by J Bree
There’s no one in the halls on the way over there; not a single teacher comes out to see who’s walking around, and though I don’t attempt to be quiet, my bare feet don’t make a sound on the polished oak floors.
It both pisses me off and eases some of the panic in my chest that the Mounty had extra locks installed on the door. I have to knock because Avery won’t give me a key now that she has a roommate, something else I’m fucking livid about.
There’s never been a locked door between us before. There’s never been a need for it, neither of us have ever given a shit about privacy and the only person in our family that I’d gut for walking in on her is Blaise, and he’s still fucking freaked about me thinking he’s into her.
The idea of either of them being interested in each other is fucking laughable, but I’d never tell him that.
It’s too funny watching his panic.
The door opens a fraction and it takes my eyes a second to adjust but when they do, I find the Mounty staring at me like I’ve shown up on her doorstep dressed like the fucking Devil himself.
“Yes?” Her voice is barely more than a squeak and it irritates me.
Why is she acting like this? Why the fuck is she being all meek and weird when normally she’s nothing but acerbic wit and fire?
“I’m not here for you,” I snap and I nudge her out of the way with my shoulder. She grumbles under her breath but doesn’t bitch me out for it, just locks up and climbs back into bed.
Avery is alive.
Alive and asleep, completely unaware of my panicked searching for her.
I climb onto her bed and the movement wakes her up. She looks pissed for a second but the moment her head clears and she sees me, she knows. I glare over my shoulder at the Mounty because I don’t want her listening in but she slips a ratty set of headphones into her ears and turns her back on us both, the closest to privacy she can give us without leaving altogether.
I want to argue with her and tell her to fuck off for the night, but Avery tugs on my hand until I lie down with her.
“Tell me. Tell me everything and get it out.”
I shake my head. “I can’t. You don’t need to know the details. Just… just let me sleep here.”
She nods but her hand stays tucked in mine and even though I can tell she tries to stay awake with me, when I’m calm and quiet she slips back into sleep. I move to the couch a few hours later, when it’s clear I’m going to sleep too.
I don’t want to hurt her in my sleep if I lash out.
Chapter Seven
Blaise
The problem with Hannaford being one of the most prestigious and exclusive schools in the world is that the faculty has to keep the families of the students updated about behavior and grades at all times.
Avery can keep my records clean about my behavior, but I’ve never let her touch my grades.
It was tempting, fuck it still is, but there’s no point in lying about my grades. I’m not going to college, I’m not taking over Kora, and I’m never going to be the prodigal son that he so desperately wants me to be.
I just need to do well enough that he leaves me alone.
I tell myself that it’s desperation that leads me to the Mounty’s door, that I’m so fucking behind in all of my classwork because she’s the only one who can actually make me understand the inane bullshit we’re forced to learn. I think I’ll keep telling myself that it’s not my fault that she draws me into her, that she keeps showing up in my lyric book, that little pieces of her circle around in my head until I want to write them out.
I keep lying to myself to keep the fragile peace between the only people who have ever loved me for who I really am and not the expectations of what they were hoping I’d become.
I knock before I can chicken out, texting Avery to get to the Mounty would be the coward’s way of operating and I’m not that guy.
When Lips opens the door, I smirk at the state of her because it’s so goddamn rare for me to see her out of uniform. She grimaces at me like I’m a problem.
I guess that’s fair.
Ash has been nothing but a dick to her and I usually only ever show up here with him so it’s a safe bet that I’d be here to cause her trouble.
“Avery is in the shower. You're welcome to hang out on the couch until she's out.”
I should be nicer to her but instead I go with teasing, maybe even flirty because there’s no one here to stop me. “I'm here for you, Mounty.”
Her eyes narrow at me for a second and then she drags her eyes over me, slowly taking in every detail of my appearance from head to toe. It’s a fucking weird feeling and it takes me a second to realize that it’s because she never looks at me. Not really, she glances at me or maintains eye contact when she has to, but even when she’s tutoring me she keeps her eyes on the work in front of us.
I can tell she likes what she sees and fuck if that doesn’t make me reconsider my plan to just try to forget about this attraction to her.
The grin on my face is so fucking wide and I’m about to do something fucking stupid when she bursts that little bubble.
“No thanks.”
What the fuck?
I manage to jam my foot in the doorway right as she tries to slam the fucking thing in my face. “Mounty, for fuck’s sake. Hear me out. Please.”
She hesitates.
She fucking hesitates, but with a sigh she finally steps away and I push the door open again. I straighten myself up and try not to get fucking fidgety now she’s looking at me even more like I’m a fucking problem.
Why did I think this would be easy?
“Right,” I clear my throat, and just fucking lay it out there, “I’ve made another deal with my dad. If I graduate senior year with a 3.0 GPA or higher, he’s going to let me take a gap year without pitching a fit. I want to fit in a world tour and a new album. I also want to use that time to convince my parents that college isn’t for me.”
With another sigh, she motions me into the room.
