by Eve, Jaymin
Mattie's chair scraped back, the sound of wooden legs on marble floor ear piercing. "I'm going to stop you right there," she announced, her tone harsh. "Claudette Bixel is nothing more than a lying, cheating, bully. Her concerns are totally unsubstantiated, and I will put money on it that none of her peons have any proof that Violet is acting inappropriately." She paused dramatically, and Dean Morgan just glared back at her. "I didn't think so. To clear things up, Violet and Rafe hate each other. Claudette is the one who's been sniffing around Alex like a cat in heat."
I gave the dean credit, he didn’t even blink at that statement. He just nodded, adjusting more papers because he was clearly a touch uncomfortable with this topic of conversation.
“Please, just make sure to stick to the rules. Don’t upset the way things are run here, Ms. Spencer, and we’ll all get along just fine.”
I heard the undercurrent of his warning. Just as Alex had said, there was more at play than a spoiled—possibly murderous—Australasian heir who wanted his own way. There was old-school money and power behind these betrothals, and they did not want anyone fucking with that.
Or fucking an heir they weren’t betrothed to, apparently.
Then again, no one seemed to give two craps about the royals fucking around—so long as no pregnancies resulted from those affairs—so maybe this standard only applied to me.
“Understood,” I finally managed to bite out, somehow not adding “Dean Fuckhead” after that.
He cleared his throat. “Excellent. Also, I’ve changed some of your schedule around to make life easier.” He shuffled the papers again, and at this point I figured he was just fucking with me. But no, he was actually searching, and he managed to fish out a single piece of cream paper.
“It’ll be sent to your palm reader as well, but here’s the paper copy so you can keep track. You have a few new classes.”
He waved me off then, already reaching for a pen as he filled in some bullshit form. My hands shook as we stood, and it was from pure fury at the audacity of this asshole. Change my schedule?
What the fuck did that even mean? Why?
This couldn’t be good.
Mattie and I didn’t say anything until we were out of his office and far from the prying ears of his staff.
“Show me the schedule,” she said shortly, hand held out.
I shoved the crumpled paper at her, not able to look at it myself because I was already an eighth of a second from punching a wall. Or a dean.
“Motherfucker,” she muttered, eyes running across the writing. “He’s basically shifted you into every one of Alex’s classes—” She broke off. “And a private study hall on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
My teeth clicked together as my jaw clenched. “Who wants to bet there is one other fucker in that private study group. They’re not even pretending to give me an education anymore. Alex is a third year and studying totally different subjects for fuck’s sake.”
Arbon really was going to do everything to assist Alex in his quest to make me his baby maker.
“What do I do?” I murmured to Mattie, aware that there were multiple students lingering in the halls around us. Classes were due to start soon.
“First we get some food,” she said, straightening and looking every fucking inch the princess she was. “Then we deal with this.”
* * *
Just when I thought Dean Morgan had already shit all over my day, it got worse.
“Babe! There you are, have you been hiding from me?” Alex was such a good actor it was actually scary. If I didn’t know what I knew…
“Fuck off, murderer,” Mattie hissed at him when he drew close.
We’d barely made it three steps inside the dining room, and my gaze locked on Jordan’s across the room where he sat at our usual table. His jaw clenched tight, and when Alex slung his arm over my shoulder, I gave the New American prince a small head shake.
As much as I’d love to see Jordan and Rafe beat the shit out of Alex, this wasn’t the time or the place. Not while my own future and freedom were so precarious.
“Now, now, Matisse,” Alex chided my best friend, “don’t get your knickers in a twist just because I’ve seen Violet naked and you haven’t.”
The leer he raked down my body with that statement made my skin crawl. The fact that I’d had sex with him would honestly haunt me for the rest of my days… however long that might turn out to be.
“What do you want, Alex?” I whispered while turning to face him with a pasted-on smile. I’d hoped that might dislodge his arm from around my shoulders, but if anything he just took it as an invitation to hold me closer.
