by Becca Steele
“Is this seat taken?” I glanced up from my plate to see Cassius and Zayde drop into a chair either side of me.
“Be my guest,” I muttered sullenly. “More orders from His Highness?”
Cassius snorted in amusement. “I dare you to say that to his face.”
“Maybe I will.”
Zayde stared at me silently, his sharp gaze unnerving me. Fuck, he freaked me out. There was something about him…something unhinged, almost. As if there was a monster lurking behind his eyes, just waiting to be unleashed. Cassius, I could handle. Zayde, on the other hand, I did not want to cross.
I felt hot, jealous stares boring into me as girls seated around us took in the fact that I, the new girl, was sitting with two of the Four. Like I’d had a say in the matter.
“Is Caiden going to grace us with his presence?”
“Miss me already, babe?” The mocking voice came from right behind me, and I jumped, placing my hand on my heart.
“Told you she was jumpy.” I turned to see Weston grinning at me, and Caiden, standing next to him, staring at me with icy disdain. How could they be related? Their personalities were as different as night and day.
They slung themselves into chairs opposite me, placing their trays down, and just like that, the table was full.
“Hey. My friend needs somewhere to sit.”
“She can sit right here.” Cassius pointed to his lap.
“What if my friend’s a man?”
“Hey, I don’t discriminate.” He winked at me, and I rolled my eyes, noticing Kinslee standing in line to pay for her lunch.
“Look, she’s here now. Can someone please find a chair? I’m going to have to sit somewhere else, otherwise.” I could feel my blood pressure rising. Why couldn’t I have a simple lunch with my friend, in peace?
Everyone looked towards Caiden. “Calm down, Snowflake.” His voice was dangerously soft. “Cass, get her friend a chair, will ya.”
“Snowflake?” I looked at him across the table, puzzled.
“Yeah. You know. Winter. Snowflake.” He gave me another disdainful look, as if I should be able to read his mind so he didn’t have to waste time explaining.
“Original,” I commented with yet another eye roll. At this rate, I was going to be needing an appointment with an optician to check my eyes weren’t being permanently damaged with all the eye rolling going on around these boys.
“Appropriate nickname.” Zayde’s low drawl came from my right, and I turned to stare at him, raising a brow. “This university is full of snowflakes, always taking offence at the slightest thing, thinking they’re so fucking special and unique. You should fit right in with them.”
“Funny. That’s what they say about you four.” I gave him a huge fake smile, and he curled his lips in a snarl, baring his teeth at me.
Turning away from him, I waved at Kinslee, and she waved back, then frowned when she took in the people that were sitting with me. She quickly shrugged it off and sashayed over to us with her usual confident strut.
“Well, well, well, Winter. You didn’t tell me you’d found me some eye candy to look at while I eat my lunch.”
“That’s because I didn’t know they’d be here.” I injected my voice with as much sarcasm as I could muster.
Everyone ignored me, talking amongst themselves. Kinslee mouthed are you okay? and I nodded. I was fine. Just pissed off. Still, if they thought that by following me around everywhere they’d scare me away, or find information they could use against me, they’d be severely disappointed. Nothing was going to deter me from my search for answers.
A tall, curvy redhead dressed in a skimpy black top and tight jeans approached our table, her eyes flicking over me dismissively, a small sneer on her lips, before her focus turned to Caiden. “Hi, Cade.” Her voice was all breathy, and she batted her lashes, pushing her tits into his face.
He smiled up at her, and an irrational stab of jealousy hit me. No, it was hatred. Definitely hatred. She sunk down onto his lap, and he continued to eat his food as if having a gorgeous girl sitting on him during lunch was an everyday occurrence. Maybe it was. I noticed Cassius and Weston exchange knowing glances, and I tried to decipher their expressions.
As the girl wriggled in Caiden’s lap and he put his arm around her waist, I found myself growing more and more irritated. I clenched my fork so tightly that the metal dug into my hand.
