat out one word, cold as ice, "Get lost."
I didn't leave.