Playboy Princes: Royals of Arbon Academy

by Eve, Jaymin

  His hand stayed on my waist as we exited the dining room, and my skin fucking crawled. I hated that I needed to maintain the appearance of a happy couple with him. I hated that he held so much power that I had no idea how to combat. I hated... him. He'd totally fooled me with his nice-guy act. He'd made me fall in love, and the what-ifs would forever stick with me.

  What if I hadn't overheard his conversation with Claudette?

  What if he’d managed to get me pregnant?

  What if I’d ended up trapped in Australasia with him and for the rest of my life I’d been forced into whatever arrangement he wanted because I had nowhere else to go?

  I shuddered, and he pulled me closer.

  "Game face on, my lovely Violet," he murmured in my ear. "Would hate for anyone to think the newest ballot winner wasn't getting her happily ever after."

  "Fuck you, Alex," I whispered, with a fake smile pasted on my face. "You make me sick."

  He laughed softly. "Not what you were saying when I was tongue fucking your tight cunt, darling."

  I stiffened, revolted at the reminder, but he just laughed again and steered me out of the dining room and right toward—fuck my life—Rafe and Jordan. The two gorgeous princes were in the middle of what looked to be a very heated discussion, and I silently prayed for the floor to open up and swallow me whole.

  "Violet," Jordan said, seeing me first. His gaze shot to Alex, and his brow dropped in a scowl. "Are you okay?"

  "Of course she is, Jordy," Alex answered for me, and I seethed. Men who spoke for their partner always gave me the icks.

  Jordan cast a quick, disgusted sneer over Alex, then turned his gaze back to me, his eyes softening. "Violet, I was asking you."

  The implication was clear, and based on the way Rafe folded his strong arms, he was backing Jordan up. If I gave them the word, they'd rescue me from whatever Alex was up to, no matter what the cost.

  "I'm fine," I replied with a sigh, "just looking forward to disinfecting my skin later. Hey, how are you going on that project?"

  Jordan's brows lifted slightly, and the corner of his mouth curled in a knowing smile. "Really good, actually. I'm hoping to get it finished this afternoon."

  Hope flared, and I bit my cheek to hold back my gleeful grin. "That's great! Hopefully it won't take long to get the results."

  "As fun as it is to make idle chitchat with people I despise, we have somewhere to be. Come on, babe." Alex gave my waist a firm tug, and I reluctantly let him lead me away.

  Neither of us spoke for a few minutes, me because I didn't care to make conversation with him. Ever. About anything. It was a waste of breath.

  "Since when did you and Jordan work on projects together?" Alex demanded when we reached the male dorm wing. "You're not even in the same year."

  I rolled my eyes. "So? I'm not in the same year as you, yet suddenly I'm taking 300 level courses."

  He narrowed his eyes at me, suspicious. We were out of sight of the dining room and most of the students, but still, he kept a possessive hand on my waist. I didn't even bother trying to peel him off me because he'd probably pull some bullshit excuse out.

  "Violet, if I find out that someone else has been putting their hands on my property," Alex told me in a scary calm voice, "I'd be inclined to cut those hands off at the wrists. Don't think to underestimate my reach."

  It was almost laughable. Here I was worried he somehow knew Jordan and I planned to frame him for breaking into a highly classified server and stealing the data files. All he could think about was whether some other guy had been warming my bed.

  "I'm not your property," I spat in reply as we reached Alex's dorm room and he opened the door. "What are we doing here, anyway?"

  Instead of answering, he just shoved me into his room and slammed the door shut behind him. The only thing that saved him from a broken nose and knee to the balls was the fact that he didn't lock it.

  "Get in," he ordered me, nodding to his huge bed. His hands worked his tie, loosening it and tugging it off before starting on his shirt buttons.

  I shook my head. "No way. I thought I made it pretty fucking clear I'm never sleeping with you again, Alex."

  The look he gave me was like I'd just farted out my mouth. "Get in the fucking bed, Violet, or Matisse and Nolan will pay for your disobedience."

