Play the Game: Hannaford Prep Year Three

by J Bree

  The stunned silence continues until the waiters have left. Blaise and I tuck into our dinner happily, but it takes the others a minute to start in on theirs.

  “Congrats, I guess?” Harley says, and Ash snorts at him.

  “He’s not the one who’s fucking pregnant, and who the hell said that this is a good thing?”

  Avery cocks her head. “Did your dad definitely disown you? Can I start ruining his life now?”

  I smirk at her. “We, Aves, can we start ruining his life now? I have some very creative plans for Mr. Blaine Morrison.”

  Blaise looks between us. “What plans?”

  “I’m going to royally, and viciously, fuck that man up.”

  Harley and Ash both whoop with excitement and Blaise looks vaguely concerned. Avery continues to eat her salmon delicately, pausing to say, “Are they going to name the baby Blaise, too? Just completely replace you?”

  It sounds harsh as fuck, but the scorn isn’t directed at Blaise. He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. “Blaire. They’re naming him Blaire.”

  I cringe for him. “At least it’s not Eclipse?”

  Chapter Five

  Driving through the gates at Hannaford feels different this year.

  Granted I’m in the front seat of the Maserati, earplugs in and singing along to the new and unreleased Vanth record like a total fucking groupie, and Blaise keeps biting his lip as he shoots me these little awed looks. Harley and the twins are in the ‘Stang behind us and when both cars pull into the staff parking Blaise leaves the car idling until the song finishes.

  When we finally get out Avery is there with her phone, grinning at me and when the boy’s phones all ping at the same time I know she’s fucking recorded my singing through the open car window.

  “Ash threatened me, Lips, I was forced.” She purrs and I don’t believe her for a hot second.

  Harley slings my bag across his shoulder and I give him a little nod. My safe and the diamonds are in there. I trust him implicitly so I don’t mind him taking it, but I want him aware they’re there. Fuck it, I’ll probably get them to help me pick the hiding spot this year.

  Blaise and Ash bicker happily while I tuck myself under Blaise’s arm, still nervous about being so open about touching them. I mean, the Jackal knows about Harley and I’ve made it clear I’m not interested in submitting to him, but it’s still fucking nerve wracking to do this. What if I paint a target on them too? Fuck.

  Blaise notices my hesitation and curls around me protectively. I swallow roughly at the lump that forms in my throat. I’m never going to get used to being protected and cared for.

  We get the same room as last year, thanks to Avery, and she pitches a fit to get the guys to leave us alone. It’s nice to get settled by ourselves. School starts tomorrow and we all have to adjust to being back amongst the snakes we share the halls with.

  By the time I’ve helped Avery unpack her shit I already miss the little bubble we’d been in at the townhouse.

  Avery shoves a tub of ice cream at me and when I grumble about it she waves her own at me. We watch Ghost together after she finds out I’ve never seen it, and we mope about being stuck here for another two years. Okay, I mope, Avery plots on her phone and snarks at my shitty attitude.

  I wake up just as pissy as I went to bed and it’s only as I get dressed into my uniform that I finally remember I have something to be fucking thrilled about this year.

  Three words: Thigh. High. Socks.

  Junior year is going to be the fucking best year at the shitty snake-pit known as Hannaford Preparatory Academy. Avery laughs her ass off at me when she sees me twirling around our room in my uniform, squealing like a child at the socks pulled right up my leg.

  Fuck yes!

  Now if only I could convince the school board to ditch the kitten heels and let me wear my Doc’s, I’d be fucking set. Avery winces at me when I suggest it to her. Traitor.

  “What class do we have first? I’ve barely looked at my schedule.” I grumble as I finally tug the kitten heels on.

  Avery hums under her breath as she fusses with her already perfect hair. “We have a full school assembly first. It’s a late addition, I’ve messaged Mr. Trevelen and the head of the school board, but haven’t heard back from either of them to say what it’s for.”

  I frown.

  I’m not a fan of surprises and life just keeps throwing them my way.

