Upended Life (Artemis University Book 1)

by Erin R Flynn

  She chuckled. “You heard I’ve been to Faerie many times, haven’t you?”

  My eyes went wide. “No, I didn’t know that. Now I’ll beg you. Tell me everything next time. I just—you’re a very engaging storyteller and I want to hear more, hear it all—not the confidential stuff, of course.”

  “Of course.” She reached over and took my hand, patting it. “Yes, I’d love that. I could use some of your innocence and fascination on my rough days. I have your email and we can set something up when you’re not so bogged down.”

  “Perfect. Have a great weekend.”

  We had the rest of the pizzas not long after that and finished up, walking through the portal and into the faculty lounge. Salzman and Edelman were clearly waiting for me, not just the pizza.

  “Go ahead, I’m right behind you,” I told Mel, nodding it was okay.

  She leaned in and kissed my cheek. “Do not ever hug that woman. That’s how I recognized what you were, having hugged someone like you. It will be the key to some.”

  “Got it, I’ll keep it professional.”

  “Well done, kid.”

  I beamed at her praise, waiting until everyone was gone with the rest of it all since Izzy, Natalie, Darby, and a few others had come to help bring it to our dorm.

  “Well done?” Edelman asked.

  “She is a very good actress,” Craftsman explained, giving me an amused look.

  “Who said I was acting?” I teased, batting my eyelashes at him.

  He threw back his head and laughed. “You genuinely liked her, I could tell that and so could she. But you a bubbly, hyper Izzy clone but with the air of new money and newbie fascination that distracted her from how much information you pumped out of her was an act.”

  Damn, he was good. He really paid attention when it came to me.

  “Why?” Edelman asked.

  “That woman is a font of information and her discretion I bet rivals Geiger.” I shrugged when they gave me confused glances. “Look, I hope you guys are what you seem, I truly do, but you cannot tell me you trust me after a week and a half. I’m not saying I don’t trust you, I’m saying you don’t have my trust yet.

  “So I’m covering my bases and making sure I’m not getting all my information from one pool.” I sighed when they looked offended. “Oh please, if one of you was like Von Thann and pretending to be nice I would be screwed. You would be smart and make sure you weren’t being played. Just because I’m young and female doesn’t mean I don’t think the same way.”

  “I’m almost offended but also impressed and slightly grateful it doesn’t all fall on me as your only source,” Salzman admitted. He dipped his head to me. “Thank you for the pizza, Ms. Vale, and have a wonderful evening.”

  “You too, Doc,” I chuckled, heading for the door. “Headmaster, thanks for allowing the trip. Craftsman, I’m sure I’ll see you soon.”

  “I’ll walk you out since I have to lock the building,” he muttered, sounding disappointed he didn’t get to come to the party. He waited until we were at the exit to lean in more than he should. “Have the dragon ride you, love. One day he’ll change and you’ll ride him, experience flying, but tonight let him ride you and hard. I’ll wait to hear how it went.”

  I glanced at him over my shoulder. “If you’re lucky, and I think you meant to say please. Please tell you. Please be so delicious and give you what you want.”

  “Yes, all of that. Please.”

  “Maybe,” I chuckled and pushed open the door, smirking as I took off at a jog for my room. Damn, I was enjoying pushing his buttons way too much.

  24

  The party was definitely in my room and people had brought drinks and a lot of them, which was nice. I was tired of real clothes though and ducked into my closet to change.

  Natalie caught what I was wearing first and burst out laughing.

  I shrugged. “It’s true.” I was wearing bed shorts and a matching crop top that said “Waking Me Is Hazardous To Your Health.”

  “I cannot believe you still have that,” Mel chuckled.

  I ran my hands over the top. “It was the first gift you gave me. I’m keeping this until it falls off me completely dead.” I grabbed a slice and glanced around. “Speaking of gifts, where did you put all the stuff?”

  “The stack is over there,” Izzy teased me. “What did you get?”

  “A lot of summer reading for one.” I sniffed haughtily and went over to the pile. “Tinker Bell is real and always my favorite. Don’t judge me. Ms. Calloway promised to tell me all about Faerie and how to purchase a unicorn after I graduate.”

