by J Bree
He has the decency to look sheepish, but not quite enough to apologize. “Yep. Next?”
“Rule three is simple: don’t tell Ash.”
This gets me a frown and a stern eye. “Why? He wouldn’t give a shit.”
I scoff at him and move to rinse out my now empty 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.”
Blaise’s frown deepens and he chews on those damn lips of his again. “Alright. But I’m going to have a chat to him about you.” I’m shaking my head before he even finishes the sentence.
“I don’t need your help. He’ll figure it out on his own.”
I sound way more confident than I am but, hey, I’m faking it until I make it.
Harley laughs at me when I hand him my completed half of our history assignment. I glare back at him but it only makes him laugh harder.
When he finally settles down he hands me his completed half and I groan at him. “Can you just tell me which half you’re doing for the rest of them? I have a lot more on my plate this year helping Avery and tutoring.”
Harley just grins and shakes his head. He is absolutely breathtaking. Literally, I can’t breathe if I look at him for longer than a second. But I’m seriously tempted to scratch his eyes out right then.
He reads this on my face and his grin grows wider. Asshole. “I forgot to tell you. I’ve dealt with our Rory issue. Take him off Aves’ planner.”
I straighten, surprised. “What did you do?”
Avery and I had been torn on the best way to get rid of him. I wanted something permanent, like death or severe mutilation. I daydream sometimes about carving the word rapist into his face so every woman he encounters from then onwards would know the type of guy he really is. Avery enjoys public humiliation better. She’s been digging around in his emails, texts, social media, anything she can to find something to destroy him with. Nothing so far.
Harley waves the teacher over to hand him our completed assignment. He’s damn near preening as the entire class glares at us both. “Have you ever been to a football game at Hannaford? The hotdogs are pretty good.”
My eyes narrow. “Not yet. Is there one coming up? I do like hotdogs.”
I love the smug look on his face, it’s laced with a dark, malicious glee that I know all too well. “Friday night. Everyone leaves for the fall break when it finishes. Bring Aves and we’ll make a night of it.”
I nod and smile back at him, happy and relieved it’s been taken care of. Harley’s grin slips a little and he glances away from me. I try really hard to not be offended that he doesn’t like the look of my smiling face. I know I’m not ugly. I’m still on the scrawny side but the food at Hannaford and Avery’s constant supply of coffee and ice cream means I’m filling in and I have some cleavage. Not a lot but enough to no longer look like a twelve-year-old boy. My ass is also nicely rounded, which was a bit of a surprise to me. I’ve honestly never eaten enough to have any sort of an ass and my mom had always been the sort of skinny only drug addicts can be. Avery tells me it’s a good look in my booty shorts that I love so much so I know I’m not hideous.
I focus on my classwork, and not my wounded ego, and he doesn’t try to speak to me again. When the class finishes I head straight to the library for my tutoring sessions so I can take a minute to pick my brain up off the floor and remember why I don’t ever get involved with guys.
Why am I not a lesbian?
By the time Ash arrives I’m mostly settled. He gives me a curt nod and hands over a pile of assignments for me to look through. Lance arrives as I hand it all back. He smiles at me like I’m his long lost lover and I’m pissed off that I’ll have to try and manage this crush he seems to have. The whispers from the other students don’t seem to be affecting him at all. The fight with Blaise hasn’t even been enough to get him to drop out of my tutoring sessions. He’s got a much thicker skin than I expected and that only pisses me off more.
Half an hour in, it becomes clear Blaise isn’t coming to the session. I know the reason why but the frown on Ash’s face tells me Blaise didn’t warn him he’d dropped out.
“Scared the crappy singer off?” Lance laughs and I don’t even try to pretend to find it funny. He keeps looking at me through his eyelashes and I’m cringing away from him.
“You’ll need to come up with better insults than that. The guy sings like a fucking audible orgasm.”
That throws him off. Lance blanches and gapes at me. “Audible…orgasm?”
Ash squints at me like he’s waiting for the insult to come out and I ignore him. “Yep. I’ve been listening to his music for years and I love every fucking second of it so pick something else to insult him about. Like his shitty attitude or his man-whoring ways.”
Ash snorts and then slaps a hand over his mouth like he’s just been caught cavorting with the enemy. I roll my eyes at him and get back to work. Lance sulks pathetically. I swear the guys at this school are all moody, temperamental shits.
When the hour is up Lance leaves with barely a goodbye. I pack up my stuff but Ash just stares at me. I wait him out.
“No longer embarrassed about your obsession?” Ash sneers at me, but it really looks like he’s forcing it. Like he doesn’t want me to know he is interested in the answer but I’m now a fucking expert in Beaumont Bullshitting. I see right through him.
“Nope. Avery is obsessed with Ed Sheeran and she’s choreographed her entire ballet performance piece this year to one of his songs. Does that mean she wants to fuck the ginger? No. Last year I got flustered around Blaise because I was completely unaware that he went here and I’d be facing someone I’d spent years listening to. I admire his vocal talent. Does not mean I want to fuck him or stalk him or… any of the other things you’ve accused me of. So, get over it.”