  The sound of our door unlocking startles me and I shoot Avery a look. She rolls her eyes. “Ash insisted on having a copy. He says it’s for emergency use only and apparently having a locked door between him and his Mounty this morning counts as an emergency.”

  Ash strides into the room, Harley and Blaise following closely behind him. They all look fucking devastating in their uniforms and I swear I ruin my panties.

  Ash smirks at me and calls out to his sister, “Avery, do we really have to have another conversation about your attitude towards my relationship with the Mounty?”

  Avery shrugs sweetly. “If I come back here one day and find you with your dick out, I’ll destroy you. Slowly, and with great pleasure.”

  Right.

  I move away from the escalating Beaumont Bullshit and sling my bag over my shoulder. Blaise grins at me and gives me a quick kiss, no tongue because he’s a little worried now I’ve armed Avery with the same type of knife I carry at all times. He’s seen first-hand how sharp it is and, despite what his asshole father thinks, he’s not stupid.

  Harley bites his lip at the sight of my socks and hauls me into his arms, a hand cupping my face as he kisses me, walking us both to the door without breaking the kiss. It’s fucking stupid, but I swoon.

  He breaks away with a grin and Blaise cackles at one of Avery’s snipes to her brother, trailing behind us as we head out.

  Four steps.

  We make it four fucking steps into the hallway before Annabelle freaking Summers accosts us.

  “You’re all fucking the Mounty slut now?” She spits and I clench my jaw at her.

  Harley snorts at her and keeps walking, ignoring her completely. I glance back at Blaise only to find she’s thrown herself at him. He’s trying to, carefully, pry her arms off of him and she starts to sob dramatically. I could fucking vomit at the sight of her.

  Harley drops his arm from me, ready for one of us to go deal with her, but there’s no need.

  Avery dumps a full cup of piping hot coffee over her head.

  Annabelle screeches, scrambling away from Blaise and her pathetically fake sobs turn into gut-wrenching real ones. All of the girls in the hall freeze and gape at Avery. I mean, I kind of do too.

  She stares down at Annabelle and then surveys the other girls with a detached look. Ash steps up behind her, backing her in every sense of the word.

  “I’m done asking nicely. Anyone who interferes with my family from this moment onwards will be dealt with immediately and with force. I will no longer hold back and there is nothing I could do to any of you little bitches that I couldn’t make disappear from the records. Remember that.” Avery says, her voice is glacial and I smile at her like she’s my fucking soulmate. “Ash, Harley, and Blaise are off limits to you sluts. This is the only warning you’re all getting.”

  Harley scoffs and whispers in my ear, “Stop looking at her like you want to fuck her, you’ll give us all a complex.”

  I quirk an eyebrow at him. “If we both swung that way, we’d be fucking married by now. I would have wifed her ass last year.”

  He roars with laughter.

  Mr Trevelen starts his welcome speech and I zone the fuck out.

  The chapel is still my least favorite place at Hannaford. It’s slightly more bearable to be in here now that I am firmly wedged between Avery and Ash, fingers tracing patterns into my thighs in a delicious way that makes me want to squirm. Thanks to his dirty mouth on my birthday, I now associate those patterns with the filthy things he’d whispered to me.

  I was fucking starving and these b
astards were parading around like French toast topped with cherry ice cream served with freshly brewed coffee.

  I’m gonna break.

  My attention snaps back to the stage as a woman in her late twenties walks across, her heels far too high to be a teacher. She’s attractive; curvy and seductive, blonde hair with a slash of red lipstick finishing off the Monroe look. She caresses Mr. Trevelen’s arm as she passes him and his feet stumble. The row of sophomores in front of us start whispering and shifting in their seats. Avery and I share a look.

  The fingers on my thighs don’t falter.

  “Thank you for that glowing introduction, Richard. Good morning, students. As your principal has just informed you, my name is Ms. Vivienne Turner. I expect I will enjoy meeting you individually throughout this first week and teaching you all history.”

