促銷資訊載入中...
Boyfriend Mocked Me, I Turned and Kissed His Rival
NovelShort
已完結
Ken Harding was the young master of New York everyone paled at the mention of. Wild, unruly, temperamental, he was that way with everyone but me. He gave up racing for me, the thing he loved more than...
章節（4）
第1章
Ken Harding was the young master all of New York went pale at the mention of. Wild, reckless, cruel when the mood took him. And with me, and only me, he was different.
For me he gave up racing, the thing he loved more than his own life. For me he swore he'd never fight again. For me he even quit every bad habit he had.
Everyone said he loved me to pieces. And then I walked in on him with his arm around another girl, telling his buddies about me. "That good girl? Won't even let me touch her. Boring as hell."
So I turned around, kissed his worst enemy, and said, "Compared to his kissing, you don't even come close."
By the time Gwyneth James dragged me into the club, I was soaked through.
The cramps hit hard enough to drain the color from my face.
But the girl in front of me wouldn't let up.
"Lesley Fox, I told you a long time ago. Ken doesn't love you. He just likes to play. He's never serious about girls like you."
Gwyneth had her hair done in gorgeous loose waves, her makeup flawless.
Standing there with rain still dripping from the ends of my hair, I couldn't have looked more different from her.
She was Ken's childhood friend, a pampered, hot-tempered heiress.
She'd been openly in love with Ken for years and gotten nowhere.
So ever since I started dating him, she'd made a habit of coming after me.
"Whether he loves me isn't your call. I've told you before. When it comes to the two of us, I'll only ever believe it from his own mouth. I don't have time to play games with you."
I hadn't even wanted to be here today. Gwyneth had dragged me out when I felt like this.
"Lesley, sooner or later we're getting married. We match, family to family." Gwyneth pressed on, refusing to give it up. "A strong alliance, do you understand that? I'm the only one the Hardings will ever accept. Which means I'm the only one good enough for him."
I couldn't be bothered to argue anymore and moved to step around her, but she planted herself in my path, blocking me.
"You—"
I lifted my eyes and met hers, brimming with amusement.
She spoke with contempt, with the confidence of someone who already knew she'd won. "Want to know why I brought you here today? You said you'd only believe it from his mouth. Fine. I'm giving you the chance."
Gwyneth said this was Ken's private club, the place he came specifically to hang out with his friends, open only to the children of the elite and their circle.
But this place... I'd never once been here.
"Lesley, doesn't that tell you everything?" Gwyneth led the way, a cold smile tugging at her lips.
That smile, that tone, so sure of victory, left a faint uneasiness gnawing at me, though my face stayed calm.
Against her needling, I chose to say nothing.
Then we reached the corner by the lounge area, and in the crowd I picked out that familiar figure at a single glance.
The Ken in front of me wasn't quite the one I usually saw. The dim purple light traced the sharp lines of his profile, and half-drunk, he wore a lazy edge, his eyes darker, more magnetic. The loose strands at his forehead were a little mussed, his black shirt rolled up at the arms, and in one hand, knuckles clean and defined, he held a clear glass, swirling it idly as he lounged back against the couch.
This Ken felt like a stranger to me too.
And yet this was the same person who, just that afternoon, would bury his face against me all shy the moment I said I liked him, clinging to me and begging, "Come on, please say you like me one more time."
I followed the line of his black shirt to the left, where a striking girl lay draped against his shoulder.
A few of his buddies sat clustered around him in twos and threes. Wherever a man like him went, he was always the center of everything.
Something sour rose in my throat, and my feet felt like they weighed a thousand pounds, without even the strength left to step forward and go inside.
"Young Master Harding, how long has it been since you came out with us? Ditching your boys the second you've got a girl."
One of the friends beside Ken complained, and the others chimed in.
"Heard you put a ton of effort into that little girlfriend of yours lately. First time I've ever seen you sweat that hard chasing someone. Then again, you still reeled her in, didn't you."
The baby-faced rich kid. I knew him. He was one of the guys who was always trailing after Ken.
And the one sitting closest to Ken, steadier than the baby-faced one, reached up and touched the frame of his glasses before he spoke too. "Yeah, never seen you go this all in on any girl before. What, don't tell me you're actually serious this time?"
