Savage Royals: A Reverse Harem High School Bully Romance(37)

He rolled his eyes at Maggie. “She needs to be cut off before she hurts herself—or someone else, for that matter. That last round of dancing was pretty wild.”

I waved a hand. “You guys wanted me to cut loose and have fun, right? I’m doing it. Leave me alone.”

Maggie sided with Dan, quirking an eyebrow at Leah. “See what you did to her? You made her wild.”

“I made her fun!” Leah crowed happily. Then she pointed across the yard. “Ooh, look! They’re getting in the pool. Fuck, I wanna. I don’t have a suit though.”

My gaze tracked to where her finger was pointing, and a grin slowly tilted my lips.

“Hey, you know the best way to make sure Adena doesn’t throw me in the pool like last time?” I asked, turning to Leah.

“No. How?”

“Beat her to it.”

With a wicked grin, I stood, quickly kicking off my heels before unbuttoning my pants and shoving them down my legs. Dan yelped and covered his eyes, which only made me laugh harder. It wasn’t all that scandalous. I’d even left my tank on over my pale cream bra and panty set. Most of the kids jumping in the pool weren’t wearing suits, and some of them were wearing a lot less than I was.

“Talia!” Leah gasped.

“Oh my God,” Dan mumbled.

Maggie stared, awestruck. But before any of them could say anything to stop me or make me think twice, I raced across the yard and jumped into the pool, plunging beneath the water. When I came up for air, I pushed my fingers through my hair and laughed.

The pool was warm, and the smell of chlorine drifted up from it, sinking into my skin and hair. I smoothed the long brown strands down and had just begun to swim for the edge of the pool when Mason jumped into the water in front of me.

I stopped, frowning.

Shit. I thought they left.

It was the only reason I’d gotten up and danced again.

Through the shifting, clear water, I could see that he’d stripped down to his black boxers-briefs like the rest of the swimmers, but he was the only one that looked both hot and intimidating at the same time. Kicking hard, I spun in the water and swam the other way.

Finn’s golden-blond hair filled my vision, and so did his massive chest. I quickly tried to swim in another direction and bumped into a broad, tattooed chest. Cole glared down at me with impassive eyes and grunted. I moved to break left, but Elijah’s body blocked me as well. My feet moved furiously, treading water as I glared at them.

“Jesus. What do you guys want?”

“That boy you were dancing with is from Hilton Prep,” Elijah said seriously. “That’s a rival school.”

Little droplets of water clung to the ends of his hair, the lights in the pool picking up the bronze highlights. I stared at him, my brows pulling together.

“So?”

“So what the fuck were you doing dancing with him, Legs?” Cole pressed, an accusing tone in his voice.

“I was having fun. Is that a crime?” I shoved at his chest, which was a huge mistake, because it only made me think of the last time I’d put my hands on his bare chest.

He grabbed both my wrists with one of his, pinning my hands in place as he narrowed his ice-blue eyes. “Yeah. Maybe it is.”

I tugged hard until he released me, irritation and anger burning in my chest.

“Why? You afraid if I dance with him, I’ll spill all of Oak Park’s secrets? I’ll tell him how to kick Finn’s ass at football? What does it fucking matter? No one at our school wants to dance with me, you made sure of that!” Spinning in a circle again, I glared at all of them. “Or are you just pissed because someone in the world doesn’t hate me? Am I not allowed to dance with anybody, no matter what school they’re from? Is that it?”

“Yeah. That’s it.”

Those three words from Mason’s lips were so simple, so final, that I felt them down to my bones.

My stomach clenched as a wave of nausea washed over me.

He meant it.

Just like he’d meant it when he’d promised things would always be hellish as long as I stayed at Oak Park.

They didn’t just want to ruin high school for me.

They wanted to ruin my life.

To ruin me.

“You—don’t get to—decide that,” I said shakily, my whole body flooding with adrenaline as a useless fight-or-flight instinct kicked in.

His hand rose out of the water, and he gripped my chin lightly between his thumb and forefinger. “Legs, it’s already been decided.”

I slapped his arm away and shoved past him, pushing between him and Elijah to make a break for the edge of the pool. They parted to let me through, and I swam quickly toward the side nearest the house, heaving myself out of the water. As soon as I stood up, I slipped on the wet tiles and went down again hard, skinning my knees. Pain flared as streaks of red mingled with the water dripping down my shins, and a flash of panic nearly blinded me.

Not my legs. Not my legs.

It’d been four years since they’d been broken, but fear that I might lose them again, might lose my ability to dance, had stayed rooted in my brain like a wound that wouldn’t heal.

I crawled to my feet again, grabbing onto a lounge chair to steady myself, as the Princes emerged from the pool behind me. My teal tank top had turned translucent from the water, and it clung to me, showing too much of what was underneath as the night air chilled my skin.