  Avery and I share another look before her phone comes out. Blaise angles his body so the teacher at the end of our aisle can’t see what she’s doing. Mr Ember is on the Jackal’s payroll and we’ve already discussed keeping a low profile with him until we can flush out his other eyes in the school.

  Ms. Turner leaves the stage, swaying her hips like she’s trying to fuck the air, and Trevelen steps back up to drone on and on about his plans for the school and I let my mind wander away from his continued naivety. I need to get ahead in my studies early this year. I need to be more prepared than I was last year because there is a lot more on my plate. I have three boyfriends, I’m protecting the man who killed the Vulture, the Jackal wants Harley dead, I haven’t sorted out the O’Cronins yet, the Beaumonts, and now there’s the Morrisons. Sweet lord fuck, I may be in over my head.

  When the assembly finally finishes, we leave for our morning classes together.

  Avery slips her arm into mine and murmurs quietly into my ear, “I just heard back from the school board. Annabelle is here on the scholarship.”

  I cut her a look. A freshman nudges past us and the snarl Blaise throws at him is orgasm-inducing. “Why would they give it to her? She’s barely scraping through her classes.”

  Avery snorts. “She wrote to them over the break and made her case to them. Told them she wanted the right education to resurrect her family business.”

  I roll my eyes. “Sure. She’s definitely here for education and not for dick.”

  When we arrive to class for the day, having skipped the first two sessions thanks to the assembly, Blaise sulks when he finds himself on the other side of the room thanks to the alphabetical seating arrangement.

  I’m at the back of our history class with Harley and the twins are directly in front of us. I don’t know the girl that’s seated with Blaise and that worries me. I make a note to see who the hell she is and find out what her grade average is. With all of the joint assignments we’re forced to do, I need to know that she’s not going to be a dead-weight.

  Harley sees me eyeing her and hands me the syllabus; Avery must have gotten it early for him. He’s already marked the joint assignments and where we’ll split them. I smile sweetly at him. I’m sure it looks fucking stupid on my face, but he grins back.

  “I have plenty of shit to keep you busy with this year.” He jokes and I snort at him.

  He cackles back at me and says, “We can split the children up, work out study plans and keep everyone on top. If you show me how to teach Morrison, I’ll try not to rip his throat out when he’s a dick to me.”

  I roll my eyes at him. “Maybe if you didn’t talk to him like that he wouldn’t be a dick back.”

  Harley shrugs. “He’s always going to be a dick, Mounty; it’s in every fiber of his being.”

  I open my mouth to snark at him, fuck knows why I’m defending Blaise because he is a total dick, but the door opens and our new teacher walks in like she’s a stripper walking up to the pole. Christ, give me the fucking strength I need to get through this.

  She smiles coyly at the male students, one by one like she’s sizing them all up. Avery glances back at me with a murder in her eyes when Ms. Turner zeros in on Harley. I have two thoughts; I fucking adore that girl, and the new teacher is walking a dangerous line.

  “Good morning! You all get the absolute pleasure of being the first students to enjoy me this year.”

  Blaise’s snort is so loud we hear it across the room and Avery giggles at him. Ms. Turner ignores it and starts to write on the board.

  “I prefer to be addressed as Ms. Vivienne. Ms. Turner sounds too old and matronly for someone of my charms.”

  I share another look with Avery. She sounds like a bitch in heat and it’s fucking gross.

  She prattles on about the joys and wonders of history in a breathy tone. I zone her the fuck out and look over the syllabus instead. I’m planning out what I’m going to tackle first when she starts handing out a pop quiz, bending low for each of the guys in the room. Ash snatches the paper out of her hand and sneers at her. When she blinks at him, shocked that he isn’t panting like every other dick in the room, he hands us each a quiz.

  Harley cackles. “Thanks, man.”

  I finish the pop quiz first, which is no surprise, but what is surprising is that Ash finishes his before Harley. I raise my brows at him and he smirks at me. The lying asshole, I knew he was smarter than he ever let on! Harley glares at him and I suddenly realize a whole new headache I’m going to be dealing with this year.