  I blinked rapidly, feeling the sting of his threat like a physical blow.

  Fuck me. Why'd I have to go forming friendships? I knew better. Friends made you vulnerable. They gave your enemies leverage where otherwise they might not have any.

  Alex smiled the kind of smile a shark might give a clown fish. "Now you're getting it. I may not be able to touch those other two lovesick fools—yet—but the Guays are way, way, way down the ladder. Easy to crush with one’s boot."

  And there it was. He couldn't touch me because I had no property, no title, no political aspirations and he wouldn't stand a chance in a fair fight. He couldn't touch Jordan or Rafe because, right now, their kingdoms were more powerful than his. But Mattie and Nolan? They were sitting ducks. Collateral damage. Fucking leverage.

  God damn it all to hell.

  But still, where did that leave me?

  "I'm not letting you fuck me," I finally replied, looking carefully to the side as he stripped his shirt off.

  The coy smile on his face as he approached me, shirtless, was the same one he'd used on me a hundred times. The same smile that used to make my stomach flip and my heart race. The one that said I was his whole universe and no other woman could ever compare.

  "Come on, Violet," he murmured, sounding... sincere? "Do you really feel nothing for me, anymore? We were in love not so long ago. Those feelings don't just disappear overnight." He reached up and gently stroked some hair out of my face, just the same way he'd done when we'd been dating.

  Damn him. Memories assaulted me, pausing my need to murder him.

  He seized the moment, untucking my shirt from my skirt and flicking several buttons open before I snapped myself out of it.

  "Stop it!" I snarled, my hand cracking across his face when he tried to unzip my skirt. "It was fake, Alex. All of it was fake. You were sleeping with Claudette, for fuck’s sake!"

  I backed away from him, tugging the sides of my shirt closed even as I shook with pure rage. It was mostly at him, but also at myself for that brief moment when I’d let those memories back in.

  "We all make mistakes, Violet," he replied, not looking apologetic in the least. "Let me make it up to you..." He reached out, and I smacked his hand away.

  Alex's ocean-blue eyes flared with anger. I braced myself for a fight, but it never came. Instead, his palm reader flashed and blipped with an incoming call, and he froze.

  "Get in the bed," he barked at me, his whole demeanor shifting into aggression and menace. "Now. Or I'll get Mattie expelled."

  There was no way in hell I'd let him rape me, but something else was going on here. He almost looked afraid as he swiped a hand through his blond hair and stared down at his wrist, so I did as he instructed.

  When I was sitting against the headboard, he slid in beside me and tugged me sharply until we were flat on our backs, sharing a pillow. Then he answered his call.

  The holographic image that projected from his palm reader into the space before us made me almost swallow my own tongue, and a chill of dread settled over me. If I'd had any doubts that this ballot bullshit was bigger than the two of us, this confirmed it.

  "Mum, Dad," Alex greeted the gorgeous, golden-haired couple on the image, "you kind of caught us at a bad time..." He gave his parents a sly grin, implying that we'd been fooling around when they called.

  Bile churned in my stomach, and I could feel how pale I must have gone. Hopefully they just chalked it up to a bad hologram signal or intimidation at meeting the King and Queen of Australasia for the first time.

  "So I see," Alex's father, King Steve the Fourth, grinned lasciviously. It was gross as fuck, considering I was supposedly in his own son's
bed right now. "This must be the mysterious Violet. She’s even more beautiful than you let on, son."

  "Oh," Queen Sheila gushed, pressing a hand dramatically to her chest. "Oh, you two make just the most gorgeous couple. Oh, honey, don't they look good together?" She pawed at her husband and then turned back to us on the screen. "You two will make just the most beautiful babies, I can already tell."

  My whole body stiffened, and I would have bolted out of the bed had Alex not snaked an arm around my shoulders to hold me still.

  "Mum, you're embarrassing my girlfriend," Alex chuckled, and I swallowed the rage and frustration and disgust threatening to engulf me. I couldn't afford to lay it all out there, though. Not if the king and queen of our world’s third most powerful kingdom were in on the whole thing. I needed to play it smarter than that.

