Playboy Princes (Royals of Arbon Academy, #2)(28)

“First we get some food,” she said, straightening and looking every fucking inch the princess she was. “Then we deal with this.”





Just when I thought Dean Morgan had already shit all over my day, it got worse.

“Babe! There you are, have you been hiding from me?” Alex was such a good actor it was actually scary. If I didn’t know what I knew…

“Fuck off, murderer,” Mattie hissed at him when he drew close.

We’d barely made it three steps inside the dining room, and my gaze locked on Jordan’s across the room where he sat at our usual table. His jaw clenched tight, and when Alex slung his arm over my shoulder, I gave the New American prince a small head shake.

As much as I’d love to see Jordan and Rafe beat the shit out of Alex, this wasn’t the time or the place. Not while my own future and freedom were so precarious.

“Now, now, Matisse,” Alex chided my best friend, “don’t get your knickers in a twist just because I’ve seen Violet naked and you haven’t.”

The leer he raked down my body with that statement made my skin crawl. The fact that I’d had sex with him would honestly haunt me for the rest of my days… however long that might turn out to be.

“What do you want, Alex?” I whispered while turning to face him with a pasted-on smile. I’d hoped that might dislodge his arm from around my shoulders, but if anything he just took it as an invitation to hold me closer.

The smile he gave me back was so genuine. So content. Holy shit, he was a fucking sociopath.

“I can’t show affection to my girlfriend in public? After we’ve been so close it’s starting to look a bit suspicious that we’re never together. You wouldn’t want anyone questioning our love, would you?” He tilted his head to the side, looking genuinely concerned. I stared up at him for an uncomfortably long time, searching his ocean-blue eyes for any trace of the cold-hearted, lying bastard I knew him to be. But I found nothing. He was that fucking good.

Mattie nudged my elbow, breaking my concentration. “Vi, let’s get some food. We need to discuss that assignment, remember?”

I blinked at her, but Alex was the one who replied. “Oh, of course. That assignment.” His mouth twitched with a mocking smile, making it clear he knew there was no assignment. “Well, I wouldn’t want to interfere with your classwork, Violet. After all, we can’t have the future queen of Australasia flunking out of Arbon Academy. What a scandal that’d be.” He laughed at his own shitty joke, and I forced my lips to curve into a humorless smile.

“Uh-huh,” I replied, and really, I felt like I deserved a damn medal for even managing that much. “See ya.”

Stupid me for thinking he’d just leave it at that and let me slink over to my table, away from him. Nope, Prince Alex of Australasia needed to really drive his point home, so the next thing I knew his lips were on mine.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. It was the same controlling bullshit he’d been pulling every damn second we’d been near each other since I’d confronted him. Yet, there I was, gasping in shock as he kissed me in the middle of the damn dining room in front of all our peers.

Alex pressed his body into mine, running his hands down my sides and groping my ass as he slipped his tongue past my lips. My moment of stunned surprise passed quickly, though, and I bit down ever so lightly, warning him.

My silent threat to bite his fucking tongue off must have been clear because he released me long enough to thread a hand into my hair.

“Careful, Violet love,” he whispered in my ear, his voice husky but so soft not even Mattie would hear him, “I quite like it rough.” A roll of his hips reiterated that statement, and I internally gagged at the idea he’d just gotten hard from forcing me to kiss him.

“Enjoy lunch, girls,” he said in a louder voice, knowing full well we had an audience. Of course we did. He was a fucking crown heir, and I was a ballot winner. We were literally the hottest gossip in the whole Academy. “I’ll be seeing you later, gorgeous.” He smacked a hot, wet kiss on the curve of my neck, nipping the skin lightly with his teeth, then laughed under his breath as he walked away. It wasn’t a cheerful laugh, either. It was a dark sound, one that spoke to all the stains on his soul, and it sent a shiver chasing down my spine.

My hands balled into fists at my sides as I followed Mattie over to our table, where Jordan, Rafe and Nolan were all watching us with laser-like intensity.

“What?” I snarled when Rafe scowled at me as he gave my hands a pointed look.

He arched a brow—probably at my tone—and just shook his head. “Nothing,” he lied. “Your lipstick is smudged, though.”

My brows dropped into a scowl of my own, and I uncurled one of my fists long enough to flip him off. “I’m not wearing any, dickhead, but thanks for making an already shitty day even shittier with your foul attitude.”

“Whoa,” Luca commented with an awkward laugh. “Alex must be a pretty shitty kisser if that’s the mood he puts you in.”

Oh crap. I’d been so focused on the way the guys had been staring at me—at the way Jordan and Rafe had been staring at me—I’d totally forgotten their other friends were at the table. Friends who didn’t know Alex was a two-faced, cheating piece of shit who’d threatened to kill me on several occasions. Friends who potentially couldn’t be trusted.