The smile he gave me back was so genuine. So content. Holy shit, he was a fucking sociopath.
“I can’t show affection to my girlfriend in public? After we’ve been so close it’s starting to look a bit suspicious that we’re never together. You wouldn’t want anyone questioning our love, would you?” He tilted his head to the side, looking genuinely concerned. I stared up at him for an uncomfortably long time, searching his ocean-blue eyes for any trace of the cold-hearted, lying bastard I knew him to be. But I found nothing. He was that fucking good.
Mattie nudged my elbow, breaking my concentration. “Vi, let’s get some food. We need to discuss that assignment, remember?”
I blinked at her, but Alex was the one who replied. “Oh, of course. That assignment.” His mouth twitched with a mocking smile, making it clear he knew there was no assignment. “Well, I wouldn’t want to interfere with your classwork, Violet. After all, we can’t have the future queen of Australasia flunking out of Arbon Academy. What a scandal that’d be.” He laughed at his own shitty joke, and I forced my lips to curve into a humorless smile.
“Uh-huh,” I replied, and really, I felt like I deserved a damn medal for even managing that much. “See ya.”
Stupid me for thinking he’d just leave it at that and let me slink over to my table, away from him. Nope, Prince Alex of Australasia needed to really drive his point home, so the next thing I knew his lips were on mine.
I shouldn’t have been surprised. It was the same controlling bullshit he’d been pulling every damn second we’d been near each other since I’d confronted him. Yet, there I was, gasping in shock as he kissed me in the middle of the damn dining room in front of all our peers.
Alex pressed his body into mine, running his hands down my sides and groping my ass as he slipped his tongue past my lips. My moment of stunned surprise passed quickly, though, and I bit down ever so lightly, warning him.
My silent threat to bite his fucking tongue off must have been clear because he released me long enough to thread a hand into my hair.
“Careful, Violet love,” he whispered in my ear, his voice husky but so soft not even Mattie would hear him, “I quite like it rough.” A roll of his hips reiterated that statement, and I internally gagged at the idea he’d just gotten hard from forcing me to kiss him.
“Enjoy lunch, girls,” he said in a louder voice, knowing full well we had an audience. Of course we did. He was a fucking crown heir, and I was a ballot winner. We were literally the hottest gossip in the whole Academy. “I’ll be seeing you later, gorgeous.” He smacked a hot, wet kiss on the curve of my neck, nipping the skin lightly with his teeth, then laughed under his breath as he walked away. It wasn’t a cheerful laugh, either. It was a dark sound, one that spoke to all the stains on his soul, and it sent a shiver chasing down my spine.
My hands balled into fists at my sides as I followed Mattie over to our table, where Jordan, Rafe and Nolan were all watching us with laser-like intensity.
“What?” I snarled when Rafe scowled at me as he gave my hands a pointed look.
He arched a brow—probably at my tone—and just shook his head. “Nothing,” he lied. “Your lipstick is smudged, though.”
My brows dropped into a scowl of my own, and I uncurled one of my fists long enough to flip him off. “I’m not wearing any, dickhead, but thanks for making an
already shitty day even shittier with your foul attitude.”
“Whoa,” Luca commented with an awkward laugh. “Alex must be a pretty shitty kisser if that’s the mood he puts you in.”
Oh crap. I’d been so focused on the way the guys had been staring at me—at the way Jordan and Rafe had been staring at me—I’d totally forgotten their other friends were at the table. Friends who didn’t know Alex was a two-faced, cheating piece of shit who’d threatened to kill me on several occasions. Friends who potentially couldn’t be trusted.
The effort it took to wipe my face clear of all the anger and frustration was immense, but Mattie was already coming to my rescue.
“Oh please, Luca,” she snickered, “you can’t recognize sexual frustration when you see it ’cause you never get girls all worked up like that. Vi is just shitty that she can’t go chase Alex down and ride him like her personal pony. Right, babe?” She gave me a playful nudge, and this time my laugh was genuine. She’d deliberately called me babe like Alex had, and it seemed to clean the word of all his creepiness.