The place is immaculate like always, the shower running so I know where Avery is. Thank fuck she didn’t see Lips shut me down, the hell she would give me for it would be a fucking nightmare to endure and if Harley caught wind of it? No fucking thanks. The coffee machine starts beeping and I swear Lips’ eyes damn near roll back into her head at the sound.
“You didn’t need to come here; I already tutor you. We can go through all of your syllabi and get a plan together on how we’re going to make it work,” she mumbles as she stalks toward the kitchen.
She fixes us both a coffee, sliding a cup and the fixings over to me, all without looking at me. Now that I’ve noticed it, I can’t stop myself from eyeballing her and wanting to figure her out. Does she ever look at me? It’s not like she’s fucking shy—did I really put her off of me that badly last year and now we’re not ever really going to be friends?
Why does that bother me so much?
I shove that thought away. “Lance is taking up too much of your time. Ash would back off and let you work with me in peace but the little Mounty fuck wouldn’t.”
The glare she levels at me is fucking savage.
Fuck.
I choose my words carefully, gritting them out because I fucking hate feeling this exposed. “I don’t want Lance to know how much trouble I have with my classes. He’s an arrogant asshole and I’d rather not have to beat the shit out of him if he runs his mouth. If Avery finds out, it’ll be the next Mounty hunt.”
She startles a little and glances at me before looking away quickly like I’ve shocked her but, I mean, she knows how fucking useless I am at my classwork.
None of this is news to her.
My skin starts to prickle with hot irritation and I start chewing on my lip to distract myself from it. I fucking hate talking about this shit but before I lash out and say something stupid, she scrubs a hand over her face like she’s clearing her head.
She holds up three fingers and, fuck yes, I’ve won. “Three rules.�
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I nod.
“One: you’ll come to every study session on time and with the agreed work done before. If I’m going to put in the time and effort you will too. I don’t care if it’s wrong and we have to redo it, you have to give everything a go.”
Easy. “Agreed. Next?”
“Rule two: you’ll show me respect while we study. We can do it here, Avery has ballet and dance most nights so we can pick a few nights a week and we’ll be left to it but I’m not having you get pissy and tearing into me for no reason. Save that for the dining hall or parties or some shit.”
Jesus fucking Christ, I can’t even argue with her for adding that one in. “Yep. Next?”
“Rule three is simple: don’t tell Ash.”
What the fuck? “Why? He wouldn’t give a shit.”
She scoffs at me and heads to the sink to wash out her cup. “He lost his mind over you sleeping here after the party. He cornered me and told me to stay the fuck away from you and Harley. He’s practically pissed on your leg to assert his ownership of you.”
Fuck me.
I know he’s been an ass about her and Avery being friends but I didn’t know he’d been that bad about it all. I wonder if Harley knows about this? He’d be fucking pissed if he found out his little Mounty is avoiding us both for Ash’s sake. “Alright. But I’m going to have a chat with him about you.”
She shakes her head at me. “I don’t need your help. He’ll figure it out on his own.”
I tell myself that I’m not going to try to impress Lips because this isn’t about getting to know her or forming a friendship; this is about getting to tour during the summer break without my parents being up my ass about it, and getting the fuck away from my father’s special brand of disappointment at my inability to do all of the shit he finds easier than breathing.
The problem is that Ash turns up after his tutoring with a shitty attitude over me not showing up and there’s fucking nothing I can say about it without breaking one of the rules right off the bat.
I could.
I could probably even convince him not to tell her about it, we’ve been friends for long enough that he’d leave that detail out of his campaign to get her away from Avery, but something about the way that Lips asked me not to tell him has me shutting my mouth.
Not once has she asked me for anything in return for helping me out. Not even when Ash laid out to her exactly how much she could have charged me for her services, money that wouldn’t even register to my bank account but could’ve probably fed her for months back in the slums she comes from.
“I thought you wanted to actually do well this year? Have you found a new tutor or has Harley decided to stop being an asshole to you to get you away from his little Mounty love?”
The sneering tone is fucking annoying, he never pulls that shit with me and certainly not about this. He knows better than anyone how bad my dad really is and he’s gone toe-to-toe with him for me on more than one occasion.
“I’ve sorted something else out… I didn’t want to put up with that Mounty asshole all fucking year and he’s chasing her like she’s a bitch in heat.”
Ash scoffs and pours himself a drink, just a single glass because he’s going down to the dining hall to eat with Avery and walk her to her dance class. It’s a decent gauge of his mood; one glass means he needs something to take off the edge but it’s not that bad. Two means he’s going to beat someone bloody, three is heads-will-roll, and anything more than that is a ‘call Avery’ situation because if she hears about it from the gossip mills of Hannaford she’ll be over here making us regret waking the hell up.
I triple check my bag has all of my homework in it so I’m not sticking to her rules, and then I sling it over my shoulders as my phone buzzes. Perfect, Avery finally gets back to me about what to grab for dinner and I’m definitely going to make a good impression for our first night studying together.
I’m halfway to the door when Ash drawls, “It’s probably for the best that you stay away from her anyway. Harley’s getting fucking precious about her and even if she pants after you, she still doesn’t want to fuck you.”