  Ms. Vivienne walks around the room to look over the quizzes, one by one, and I’m relieved when she smiles at Blaise and gives him a B. Thank fuck.

  When she gets to our desk she rests her hip on it and crosses her arms under her tits, pushing them up so they’re about to spill out of her shirt and over Harley.

  Who the fuck is this bitch?

  Harley stares at the whiteboard, his eyes don’t even flick in her direction, and once I realize she’s nothing but a fucking cradle-snatching predator on the prowl, I stare ahead as well. No point giving the bitch the attention she wants. Harley smirks and tucks his hand into mine under the desk. Avery is the only one still watching her and I know exactly what’s going through her mind.

  Assess.

  Plan.

  Destroy.

  When Ms. Vivienne realizes she hasn’t caught Harley’s attention at all she leans across to the desk next to ours, pushing her ass into his arm. The guys across from us groan lustfully, but Harley’s hand clenches in mine.

  He’s not like Ash.

  He might not want to hurt a woman, but he’s not morally against it either. If a bitch threatens him or his family, he’s not going to find a peaceful resolution. He’s going to deal with the fucking problem.

  He wants to deal with this problem.

  I lean into him and whisper, “Do you want me to take her out?”

  Harley smirks back. “Stop flirting with me, Mounty.”

  When the class finally fucking ends, Ms. Vivienne calls out as we pack up. “Mr. Arbour, if you could please stay behind after the class ends. I have something to discuss with you.”

  My eyes snap up to her face. Avery and Harley glare towards Ms. Vivienne, and she smiles seductively back at Harley.

  Fuck that.

  I lean in to make a show of whispering to him, “I’ll slit her throat and watch her bleed out if she touches you.”

  Harley smirks back at me. “I’ll warn her.”

  We survive the day without me having to kill anyone, but I don’t get the chance to ask Harley what the hell the bitch wanted. I mention it to Avery when we get back to our room for dinner.

  She sighs and flicks the coffee machine on for me. “She’s a ghost. Her file is full, but it’s all clean. I had someone trawl through her entire existence online and nothing. I thought she had to have a statutory rape hiding somewhere.”

  I groan as I pull my shoes off, my feet aching from the stupid heels after weeks of my comfortable Doc’s. Avery starts fussing with pots and pans in the kitchen, not cooking, but scrubbing maniacally. I understand her rage completely.

  Which reminds me.<
br />
  “The word slut is officially off-limits. If any-fucking-one calls me a Mounty slut again, I’m pulling their fingernails out with pliers.” I grumble and Avery raises an eyebrow at me.

  “Is that a hypothetical or is it in your skill set?”

  I cut her a look. “It’s in my skill set.”

  She tilts her head and hums under her breath. We’ve never discussed the specifics of what I can and have done before. I wait a minute, but when she doesn’t reply I say, “Problem?”

  She smirks. “Of course not, I’m just filing that information away in case a situation arises. It’s good to know all the tools we have at our disposal.”

  I laugh at her and grab the cup of coffee she holds out to me.

  Chapter Six

  Harley texts us to meet him in the dining hall for breakfast the next morning.

  Avery makes us both coffees to go. She doesn’t look up from her phone the whole way down, trusting me to lead her there safely with her arm tucked tight in mine. I’m distracted by my own thoughts and worries of what the fuck the history teacher wanted with him that I don’t notice the guy that steps into our path until I slam into him.

  I grunt at the sharp pain that shoots up my leg and Avery, thankfully, manages to keep a firm grip of my arm to keep me upright. Her eyes make a quick assessment of whoever the fuck we’ve hit and then her fingers fly across the screen of her phone.

  I glance up to see Darcy.

  Now, I know it’s not Thomas Darcy, because he was a senior last year and this guy is a good foot shorter than him, but the likeness is striking.

  I mentally nickname him little Darcy.

  “What can I do for you, asshole?” I snap and Avery giggles at my attitude, lapping it up.

  He smirks at me and rubs his chest where I’d bumped into him. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere, Mounty! My brother did warn me that you’re a hard girl to catch.”