“Yeah,” I agreed, giving a small laugh, “something like that.” I shot a lightning fast look over at Jordan… and Rafe. Damn my body for still being attracted to that bastard. “Actually, I’m not really hungry after all. I might just go over my notes for tomorrow’s chem lab.”
Mattie frowned at me like she wanted to call me on my bullshit, but I was already escaping the dining room. After everything with the dean and then Alex, I needed a second to just breathe. I wasn’t going to get that while sitting at an awkwardly tense lunch with the guy who wanted to date me, his best friend who had fucked me until I saw heaven, and a bunch of clueless bastards who thought I was dating someone else entirely.
I let out a groan when I was a decent distance from the dining room and scrubbed my hands over my face. “When did life become so complicated?” I asked myself, wondering for the millionth time why I’d decided to enter the ballot in the first place.
Footsteps on the marble tiles alerted me to someone approaching, and I released a heavy sigh.
“Violet,” Jordan called out, and I turned to face him. When I’d heard someone following, I’d initially expected Mattie. And then when I’d realized it wasn’t a girl, I’d assumed Rafe had come to pile on more assholery.
“Jordy, hey.” I gave him a weak smile, wrapping my arms around myself. Of all my new friends, he was actually the one I’d most wanted it to be following me. “What’s up?”
He tucked his hands into his pockets and dipped his head, looking at me with those coffee-colored eyes in an almost coy gesture. “I just… I know you wanted a moment alone. I just wanted to… uh… fuck it.” He looked both ways up and down the hall—making sure we were alone, I guessed—then reached out to me and clasped the back of my neck.
This time when I found my lips pressed to someone else’s, it inspired a totally different reaction within me. I froze, but not because I was disgusted or horrified. I froze because I wanted to savor every single second. Jordan was kissing me, and it was a damn fairytale moment.
Except, he wasn’t a mind reader and pulled back abruptly, misreading my inactivity as a rejection. “I’m so sorry, Vi. I shouldn’t have—”
“Shut up and kiss me again,” I cut him off. But I didn’t wait for him to initiate this time. Nope, I was a strong, independent woman who owned her own sexual desires, and holy crap, did Jordan fall into that category. I threaded my arms around his neck as our mouths caressed, and when my lips parted to deepen the kiss, he made this unbelievably sexy sort of groan that had me wanting to jump his bones right then and there. Yeah, it wasn’t the most romantic of sentiments, but I’ve never claimed to be a princess.
We kissed for longer than we should have. Considering everything with Alex and the ballot and… everything… it was foolish and risky to just stand there kissing like we didn’t have a care in the world, but he seemed just as reluctant as me to end our embrace.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, husky and breathless when we finally parted. His lips continued to trace my jaw with feathered kisses. “I shouldn’t have kissed you without your permission. I just couldn’t stand the idea of him being on your lips a moment longer.”
Holy crap. My heart did this weird fluttery thing, and I found I needed to swallow before I could find the words to reply. “For the record, Jordan? You definitely have my permission. One hundred percent.”
I couldn’t see his face, but I could feel him smiling against my skin as he kissed the bend of my neck. Of course he’d seen Alex kiss me there, too, and was erasing that unwanted touch with his own.
“Cool,” he replied, then sucked in a sharp breath and shifted back with a pained look on his face. “I can’t believe I just said that. That’s the best I had? I’ve officially lost all my smooth.” He groaned, hanging his head and shaking it mournfully while I tried really hard to bite back a laugh.
“I should go,” I said, reluctant as all fuck. I didn’t try to hide that emotion when Jordan looked back up at me either. I wanted him to see me. The real me. “If anyone sees us here…”
He grimaced, but nodded. “Yeah, I know. We should step up our plans to deal with all of that soon. I don’t know how long I can hide how I feel about you.”
Ugh. There went my heart doing the flippy thing again.