Cassius slung an arm around the back of my seat, as Weston engaged Kinslee in a discussion about a film club or something. He moved his head closer to whisper in my ear. “Babe, you’re either jealous, or you want to stab one of them. You need to chill the fuck out, before Caiden notices.”
“Yeah, it’s not jealousy.”
“Right. You want to kill one of them. If it’s Portia, I’m down with it. Fucking psycho bitch,” he muttered, so quietly, I didn’t think he meant for me to hear him.
My eyes narrowed as I glared at Caiden. At this point the girl, Portia, had her arms clasped around his neck, and she was kissing his cheek as he sat, an amused, slightly mocking expression on his face as he watched me growing angrier and angrier. I tore my eyes away, and I saw salvation.
Or more accurately, I saw James Granville.
Flying out of my chair before any of the Four could react, I made a beeline for his table.
“James.”
“Winter.” He smiled up at me, a genuine, pleased smile, and I felt like crying. At least there was one man here who was normal, who didn’t want to play games with me or make my life miserable.
“Winter? What’s wrong?” He stood up and tugged me into his arms. I wrapped my arms around him, letting his comforting embrace soothe me.
“Nothing. It’s just nice to see a friendly face, that’s all.”
He stepped back, looking down at me with concern. “First-day nerves?”
“Something like that,” I muttered.
“It’ll get better. You’re bound to find it tough coming in a year later than everyone else, when friendships have already been established. Stick it out, though. Things will improve.”
“I hope so,” I sighed, glancing back over to the table I’d left. The Four were all staring at me, with varying levels of hostility. Kinslee was staring between them and me, her expression helpless. As I watched, Caiden shot me another icy glare, then lowered his head deliberately to the girl on his lap, nuzzling her neck. A tiny, frustrated sigh escaped before I could stop it. Why was I so affected by him?
“Cavendish, huh?” James looked at me with a mix of resentment and sympathy in his expression. “I wouldn’t waste your time with him. He’ll discard you once he’s had his way.”
“Caiden doesn’t like me. And I don’t like him. And you know what? Funnily enough, he said something similar about you.”
James laughed. “I bet he did. The difference between me and Cavendish is I treat women with respect. I like to stay friends with anyone I sleep with, and if we’re both lucky enough, maybe we’ll take things further again.” He winked at me, and I laughed.
“I’d better get back. I don’t want to leave Kinslee alone for too long.”
As I turned to walk away, he called me back. “Winter? I think you’re wrong about him not liking you. He looked at me like he wanted to take me down a dark alley and beat the shit out of me when we were talking just now.”
I shook my head. “No. It’s all part of his game. He has it in for me, and I don’t know why. To be honest, you’re better off not being friends with me. Apparently, he’s declared I’m ‘off limits’”—I accompanied my words with another eye roll—“and I don’t want to give him a reason to cause trouble with you.”
“I’m not worried,” he assured me, and I raised a brow at him, unconvinced.
“If you say so. Anyway. Thanks for…being there, I guess. See you around?”
“You can count on it.” He smiled, sitting back down, and I made my way back to the table to join the others.
As I reached the table, the Four
stood, Caiden unceremoniously dumping Portia from his lap. She squealed in protest, and I couldn’t help sniggering under my breath.
“See ya,” Cassius said, the others acting like I wasn’t even there, and they sauntered out, a wall of sexy, tattooed, muscular testosterone, all eyes on them as they left.
“I get the feeling my life is going to become a lot more interesting with you in it,” Kinslee murmured as I flopped into my chair.
“You and me both,” I sighed.
FOUR
The next two weeks continued in the same vein—the Four were my frequent shadows, often accompanied by girls that seemed to resent my presence. As if I’d asked for the attention. Everywhere I turned, one of them was there. If I was especially unlucky, it was Caiden and his hostile glares, with his whispered insults and threats to make me leave. Or even worse, Zayde, with his blank, soulless stare, never saying anything, but tracking my movements with the intent of a predator sizing up its prey. It was starting to feel like I was inside a nightmare with no escape. Every scathing look they threw me chilled the blood in my veins, every hissed taunt and jibe cut me, but I refused to back down. There was no way I’d let them scare me away. I was here for a reason, and I wasn’t about to let a bunch of entitled rich pricks stop me, no matter how hard they tried.
