The Rebirth of a "Doormat": Claiming the School Bad Boy

In my past life, I shamelessly threw myself at the school's golden boy.

The day I died from incurable cancer was the very day he threw the wedding of the century for his childhood sweetheart.

Reborn, I found myself back on the exact day I had originally confessed my love to him.

With everyone watching, I marched straight past him and slammed my love letter onto the desk of the school's notorious bad boy.

The silver-haired delinquent opened his eyes from his nap, staring blankly at the envelope covered in hand-drawn hearts: "?"

Me: "Here. Scrap paper."

The classroom fell dead silent.

The silver-haired guy slowly lifted his head, revealing a strikingly aggressive, predatory face. Sharp brows, a high-bridged nose. He even had a silver stud in his right earlobe.

Dangerously attractive.

I heard a few sharp intakes of breath around me. I couldn't tell if it was from awe or sheer terror.

I remembered him. Carter Sterling.

Rumor had it that if you picked any three buildings on campus, his family had donated at least one of them. Because of this, he wasn't just respected as "Carter." He had another nickname: "The Landlord."

A guy next to him joked, "Damn, Carter, you're a magnet! Got girls bringing the romance right to your desk?"

Carter let out a low chuckle and told him to screw off. His tone was lazy, almost affectionate.

After swearing at his buddy, he turned back to me. "What do you want?"

I answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I want to sit next to you. Is that a problem?"

Another round of gasps echoed through the room. This time, I knew for sure: it was pure shock.

Carter propped his head on his hand, flashing a smirk that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I never let anyone sit next to me. What makes you think you're special?"

We locked eyes. Neither of us backed down.

I gritted my teeth.

No. I don't have a choice.

There were only two empty seats left in the AP Honors class. If I didn't sit next to him, I'd be stuck sitting next to Ethan Vance.

And that was basically a death sentence.

So, I just dropped my backpack and unceremoniously sat down, deciding to play dirty.

Seeing this, Carter frowned in deep annoyance, looking like he was half a second away from tossing me out the window. "I just told you..."

Before he could finish, I reached under the desk and grabbed his leg, pressing down hard.

Carter's expression instantly froze.

I leaned in, dropping my voice so only he could hear. "Please. Just let me sit here. If I don't, I have to sit next to Ethan Vance. You don't know this, but he's a total creep. When the classroom is empty, he crawls around on the floor like a gremlin. He steals girls' skirts and wears them! I've had so many stolen that I had no choice but to..."

It didn't matter if Ethan couldn't hear me. Honestly, it didn't matter if he did.

He deserved every bit of it.

The more I talked, the more animated I got.

With every word, my grip tightened.

And with every squeeze, Carter's face grew darker.

That lazy smirk from earlier completely vanished.

By the end of my rant, his expression was practically thunderous.

He squeezed out a single word through gritted teeth: "Fine."

I felt a twinge of confusion.

Wasn't he just acting all arrogant a second ago? Why did he cave so easily?

And why did he look like a defeated king forced to surrender his throne under extreme duress?

Wait... wasn't his thigh a little... skinny?

And... squishy?

"Are you gonna keep fucking squeezing?!" Carter finally snapped, his patience snapping.

I yanked my hand back like I'd been burned.

Ahhhhhhh!

That wasn't his thigh! Ahhhhhh!

I literally just "grabbed the king by his scepter" to force a surrender! Ahhhhh!

After the seating arrangements were finalized, Ethan Vance cornered me in the stairwell.

"What is going on between you and Carter Sterling?"

I had zero desire to entangle myself with him, so I shot back, "None of your damn business."

Ethan clearly didn't expect me to snap at him. His brows knitted together. He threw his arm out, blocking my path.

"Blair Kensington, Carter Sterling isn't someone you can mess around with. Why did you give him a love letter?"

Hearing this, combined with the agonizing memories of my past life, my temper instantly flared.

"Who I mess around with is my business. What does it have to do with you?" I snarled. "And even if he's terrible, he's a hell of a lot better than someone who strings people along, never accepting them but never letting them go either!"

It was the truth. If Ethan hadn't constantly fed me breadcrumbs of hope every time I was about to give up in my past lifemaking me foolishly believe that if I just tried a little harder, I'd win him overI never would have wasted years of my life loving him.

