Elite (Eagle Elite #1)(39)

I counted to three and turned around expecting one of two things. Either he was going to murder me or kiss me. There really wasn’t any other logical option, not with Nixon.

“Sit,” he commanded.

I dropped my bag to the floor and crossed my arms.

“Please.” He smirked.

“Fine.” I went over to the desk closest to me and sat on it, careful not to let my skirt hike up. Tempting the devil wasn’t the smartest thing to do, considering we were alone.

“I need you to do me a favor.”

“I won’t have sex with you. I’m not that kind of girl.” I tilted my head and basked in the glory of taking Nixon by surprise, and also getting my revenge after he blurted all of that out in the middle of the dance floor last week.

“I deserved that.” He leaned against the teacher’s desk.

“And more.”

“Care to punish me?”

“I’m leaving.” With a huff I pushed away from the desk and grabbed my bag.

“Wait.” Nixon’s hand was on my arm. “I just, I wanted to warn you. Be careful, okay?”

I nodded.

“I’ll see you at lunch?” His voice almost sounded insecure.

“Yup, remember? I’ve got your key card.” Something I noticed this morning when I rode the elevator down to the first floor of my dorm and did a fist pump!

“Keep it.” Nixon’s eyes fell to my necklace again. “Another favor?”

“Wow, you’re just full of requests this morning, aren’t you?”

Wrong thing to say.

Nixon’s eyes heated as he stepped forward and with a little tug had me flush against his body. “Oh, I can think of some more favors. How bad do you want an A?”

“Not bad enough to see you naked.”

He laughed softly and tilted my chin toward him. It was becoming a habit, looking into his eyes. I hated that I was getting used to him touching me. I hated it even more that I liked it.

“Don’t wear expensive jewelry during the school day. I would hate to see you lose something important to you.” His eyes darted to my necklace. “Please? That’s something even my money can’t replace.”

Stunned that he would care, I could only stare at him with my mouth open. Nixon licked his lips and then looked behind me, before very gently tilting my chin toward his and brushing his mouth against mine. “Have a good day, Trace.”

Uh-huh. Holy Hell, my day was going to be all kinds of good if I got kissed like that. I opened my mouth to say something, but Nixon’s two fingers pressed against my lips. “Don’t ruin it by saying something. Now. Go to class.”

Nostrils flaring, I stepped back, grabbed the door and flung it open, stepping out of the room and into the noisy hallway. Straight lines, Trace. Just walk in straight lines.





Chapter Seventeen Straight lines were overrated. I decided this as I almost tripped over my own feet twice and face planted into some guy as I hurried to my next class.

I almost made it to the door before I remembered what Nixon had said. With a curse I pulled off the necklace. It caught on my hair. “Crap!”

I brought the rat’s nest of hair in front of me so I could pick through it. When the necklace finally broke free it crashed to the floor and somehow managed to skid a few feet away from me.

Okay, so maybe Nixon was right, and I’m a freaking accident waiting to happen. Rolling my eyes, I walked over to where it fell and knelt. A pair of shoes met my reaching hand.

“Allow me,” came the familiar voice.

Frozen in place, I watched as Phoenix knelt down and picked the necklace up off the floor. “Pretty.”

“Thanks.” I held out my hand.

“What? I can’t be nice?” He smiled and flipped the necklace over reading the name on back. “Hmm, pretty cool. Family heirloom or something?”

“I guess.”

He nodded and plopped it into my hands. “I don’t bite, you know.”

“No, you just drug girls.”

He held his hands up. “I guess I deserved that, but are you really going to side with the same guy who last week embarrassed you in front of the entire student body?”

He had me there. I took a step back and shrugged. “He apologized.”

“Nixon Abandonato apologized to a farm girl from Wyoming?”

I nodded.

“Hmm.” Phoenix crossed his arms. “Now, why does that sound suspicious?”

“What, that he’d be nice to me?”

“No. That he’d apologize to a nobody.”

“A nobody?” Furious, I was half tempted to throw my book bag across my shoulder and hit in him the face. “At least today when I eat lunch I’ll be sitting with the Elect. Where will you be?”

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head where I’ll be… but good to know whose side you're on. It makes what I have to do so much easier.”

I didn’t like the way his eyes looked, as if he hated me almost as much as he hated Nixon. I took another step back and another until I was close to my classroom.

Phoenix smirked, and walked off in the other direction.

Sighing, I leaned against the wall by my classroom. Nixon had asked me to do two things, and five seconds after he asked me, bad things happened. Great. Note to self. Listen to the godfather.