Defiant Prince: An Enemies-to-Lovers Romance (Black Rose University Book 1)

by A G Henderson

  I would’ve never made that promise to myself about taking care of other business if I knew she was going to tempt me like this.

  But a promise was a promise. If I broke it and returned to campus, this wasn’t getting done today and then I’d have to wait for another weekend. I didn’t want to wait.

  My eyes slid to the backseat, landing on the chrome baseball bat nestled there. This wouldn’t wait. For this, fate and destiny could hover over my shoulder and watch. Some things needed a nudge to land on the right track and I was the guy for the job.

  Me: As much as I’d love to fuck you cross-eyed right now, I need to see a guy about some broken legs. Fair warning, I’m coming to find you afterward.

  Emily: I was gonna ask what kind of weird euphemism that’s supposed to be, but I changed my mind. I don’t want to know. Don’t keep me waiting too long. If you do, I’ll have no choice but to take matters into my own hands.

  I growled, gripping the steering wheel tight while I text with one hand.

  Me: Don’t you dare.

  Emily: Time is ticking, Ro.

  Fuck.

  God as my witness, I was about to make this six-hour drive take four at max.

  Then again, He might not want to witness what was going to happen to Dylan Oliver when I found his ass.

  29

  Emily

  Me: Thanks for last night.

  I stared at the unsent message, my resolve wavering for no good reason. It wasn’t an unusual text, was it? Thanking someone for great sex didn’t have to be weird. Especially when the things Ambrose had done to me last night deserved so much more than great.

  Revolutionary. Yeah, that fit. It was almost a crime for me to have a monopoly on such a precious resource. Ambrose and his golden dick could change the world one needy vagina at a time. Too bad for the rest of said world I had no interest whatsoever in sharing.

  I snickered to myself, resuming my walk toward my next class. Before I could over-think the decision, I hit send and let the text go. Given how exhausted he’d been last night—at least before our clothes came off—he was probably asleep still anyway. I’d have at least a few hours to rein in the giddy flutter that took over my chest when I thought about him too much.

  Slipping my phone into the back pocket of my denim skirt, I took my time and let my eyes roam across the campus.

  It felt...weird how comfortable I was already. I’d been halfway dreading the possibility of being here from the moment the acceptance letter arrived. That feeling had only intensified after the car ride from hell followed by Renata’s I’m the baddest bitch in the land performance.

  Admittedly, things had been touch and go there for a bit.

  While Renata’s bark wound up being worse than her bite, my brother’s cold shoulder combined with Ambrose’s back and forth personality switches hadn’t been easy to bear. It was one thing to claim I could make it through four years of that on sheer will. It was another to live it day in and day out.

  And that was without including the clusterfuck of my parent’s relationship, assuming that’s what it was in the first place.

  It didn’t make sense to me. They’d split for a reason. It sounded cruel, but I didn’t understand how Mom overdosing resulted in them walking around arm in arm like the last several years hadn’t happened.

  Then again, I didn’t understand the separation in the first place. They loved each other. I’d seen it, even if I hadn’t seen it as much as I would’ve liked. They said vows and made promises to never part whether it be in sickness or health, in good times or bad.

  Did that mean nothing?

  Or was I just wired differently?

  Maybe I’d ask them when I finally stopped dodging their calls and texts. But I knew one thing as I walked into class and took my seat. That conversation wasn’t going to happen today.

  I was happy, light, and—excuse my French—well-fucked. I hadn’t known an afterglow could linger into the next day. I’d be damned if I let family bullshit darken my fluffy cloud.

  That resolve got me through my next several classes without distraction. And when I walked out of the last one, it helped me keep my lips tightly sealed when Erik appeared at my side and fell into step beside me.

  I sliced my eyes toward him while we walked across campus, waiting for either an accusation or an insult to come flying from his lips. Sensing my stare, he glanced my way and went back to ignoring me. Nerves tightened my spine. He’d been clear about wanting nothing to do with me. I found it unlikely that he’d sought me out with good news.