Ethan's face turned incredibly ugly. "Blair, what is that supposed to mean?"

I crossed my arms and sneered. "It means I'm insulting you. Are you too stupid to realize that?"

His expression darkened further. He was about to retort, but I was done wasting my breath on him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Carter lounging down the hall. I frantically waved my arm and yelled, "Carter!"

With everyone watching, Ethan had no choice but to drop his arm and let me pass.

Before I walked away, he leaned in and hissed, "Blair, I'm incredibly disappointed in you."

I smiled sweetly, waving at Carter, and offered Ethan one simple word:

"Choke."

When I jogged up to Carter, I caught a faint whiff of tobacco.

"Were you just smoking?"

Carter gave a dismissive "Yeah," then slapped his palm against my forehead, shoving me a good distance away.

His voice was rough and raspy. "Secondhand smoke is bad for you. Stop sniffing."

I remembered that in my past life, he only stayed at our high school for three months. The rumor was that he transferred because of serious health issues.

Almost as if possessed, I blurted out, "Firsthand smoke is bad for you too. Can you stop smoking?"

I stared at him with wide, pleading eyes.

His buddy, Leo, who was standing behind him, couldn't hold back a laugh. "Damn, she hasn't even locked you down yet and she's already acting like a strict wife?"

Hearing Leo say that, I realized how massively over the line my request was.

Carter had no idea about our past life. To him, I was just some random girl he met less than 24 hours ago, demanding he quit smoking.

It was insanely weird!

"I mean, you could just smoke less..." I started to backtrack.

"Yeah."

We spoke at the exact same time. I blinked. "Huh?"

Carter brought his right fist to his mouth and let out a low cough. "I'll quit."

Now I was the one standing there looking stupid.

The legendary, terrifying school bad boy... was this obedient?

Ethan's childhood sweetheart was Chloe Jenkins.

In my past life, she transferred into the AP Honors class with me. I didn't know Ethan was secretly in love with her, so I happily took the seat next to him.

I had no idea he had specifically saved that seat for Chloe.

No wonder Ethan hated me so much later on. No wonder he took my confession letter with such cruel malice and sneered, "Oh, scrap paper."

Back then, Chloe was too intimidated to sit next to Carter, so she volunteered to sit right by the teacher's podium. That meant the two star-crossed lovers were separated by half the classroom.

Looking back at Ethan's psychological torment of me in my past life, he probably blamed me entirely for keeping him and Chloe apart.

The funny thing was, in this life, Chloe got the seat right next to Ethan, just like she wanted. But now, he didn't seem to care about her at all.

Instead, he was stalking me every single day.

Is this that "absence makes the heart grow fonder" bullshit?

To avoid Ethan, I had to stick to Carter like glue.

I practically followed him into the men's restroom.

Actually, I basically did. Every time Carter stood up, I'd immediately ask, "Going to the bathroom? I'll come with you!"

It got to the point where the second I appeared outside the men's room, his crew would start catcalling.

"Oh look, the boss's wife is here to escort him to the urinal again!"

"Can't bear to be apart for a single second, huh~"

"With a woman like this, what more could a man... Ouch!"

Carter walked out, smacking Leo on the back of the head. A lollipop stick jutted out from the corner of his mouth. He narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about? Did you fail English lit or something?"

Ever since he promised me he'd quit smoking, he hadn't touched a single cigarette. He just bought out the school store's entire stock of lollipops. Whenever the nicotine craving hit, he'd shove one in his mouth.

I'd accidentally caught a glimpse of his stash. They were 100% strawberry flavored.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked up to me. "Let's go, little shadow."

My face flushed. "What kind of nickname is that? Stop calling me that!"

Carter leaned down, a wicked grin on his face. "Do you even know what the rest of the school is calling us? They say you're my arranged child-bride, which is why you follow me around all day."

What the hell!

I was literally just using him as a human shield against Ethan!

While I was silently defending my honor in my head, Carter magically pulled a lollipop from his pocket, unwrapped it, and mouthed, "Say ah."

"Ah"

I looked at him suspiciously, but I still opened my mouth.

A sweet, sugary taste instantly exploded across my tongue.

Strawberry.

"Why are you suddenly..." feeding me candy?

Before I could finish the question, Carter had already turned around, strolling lazily back toward the classroom.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Ethan's shadow darting past. I immediately scrambled after Carter.