  "Oh nonsense, darling. I'm sure Violet is just dying to start a family with you. It's what every little orphan girl dreams of, isn't it? Becoming a princess?" Alex's mother bubbled with excitement, seemingly totally oblivious to the insult in her words. Me? I was fucking stunned speechless. Was this bitch for real?

  "Mum, seriously," Alex chastised, and I almost believed that he was embarrassed for me. Almost. Damn, his acting skills were good. "Do you mind if I call you guys back later? Violet and I are late for our economics lecture." He affectionately pressed a kiss to my head, reinforcing the idea that we were late because we couldn't keep our hands off each other.

  "Of course, son," his father replied with a smug smile. "We'll let you get back to it." Wink. Ew. "And Alex? The clock is ticking. Don't disappoint me."

  Alex's frame tightened beside me, but his relaxed smile didn't slip even a fraction. "Of course, Dad. I'm working on it." Without waiting for his parents to reply, he ended the call and let out a long sigh.

  “What. The. Fuck. Was. That?” I asked him, shifting out from under his arm and trying really hard to contain my shock. "The clock is ticking? That better not mean what I think it means."

  Alex remained where he was, reclined against his pillows, shirtless, with his arm tossed above his head. Fucking hell. It should be illegal for the bad guys to be so gorgeous.

  "It's exactly what you think it means. Dear old Dad wants me to get you either locked into a marriage contract, or better yet, pregnant, before the end of the school year."

  I barked a sharp laugh because it was either that or… I didn’t even know. A mental breakdown?

  “It’ll be a cold day in hell before I ever let you stick your dick in me again, Alex,” I informed him with total sincerity. I scurried off the bed and rebuttoned my shirt with shaking fingers.

  Logically, in the back of my mind, I acknowledged that he hadn’t been pushing the issue anywhere near as hard as he could’ve been. In fact, he’d been kind of leaving me alone for the most part.

  It was suspicious, and I made a mental note to mention it to Jordan just as soon as he could erase Alex’s touch from my skin.

  My ex-boyfriend just shrugged, reached over to his bedside table, and grabbed a small velvet box. He tossed it over to me, but I didn’t catch it. Instead, I let it land on the comforter in front of me and stared at it like it was poisonous.

  “What the fuck is that?” I demanded.

  Alex let out a sigh, like I was being dense. Okay, sure. I was. “Lesser of two evils, Violet. Make smart choices.”

  Without waiting for me to open the box or even for me to respond, he climbed out of the bed and disappeared into the bathroom. Seconds later, the sound of the shower running reached my ears, and I released the breath I was holding.

  Curiosity pulled at me, and I picked up the velvet box, even though I already knew what I’d find. My fingers pried the lid open, and my heart stopped beating for a second.

  Nestled in a bed of black velvet was a ring with the largest diamond I’d ever seen. It was so huge it would take up most of my knuckle, not that there was a chance in hell it would ever touch my finger. The jewelry was typical Alex in that there was nothing special or personalized about this ring. Huge rock, square cut, no other adornment.

  He didn’t know me at all, and this was just another show of money and power, neither of which I was interested in.

  Dropping it like it was a snake about to bite me, I backed away, looking anywhere but at that fucking box.

  How could this be happening? In this freaking century. If anything, the monarchies had taken us back ten decades instead of forward into the future.

  The twenty-first century had seen the abolishment of most monarchies, and arranged marriages had not been the norm, but somehow all of these years later, after the Monarch War and everything, we were back to this bullshit.

  Well, not today. Not with me. I’d die first.

  Chapter 24

  Alex left me alone for the next week, and I spent my time avoiding everyone—scurrying to classes; hiding from the nurse, who’d taken to knocking on my fucking door at ten at night; and listening to the student body rave about the big dance that was coming up next week, on Saturday. The Spring Ball was Arbon’s first chance this year to show off to the monarchies, and they were wasting no time revamping the entire school to make it a showpiece. Or more of one than usual anyway.