The girl in Ken's arms heard them and gave him a mock-scolding little punch.
He didn't mind. He just laughed, picked up his glass and swirled it, careless, as if remembering something, as if turning it over in his head. Then he slowly tipped his head back and drained it in one swallow. And gave his answer. "That good girl? Won't even let me touch her, boring as hell. I just hadn't run into one that stuck up before. Was curious what it'd feel like to win her over."
One sentence, and it hit me like lightning, every drop of blood in me freezing where it was.
The enormous pain in my chest came with a helplessness I didn't know what to do with.
I stood there rooted to the spot as tears blurred my sight in an instant.
第2章
A crash. An oval vase rolled to a stop against my foot.
The sound yanked me back, and I pulled in a breath that felt like it burned all the way down.
Inside, everyone went alert at once.
"Who's there?" the baby-faced rich kid called out.
Gwyneth had been so pleased with herself watching my reaction, because this was exactly the scene she'd wanted.
Then, just as she turned to sneer at me, she knocked over the vase sitting there as a decoration.
The smile froze on her face.
Ken, whose eyes had been half-glazed a moment before, snapped clear all at once and got to his feet fast.
The playful curl left his mouth too, his expression turning serious, as if by some sixth sense he'd felt uneasy the instant he heard the sound.
"That good girl, won't even let you touch her..." That voice, once so lovely to me, was unbearable now, and the answer circled in my head and wouldn't leave.
I braced myself against the wall, dazed, and was about to leave.
That was when my eyes met Ken's, already on his feet.
His stare was full of disbelief and shock, his voice unsteady, and he said my name as though confirming it was really me. "Lesley."
I looked over at him and felt my eyes go red before I could stop it, but I held the tears back and threw the question at him. "Ken Harding, was it fun? Playing with a good girl's feelings?"
Panic flashed through Ken's eyes and was gone, his face smoothing back into calm almost at once.
He'd seen scenes like this plenty of times.
For as long as he could remember, girl after girl had been dumped by him.
They'd cry and demand answers and swear they couldn't go on, and a bank card always settled it.
But this was the first time he didn't know how to handle it.
So the anger with nowhere to go got dumped on the one who'd started it.
When the bottle smashed down by Gwyneth's foot, she shrieked in fright.
Even the people around them jumped at the sudden turn.
But no one dared say another word, all of them pinned down by the drop in the air.
"Who told you to bring her here?"
Ken's expression stayed flat, but from that one cold question everyone knew he was furious.
Since we'd gotten together, I'd never once seen him lose his temper.
This was Young Master Harding, all right, the one everybody feared.
Gwyneth shrank toward the side, hurt, her voice thick with tears. "Ken, I was only making sure these women didn't get their hopes up. Why are you suddenly this angry?"
Clearly she'd used this move on plenty of people before.
Her family and the Hardings went back generations, and over the years she'd broken up more of Ken's relationships than she could count.
For the sake of the James family's standing, Ken had always let it slide.
That was why she felt free to do whatever she wanted.
"You said she was boring, didn't you? So why would you rather have these women than turn around and look at me?"
Gwyneth picked the worst possible moment to start airing her complaints to Ken.
Without Ken's quiet permission, she could never have kept circling around him all these years.
"Shut up." Ken cut her off, his face dark.
第3章
The pain in my stomach had gotten so bad I could barely stand. My face was drained white, and I couldn't listen to another word.
To keep from passing out in front of everyone, I ducked my head and all but bolted out of the room.
Tears the size of beans spilled down, blurring everything in front of me, and I ran straight into the chest of someone walking in.
"Ken Harding, you're still such a bastard. Taking it out on a girl, what kind of skill is that?"
The collision knocked me off balance, and a big hand slid around me, catching me so I could stay upright.
Julian Henson stepped around to stand in front of me, wearing the look of a man who couldn't wait for the show to get bigger.
He and Ken were sworn enemies.
Of course he was happy to watch Ken make a fool of himself.
"Let go of her." Ken nearly exploded, glaring at the arm Julian had wrapped around my waist.
Because I had almost no strength left and could only stay on my feet by leaning on Julian, it looked all the more intimate.
Julian, provocative, tightened the arm around my waist a little more.
"I don't think I will."
The two of them locked eyes, cold, neither giving an inch.