"Hey! Wait for me!"

A few days later, Ethan cornered me in the stairwell again.

I pretended he was invisible and tried to sidestep him to go up the stairs.

Ethan blocked my path with a thick stack of notebooks.

"Move," I snapped impatiently.

Ethan frowned, his voice condescendingly soft. "These are my highlighted study notes. Midterms are in a few days. You won't survive without these."

I didn't reach for them. I just looked up, my eyes filled with pure mockery.

Every time the school reorganized the classes, they held a placement midterm. It was designed to see if the new transfers could handle the AP workload, and to ruthlessly weed out anyone who just got lucky on the entrance exam.

In my past life, I begged Ethan on my hands and knees to help me highlight the key concepts. He refused.

He told me, "You only got into the AP class by sheer luck. You're going to be kicked back down to standard eventually. Why drag it out?"

He genuinely believed I was just a fluke. He refused to believe that back then, I loved him so much I was literally studying myself into an early grave just to stay near him.

Eventually, I managed to secure the fifth-to-last spot, narrowly surviving the purge and staying in the AP class.

Everyone was shocked. They all assumed Ethan had secretly tutored me.

He never once bothered to correct them.

And now? I was avoiding him like the plague, and he was willingly organizing his notes and serving them to me on a silver platter.

I crossed my arms and laughed. "Whether I survive or not isn't up to you. You act like you're doing me a favor, but every word out of your mouth is an insult. Ethan, who gave you the audacity to look down on me?"

Ethan's face stiffened. He sighed heavily. "Stop acting tough. The most important thing right now is pulling your grades up..."

I rolled my eyes. "Do you not speak English? I said I don't need them."

Ethan reached out, fully intending to physically shove the notebooks into my chest.

My natural instinct was to lean backward to avoid him.

But I forgot I was standing on the edge of a concrete staircase.

The terrifying sensation of weightlessness hit me, and I screamed, "Ahhhhhh"

But the agonizing crash never came.

I fell backward into a solid chest that smelled strongly of strawberry candy.

"Hiss... how long are you planning on laying on me?"

I was so dazed staring at Carter's flawless face that it took his voice to snap me back to reality. I had completely flattened him.

That loud thud I heard a second ago was his back slamming against the concrete landing.

"I-I-I'm so sorry..."

Carter stood up, rolling his neck, and shot Ethan a deadly glare.

"Are you gonna fuck off or what?"

Ethan's face turned pitch black. Without a word, he turned and stormed off.

He never dared to go toe-to-toe with Carter Sterling.

Once Ethan was gone, Carter just stood there in absolute silence.

I felt incredibly guilty and quickly offered, "Should we head back to class?"

Carter kept his head down. He didn't move. He didn't speak.

Panicking that he was furious, I frantically started explaining. "He really did corner me! Ever since you told me to stay away from him, I've been avoiding him! I swear I..."

"I know."

Carter cut me off. He lifted his head. There wasn't a trace of anger on his face.

He pointed down at his leg. "Can you help me get to the nurse's office? I think I sprained my ankle."

Me: "..."

I struggled to support Carter's weight as he dramatically hopped down the stairs on one foot.

"But seriously, you really avoided him just because I told you to? Am I really that important to you?"

"...One more word and I'm shoving you down the rest of these stairs."

Because Carter sprained his ankle saving me, the responsibility of taking care of him naturally fell to me.

I fetched his water.

I bought his lunch.

I forged his gym class excuse notes.

And under his absolute tyranny, I was forced to forge my own excuse notes. Just so I could stay in the empty classroom and keep him entertained.

Between classes, Leo stared at the mountain of snacks and fruit piled on Carter's desk and let out a wistful sigh.

"Must be nice. If I knew the perks, I would've broken my own ankle."

Carter loudly crunched on an apple, shooting Leo a smug, arrogant look. "Does your desk buddy treat you this well?"

Leo's male desk buddy, who had been completely minding his own business, slowly looked up: "?"

"But seriously, boss," Leo continued, "what are you gonna do when you go home? You don't have anyone there to take care of you..."

The second half of his sentence died in his throat as Carter shot him a lethally dangerous glare.

That instantly triggered a memory from my past life.