  “That’s a lot more soft and fluffy than I thought you had in you,” one of Natalie’s friends admitted.

  I shrugged. “We all have our guilty pleasures or random things that helped us through the rough times. Tinker Bell flew through windows and helped people go to a better place. Yeah, she was my hero when I was in foster care. I didn’t pray to god or angels, I prayed to Tinker Bell to take me to Neverland.”

  That was actually the truth. I swallowed loudly as I realized how much I’d admitted and stuffed the rest of my slice in my mouth so I could get to the boxes.

  “I used to pray to the Tooth Fairy to give me teeth as I knocked out my front ones right after they grew in from my baby teeth,” Izzy admitted. “Thank fuck they did or I’d really look stupid forever.”

  I shot her a grateful look as others started talking about goofy things they did as kids or didn’t understand fully.

  I wiped my hands and opened the first box, which were all books, setting it aside and moving onto the next one. I gave a squee as I popped up and rushed over to Mel.

  “Why am I getting a gift?” she asked, giving me a confused look.

  I tilted my head and smiled at her, the real and open one I only gave Mel. “You loved me when I was no one and had nothing. You’re seriously shocked I’m going to share it all with you now that I’ve inherited more than we could spend in a few lifetimes? Of course I got you something, you goof.”

  “Thanks, Tams,” she whispered, looking touched as she accepted the box from me. She sat on my bed and opened it up, her eyes going wide as she took out the first dagger. She found the second and held up the set. “Are these—are you fucking nuts?”

  I sniffed in the air again like a brat. “You made it clear you were here to protect me and I was worth protecting. I couldn’t possibly have my dragon ninja sister not have the proper kick ass weapons. Blessed by a fairy queen no less.” I stopped goofing around then. “Ms. Calloway said there’s authentication papers she would pack along with the full history of them.”

  “Tams, this is—I don’t have the words.” She threw back her head and laughed. “Father has wanted these for a long time and you just went and bought them for me because they’re sick.”

  “I got myself a cool sword too,” I promised. “Now you just have to teach me swords instead of just knives.”

  “Deal.”

  I went back to the boxes and found what was next, going over to Darby and handing him the box before snagging more pizza. Fuck, it really was good pizza.

  “I cannot believe you got this for me,” he whispered. “I was just explaining the range the store had, not asking for it.”

  “I know, but I’m going to stress you out being my tutor. I can’t pay you but I can help the stress I’ll cause or that others do.”

  “Thank you, Tamsin, really, thank you.” He told the others what I gave him, not at all embarrassed to have the help when we were all under so much stress.

  I went back to my purchases, opening the next box. “More books.” The next, thinking it was my reservoir. “My sword for later. Right, my reservoirs will come soon.”

  “Plural? You got more than one?” Izzy checked.

  I nodded, shivering. “I don’t ever want to feel that again when the reservoir filled up. I never want to risk I don’t have an outlet as that was painful and even more terrifying. I know it might stop with the pil
ls but I have no idea what else I’m capable of and it seemed smart to try and prepare.” I opened the next box and chuckled. “The magical gag for when I’m out in public so I don’t say what I shouldn’t.”

  “Smart,” Mel approved.

  “Ah, here, Izzy,” I said as I opened the third to the last box. I went over to her and handed it to her. “I got one too but she only had one in stock right then.”

  I went for another piece of pizza and sat on my desk, right next to Hudson leaning against the wall, which I didn’t realize at first he had been very quiet.

  And he was staring at my very bare legs. Shit, I was going to get turned on yet again tonight. I hoped he was willing to scratch all my itches.

  “Tams, thank you,” Izzy breathed, tearing up. “I can’t believe you’d do this for me.”

  I shrugged. “I got one for me too. How horrible would I be if I had an absorption charm hanging from my bed but oh, no, screw you?”

  “Shit, be my roommate,” one of Natalie’s friends teased me.

  “Nope, she’s mine, I’ll lick her to call her if I have to,” Izzy threatened, giving me a watery smile.

