Paper Princess (The Royals #1)(60)

I respond with yeah.

Did u say yes?

I said I’d think about it.

Don’t think 2 hard. He’s one of the nicer ones.

Another text quickly pops up. Captain of the lacrosse team. She adds this as if that makes a difference to me.

Rolling my eyes, I enter the cafeteria and track Val down at our usual table in the corner. She grins the moment she sees me, tucks her phone away, and says, “Okay. Tell me everything. Did he get down on one knee? Did he give you flowers?”

For the next hour, she barrages me with questions about a guy I only spoke to for two minutes. Truthfully, it’s a nice distraction from this morning’s whisper fest, and it stops me from obsessing over what Reed will have to say when he finds out.





22





I don’t see Reed until after school, and when I do, he’s not racing over to demand that I stay away from Daniel. Instead, he’s bracing himself against the driver’s side door talking to Abby. And the soft blonde is leaning against Reed’s Rover with one hand on his hip. The whole scene makes me want to gag.

“They look cozy.”

I turn to see Savannah next to me. We haven’t spoken at all since the day she gave me a tour of the campus, so I’m surprised to find her there. “I guess.”

“Heard Daniel Delacorte asked you out today.” She smooths a hand over her stick-straight hair.

“Apparently it’s a slow news day at school,” I joke. “But yes.”

“Don’t do it,” she says abruptly. “You’ll regret it if you do.”

After dropping that bomb, she steps off the curb and hurries to her car, leaving me open-mouthed and confused.

Before I can make sense of the warning, a low slung convertible sports car moves into my line of vision. Daniel smiles up at me from the driver’s seat.

“Nice car.” I peer at the interior. It’s black and full of shiny dials. “Sounds like a beast.”

“Thanks. Gift from the parents when I was sixteen. I was a little concerned when I heard it had four hundred horsepower. I wondered if my dad thought I needed to overcompensate for something.”

I grin. That he has the ability to make a joke about himself makes me warm up to him. “And do you?”

“Ella,” he tsks jokingly. “You’re supposed to reassure me that I have nothing to worry about in the man department.”

“How would I know?” I tease.

“Here’s a secret.” He leans across the console and gestures for me to come closer. “We males have very fragile egos. It’s best to always compliment us so that we don’t turn into psychopaths.”

“You have nothing to worry about in the man department,” I dutifully reply.

“That’s my girl.” He nods in approval. “Want a ride home?”

I straighten and scan the lot for Easton, the twins or even Durand, but it’s empty of Royals except for Reed, who doesn’t see me. His attention is on the angelic faery girl who reminds him of his mother.

Daniel tracks my eyes straight to the couple. “Abby and Reed,” he muses. “That’s a couple destined to be together.”

“Why do you say that?” I sound annoyed and I am, but I wish I hid it better.

“Reed’s picky, not like Easton. I’ve seen him with one girl the last two years. I think she’s it for him.”

“So why aren’t they together?”

We both watch as Reed’s head dips close to Abby’s, as if they’re about to kiss.

“Who says they’re not?” Daniel’s observations are careless, unintended to hurt me, but the pain spreads inside me anyway. “You give more thought to my proposal?”

My eyes shift away from Reed toward Daniel. Daniel is the quintessential rich boy. Kind of like what I thought the Royals would look like: blond hair, blue eyes and a face that probably adorns paintings in old English museums. The Royals are almost thuggish compared to his easy elegance. Any girl would be thrilled to be asked out on a date by Daniel, and I think it says something bad about me that I can’t summon up any excitement for him.

“I’m kind of a mess right now,” I inform him. “There’s better—more together—fish in the pond.”

He studies me for a moment. “I can’t figure out if you’re trying to let me down gently or if you aren’t giving yourself enough credit. Either way, I’m not giving up.”

I’m saved from making a response when a loud horn blasts behind us. We turn to see that Reed has maneuvered his Rover so close to Daniel’s sports car that the fenders are nearly kissing. The juxtaposition between the two vehicles is almost laughable, with the Rover towering over the smaller two-seater convertible. It looks like the Rover is just waiting to drive right over the top of Daniel’s car.

Daniel leans back into the driver’s seat and puts his car in gear. With a mischievous glint in his eyes, he tilts his head toward Reed. “Someone is overcompensating but I don’t think it’s me.”

With that, he peels away, leaving a space that Reed quickly occupies. Daniel’s wrong. Reed has nothing to overcompensate for. His oversized SUV matches him perfectly.

“You going out with him?” Reed asks the moment I close the passenger door.