The rumor was that even though Carter's family had obscene wealth, his parents completely neglected him. They constantly forced him to transfer schools for their own business convenience, threw massive amounts of cash at him, and ignored his existence.

Even though kids at school secretly joked, "If I had that much money, I wouldn't care if my parents ignored me," I figured that for Carter himself, it had to hurt.

Thinking of that, I blurted out without thinking: "I'll go to your house and take care of you."

The moment the words left my mouth, both Carter and Leo froze.

Leo scratched his head, speaking first. "That's real sweet of you, sister-in-law, but the boss literally never lets anyone into his penthouse..."

"She can come." Carter cut him off.

I turned to look at him. A slow, wicked grin spread across his face. He drawled, "A promise is a promise. No backing out now."

Carter lived in the penthouse suite of a luxury high-rise in the financial district.

I had always thought that building was strictly for multi-million dollar tech startups. I had no idea there were private residences up there.

I walked in carrying the groceries I'd just bought. Carter pointed lazily toward the massive kitchen. "Put 'em over there."

I looked around frantically, trying to locate an apron.

When I turned back, Carter was already wearing one.

A terrifyingly handsome, aggressive bad boy wearing a frilly, pastel pink apron... It was actually kind of adorable.

I asked in shock, "Wait, aren't I supposed to be cooking?"

Carter had already turned on the faucet and was aggressively washing a head of cabbage. He was leaning against the marble counter, his cast propped up, his brow furrowed in deep concentration like he was battling a mortal enemy.

Specifically, the cabbage.

While waiting for the pan to heat up, he unwrapped a strawberry lollipop, shoved it in his mouth, and mumbled around the stick, "I was just messing with you. You really think I'd make you cook? Today, you get to experience the master's culinary genius."

I watched him flawlessly ignite the stove, perfectly julienne the pork, and expertly chop the vegetables.

My shock grew exponentially by the second.

Maybe my face gave it away, because Carter let out a low chuckle. "What, you thought I was just some spoiled rich kid who's never touched a spatula?"

I gave him a very honest, vigorous nod.

He threw the pork into the sizzling oil, creating a massive hiss of steam.

"You know my family is loaded, right?" Carter said over the noise. "Everyone at school calls me 'The Landlord.'"

"My parents are generous with cash, sure. But whenever we get into a massive fight, they instantly freeze all my accounts. They even warn all our relatives and family friends not to lend me a dime."

"One time, the fight got so bad they cut me off for six straight months. I literally couldn't even afford UberEats. My neighbor took pity on me and gave me some raw vegetables. I ended up burning them to a crisp and couldn't even eat them. But since that day, I forced myself to learn how to cook."

He turned back and gave me a wry smile. "So during that time, every time I walked past those buildings they donated to the school, I wanted to burn them down. Or sell them so I could buy a damn sandwich."

His expression was casual. There was no visible pain or fury. But I just knew, deep down, he wasn't happy.

Even his final joke was just a defense mechanism to keep the atmosphere from getting too depressing.

I opened my mouth, completely unsure of how to comfort him.

At the end of the day, every family had their own poison, right?

"Actually..."

Just as I started to speak, my phone rang.

Seeing the caller ID, my brow instantly furrowed in disgust.

After hesitating for three rings, I answered it.

"Do you know what time it is?! Why aren't you home yet?! Your brother wants dessert from Pan's Bakery, make sure you buy some on your way back... Hello?! Are you deaf?!"

I took a deep breath and hung up without a word.

Carter saw my expression and asked, "Who was that?"

"My dad."

"Oh."

The kitchen fell into a heavy silence. Neither of us pressed the issue.

"Oh, so you finally decided to show up?!"

I opened the front door. The living room was pitch black.

The moment I flicked the light switch, I saw three figures sitting dead center on the worn-out sofa.

The man's unfiltered rage suffocated the cramped apartment, mixing with the stench of cheap cigarettes.

I looked at them with dead, empty eyes, having zero intention of entertaining their drama.

"Yeah. I'm back."

I turned and headed straight for my bedroom.

"Stop right there!"

My apathy only acted like gasoline on the fire.

A heavy glass cup flew past my ear, inches from my head. It slammed into the wall with a deafening CRASH, shattering into a thousand pieces.

The glittering shards scattered across the cheap linoleum, perfectly reflecting my current emotional state:

Numb. Exhausted.

