Playboy Princes (Royals of Arbon Academy, #2)(30)

“It’s crazy to think I’ve been at Arbon for almost five months,” I said.

The time had flown by, and if it weren’t for the Alex situation, I’d be living my best life. Alex, Brandon, Claudette. I needed to rid myself of those fuckers and get back to the good times.

Like making out with Jordan, who I literally could not stop thinking about.

“Have I told you lately how happy I am that you won the lottery,” Mattie said, breaking me out of my sexy thoughts. “I couldn’t have chosen better myself.”

I shook my head at her. “We should stop referring to it as a lottery and more as a genetic Russian roulette, since apparently there’s nothing random about it at all.”

Mattie looked around suddenly, probably to ensure there were no ears close enough to overhear. "This Alex thing has to be dealt with soon. I can't watch him maul you like that again."

I swallowed roughly, bile on my tongue. "Imagine how I feel."

I'd never been more grateful to Jordan. His touch… taste. The way he’d taken the time to find me and help me erase Alex. It was the mental cleanse I needed to regain my composure.

A group of chicks appeared at the end of the hall, walking in our direction. When they got closer, I realized it was Claudette and her band of bitches.

I hadn’t seen her, not really, since everything had gone down with Alex. I found I wasn’t even remotely angry at her about that—I kind of felt sorry for the moron. But the Brandon thing.

That still had me raging.

Speaking of…

“Brandon will be back from his family home tomorrow,” she said, deliberately loud enough for us to hear. “Be interesting to see what happens when he takes his place here again.”

Her gaze locked with mine, and I could see she was silently telling me that this time he was going to kill me.

I smiled back, and it was enough to wipe that look off her face.

She didn’t even know she’d handed me everything I’d been waiting for—a chance to kill the son of a bitch.

When they were out of earshot, I swung my palm reader up and typed the same message to Rafe, Jordan, and Nolan.

Me: When is the next event? I need in. Also, I need Brandon in.

Mattie was reading over my shoulder, and we both waited for the replies.

Jordan: You don’t have to take that bastard on alone. We got your back.

Swoonie fucker. But also, he needed to come to terms with the fact that I was no princess in need of a savior. No white knights needed apply. I had this shit handled on my own. Although it was nice to have someone at my back, as long as they didn’t want me to run and hide.

Nolan: No.

Angel: If I help you with this, what are you going to do for me, Cinderella?

Jesus.

“Why are we friends with them again?” I asked Mattie. “I have to go to this fucking special study session in a minute, and I really don’t need their shit on top of it.”

She patted my shoulder. “I’ll handle them. I’ll also be close by if Alex tries anything. Let’s just get this out of the way.”

It was Thursday, and since Alex had missed Tuesday—thank you whoever had kept him busy—this was the first of my "special study sessions."

My new classes had been okay so far because I’d managed to ignore Alex, even when he’d been sitting right beside me. I couldn’t keep up with any of the subject matter though, mostly because I’d just been dropped into third year classes. But no one seemed to give a fuck. I’d actually gotten an A on a quiz that I’d only written in half the answers for.

Dean Morgan was taking this shit way too far, but I was on the ride now and couldn’t just jump off. I needed to see it through. Arbon was no longer the dream of a better future I’d hoped for, but I’d be damned if I ran off now.

“Come on,” I said quickly, ignoring the next few buzzes of my palm reader as the guys sent more messages. “I don’t want to be late. I can’t have the dean thinking I’m not taking this seriously.”

I also wanted them all to live in a false sense of security, thinking I’d just buckled under their pressure. It would make it so much sweeter when I wiped them from the face of the Earth.

Mattie followed me into the room I’d been assigned for private study sessions with Alex. The prince was already there, sprawled back in his chair, a decent spread going on. Normally that would be my undoing, but he was literally repulsive to me now. My skin crawled at the sight of him.

“You can leave, Matisse,” he drawled, not looking up from his palm reader. Whatever he was typing into it had almost all of his attention, but he somehow knew I wasn’t alone.

Mattie snorted out some fake laughter, like this was hilarious. “Yeah, not gonna happen. I seriously need to study as well, and since this is a study session, there’s no reason I can’t be here.”

Alex got to his feet, his eyes lifting from his palm reader for the first time. They were cold and hard. “I’m not going to ask you again. Leave, Matisse, before I have to hurt Violet.”

It was my turn to snort out some laughter. But mine was genuine.

Alex shot a look in my direction. “Yeah, I know you’re Violence, a fucking psycho, according to the gossip. But remember, I control every aspect of your life. The dean… he’d be happy to remove you from Arbon if pushed a little.”