  He lit a joint casual as anything, and I must’ve made a sound because he gave me another quick look.

  “Relax,” Erik said on an aggravated rumble. “Nobody is going to say a damn thing.”

  “Right, sorry. I forgot you were supposed to be a big shot around here. It’s hard to superimpose that image over the little boy I knew that was scared to death of spiders.”

  He glared.

  I smiled.

  Strange as it sounded, it felt damn good to be back on more familiar territory.

  “I’m not the weird one for hating spiders,” he said. “They’re fucking creepy.”

  “They—”

  “—have their own role they play in the animal kingdom. Yada, yada, blah, blah, blah.”

  My heart squeezed and I examined him more closely. He looked away, taking a long drag that made the red embers glow.

  “You remember,” I said softly.

  “Unfortunately.”

  Behold the joys of family. Can’t live with ‘em. Can’t get away with strangling ‘em either.

  I sighed and shook my head. What was I thinking? That we’d share a childhood memory and his hard shell would crack, revealing a friendly, welcoming version of my brother instead of this asshole replacement?

  “Will you stop that already?” he complained, fiddling with his lighter.

  I frowned. “Stop what?”

  “Looking at me like I steal candy from children when I have free time.”

  “I’m not—” I cut myself off before I finished the lie. “Fine. I’ll try not to judge you for being an evil man whore.”

  He grunted. “Works for me. Here”—he offered the joint to me—”this’ll help mellow you out some.”

  “Thanks but no thanks. Did you hit your head? I just called you a man whore. I don’t know where your lips have been.”

  He shrugged and crushed the rest underfoot before grabbing my elbow and pulling me to a stop.

  “And you were doing so well,” I said, sarcasm dripping from my tongue to stain the immaculate sidewalk.

  “Cut the shit,” he told me. “Maybe I should be asking you where your lips have been.”

  “Since you already know...that would be pointless.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Do I? Yeah, I’ve seen you with my boy, but I haven’t missed all the other guys that come chasing in behind those short skirts.”

  “All the other guys?” I’d never been a fan of air quotes, but this was a suitable time for it. “You have to mean my classmates since no one else has dared since that party.”

  I tried not to preen as I made that statement; easier said than done. Being independent enough to have your own agency was something to be treasured. Too many girls didn’t have that freedom, and I felt grateful to be among the lucky few.

  But knowing that Ambrose had basically pissed a circle around me didn’t stir any of the negative feelings it probably should have.

  What could I say? Having the king of the jungle ready to devour everyone except you was a damn potent recipe.

  “Make sure it stays that way,” he grumbled, letting me go.

  Realization dawned and a slow smile spread across my face. “Is this you warning me to treat your friend right? Shouldn’t this be the other way around?”

  “Us sharing blood is an unfortunate twist of fate.”

  Jeez. Tell me how you really feel.

  “He might get on my last fucking nerve,” Eri
k continued, “but when it comes down to it, Ambrose is a brother to me. He’s in over his head with you, and even though he can’t see it right now—and he won’t listen if I try to tell him—I owe it to him to watch his back.”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose. It was hard to tell whether I was more hurt, annoyed, or confused.

  “Because I look like a knife-wielding maniac?” I asked. “I swear I’ve only thought about stabbing him a few times.”

  “God, your jokes are still shit,” he complained. “I’m telling you right now, don’t fuck this up. Forget making your ass miserable for the next four years. I’ll have you put out of here so fast your head will spin.”

  Pain seared my chest. My eyes stung and I blinked it away, hopefully before he noticed. When I thought I could speak without my voice cracking, I said, “So you’ll just abandon me. Again.” My eyes flicked between his, watching his face cloud over. “Do I really mean that little to you?”