My mother's voice whined from behind me. "Blair, what is wrong with you lately? Coming home so late every night, no one to cook dinner... Have you been hanging out with some shady crowd?"

"Your father is just worried about you. Come here and apologize to him."

I slowly turned around, scanning the "happy family" of three.

If this were my past life, I probably would have let my mother's fake, gentle tone guilt-trip me. I would have walked over and apologized without a second thought.

But having lived through this nightmare once already, my radar for their bullshit was flawless.

Oh, so the real crime here is that I didn't cook their dinner, huh?

It was hilariously tragic. Just like in my past life, when I received my terminal cancer diagnosis. Terrified and desperate, I called them from the hospital. And their very first reaction was:

"Well, we don't know how much time you have left. Why don't you give us the PIN to your bank accounts now, so we can give it to your brother?"

Later, when I legally donated every cent of my life savings to charity, they rushed the hospital like rabid dogs. They literally tried to drag my dying body out of the hospital bed to force me to change my will.

"You ungrateful bitch! You'd rather give our money to strangers than your own family?!"

"Your brother is getting married! We need that money! How could you do this to us?!"

It seemed like absolutely no one cared that the clock was rapidly ticking down on my life.

Maybe that was the exact moment I realized they had never loved me.

Starved for affection in my own home, I desperately tried to extract love from Ethan Vance. But because I had never experienced real love, I loved him in the most pathetic, humiliating way possible.

In my past life, I was trapped in that toxic cycle, which ultimately led to my tragic end.

In this life...

I clenched my fists.

"Are you deaf?! Where is the dessert from Pan's I told you to buy?! Let me guess, you were out whoring around with some random guy and forgot! Ah!"

I grabbed a ceramic mug off the entryway table and hurled it straight at his head.

An eye for an eye. Perfectly fair.

"Keep your filthy mouth shut."

Seeing that I actually dared to attack their precious golden boy, my parents absolutely lost their minds.

"Blair Kensington, you have lost your damn mind! Let's see if I don't beat the life out of you today!"

My dad rolled up his sleeves, lunging forward to grab me.

Even though the mug had missed his face, my brother, Kyle, was still spooked. He jumped up and down, screaming, "I heard about you! You don't even study! You're just chasing some guy named Ethan at school! Was I wrong?! You're out here whoring around, and now you have the nerve to hit me over some guy?!"

"Good god, I can't believe I raised such a shameless, disgusting daughter! Watch what I..."

The living room descended into absolute chaos.

Right before my dad's hand clamped down on me, I twisted sideways, slipped into my bedroom, and slammed the door shut.

THUD. The sound of his skull bouncing off the solid wood door.

"Owww! Fuck! Blair, open this door! If you have the guts, don't ever come out! You ungrateful bitch!"

I locked the deadbolt, completely ignoring the violent pounding on the door.

Ten minutes passed. The pounding escalated into the terrifying sound of a metal hammer smashing against the doorknob.

If they kept this up, they'd breach the door in under five minutes.

"You have a choice! You come out right now, or we smash this door to splinters! I'm counting to three! Three... Two..."

I walked over and yanked the door open.

"Looks like you still have some brains, you..."

My dad probably thought I opened the door out of sheer terror. In this house, the sound I feared more than anything was his countdown.

Because the second he hit "one," a brutal beating was guaranteed.

So when the door opened and he saw my dead, unblinking eyes, he was so shocked he actually choked on his words.

I dragged my rolling suitcase behind me, walking past them like they were invisible.

My mom panicked. "Blair, where do you think you're going?!"

Kyle scoffed from the side. "Oh, playing the runaway teenager card? Do you really think anyone in this house gives a shit about you?"

In the past, a malicious, targeted insult like that would have gutted me. Now? I couldn't care less.

I turned around and looked at them.

"This suitcase, and every piece of clothing inside it, was bought with money I earned from my part-time jobs. Over the years, I've paid for my own tuition and my own food, and I handed every spare cent I made over to you."

"I don't owe you a single thing. If a judge ever rules that I'm legally obligated to pay for your elder care in the future, I will pay the court-mandated minimum. But until that day comes, I hope we never cross paths again. You disgust me."

With that, I dragged my tiny suitcase out the front door.

