Heartless Read online

  Heartless

  Sophie Stern

  Published by Sophie Stern, 2020.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  HEARTLESS

  First edition. November 20, 2020.

  Copyright © 2020 Sophie Stern.

  Written by Sophie Stern.

  Also by Sophie Stern

  Alien Chaos

  Destroyed

  Guarded

  Saved

  Alien Chaos: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance Bundle

  Anchored

  Starboard

  Battleship

  All Aboard

  Abandon Ship

  Below Deck

  Crossing the Line

  Anchored: Books 1-3

  Anchored: Books 4-6

  Club Kitten Dancers

  Move

  Pose

  Climb

  Dragon Enchanted

  Hidden Mage

  Dragon Isle

  My Lord and Dragon

  The Dragon Fighter

  A Dragon's Bite

  Lost to the Dragon

  Beware of Dragons

  Cowboy Dragon

  Dark Heart of the Dragon

  Once Upon a Dragon

  Catching the Dragon

  Dragon Isle (Collection: Books 1-3)

  Dragon Isle (Collection: Books 4-6)

  Dragon Isle (Collection: Books 7-9)

  Good Boys and Millionaires

  Good Boys and Millionaires 1

  Good Boys and Millionaires 2

  Honeypot Babies

  The Polar Bear's Baby

  The Jaguar's Baby

  The Tiger's Baby

  Honeypot Darlings

  The Bear's Virgin Darling

  The Bear's Virgin Mate

  The Bear's Virgin Bride

  Office Gentlemen

  Ben From Accounting

  Polar Bears of the Air Force

  Staff Sergeant Polar Bear

  Master Sergeant Polar Bear

  Airman Polar Bear

  Senior Airman Polar Bear

  Red

  Red: Into the Dark

  Red: Through the Dark

  Red: Beyond the Dark

  Return to Dragon Isle

  Dragons Are Forever

  Shifters at Law

  Wolf Case

  Bearly Legal

  Tiger Clause

  Sergeant Bear

  Dragon Law

  Stormy Mountain Bears

  The Lumberjack's Baby Bear

  The Fablestone Clan

  Dragon's Oath

  Dragon's Breath

  Dragon's Darling

  Dragon's Whisper

  Dragon's Magic

  The Hidden Planet

  Vanquished

  Outlaw

  Conquered

  The Wolfe City Pack

  The Wolf's Darling

  The Wolf's Mate

  The Wolf's Bride

  Standalone

  Saucy Devil

  Billionaire on Top

  Jurassic Submissive

  The Editor

  Alien Beast

  Snow White and the Wolves

  Kissing the Billionaire

  Wild

  Alien Dragon

  The Royal Her

  Be My Tiger

  Alien Monster

  The Paralegal

  Roses in the Dark

  Honeypot Babies Omnibus Edition

  Honeypot Darlings: Omnibus Edition

  Red: The Complete Trilogy

  First Shift

  The Swan's Mate

  Eternity: A Vampire Romance

  The Feisty Librarian

  Polar Bears of the Air Force

  Wild Goose Chase

  Star Princess

  The Virgin and the Lumberjacks

  Resting Bear Face

  Shifters at Law

  Seized by the Dragon

  The Fablestone Clan: A Paranormal Dragon-Shifter Romance Collection

  Star Kissed

  Club Kitten Omnibus

  Okami

  Savored

  Heartless

  Heartless

  A Standalone Friends-to-Lovers Contemporary Romance

  Sophie Stern

  Copyright © 2020 by Sophie Stern

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  One night. One bet. One prize.

  Zoey

  Some boys are sweet, but the boys I like are bad. Rotten. Naughty. I like boys who want me pressed against the wall, bodies sweating, hearts racing. That's what I want. And I'll do anything to get what I need. I've been using men to get ahead for as long as I can remember, and it's always worked out for me. Until now.

  David

  My best friend's little sister is a tease in all the best - and worst - ways. She uses people because they let her, but there's more to Zoey than that. At the heart of her core, she craves more than what the world offers her. I can be what she needs. I know it. When I make a bet with her at my best friend's birthday party, I don't expect to win, but I do.

  I've got one night to show her everything she's missing.

  I've got one night to show her I'm the last bad boy she'll ever need, even if I am a little bit heartless.

  Author’s note: this is a full-length standalone romance with BDSM elements. This book contains more than just hand-holding and kissing. It has spanking, teasing, and taunting. It has betting and prizes and deliciously naughty games. Most of all, it has a happy ending. I promise.

  For my bad boy

  Contents

  Prologue

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  Epilogue

  Author

  Books

  Prologue

  Zoey

  “You kissed him?” Anna grinned, sitting down next to me at the cafeteria table. The bench that was attached to the table wobbled a little when she moved. Anna wasn’t heavy. The bench just sucked. This kind of table should have been outlawed or replaced about a hundred years ago, yet here we were. We were in high school, and we were getting our hopes up for prom, and we were sitting on the world’s stickiest, wobbliest bench.

