Savage Royals: A Reverse Harem High School Bully Romance(30)

He was still watching me though, his eyes still full of that same warm curiosity and a dash of humor. It was unnerving me, disarming me, so I blurted the first thing I could think of to make him stop staring at me in silence.

“So, why do you do it then? Why do you keep playing football if you know you’re going to get hurt?”

Finn smiled, gazing past me. He seemed almost wistful, and that look made him even softer, more pure and real than I’d ever seen before. He shook his head.

“’Cause I love it. Why do anything, you know? Yeah, I might get hurt, but it’s so worth it. The minute I get out there on that field, the world is mine. I’m pumped and ready to go. I don’t know, there’s just something incredible about it. It’s like pure fucking freedom. I first picked up a ball when I was four, and every year after that I wanted to play. I joined the junior leagues, but I was too eager for them.”

“What, you?”

He laughed, seeming surprised by my joke. “What can I say? I don’t do things half-assed. I always ended up plowing through the other kids. When I was ten, I finally started to really play, and I never looked back.” He balanced his phone between the tips of his broad fingers, glancing at me. “Is that weird? Doing something you know will get you hurt but loving it anyway?”

I shook my head. “No. I’m pretty sure that’s why people do dance. It hurts your entire body. It ages your bones and makes you feel like you’re dying sometimes. But then there’s that moment when you’re on stage.” I sighed happily, pulling my knees up to my chest and wrapping my arms around them. “The world around you disappears and there’s just you, the music, the movement, the emotion. The crowd doesn’t exist, the pain doesn’t exist. There’s just a story to tell, and your body is the way to tell it.”

There was a moment of quiet, and then Finn huffed a breath. “Shit, Legs. That’s… yeah, that’s it.”

I blinked as I came back to reality, realizing I’d said way too much. I hadn’t meant to give anything that vulnerable away.

“Yep.” I cleared my throat, untwisting my messy bun so I could redo it. “It’s freedom. And having that at our age is usually nowhere near possible.”

“You get it,” he murmured.

Finn looked slightly impressed, but he also seemed genuine. He didn’t look plastic and hollow, the way I’d started to think of all of them. All of the Princes seemed almost inhuman sometimes—too gorgeous, too powerful, too much.

Godlike. Cruel. Untouchable.

But for the first time, one of them seemed tangible and real.

Maybe he doesn’t hate me like I thought he did.

I was painfully aware of the fact that I should hate him. He’d tortured me right along with the others, and he hadn’t gone easy. At that moment, however, I was having a hard time remembering any of that. Not with his honey-brown gaze warming my skin, his dimples flashing as he smiled at me like he’d found someone he could truly relate to.

We stayed chatting like that the whole time we were in the studio. For the first time since coming to Oak Park, I felt at ease and… happy. I hadn’t realized how hard it had been to be ignored and targeted until the weight lifted for an hour, and I was just a girl talking to a boy about our favorite things in the world.

By the time the bell rang, I wasn’t ready to go. I packed up my things reluctantly, tugging on a sweatshirt over my leotard and slipping on my tennis shoes.

“I’ll bring the stuff with me tomorrow,” Finn said as he patted his bag.

I smiled. “That would be amazing. My legs have never felt this good before.”

“Told you.” He smirked. “I know what I’m talking about.”

I watched him head out. He even raised a hand and waved as he slipped out of the doors. My heart pounded heavily in my chest, and I scolded it.

Don’t get used to this, Tal. It’s not fucking real.

Repeating those words like a mantra in my head, I quickly grabbed my bag and pushed open the door of the studio. I needed to haul ass to make it to my English Lit class on time.

As I walked across campus, I tried to prepare my heart and mind for the next time I saw Finn in mixed company, when he’d inevitably revert back to tormenting me. The relaxed, almost sweet way he’d acted in the abandoned studio wouldn’t last. I knew that.

What happens in Switzerland stays in Switzerland.





Chapter 12





I actually didn’t see Finn at all for the rest of the day. I only had two more periods—English Lit and Chemistry—and afterwards, Leah came back to the Wastelands to study with me and Maggie.

Maybe it was because there hadn’t been a chance for him to break the spell, to prove that nothing had really changed between us outside that small room, but I looked forward to sixth period more than ever the next day.

I still wanted to focus on practicing dance and pushing myself, but I was also sort of dying to see Finn again. The thought of his smile and how it reached his bright, golden-brown eyes made something warm spark in my belly, and I pressed a hand to my stomach to calm the butterflies as I walked up to the second floor of the gymnasium.

As I’d lain in bed the previous night trying to fall asleep, I could’ve sworn I still felt his fingers on my skin, working their way up my legs, massaging with gentle possessiveness.