It was sickeningly ironic. After living in this house for nearly two decades, I realized as I was leaving that I had bought literally every piece of clothing I owned.

And my entire wardrobe fit into one small carry-on.

My speech seemed to lobotomize all three of them.

It wasn't until I was halfway down the hall that I heard their delayed reactions echoing behind me.

"Blair, what are you saying?! Are you really leaving?! Are you really that heartless, abandoning your own mother and father?!"

"Why are you trying to stop her?! I told you, daughters are just ungrateful leeches! So much for being our 'little angel', I spit on her!"

"Just let her leave, Mom! Let's see how long she lasts on the streets. She'll come crawling back here covered in dirt soon enough."

My grip tightened around the handle of my suitcase, and I smiled.

How long will I last?

Just sit back and watch.

10

The pathways in the apartment complex were dark. The sickly yellow streetlights stretched my shadow out long and thin.

Staring at my own silhouette, a sudden, heavy wave of exhaustion washed over me.

Admitting your parents don't love you is an agonizingly difficult thing to do.

Even when you logically know it isn't your fault, you still can't help but ask:

"Is it because I wasn't good enough? Is that why they love Kyle more?"

"No."

!!

My head snapped up.

A boy in a gray hoodie was leaning casually against a rusted lamppost.

The swirl of cigarette smoke blurred his features, but his eyes were piercingly bright.

I stuttered, "W-what are you doing here?"

When I left your penthouse after dinner, weren't you getting ready for bed?

Carter walked over and suddenly pulled me into a fierce, crushing embrace.

His shoulders were broad, his chest radiating heat.

I buried my face in his hoodie, listening to him speak with absolute, unyielding sincerity.

"It is not your fault, Blair. You are incredible. They are the ones who are wrong."

So... he had heard the pathetic question I had unconsciously mumbled out loud.

My voice was muffled against his chest. "Really?"

Carter rested his chin on the top of my head and gave a firm nod.

"Really. I never lie."

My nose started to sting.

I desperately wanted to tell him: Carter, do you have any idea that this is the first time in my existence someone has so firmly chosen me?

My lover in my past life, my own family... they all firmly chose to abandon me.

I also wanted to say: Carter, your cheesy lines are so clich. But thank you. It's exactly what I needed.

But the million thoughts swirling in my head finally bottlenecked, and what actually came out of my mouth was:

"Carter Sterling... didn't you promise me you'd quit smoking?"

The warm embrace suddenly went rigid.

The boy who had just looked capable of carrying the weight of the entire world instantly reverted back to a guilty, panicked high schooler.

He mumbled defensively, "When I saw your face when you answered that phone call today, I knew something bad was gonna happen. I secretly followed you. When I heard the screaming coming from your apartment, I got so anxious I just..."

His voice dropped to a whisper. "I won't do it again."

I looked up into his nervous, shifting eyes, and suddenly, I smiled.

Honestly, he didn't owe me any promises.

My casual request had no real authority over him.

But Carter still treated that single promise like it was sacred law.

So this is what it feels like to be valued.

To have someone willingly hand you their vulnerabilities on a silver platter, even when you have absolutely nothing to offer in return.

Being stared at so intensely, a faint blush crept onto Carter's cheeks. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, aggressively changing the subject.

"So, what's your plan now? You wanna crash at my place for a bit?"

"Sure," I answered without a second of hesitation.

Honestly, the moment I walked out that door, I was already calculating my next move.

Right now, my identity was "high school student." I had zero income and no time to work a part-time job.

Food and daily expenses were manageable. Eating at the school cafeteria cost next to nothing.

Housing was the real nightmare.

In this city, rent for a decent apartment was thousands of dollars a month. With my current status, it was a mathematical impossibility.

Having Carter offer me a temporary sanctuary was a literal lifesaver.

"But" I added quickly, "I'm not freeloading. Once I get some cash together in a few weeks, I'll pay you rent. Deal?"

Carter had looked thrilled when I agreed so quickly.

But the moment I mentioned paying rent, his brows snapped together in annoyance.

However, the frown only lasted a second. He gave a sharp nod, validating my decision.

I smiled gratefully, thanking him silently for protecting my pride.

"So... where exactly are you planning on getting this cash?" Carter asked, raising an eyebrow.

I gave him a highly mysterious smirk. "I have my ways."