  “No, I’ll be licking you and a lot if you let me. Please tell me I can lick you tonight, my princess. Tap your creamy thigh for me if I can.” He groaned in my mind when I tapped a lot. “What fantasy do you want? Please tell me it involves thrusting my cock in you all night.”

  I tapped my thigh hoping he got the idea. I slid off the desk and made sure my ass brushed over his groin before heading for more food. I felt his eyes about burn a hole through what I was wearing.

  “You got me a spit roaster?” Marshall said from the doorway, Sean and Craftsman with him.

  I shrugged as I gobbled up some slice of napoleon cake. “Yup, and the pig is coming tomorrow but I hope you share the spit roaster with the rest of the guards too. I mean, I didn’t mean it for you only but somewhere to cook the pig.”

  “Yes, makes perfect sense,” Sean teased me. “We’re here to steal pizza.”

  I raised an eyebrow at Craftsman and he just shrugged. “You said I would get more pizza and cake too. Edelman and Salzman wouldn’t share with me and you assumed I would hang with them.”

  I sighed dramatically. “I’m so sorry. That’s two infractions of teacher abuse today then.”

  “Brat,” he grumbled going for the pizza.

  I was about to go for a divine chocolate truffle cake that was calling me but I still wanted more pizza while it was still warm. A few pieces and people were winding down, a stack of empty boxes outside the room.

  I heard Mel’s flirty laugh and glanced at her, pressing my lips in a thin line when I saw she was talking to Craftsman. She leaned in to say something and yeah, she was flirting.

  My insides turned and I wanted to go over there and grab my best friend away from him, which I’d never felt before. I wasn’t like that and Mel meant everything to me.

  She glanced at me and did a double take. Her eyes flashed shock but she nodded, scooting back from Craftsman a bit.

  Relief instantly raced through me. I mouthed a thank you to her and I knew for sure we’d be talking about it later, but it was best she knew.

  For my anger issues at least.

  “So what do you think of Blake being gone?” Natalie asked me, as I went for a big slice of that cake.

  “I think my school life might be peaceful for a moment, but her three friends will come together and reform into the new leader who will bully me but not to that degree,” I said quickly in between bites. “I think she will never let it go and will keep trying to get me no matter the risk or costs after I won in her eyes. Her mind was seriously twisty and dark.”

  “Was she really into BDSM? That’s what you were implying, right?” one of Natalie’s friends asked me as I finished inhaling my cake.

  I chuckled darkly, smirking across the room. “Why don’t we ask Juan? He’s the one I was talking about.”

  “Fuck,” he groaned, people giving him shocked looks. “I hoped you didn’t know it was me. Not sure I deserved you snitching on me.”

  I snorted and set down my plate before moving closer to him. “Are you kidding me? You’ve been flirting with me relentlessly and instead go bang the first freshman who offers—and only offers so you won’t sleep with me but her so she could brag about it.” I covered my breasts and gave him a whimper. “It’s not like I said exactly what you did.”

  Mel gave me a shocked look. “Really?” She waited until I nodded. “Fuck no. You smack my boobs and I’m going to smack you all over and not in the fun way. What else?”

  I giggled and pushed my breasts up, faking my voice like porn. “Yeah, slap my tits and tell me I’m a dirty bitch, make me your dirty bitch!”

  I darted away when he growled and came towards me, Hudson moving in front of me, which I thought sweet as it was his friend.

  “I was just going to cover her mouth. That’s what Blake wanted. I wasn’t into it all and yeah, I screwed her, but she said we could try whatever I wanted. I didn’t know that meant what she thought I wanted. Slap and tickle is great but I’m not into degrading women.”

  “That’s fair, I only got her thoughts of what happened,” I admitted. “She could totally have thought he was into it or the other stuff but he really wasn’t, but then again you could have left but maybe you said something and she didn’t think on that part, or really how do you leave and not worry about her wrath and—”

  “Did you have caffeine?” Mel interjected into my long ramble, moving her hand over my mouth. “What did you drink?”

  “Sprite,” Izzy told her, and I nodded. “Oh, she had that mocha truffle cake and a slice of that opera cake that’s soaked in espresso too. Right, she doesn’t like coffee.”

