I Woke Up Next To A Half-Naked Bad Boy in School [12] And He Suddenly Made Me His Personal Slave?!

Okay! So I was right! It was near Central Park after all. I deserved a cookie.

"Cookie, miss?"

I jumped and turned around. A man with slightly graying hair said, holding out a bag filled with assortments of baked cookies. "Four dollars a bag!"

"Err, no thanks," I said, smiling politely. He went to another passer-by as I rushed to the elevator and nearly tripped my way in the hallway to my room.

I figured, screw Brandon. That asshole was probably out with little Miss Perfect, smooching away to the rhythm of...

What the heck was I talking about?!

I snapped back to reality and went inside. Ah finally! Fi-nuh-ly!

Oh wait a minute, I accepted the dude's invitation. No matter then. Every plan couldn't be 100% perfect. I lingered around a moment longer before going out to the hallway again.

Just as I was closing the door behind me, the next room's door flung open, revealing a disheveled Brandon, despite his proper outfit tonight.

I had half a mind to kick my door room open and hide under the covers.

"Samantha?" he exclaimed when he saw me. I didn't exactly prepare a speech, but I decided to make one on the spot.

But my brain had gone soggy and I was thinking of my so-called 'speech' very, agonizingly slowly.

"Hi," was all I could manage, along with a little, lame wave.

"Where...how...?" he stuttered, lost for words. Wow, this was a first. I wished I had a camera so I could capture this moment forever.

I broke into a smirk and crossed my arms. For once in my life I had the right to be more smug and cocky than Brandon himself. "Were you worried? Aw," I teased, laughing. "Well serve you right!" I spat.

Oh here it was. The speech.

"You're a bastard, do you know that? You would be a horribly bad father if you grow up. What if I was your daughter?! God knows what would happen to me!" I said, fuming. I opened my mouth to scold him again but he cut me off.

Rude much.

"I was worried about you!" he retorted angrily. "I was caught up in the moment okay? Could you really blame me? Okay maybe you could," he added after a few seconds of consideration. "I swear I saw you one moment and the next you were gone! God knows where you wandered off to!"

"I was hurled into a boutique by a stampede of mad, fashion-deprived women!" I answered, grimacing slightly. I didn't know what to feel - Glad that he was worried about me (or was it smug? I could never tell in these kind of situation) or upset because...well to be honest I didn't know why. Maybe I had some issues against people who raise their tones against me. Nobody liked that tone, right?

God, I was so confused.

"Stampede-- what the hell are you talking about?" he said.

"I'll explain later," I muttered, rubbing my temples vigorously. Brandon came a bit closer to me and touched my arm. "I'm sorry," he said firmly. He spoke as if I was a business associate and nothing more.

But yet, somehow that made a stir of emotions thundering inside me. Was it upset? Or frustration? Hurt, maybe?

Great. I was even more confused than 5 seconds ago.

For a few minutes, neither of us uttered a word. My gaze was on the floor, and his was on me. It made me feel a bit self-conscious, a bit. "It's good that you're here on time," he said, trying to change the subject. When I looked up towards him, I could saw that he was still tense.

So maybe he cared. So what did that prove? That he's not an insensitive prick after all? That he's a human too and it was only natural for him to feel that way?

Oh who was I kidding? All these questions, it was as if I was expecting him to love me or something. But if it was anything near love, why did it hurt so much? Why didn't it felt like how the others explained it to me?

It was as if they were describing a unicorn and a rainbow. This definitely didn't felt like unicorns and rainbows. This felt as if somehow stabbed a knife through my heart. It couldn't stop beating irregularly once in a while.

I was anxious for no reason.

"We need to go to the party," he said, running a hand through his hair. My heart went wild with...anxiety, probably...I didn't know!

I swear I wanted to cry due to my own confusion in the middle of the hallway.

"To the party?" I repeated, in a slightly more high-pitched tone than usual. I cleared my throat. "Oh," I said. "It's just that...I met someone earlier. He was the one who 'saved' me from being homeless anyway," I said, hiding a smirk.

"Ah? Who is it?"

"His name is Jake Compton," I said smoothly, grinning. I had to keep the conversation light and cheerful, somehow. But apparently, all I managed to do was get Brandon more tense than ever.

"Brandon?"

"So you're saying that you're going somewhere with Jake Compton?" he said, blinking hard. I shrugged casually. "Yeah well..." I trailed off. Wait, maybe he was related to Jake in a way. My eyes widened.

"Oh my god! He is your brother I knew it!" I exclaimed, my hand went over my mouth. He rolled his eyes. "I don't have a brother," he replied curtly. "And there are many Jake Comtpons in the world. Although, I know only one of them."

"You do?"

"He was supposed to be coming to the gathering tonight too," he said, nodding. "He's my cousin."

Ooh! Cousins!

"I'm...supposed to go with him to a party of some sort tonight too," I replied after a while of thinking excited thoughts. Why excitement? I had no idea. But I can tell you one thing I know: I was pretty sure that I could, possibly...probably be going out with Brandon's cousin tonight.

"He's quite the social butterfly, one could say," Brandon sighed. "Just...come home with me tonight."

"What if I don't want to?" I teased, smirking. He gave me a sharp glare. "I didn't ask for your answer or opinion. That was an order."

Oh right. I was still a slave to the most cocky bastard I've ever met in my life.

Glaring, I turned on my heels and walked outside the hotel into Jake's car.

"So you're Brandon's cousin?" I asked as soon as I got into the car. "What a shame," he muttered, his eyes twinkling in amusement. "I was hoping that it would be kept a secret. I didn't know you would find out that fast!"

"Are you two close?" I asked. He shook his head. "Not really, but we're not distant cousins anyway. You know, he threatened Compton's Industries branch in NYC."

"Threatened?" I shrieked in horror. Suddenly I had an image of Brandon, sitting in a leather chair with a cigar, gold rings on each fingers and his free hand stroking a white cat on his lap.

He chuckled. "Yeah. He said he'll fire half of the staff if they can't find you."

Thump. Thump.

My heart beat went fast all of a sudden, and a warm feeling spread throughout myself. Oh well then, he really did care. "Traffic might be crazy," he announced, looking over the setting sun. "We might arrive there a few hours late."