  I personally was freaking the fuck out because I had almost no doubt that Alex’s parents would be there. Along with Rafe’s, Jordan’s… Jesus, I had to stop fucking princes. They were too complicated for my life.

  During my last class on Friday, the buzzing of my palm reader distracted me, and I glanced down to find a new message.

  Jordan: It’s done.

  Fuck. Yes. This was the first good news I’d had in days, and I needed it desperately. He’d run into a few snags in making sure the virus would not be traced back to us at all. It required him to use the school server, ping it all over the world, scramble the data… I’d tuned out the rest of his explanation because this sort of thing was not my strong suit. It was Jordan’s, though, and I trusted he had done an exemplary job at ensuring its success.

  Kinda helped that he had the best tech at his fingertips and probably the best teachers growing up.

  Me: Great work.

  I didn’t reply with anything incriminating, just in case they decided to investigate anyone other than Alex. I was already regretting my big fat mouth mentioning a “project” to Jordan the other day. Hopefully Alex was too stupid to put that together with this frame job. It’d be better all around if he wasn’t suspicious that this had anything to do with us.

  Wishful thinking, no doubt.

  Jordan: Meet me after class. Rafe’s glass cage of emotions.

  I silently snorted out some laughter at that. Apparently Jordan was the only other person privy to knowing about Rafe’s secret escape from the world.

  The rest of whatever class I was in now passed super slow. I’d stopped paying attention. Stopped taking notes. I wrote my name on the test papers and handed them in, only to get a top mark back.

  It had actually turned into a game now of how bad I could be and still pass all my classes.

  So far I’d discovered that even if I didn’t turn up to class, I’d receive full marks, but I also had Alex up my ass about appearances, so I’d taken to showing up. And that was all.

  When it was over, I hurried out of the room before anyone could stop me.

  “Violet,” Alex called, waving from the back of the class. Moron. He knew by now that I was always the first out, and still, he’d been too lazy to hurry.

  “Not a dog, Alex,” I yelled back. “I don’t come when you call.”

  A few students nearby that could hear us snickered, and I knew I’d pay for that later. Honestly, I had zero fucks left to give.

  Dashing down the hall, I took the longest route to the secret room with all the windows and the peaceful view. The room was empty, but someone must have been there earlier, since the fireplace was roaring, sending warmth around the space. The harsh winter months had disappeared a while ago, but it had become apparent that it nev
er actually got hot here. Not like back home.

  A longing for home slammed into me, something I hadn’t really had before this point, but I missed the simplicity of my previous life. Missed my friend. Missed my freedom.

  I might have been poor and an orphan, but in many ways, what I was now was much worse.

  “Hey,” Jordan said, distracting me from my morose thoughts. I swung away from the window and that mesmerizing view to focus instead on his darkly gorgeous face. “We ready to do this?”

  I was nodding before I even said a word. “Fuck, yes. I am so ready to have Alex out of my life. I’ve been lucky so far; he’s left me alone, no doubt so I can come to terms with my new reality. But that’s gonna end soon. I mean… his parents...”

  I hadn’t really told any of them what had happened in Alex’s room, not in any sort of detail, but they had seemed to understand enough to know that his parents were bad news and them being involved was a huge problem.

  “How long is this going to take?” I asked, stepping closer as Jordan started to set up a bunch of equipment. He was pulling it from a large metal box, and in all honesty, I had no fucking clue what any of it was.

  “It’s going to take a few hours to send out, a few days to take effect, and a week or more to be discovered by the authorities and traced back to Alex,” he said, his focus on wires and small black boxes that were all hooking into each other. “These devices will amplify the signal so that I can reach the main servers across the world and infiltrate the network as quickly as possible.”

  Like last time, this was the point where I started smiling and nodding.

  After he was finished explaining, I realized how much work he’d put into this project. “Thank you,” I said, “for helping me. You didn’t have to—this isn’t your problem—and I need you to know how grateful I am.”

  It wasn’t just the work either; he could get into a ton of trouble if he was discovered. He was really putting himself on the line for me, and I didn’t know how I could ever repay him.