Ash folds his arms and leans back in his seat. “Hypothetically, if Morrison wanted to fuck you—“
I cut him off. “I’m not fucking any guy from Hannaford, hypothetically or otherwise. No one. Not a single one. No one will win the damn bet.”
I mean every word.
He doesn’t have to know it’s not exactly by choice.
I get back to the dorms and pass Avery in the hall. She’s dressed for her contemporary dance class and her bag is slung over her shoulder. She quirks an eyebrow at me and pulls me into a hug. I startle but then she whispers, “There’s a rock star waiting in our rooms for his tutor.”
Crap. I’d forgotten to tell Avery.
I pull back and scrunch my nose up at her. She just laughs and heads to dance class with a wave. I have eight steps left to get myself together and then I’m opening the door to find Blaise sprawled out on the floor with pizza boxes. Where the hell he found the pizza is beyond me but the smell is practically orgasmic to my empty stomach.
“You’re late, Mounty.” He teases and I lock the door behind me. I roll my eyes at him because I’m three minutes late and he’s being an ass about it even though he’s never made it on time before.
“Just let me get changed and then we can start.”
He nods and shoves another slice into his mouth. I flick the coffee machine on as I head into the bathroom and quickly pull on some yoga pants and a sweater. I look like a toddler wearing her dad’s clothes but it also feels a little like armor. I know I look like crap so it’s totally okay if Blaise thinks I do too. I wonder if I could convince the teachers to let me wear it to class as well?
I sit down and hand Blaise a cup. He pushes a box closer to me and when I open it I find a chicken, bacon, and mushroom pizza. My favorite. My eyes narrow.
“Did you ask Avery to get us dinner?” I ask as I gulp down some coffee. I’m exhausted and by the looks of the piles of assignments Blaise isn’t planning on having a slack evening.
“Nah, I drove into Haven to get it. She told me what you’d eat though. You didn’t tell her I was stud
ying here?” He scratches his chest and I can’t help but admire the tattoos peeking out from the collar of his Henley shirt.
“I forgot. I’m busier this year and there’s more to do now that I’m keeping Avery safe.”
Blaise stares at me for a second then he chews his bottom lip. “Is she safe?”
Fuck I hope so. “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?”
He nods and we fall into a quiet studying session, the hour passing quickly. Avery texts to say Ash is walking her back from dance and I start to pack Blaise up to avoid a fight.
When we both stand Blaise holds out an iPod. It’s an old one, nothing special, and it’s scuffed and scratched. I take 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.”
My heart flutters and I silently tell it to calm the fuck down. He wants to swap music with me? That’s an irresistible move and I’m sure he knows it, too. What the hell is he playing at?
“How do you know I have good taste?”
Blaise grins at me and then sucks on his bottom lip, rolling it between his teeth. I force myself not to watch the action because I may drool.
“Well, you like Vanth. I'm assuming your taste must be decent.”
Then he leaves. I stare at the cushions he was sitting on, stunned, and then with a smile I put the headphones on and listen to the little piece of his soul he’s gifted me.
Chapter Eight
I wake up on Friday filled with nervous, excitable energy.
Avery laughs at me as I jitter my way around the kitchen and bathroom and she tries to cut off my caffeine supply. A solid deathly glare fixes that.
“We’ll meet at the library after class to sort out your biology notes. We can leave there together to go to the football game,” I say as I wash out my cup. Avery is fussing with her hair in the bathroom with the door open so she can snark at me. She’s less than ecstatic about Harley asking us to go to the football game, she hates every single thing about the sport. Only the lure of watching Rory’s downfall manages to convince her.
Harley notices my energy but doesn’t comment until our last class for the day. He gives me a little grin, evil twinkling in his stunning blue eyes, and says, “See you there, Mounty.”
I take a second to remember that oxygen is something I need and then I head off to meet Avery. She beats me there and is sitting at my tutoring desk, already working on the notes.
I sit and try not to fidget.
“What’s your truth for the day?” I say. I’d woken up determined to tell Avery who I really was and how we’re going to use that to sort Joey out. Now that Rory was off the list and Annabelle was, apparently, on limited time we had to focus on the real danger in the school. The only problem is I’m shitting myself about telling her. I’m actually happy for the first time in my life. I have a best friend, I have two other sort-of friends, and I’m hopeful Ash will come around. Avery already knows I have some involvement in the Twelve and the shady, criminal world that comes with it but knowing I am a member? Knowing what I do for money? That might be a deal breaker. I should have told her sooner.
Avery surveys the room with a cold look. Students scurry away from our table and she smirks at me. “Hmm. When I was nine I failed a spelling test. My mother had just died and I didn’t care about anything. I wanted to die as well but I was afraid of leaving Ash. Anyway, the teacher said she would have to call my father and tell him about it. I knew what he would do to me if he found out and instead of being scared, I got angry. I’d heard all about this teacher from my mother’s book club, which was basically a front for day drinking and gossiping. I knew she was married to a doctor and lived a really great life. I also knew that the man that picked her up for lunch every day was not her husband. I’d seen her lipstick on his neck and made the deduction that he wasn’t her brother. I told her that I was going home to tell my father about it. I told her I didn’t want to be taught by such an immoral woman. She decided not to call him and I ruled supreme in her class for the rest of the year.”