Unfortunately, at the moment, I wasn’t getting anywhere in my search for answers, and, thanks to the Four’s presence, I was starting to feel a little isolated. Guys were staying away from me, other than James, and girls didn’t want to know me, thanks to their misplaced jealousy. At least Kinslee didn’t seem to be affected—I got the impression that she didn’t care about anyone’s opinion other than her own, and she’d made up her mind we’d be friends right from the first day we’d met.
It was a dull, windy Thursday afternoon when I headed into the Student Union bar with Kinslee. Despite the exclusive, old-money feel of the university, the bar was surprisingly ordinary—a large, L-shaped room in the basement of the Student Union building, with a long wooden bar down one wall, and tables and chairs and several sofas dotted around the space. There was a dance floor area in one half of the room which was used as an additional seating area during the day.
We made our way to the far corner of the room, where there were two pool tables along with a dartboard. I put a coin into the slot and started setting up the table ready to play while Kinslee got us drinks.
“Is this a private game, or can anyone join in?”
The now-familiar voice set my teeth on edge, and I straightened up, steeling myself for confrontation.
“Let me guess, King Caiden has you on stalker duties again?” Spinning around, I saw Cassius and Weston both eyeing me with amusement. At least Caiden and Zayde were nowhere to be seen.
“Nah, not today. West and I just happened to be passing through and saw you two beautiful ladies all alone, so we thought you might enjoy the pleasure of our company.” Cassius flashed me a grin, and I rolled my eyes.
Really. As if I’d believe that this wasn’t Caiden’s doing, that they’d choose to be around me of their own accord. Turning back to the table, I continued setting up the pool balls in the triangle, ready to play.
I felt the weight of their stares on my back and sighed, knowing that I was only delaying the inevitable by ignoring their presence. “I guess you can join us, if you must.”
Kinslee strutted over with our drinks, placing them on the high table next to us, and greeted Cassius and Weston as if she’d been expecting to see them. To be fair, she probably was. She’d been curious about the Four’s constant presence, and I’d tried to explain what I didn’t actually understand myself. Caiden had decided he didn’t like or trust me, and as far as I could tell, it stemmed from my mother. When I’d said as much to Kinslee, she’d shrugged and said that I should be glad, because I got to hang out with the four kings of the campus (her words, not mine), and she always perked up when they were around—despite me distinctly remembering her calling them “spoiled rich boys who think they’re above everyone else.”
The initial tension I’d felt when Cassius and Weston had showed up faded as I watched Kinslee interact with them. I laughed under my breath as she fluffed out her hair and sidled up to Weston, trailing her hand up his arm.
“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” she purred.
A cheeky smirk appeared on Weston’s face, his blue eyes sparkling. “You looking to have some fun with a younger man, Kins?”
“Could you handle me?” She raked her eyes up and down his body appreciatively.
“Don’t be fooled by his baby face. West probably sees more female action than the rest of us put together. Ain’t that right, mate?” Cassius punched Weston’s arm playfully.
“I’d say we’re pretty even.” Weston walked over to the cue rack and pulled down a couple of cues, handing one to Cassius. “Boys versus girls, or mixed teams?”
“I vote we go for mixed teams” was Cassius’ immediate reply.
“Mixed teams works for me. I’m with West,” Kinslee announced.
“Looks like it’s you and me, babe.” Cassius handed me the cue. “You break, and I’ll stand behind you and enjoy the view.”
Ugh. Boys.
I leaned over, and Cassius came up right behind me. I pushed my body backwards, just slightly, and his hands came to my hips. “Your ass is fucking hot.” He pressed his hips forwards, his body right up against me.