  Erik bit down on his lip and backed away. I would’ve given anything to know what he was thinking while he stood there, considering me. It was an especially cruel joke that he was within arm’s reach yet he managed to feel farther away than when we’d been in separate zip codes.

  “Dad knows you’re avoiding him,” he said finally. “You’ll have to talk to him at some point.”

  “And Mom?”

  He shrugged, walking away. Over his shoulder, he called, “She’s no mom to me. Just a selfish, narcissist.” His eyes flickered over me, a shadow passing behind them. “Guess we’ll see if it got passed on.”

  I’d forgotten how comfortable Ambrose’s Porsche was until I found myself back inside of it a few days later.

  It also made me laugh to know Death drove a white car with tons of horsepower. Talk about on the nose.

  While he drove, I closed my eyes, let myself sink into the cushions with a happy sigh, and kicked my sandals off. His low chuckle floated to me over the sound of “Damaged Goods” by Black Pistol Fire coming from the speakers—convincing him to play music had been part of the negotiations that led us to this moment.

  “For someone who wanted to stay in the house and study,” he said, voice soft and oh so tempting, “you managed to get comfortable pretty quick.”

  “Some of us can’t pull invisible strings to stay enrolled. We have to do peasant things like attend our classes and study for upcoming quizzes. Maybe you’ve had to take at least one of those.”

  “Once or twice,” he said with a smile I could hear. “Look in the glove compartment.”

  I peeked at him from the corner of one eye. His lip was curled at the edge like he was already laughing about whatever I’d find. It wasn’t a question about if I would look or not. How could it be?

  As much as I wanted to remain aloof and unconcerned about the mystery that made up the painfully handsome guy beside me, it got harder to manage each day that our truce continued to hold.

  We’d spent the majority of the last few days together, usually at his place at my insistence. Turns out he hadn’t been quite as inconspicuous as he thought when he snuck into the dorm the other night. If one more co-ed asked me how big his dick was, I was going to lose it.

  Renata had squashed the loudest gawkers beneath her pointy heels, but stopping gossip completely was like trying to catch and tame a unicorn. Spending my time at the Tarot’s crib ended up being the lesser of two evils—Erik’s warning glares and Chrom’s inability to butt out notwithstanding.

  Point of the matter being that I’d gotten a front-row seat to Ambrose being more than a brooding dictator. He laughed at silly jokes, complained about movie characters making dumb decisions, peeled the crust off his sandwiches like a little kid—which I’d given him endless shit about.

  Separated from the world at large, Ambrose was...normal. And that, more than anything, made me wonder why he chose to wear the impenetrable armor of defiance and disregard everywhere else.

  The urge was strong enough to make me abandon my reclined position and flip the glove compartment open, exposing a bag with folded paperwork. Since Ambrose didn’t give me any other instructions, I opened the bag and flipped through registration, insurance...a valedictorian award from what I guessed was his high school.

  I waved it through the air, sure I had the right thing when his smile widened enough to show a hint of white teeth.

  “Look at you with your fancy four-point-three GPA,” I teased. “Were you one of those students that corrected the teacher?”

  His shoulder lifted and fell. “If they’re wrong, they’re wrong. That’s not my problem.”

  Laughter spilled from my lips before my raised hands could catch it, and then I couldn’t stop. He just looked so damn pleased with himself and it was killing me.

  I could easily picture a slightly younger Ambrose with his eyebrow raised and a correction sitting on the tip of his tongue ready to roll off in the most condescending manner possible.

  He smiled as I lost all control, howling into the night like a banshee while tears gathered at the corners of my eyes.

  I caught my breath and managed to say, “Why?” A peal of giggles followed, and I started over. “Why are you driving around with this? Do you just choose random times to flex how big your brain is?”

  “I could,” he rumbled, reaching over to let his hand settle on my thigh.

  That simple touch sobered me, and my breath caught. At some point during the week, his behavior had changed so subtly I almost missed it. Ambrose no longer grasped me like I’d turn to smoke beneath his fingers otherwise. His hand settled on my thigh, fingers flexing, like this—us—was a given.