  “No, she can’t handle coffee,” Mel corrected with a groan as I started vibrating. “Great, and now you have magic. Go give a dose to the witches here before you snowball.”

  I nodded, doing the “coffee, coffee, yeah baby, coffee, coffee” impression of Twitchy as I practically bounced all over the room. I went to Natalie and took her hand, letting out some of my magic before doing it to her two friends who were witches as well.

  Then Izzy and Craftsman, and I thought I was done. A few of the scholarship guys raised their hands and I gave more.

  “How do you have that much power?” Natalie demanded.

  “The pills aren’t letting her reach a medium,” Craftsman said quickly. “It snowballs a bit in between doses of pills that pull off some of the blocker.”

  I nodded and went over to Mel, taking her hands and bouncing on the balls of my feet. “You know what we should do? We should use that spit roaster that’s a huge outdoor grill and after midterms if it goes well, we have a curry party. We make tons and we can invite the guards and the scholarship students and even the faculty and just—all the curry!”

  “What is she talking about?” someone asked.

  “Besides being the adorable ball of energy in front of you, she’s a fab cook,” Mel explained. “She makes the best fucking Japanese curry I’ve ever had.”

  “Curry, curry, curry, currrrryyyy,” I sang, singing my curry song to the tune of “Money, money, money!” if that was a real tune and not a jingle. “Random dancing!”

  “No, no random dancing,” Mel chuckled, losing the battle to not laugh at me. She picked up my sneakers and handed them to me. I didn’t understand but I put them on. “You’ve shown enough of your fluffy, goofy side for one day. You’ll have to cut someone on campus for them to see you as a risk again.”

  “Knife throwing practice?” I asked excitedly, wiggling my butt like a happy puppy.

  “Go for a quick mile, you goof. No coffee for you.”

  I nodded, jump spinning around. “Izzy, you good in the hood?”

  “Oh my fuck, it’s like you’re me,” she whispered, bobbing her head at me.

  “So we have a curry party plan?”

  “Yes, just go run,” Mel growled, shovin
g me towards the door. “I got things here. No one will root through your underwear drawer.”

  “Juan wants to so watch him most,” I told her. “Yes, Natalie, you can check out my closet. No, Darby you cannot check out my books with others around but later we can.” I was sure I answered all their questions and nodded. “Audi 500!”

  I actually knew I wasn’t going for a run but something even better, which made me vibrate even more. I took off, feeling him seconds later giving chase. I reached the woods first in the fair game zone and found what I wanted right as he caught up.

  Hudson reached for me but I smiled and stepped back, yanking off my shirt and bra before pulling my shorts and panties down my legs for his viewing enjoyment.

  I knelt down on a patch of plush grass and fell back into it. “You hungry?”

  “Yes,” he growled.

  “You should get undressed then. We wouldn’t want you to get what you’re eating on you and you’ll be eating a lot, right?”

  “Yes,” he growled even deeper. I heard seams tearing as he pulled off his shirt too fast. He kicked off his shoes and then pants before his socks, leaving him only in boxer briefs. “You are fucking gorgeous.”

  “So are you,” I purred. I wasn’t kidding.

  He was solid muscle. A wall of muscle with muscle friends. He wasn’t very defined like gym guys but more he had those muscles from real-life hard work or wasn’t trying for the super-ripped eight-pack as he didn’t care. Either way, it was the right look for him and his build.

  “Let me see the rest.”

  He raised an eyebrow at me. “Spread your legs.”

  “My fantasy tonight, you promised.”

  He nodded and stripped off his boxer briefs. Holy fuck, he was ridiculously big. I’d seen it when we’d hooked up in the admin building but he’d been dressed. There was something about seeing a guy’s dick when he was fully naked that just made it extra.

  “You look like you’re happy to see me fully?” He smirked when I nodded, spreading my legs for him. “Fuck, I’m so hungry for you, Princess.”

  He didn’t hesitate, joining me on the grass and moving between my legs but over me. He kissed me with all he had and I gave it back, needing him too.