“Don’t call me that.” Love bug might seem like a cute pet name but knowing why he calls me that leaves a bitter taste on my tongue for simply hearing it. After my accident, I had to wear a bulky back brace. Someone had the bright idea to call me a stink bug since I had an outer shell, and in the summertime, I would smell like sweat, no matter how much I tried to cover it up with perfume. Nix and Colt turned stink bug into love bug at some point, but they say it with the same kind of disgust still.

“I’ll call you whatever I want. After all, you are in my house, and you’d do well to remember that. Don’t walk around and stay in your room. I don’t want you touching my stuff.”

“You think I want to be here? I didn’t even know about any of this until a few hours ago.” I try to push past him, but he places his hands on either side of me, caging me between him and the wall.

“I don’t care what you know or what you want. All I care about is getting rid of you. You and your gold-digging mom need to find some other guy to leech off.”

He dips his head low, leaning into my face until his nose brushes against my cheek. “You don’t belong here. Go back to your trailer park.”

“Trust me, I’d rather live in a run-down trailer than here with you.” I shove against his chest as hard as I can, taking him by surprise. Ducking under his arm, I take off down the hall, past the stairs to the other side of the floor.

When I get to the last door, I don’t hesitate to open it. I rush inside the room, slamming the door shut behind me. Dropping my backpack on the ground, I reach for the lock, only to find none.

What the hell?

Is this some kind of mistake? Instead of there being a latch on the doorknob I can turn to lock in place, the surface is smooth. I have no way of making sure there’s any privacy in this room.

Then my heart lurches, and I rush for the adjoining bathroom. I don’t even care what it looks like. I only want to examine the door. Sure enough, there’s no lock here, either, not on either side of the doorknob.