  He touched me like I was his, and the denial I should’ve been holding onto got swallowed by the sheer rightness of it.

  Those dark eyes flicked to me before I could clear my expression. They turned darker still as he took in my parted lips and slight flush. I was fully clothed, but I’d never been more naked and defenseless.

  As if he knew it, he squeezed my thigh and turned back to the road while we left behind the metropolitan parts of the city.

  “I had to hide it from my parents,” he said after a comfortable pause.

  Tilting my head, I peered at him. “Why? I have to poke at you because it’s my sworn duty, but wouldn’t they be proud?”

  His lip quirked. “Sworn duty?”

  “Don’t try to distract me while I’m on the case. Spill.”

  His bark of laughter did funny things to my chest. “Whatever you say, detective. And the issue is that they’d be too proud. I won a spelling bee in elementary school and they copied the damn certificate and framed it on multiple walls. It took years for me to get them taken down.”

  I thought about the well-dressed couple I’d met for that botched brunch, but I hadn’t gotten a chance to form a distinct impression before my mom’s venom poisoned the entire thing.

  “Are you that guy, Ambrose LaCroix? The apple of your parent’s eyes? Because I’d honestly love to see it.”

  “Maybe you will,” he said softly, turning onto a service road I hadn’t noticed. “They want me to invite you for dinner. Soon.”

  My breathing stalled. I hadn’t met many parents before—and by many I meant none—but that seemed like a very official step. Yeah, I’d technically met his parents, except that was...before.

  Before I welcomed his presence instead of dreading it.

  Before he kept me from falling apart after Mom tried to tear me down.

  Before he asked for permission to kiss me when there wasn’t a damn thing in this city he couldn’t take.

  “You’re thinking too hard,” he said.

  Long fingers captured my chin, turning my face toward him. We’d stopped at some point, and I could see a row of cars over his shoulder. I flicked my eyes left and right and felt a smile lift my lips as I spotted more cars along with a giant screen several feet ahead.

  “You brought me to a drive-in movie,” I said, giving him my full attention as my smile blossomed. “If y
ou wanted to get lucky tonight, you could’ve just gotten me a pizza and taken me home. I’m not hard to please.”

  He pulled me closer, capturing my mouth in a searing kiss that had me considering how limber I was these days. There wasn’t a ton of room in his backseats, but if he kept lapping at my tongue like that and letting his hand roam down my front, I’d be willing to risk the cramp.

  Possibly sensing that I was about to climb into his lap, Ambrose sat back, tongue darting out for a last taste of me.

  This guy. My lady boner was in pain.

  “Make no mistake,” he growled, eyes black with lust. “I could rip your clothes off a thousand times and never stop worshipping the sight. But for some strange reason, I find myself actually enjoying your company.”

  “That’s because I’m awesome.” I tucked my legs beneath me as the screen up front flickered.

  He grinned, hand falling to my thigh again. “I know.”

  My pulse fluttered.

  Say it. Spit it out and get it over with.

  I cleared my throat. “Glad we clarified that. Hopefully, your parents agree when we all...hang out or whatever.”

  My face became an open flame.

  He looked at me.

  I made sure not to look at him.

  Then the movie started, sparing either of us from acknowledging the reality we were still skirting around.

  30

  Emily

  Friday rolled around, and I was in such a good mood that Renata didn’t even want to walk with me.

  “You’re a fire hazard!” she complained, trying to free her arm from my grip as I dragged her alongside me. “At any second, the sun is going to shine from your ass and my tan is already perfect, thank you very much. I don’t need any more rays.”

  “Come on, indulge me for just a bit and be happy! I mean, it’s already such a nice day and all. Just look at this great weather we’re having.”

  I flung my arm out, ignoring her disbelieving scoff and following eye roll.