Jordan kissed me once more—quickly this time—and I grinned like a lunatic the whole way to my next lecture of the day.
Chapter 12
Over the next few days, the weather decided it wanted a shot at second winter, sending massive snowstorms across the academy grounds.
“It’s, like, almost fucking summer,” I complained.
Mattie snorted. “Well, sure, but here there’re no real seasons. The weather just does whatever the fuck it wants.”
“It’s crazy to think I’ve been at Arbon for almost five months,” I said.
The time had flown by, and if it weren’t for the Alex situation, I’d be living my best life. Alex, Brandon, Claudette. I needed to rid myself of those fuckers and get back to the good times.
Like making out with Jordan, who I literally could not stop thinking about.
“Have I told you lately how happy I am that you won the lottery,” Mattie said, breaking me out of my sexy thoughts. “I couldn’t have chosen better myself.”
I shook my head at her. “We should stop referring to it as a lottery and more as a genetic Russian roulette, since apparently there’s nothing random about it at all.”
Mattie looked around suddenly, probably to ensure there were no ears close enough to overhear. "This Alex thing has to be dealt with soon. I can't watch him maul you like that again."
I swallowed roughly, bile on my tongue. "Imagine how I feel."
I'd never been more grateful to Jordan. His touch… taste. The way he’d taken the time to find me and help me erase Alex. It was the mental cleanse I needed to regain my composure.
A group of chicks appeared at the end of the hall, walking in our direction. When they got closer, I realized it was Claudette and her band of bitches.
I hadn’t seen her, not really, since everything had gone down with Alex. I found I wasn’t even remotely angry at her about that—I kind of felt sorry for the moron. But the Brandon thing.
That still had me raging.
Speaking of…
“Brandon will be back from his family home tomorrow,” she said, deliberately loud enough for us to hear. “Be interesting to see what happens when he takes his place here again.”
Her gaze locked with mine, and I could see she was silently telling me that this time he was going to kill me.
I smiled back, and it was enough to wipe that look off her face.
She didn’t even know she’d handed me everything I’d been waiting for—a chance to kill the son of a bitch.
When they were out of earshot, I swung my palm reader up and typed the same message to Rafe, Jordan, and Nolan.
Me: When is the next event
? I need in. Also, I need Brandon in.
Mattie was reading over my shoulder, and we both waited for the replies.
Jordan: You don’t have to take that bastard on alone. We got your back.
Swoonie fucker. But also, he needed to come to terms with the fact that I was no princess in need of a savior. No white knights needed apply. I had this shit handled on my own. Although it was nice to have someone at my back, as long as they didn’t want me to run and hide.
Nolan: No.
Angel: If I help you with this, what are you going to do for me, Cinderella?
Jesus.
“Why are we friends with them again?” I asked Mattie. “I have to go to this fucking special study session in a minute, and I really don’t need their shit on top of it.”
She patted my shoulder. “I’ll handle them. I’ll also be close by if Alex tries anything. Let’s just get this out of the way.”
It was Thursday, and since Alex had missed Tuesday—thank you whoever had kept him busy—this was the first of my "special study sessions."
My new classes had been okay so far because I’d managed to ignore Alex, even when he’d been sitting right beside me. I couldn’t keep up with any of the subject matter though, mostly because I’d just been dropped into third year classes. But no one seemed to give a fuck. I’d actually gotten an A on a quiz that I’d only written in half the answers for.
Dean Morgan was taking this shit way too far, but I was on the ride now and couldn’t just jump off. I needed to see it through. Arbon was no longer the dream of a better future I’d hoped for, but I’d be damned if I ran off now.
“Come on,” I said quickly, ignoring the next few buzzes of my palm reader as the guys sent more messages. “I don’t want to be late. I can’t have the dean thinking I’m not taking this seriously.”
I also wanted them all to live in a false sense of security, thinking I’d just buckled under their pressure. It would make it so much sweeter when I wiped them from the face of the Earth.