My spine snaps straight and I give him a look over my shoulder. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Don’t tell me you’re that fucking obsessed with her that you’ve tripped into petty fucking jealousies now.”
His lip curls and I think we’re about to fucking fight. Harley will have fucking kittens if he comes back from his classes early and catches us.
“She told me. She said that it doesn’t matter how much she’s into your music, she doesn’t want to fuck you. Apparently she really does only spread her legs for Mounty slum trash.”
I don’t know if I’m pissed at her saying that or for the way that he’s still talking down about her, but I shove the thoughts out of my head and slam the door on my way out of the room.
His words bounce around in my head the entire way to Haven and back. When I make my way up to the girls’ room, I try to look both innocent and studious when Avery opens the door for me but she’s not buying it at all, which is dumb because I really am just here for the tutoring.
She still doesn’t want to fuck you.
Why the hell is that bothering me so much and why, exactly, did Ash sound so fucking smug about it?
“If you so much as breathe wrong in her direction, I will make your life an absolute misery, Blaise Morrison. I will ruin you.”
I roll my eyes as I brush past her and into the room, lifting the pizza boxes up like they’re evidence. “Why would I feed her if I’m planning shady shit? I just need to pass my classes. You should be happy about this! I’m on your team about her joining our little circle… we’ll finally be a circle too, not an oddly misshapen square.”
She huffs at me and delicately pulls on a pair of pristinely white dancing shoes. “Yes, and when was the last time you sided against Ash? Never. Never in more than a decade of you two being attached at the hip and following each other into the depths of hell, so excuse me for not believing that you’re here to start something that I will end. Because I will end it, Morrison, and I’ll take your will to live with it.”
Jesus fucking Christ.
“Avery, she’s the only person who has ever been able to explain math or biology to me without my brain fucking frying. That’s it. That’s the whole story.”
Her eyes narrow at me as she watches me set myself up on the floor and even though I’m careful to follow all of her meticulous tidiness rules, I can feel the judgement radiating toward me.
By the time I’m finally set up, she hesitates at the door for a second before saying, “She doesn’t want to fuck you so don’t try anything because if you make her uncomfortable, I’ll tell Ash about your little crush. We both know this isn’t a notch-on-the-bedpost thing.”
Why the fuck is everyone pointing out just how badly this girl doesn’t want me?
I’m too busy fucking fuming about that to notice that she’s gone but the sound of keys in the door again snaps me out of it.
I didn’t think her rules would be so fucking hard to stick to on the very first fucking day, but here we are. I take a deep breath to try to calm the hell down.
“You’re late, Mounty.”
She rolls her eyes at me but there’s a little smirk on her face that softens it. “Just let me get changed and then we can start.”
I nod and shove a slice of the pizza into my mouth. She starts the coffee machine on her way to the bathroom and it only takes her a second to come back out in a pair of yoga pants and a sweater. They’re huge on her and when she pulls her hair back up into a high ponytail, I shove the rest of the slice into my mouth and start messing around with my papers so I don’t say something fucking stupid like ‘hey, Mounty, when you do finally look at me why does it feel as though you want to know what my cum tastes like if you don’t actually want to spread those fucking perfect legs for me?’
Jesus.
Stop thinking about her legs.
Yoga pants are the devil.
She sits down and hands me a cup of coffee, perfectly made. I push her pizza box over to her and when she opens it, her eyes narrow.
“Did you ask Avery to get us dinner?”
I feel like I’ve won something here. “Nah, I drove into Haven to get it. She told me what you’d eat though. You didn’t tell her I was studying here?”
I scratch at my chest and when her eyes drop down to the movement, I see that same hunger there. Why the fuck is she the most confusing girl I’ve ever been around, and why does that make me want her more?
I’m in deep shit here.
I need to just admit that so I can figure out what to do about it.
She takes a deep gulp of the coffee and says, “I forgot. I’m busier this year and there’s more to do now that I’m keeping Avery safe.”
Shit.
She does look tired as hell. “Is she safe?”
“As safe as I can get her. Look, I’ve had a rough day. I appreciate you grabbing us dinner, I wouldn’t have eaten otherwise. Can we get into this so I can try to get a few hours of sleep?”
I nod and we fall into a quiet studying session, the hour passing quickly as she gently walks me through everything I’ve done wrong without any judgement or teasing. I never feel like shit when she does it, even when I’ve fucked up so badly that it takes longer for her to undo the mess than it takes for her to take me through it the right way. I’m almost pissed when Avery texts to say Ash is walking her back from dance and she clucks at me to get out of here to avoid a fight.
When we both stand, I decide that I might not be able to have her, but I can work at actually being her friend. A real one. So I pull my iPod out of my pocket and offer it to her. She stares at it for a second before she takes it hesitantly.
“What's this?”
“A playlist. If we're going to be friends then I'm taking advantage of your good taste in music. Give it a listen and let me know what you like. I’ll grab it next week so wipe it and make me a list.”