  “Yes,” I said.

  Eric kissed like he had nothing to lose, and it was kind of nice. We’d been sort-of dating for about two weeks, which felt like an eternity. As a senior, he had a lot more experience than I did. It wasn’t until we kissed that the “going out” part felt real. My stomach was still in knots over the kiss.

  “So, how was it?” Anna asked. She reached for her backpack and pulled out her lunch. She always packed her own lunch from home, and it was always the same thing: a turkey-and-cheese sandwich with carrots. My lunch was identical, except that I always brought cucumber slices instead of carrots.

  “The kiss?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Wet, I guess.” I shrugged, unwilling to talk about how it had really made me feel. I wasn’t going to say something goofy, like it made me feel like I could fly. I was completely unwilling to let her know that I was really enjoying Eri
c, and I was falling for him hard. Maybe he’d even take me to prom. Who knew? It was coming up, and everyone was getting ready. The entire school was bustling about prepping, and I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about which dress would look best on me.

  “Really?” Anna asked, raising an eyebrow. “Because Samantha Hopkins said he’s a great kisser.”

  “What does she know?” I asked glumly, taking a bite out of my sandwich. Samantha Hopkins was Eric’s ex-girlfriend. She was a senior, unlike me, and she was a cheerleader. She wasn’t the captain of the squad or anything quite so predictable and stereotypical, but she was drop-dead beautiful with amazing hair and amazing clothes and yes, even an amazing butt, not that I’d noticed. Still, it was hard not to compare myself to utter perfection.

  “Seriously?” Anna asked. “What does she know? Uh, everything. They only dated for a year.”

  “A year?” I stilled. “I thought they only went out a few times.”

  Anna laughed and shook her head.

  “I always forget you transferred in,” she said. “They were the hot item all of last year. I mean, everyone was really surprised when he started dating you.”

  “They were?” I whispered, suddenly embarrassed. I knew what this meant. I’d seen enough movies to know that hot guys don’t date nerdy girls after they date cheerleaders. They just don’t. If he’d gone nerd-to-nerd, that would be one thing. That would be having a type. Dating me after Samantha, though? That made me something else. It made me a prop, or a bet, and I didn’t want to be either one.

  “Yeah,” she said. “I mean, I know you and your brother just moved here, but I figured Eric would have told you.”

  “Nope,” I said. He hadn’t said much about Samantha at all, and Anna was right. My older brother, Felix, and I had moved to beautiful Kansas after growing up in the middle of California. Monterey Bay was lightyears away from Kansas in every way, but we’d both been excited about the move. Ever since our mom had died last year, Monterey no longer felt like home. Nothing felt like home. Our dad had happily taken a transfer to anywhere-but-here, and we’d ended up in Kansas.

  For me, it was the end of my sophomore year. For my brother, it was his senior year, and things got a little messy with transfer credits and that sort of thing. Luckily, he’d done dual-enrollment at a local college for most of his senior year, so he had some wiggle room when it came to getting things done.

  “What about Felix and David?” She asked, taking another bite of her food. “They didn’t say anything?”

  “David?”

  “Yeah, I mean, he’s best friends with your brother, right?”

  “We’ve only been here a month,” I said. “How do you know who Felix’s best friend is?”

  “Word travels fast,” she shrugged. “Besides, David was happy when you and Felix decided to move here.”

  David and Felix had been best friends since forever. Our moms had gone to college together. They’d been roommates all four years, and then they’d stayed best friends through weddings and babies and the whole thing. We’d spent every summer together our entire lives. David was like a second older brother to me. After my mom died, it was David’s family who suggested relocating to Kansas. At the very least, David’s mom said, it would mean we’d have a mother figure in our lives.

  “I bet,” I said, but I was too nervous to say much else. What was the deal with me and Eric? He’d kissed me so well last night, but now I was wondering if it was some sort of prank. It had to be, right? It had to be a trick. I didn’t like the way doubt was suddenly filling me. I’d been so hopeful about the entire thing, but now the only feeling inside of me was dread.

  “Hey,” Anna said, sensing my concern. She placed a hand on my wrist. “It’s going to be okay. Everything’s going to be fine. Just because Eric used to date a cheerleader doesn’t mean he’s a pig.”

  “Yeah,” I said, forcing myself to smile. “Of course.”

  Only, as I looked around the cafeteria, I realized that he was nowhere to be found. Weren’t you supposed to eat lunch with your boyfriend? Wasn’t that how these things worked? It was, wasn’t it? Even though I was a huge nerd, I knew that much. When you were dating someone, you hung out together at school.

  I made up some lame excuse about homework and excused myself. If Anna knew I was lying, she was polite enough not to call me out on it. I dumped my half-eaten sandwich in the trash and went into the halls. Where was he? Where was my boyfriend?