It’s like the magician had pulled back the curtain and I was finally seeing just how Avery Beaumont had become the force of nature that she was. Why am I not surprised she started her campaigns as a primary school child?
“It was a pivotal turning point in my life when I realized I could manipulate adults even more than I could my peers. I also realized I take in more than other people do. I spot things that my brothers don’t.”
I nod, thoughtfully. Avery sets down her pen and folds her hands in her lap. I know without looking that her ankles are crossed and her head tilts a fraction to the right. I call this the ‘Avery power pose’. She makes it when she’s plotting.
I clear my throat to bring her back to our conversation. “What’s the one thing you want to know about me? If you could ask for a truth, what would it be?”
She doesn’t hesitate or think about her answer. “Where exactly does a foster child orphaned by drug users find herself a hundred thousand dollars? Not the money you need laundered, I mean the money you had to pay for Harley’s hotel.”
I nod and blow out a breath. I clear my throat again and pick at my nails. “Have you ever heard of the Game that’s held by the Twelve?”
Avery freezes and stares at me like I've just grown another head. She gives the slightest nod of her head.
“I survived Mounts Bay because the Jackal took an interest in me. When I was thirteen he sponsored me and I won the Game. I was untouchable after that. I still am I guess, outside of these walls. There are people in the city that would not take kindly to how your brothers treat me.”
Avery’s jaw drops and she gapes at me. I fidget and sweat with nerves. When she still doesn’t speak I continue, “I chose to work alone because I don’t want to start a gang or an empire. Instead, I collect information from places no one else can and sometimes… I take people out. Outside of Hannaford I’m known as the Wolf.”
Avery finally comes out of her stupor and squeals with such zeal that the librarian rushes towards us expecting a dire injury. Blaise dashes out of one of the stacks with his shirt untucked and lipstick smeared down his neck. To my horror, Annabelle freaking Summers follows him out of the stacks with a savage but smug look on her face and her bra in full view. I level a glare at Blaise, which he promptly ignores to lean over Avery.
“Hey, what’s happened? Are you okay?” his voice sounds wrong, all throaty and raspy from the making out he’s clearly been doing. I try not to let jealousy consume me but, really, Annabelle?! Is he mentally compromised or something?
The look Avery gives him is probably the worst I’ve ever seen. “I’m fine, thank you, Morrison. Go back to your dirty public fuck.”
Avery swearing is basically DEFCON 1. Blaise glares at Annabelle and when he turns back to Avery he actually looks a little embarrassed. “I had a momentary lapse in judgment.”
Then he pulls out a chair next to me and all but collapses into it to sit with us. Annabelle glares at us and tries to pull the chair out next to him. He stops her and refuses to look at her. It is so awkward I want to die.
“Blaise—“
He rubs his face with a rough hand and groans at her, “Go away. I’m not going there with you again. I told you that last night when you showed up at my room, I told you again this morning when you text me, and I told you for the last time ten minutes ago when you stripped in the stacks. I’m not saying it again. Please just…fuck off.”
Avery and I share a look. I almost laugh when I realize we’re talking to each other with our eyebrows, something I’d seen her and the boys do a hundred times but a skill I didn’t think I had.
As Annabelle turns away from him, he
adds, “And give me back my Vanth shirt. It was the first one and irreplaceable.”
“I told you I don’t have the ugly thing.” she snaps and finally stomps off, gritting her teeth so hard I hear her jaw crack. Blaise doesn’t lift his head from where he’s cradling it in his hands.
“So, what you're saying she molested you in the stacks?” Avery snipes. I start to grab my stuff to leave them to it but she shakes her head at me. Great. I don’t want to hear this and after my confession I’m a little jumpy. I stay put.
“No. I’m saying I was in a shitty mood. I was working on my literature paper and she ambushed me in the stacks with her shirt unbuttoned and no underwear on.”
“And you thought you’d give her one last fuck for old times’ sake?”
Blaise grits his teeth and takes a deep breath like he’s trying not to rip her head off. Thank God Ash isn’t here to see it. “No. I told her I wasn’t interested and she wrapped herself around me and started kissing my neck. I told her to get off of me and she refused.”
She frowns at him, her anger softening. “How is that a lapse in judgment? You made it sound like you caved.”
“I didn’t shove her the fuck off of me. She kept talking about shit we’ve done together and I felt bad for her. I forgot that she’s a manipulative bitch. If I hadn’t heard you scream I would’ve just stood there like an idiot.” He groans again and Avery shoots me a look.
“I’ll have her sorted by the time we get back from fall break. Let’s get a move on and meet the others.”
Ash and Harley are waiting for us in the bleachers.
They both eye Blaise with something close to hostility until Avery snaps at them and tells them about Annabelle. Blaise looks ashamed for about three seconds before Ash’s smirks piss him off enough to snark back at him. I sit between Avery and Harley, and Blaise sits on the end with Ash. Harley hands me a hotdog and I look at his shoulder to choke out a thank you. His eyes are too intense for me after the day I’ve had.