"Come here." Ken commanded me, impatient and on edge, his eyes almost spitting fire.
In the past, the moment his tone shifted even slightly, I would obey him without a word.
But this time I didn't move. I bit down hard on my lip and even leaned back a little, closer behind Julian.
Julian raised an eyebrow, as if my move had caught him a little off guard.
And just as Ken was about to blow up, I spoke.
"Let's break up." My voice was neither loud nor soft. I let my gaze drift coolly over everyone in the room, then settled it on Ken.
Albert sucked in a sharp breath. This had to be the first time the great Ken Harding, undefeated in every love game he'd ever played, had been the one dumped.
No one dared make a sound.
A few people even quietly raised their phones, probably wanting to record this historic moment.
Gwyneth clapped a hand over her mouth in shock. In all their years, no matter how much she'd meddled, it had only ever been Ken doing the dumping.
"I'll say it one more time. Come here." Ken's face went cold. He ignored what I'd said and simply repeated it, holding his fury in check. "Lesley, I didn't agree to this."
In all his life, not one woman had ever dared go against what he wanted.
Julian's eyes moved between the two of us, thoroughly entertained.
I didn't answer. My nails dug hard into my palm.
"I don't have much patience, and I really don't like it when a woman throws a little tantrum at me." Ken frowned, out of patience, and ground out through his teeth, "I'll give you one last chance."
My throat tightened, my heart felt like it was being crushed in a fist. I knew that today, without Ken's say-so on this breakup, I wasn't getting out of here.
Thinking of how he'd once judged me, and how he could still stand there so easily and say he didn't agree.
Good little girl, my ass.
"I don't need your agreement."
Steeling myself, under everyone's stunned eyes, I rose on my toes and kissed Julian.
Every single person stared, dumbstruck.
Ken's breath caught, and he froze where he stood.
Julian went still for a second too, then his pupils brightened, his thin lips curved, laughter surfacing in his eyes, the corners of the kissing mouth lifting on their own.
He was smiling, and he played along, deepening the kiss until my legs went weak.
My face went red in an instant. Riding on pure spite, I lifted my head to meet Ken's eyes. "You know what? He kisses so much better than you."
The baby-faced rich kid choked on his drink and broke into a violent coughing fit.
The pressure around Ken dropped all at once, his lips pressed tight, not a word out of him. Those eyes just bored into me, as if they meant to burn a hole straight through me.
第4章
"Sweet mouth on you." Julian had been standing there with his eyes lazily lowered, but at that his throat loosened and he let out a low snort of a laugh, a teasing glint rising in his eyes. "We'll be going now, then. Ex-boyfriend."
He leaned hard on those last two words on purpose.
The whole room went dead silent, the air frozen solid, that little exchange leaving everyone too tense to breathe.
Julian didn't care in the slightest what any of them thought. He took my hand and walked out without looking back.
By the time we reached the next room, every set of eyes had turned to land on me.
This was Julian's crew. I'd catch sight of them shooting hoops now and then when I passed the court.
"Lesley Fox, huh, the big honor student. Ranked first in the year, the one who's always kept you one spot down."
"Isn't she Ken Harding's girlfriend? Wait, boss, how do you two even know each other?"
"Yeah, yeah, it's her, all right. Boss, weren't you going to find Gwyneth James? How'd you end up dragging his girlfriend out here?"
Julian didn't bother explaining. He just tossed out two flat words. "Ask her."
Julian and I weren't close, not really. If there was one place our lives ever crossed, it was grades.
Our names were always stuck together at the top of the year, first and second.
They stopped arguing among themselves and turned their eyes on me instead.
Maybe it was guilt. All at once, with this many people staring at me, the scene from earlier came rushing back, and my words caught in my throat while my head went hot.
"You've got a nosebleed, kid."
Julian glanced up, tone easy and offhand, being helpful enough to point it out.
I fumbled a tissue out to stop the bleeding, dropped my head, my eyes darting away.
The way I was acting only made everyone more certain something was off.
"About what happened today. I'm sorry." I pinched the tissue, forcing a calm I didn't have on the surface, the tips of my ears burning a scalding red. "If there's ever anything you need me to help with, just say the word. I will, definitely."
Julian tilted his head and cut in, amused. "Who said you could kiss me?"