Playboy Princes (Royals of Arbon Academy, #2)(57)

Kinda helped that he had the best tech at his fingertips and probably the best teachers growing up.

Me: Great work.

I didn’t reply with anything incriminating, just in case they decided to investigate anyone other than Alex. I was already regretting my big fat mouth mentioning a “project” to Jordan the other day. Hopefully Alex was too stupid to put that together with this frame job. It’d be better all around if he wasn’t suspicious that this had anything to do with us.

Wishful thinking, no doubt.

Jordan: Meet me after class. Rafe’s glass cage of emotions.

I silently snorted out some laughter at that. Apparently Jordan was the only other person privy to knowing about Rafe’s secret escape from the world.

The rest of whatever class I was in now passed super slow. I’d stopped paying attention. Stopped taking notes. I wrote my name on the test papers and handed them in, only to get a top mark back.

It had actually turned into a game now of how bad I could be and still pass all my classes.

So far I’d discovered that even if I didn’t turn up to class, I’d receive full marks, but I also had Alex up my ass about appearances, so I’d taken to showing up. And that was all.

When it was over, I hurried out of the room before anyone could stop me.

“Violet,” Alex called, waving from the back of the class. Moron. He knew by now that I was always the first out, and still, he’d been too lazy to hurry.

“Not a dog, Alex,” I yelled back. “I don’t come when you call.”

A few students nearby that could hear us snickered, and I knew I’d pay for that later. Honestly, I had zero fucks left to give.

Dashing down the hall, I took the longest route to the secret room with all the windows and the peaceful view. The room was empty, but someone must have been there earlier, since the fireplace was roaring, sending warmth around the space. The harsh winter months had disappeared a while ago, but it had become apparent that it never actually got hot here. Not like back home.

A longing for home slammed into me, something I hadn’t really had before this point, but I missed the simplicity of my previous life. Missed my friend. Missed my freedom.

I might have been poor and an orphan, but in many ways, what I was now was much worse.

“Hey,” Jordan said, distracting me from my morose thoughts. I swung away from the window and that mesmerizing view to focus instead on his darkly gorgeous face. “We ready to do this?”

I was nodding before I even said a word. “Fuck, yes. I am so ready to have Alex out of my life. I’ve been lucky so far; he’s left me alone, no doubt so I can come to terms with my new reality. But that’s gonna end soon. I mean… his parents...”

I hadn’t really told any of them what had happened in Alex’s room, not in any sort of detail, but they had seemed to understand enough to know that his parents were bad news and them being involved was a huge problem.

“How long is this going to take?” I asked, stepping closer as Jordan started to set up a bunch of equipment. He was pulling it from a large metal box, and in all honesty, I had no fucking clue what any of it was.

“It’s going to take a few hours to send out, a few days to take effect, and a week or more to be discovered by the authorities and traced back to Alex,” he said, his focus on wires and small black boxes that were all hooking into each other. “These devices will amplify the signal so that I can reach the main servers across the world and infiltrate the network as quickly as possible.”

Like last time, this was the point where I started smiling and nodding.

After he was finished explaining, I realized how much work he’d put into this project. “Thank you,” I said, “for helping me. You didn’t have to—this isn’t your problem—and I need you to know how grateful I am.”

It wasn’t just the work either; he could get into a ton of trouble if he was discovered. He was really putting himself on the line for me, and I didn’t know how I could ever repay him.

He lifted his head, hands still wrapped around the black cord he held. “You don’t get it yet,” he said softly, “but you soon will.”

Huh?

“Get what?”

The smallest smile teased the corner of his lips. “Your problems are my problems.”

I had to swallow hard as a sudden burst of emotions took me by surprise. Jordan and his sweet talking was going to be the death of me. And unlike Alex, who had laid it on thick in the beginning, there was a sincerity about Jordan that spoke of someone with an innate good nature.

No wonder he was best friends with Rafe. They were yin and yang. The perfect balance.

One a little too dark, the other a little too light. Together, though, they were perfect.

Jordan went back to his tech shit, and I spent time watching the view again, the mountains soothing me in a way I hadn’t felt in a while.

“Okay, I’m ready,” he said, leaning back and admiring his work. “Just waiting on one final piece. Should be here soon.”

He settled in next to me, close to the fire, and in the silence we watched nature. Time passed, and I leaned against him, the soothing way he was playing with my hair sending me to sleep. At some point I felt him move, and he draped a soft and warm throw over me as he spoke to whoever had entered the room.

Somewhere deep in my subconscious, I knew it was Rafe. This was his secret place, after all. I tried to fall back into that cozy sleep place I’d just been in, but as they talked more, I found myself listening in.