  Maybe he was in the courtyard. A lot of kids hung out there between classes or during lunch. I turned, making my way in that direction. Anna probably didn’t have any idea what she’d just done to me. She’d completely shattered the hope I had of things working out with Eric. It was a shallow high school relationship, sure, but it was my relationship, and it was something I wanted.

  I was halfway to the courtyard entrance when I heard Eric’s voice. He was talking to someone beside an open locker, so they couldn’t see me. It didn’t matter because I could hear them. I approached, taking care to stay out of their line of sight. I hadn’t planned on eavesdropping. It just sort of happened.

  “So, how was it?” Charlie was the one talking to Eric. I recognized his voice from English class. He might be a senior, but he was taking a lower level English class. I’d even offered to help him a few times. He was always down on himself about it, but English was hard for a lot of people. I didn’t blame him for needing some assistance.

  “How was what?”

  “Zoey Lane.”

  Eric laughed. He moved, leaning against one of the other lockers. I could see his feet. I slipped to the side of the lockers, carefully staying out of sight. If they closed the locker door, they’d see me, but if that happened, maybe I’d want to be seen.

  “Good,” he laughed. “That girl is the biggest slut I’ve ever met.”

  My heart sank.

  Me?

  A slut?

  The word made me feel sick. I didn’t care if people had sex. Everyone was allowed to do what they wanted, but the word slut held such a horrible connotation that it made me feel nauseous. I should have left right then. I should have sneaked away and pretended I hadn’t heard what they were saying, but I was frozen in place, unable to move.

  “She suck you off?”

  “You know it,” Eric laughed, and I paled.

  I hadn’t.

  I hadn’t done that.

  I hadn’t done any of it.

  “It’s so easy with the nerds,” Eric said, chuckling. “Just a few sweet words and they’re done.” He snapped his fingers, as though that was all it took to get me into bed. The only thing Eric and I had done was kiss. He hadn’t even felt my breasts. I hadn’t even known he’d wanted that.

  “I want a turn,” Charlie said.

  “She’s all yours after tonight,” Eric said. “I want one more go at her before I get back with Samantha.”

  “You’re getting back together?”

  “Of course,” Eric said. “The prom queen and king should go together, don’t you think? It’s only fitting.”

  He slammed the locker shut, and I didn’t move. I stood perfectly still. He hadn’t noticed me, but Charlie had. Charlie tried to get Eric’s attention, but Eric kept talking about his big plans for me. Charlie closed his own locker door and one more gestured, trying to let Eric know I was standing right there.

  Then I saw someone behind Charlie.

  David.

  David was there and had heard the entire thing. He’d seen the exchange. He’d listened to every word they’d said, and he was staring at Eric. Suddenly, Eric stopped talking, and he looked at David. He still hadn’t spotted me.

  “You got a problem?” Eric asked. If David saw me, he didn’t reveal anything. He just stared at Eric. Charlie noped the fuck out of there, scurrying past me without a word, and I stood there like a broken statue just watching them.

  Eric hadn’t just used me.

  He hadn’t just dated me to make me look like a fool.<
br />
  He’d also dated me to make me look easy.

  That’s what I was to him: easy. I hadn’t had sex with him. That didn’t matter. Even if we’d had the best sex of our lives, I wouldn’t have expected him to tell anyone about it. Wasn’t that the entire thing about sex? It was supposed to be a secret. It was supposed to be this personal, private thing, but it didn’t seem like Eric thought that way.

  “Yes,” David said. It felt like a century had passed. “I have a problem.”

  “Get the fuck out of my face,” Eric said, taking a step toward David. He moved his arms as though he was trying to scare David off, but it didn’t work.

  David punched him.

  Hard.

  In the face.

  Eric went down fast. He just fell right to the ground, crumpling in a pile, holding his obviously broken nose. David made eye contact with me, nodded, and then turned and walked away. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t say, “That was for you.” He just left.

  Eric rolled around on the ground, obviously in pain. He didn’t see me looking at him. His hands were over his face. Apparently, his nose hurt pretty badly. He rolled around, grabbing at it, uttering curses and promising to kill David as soon as he could.

  I turned and left, too. My feet felt heavy, as though it was this huge burden to try to lift them up. I went into the girl’s bathroom, and I went into the very last stall, and I locked the door.

  I closed my eyes and leaned against the wall, and I wished for my dead mom. She’d know what to do. My mom always knew what to do. Only, she was gone, and I was here, alone. I was stuck in Kansas with people who despised me and who thought I was easy just because I was new. I didn’t care if they thought I was easy or not, but if they were going to think I was, then I should probably be getting something out of the deal. I didn’t want guys to look at me and see an easy target.

  I needed to be better than that.

  Hell, I needed to be better than them.

  “You are not weak,” I whispered to myself. That was something my mom had told me every day. “You are not weak.”