I rolled my eyes, not that he could see. This boy really needed to learn about personal space and boundaries. Wriggling my ass, which elicited a groan from his lips, I lulled him into a false sense of security, before I lined the cue up with the white ball and drew my elbow back at lightning speed, straight into his stomach.
“What the fuck!” he shouted, and I spun around, laughing helplessly at the pure shock on his face.
“Maybe you shouldn’t stand so close to her.” I turned to stare at Weston, who was grinning at us both, leaning against the wall.
“Right?” I rounded the pool table, stopping in front of him and Kinslee. I reached over and grabbed my drink, taking a huge gulp.
“I wouldn’t want to get on your bad side.” He made a point of stepping away from me, and I laughed again.
“You don’t need to worry. I think you understand more about personal boundaries than your friend here.”
“Although, if you’re up for testing personal boundaries, I’m available.” Kinslee batted her lashes at him.
As I shot her an amused smile, I was startled to realise that I was actually having fun with these boys. Maybe things would get better. Of course, would Caiden be happy with me becoming friendly with Cass and Weston…doubtful.
Stepping away from Kinslee and Weston, I headed back to Cassius. “How’s the stomach?”
He glared at me, although his expression held no malice. “That was a dirty trick you played on me.”
“Lesson learned?” I raised a brow at him.
“Yes. I’ll admire you from afar from now on.”
“Good boy.” I squeezed his arm and blew him a kiss as I headed around the pool table to carry on the game, and he shook his head at me, smiling.
We ended up playing three games, and Cassius sank the winning shot on the third game.
“Celebratory drinks?” Kinslee suggested, leaning into Weston, who had one arm slung around her and the other frowning at his phone.
“Rain check. Cade wants to meet us.” He shoved his phone in his pocket and looked down at her. “This isn’t over.” He brushed one of her corkscrew curls away from her face, and I saw her practically swoon, licking her lips as she stared back at him. He smiled down at her, and I watched, fascinated. It was amazing, the effect these boys had on women. Me included, as much as I would rather not be affected by them. Damn hormones, making life more complicated.
“See you ladies later,” Cassius said, and they jogged out of the Student Union, leaving us alone.
I paused as I crested the hill, leaning against the handl
ebars of the bike I’d “borrowed” from the sheds around the back of my apartment block. So far, no one had claimed it, and I doubted anyone would, but I made it a point to put it back where I’d found it every time I’d used it. It had definitely seen better days—the paint was flaking from the teal frame, rust spots dotting the wheels, the saddle ripped and faded. Still, it was fine for my short explorations of the surrounding areas. After our game of pool with the boys, Kinslee had headed to the library to research an assignment, and not wanting to stay in the apartment, I’d decided to check out a trail leading out of the campus I’d noticed a few days earlier.
I’d followed the signposted track through the fields, and as I took in the vista in front of me, my jaw dropped. I was on the headland, the sea wild and churning beneath me, crashing angrily against the rocks. A small ruined castle stood on the edge of the cliffs, desolate and crumbling, ancient stones scattered amongst the scrubby grass. I climbed off the bike and wheeled it towards the ruins, then left it on the ground. Wrapping my thick cardigan tightly around me, I explored the ruins, trailing my hand along the cool stone walls, some barely standing, a shell of what once must have been a beautiful castle.
I rounded the front of the structure, close to the edge of the cliff, and sank to the ground, my back against the stone, facing the sea. Pulling my knees up and resting my head on my arms, I stared at the horizon as the sun began its descent, mostly hidden behind huge grey clouds.
A faint scratching sound came from my left, and my head whipped round, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. My heart beating faster, I stood up, taking a step towards the direction the noise had come from. As quietly as I could, I bent down and picked up a rock from the ground, then inched around the corner of the wall I’d been leaning against.
There was nothing there.
I couldn’t shake the sensation that I was being watched, but I couldn’t see anything. I stood as still as possible, straining my ears for any further noise, but all I could hear was the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks, far below me, and the gulls in the sky above.