Vicious Prince (Royal Elite #5)(13)

“Besides…” Cole tilts his head. “Why should we do the work for you? Where’s the fun in that?”

It’s times like these I wish Xander was here. His playfulness balances their arsehole behaviour, but he had to fuck it up with alcohol and disappear for a while.

Wait, is it because I’m surrounded by these two fuckers that I’m starting to have these buried, unusual thoughts?

Those are only excuses and you know it.

“Who told you I haven’t done my homework?” I smile. “I’m a lot more than noble. I’m the nobility itself, and there’s a manual that says we always get what we want.”

“And yet you still can’t find an answer.” Aiden cocks his head too, so now I have two pairs of eyes judging me.

“Of course I can.” Lie.

I’ve watched Teal for a week. She’s either in a ‘fuck off’ mode or an ‘I don’t care’ mode. She doesn’t smile, doesn’t do any club activities. Her only friends are Elsa and Kim, and she rarely speaks. Her head is usually buried in her phone, reading articles about medieval torture devices.

I charmed Mrs Abbot, the librarian, and found out which books Teal borrowed from the school’s library. They’re all about wars. Every last fucking one of them.

Why would the nerd only read about wars? Who fucking knows. Cole does read about war, but that’s not all. He has philosophy and psychology books. It speaks to his personality a little.

What does it mean if you only read about wars? That you’re fucked up, that’s what, but that conclusion still doesn’t give me any way in with her.

Me being with other girls didn’t bother her. I’ve hugged a few, slapped a few on the arse when she was in view, and she just walked past me as if I and the girls didn’t exist.

Being a dick didn’t work either. I made sure to slam into her and made her fall to her arse. She merely pulled herself up, gathered her books, and continued on her way as if nothing happened.

Her lack of reaction is beginning to grate on my fucking nerves. Her disinterest and mighty attitude has started to scrape against my walls, and even I don’t know how I’ll act if those walls somehow end up falling and letting everything break loose.

“You’re used to girls falling at your feet.” Cole’s voice pulls me out of my head. “It’s time someone tells you no.”

“She didn’t say no — she said yes.” The fact that I don’t know why she’s so insistent about this bloody marriage is probably why I’m on edge.

Sure, she wants to help Ethan, but with her psycho personality, I’m almost certain that’s not all.

I focus on her again as she stares at her phone.

What the fuck are you hiding, ma belle?

“Yes can mean no.” Aiden takes a sip of his drink. “Ever thought about that?”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“You’ve known me for years, haven’t you, Astor?”

“I have.”

“You know when to stay away and when to get close, and you just act like you don’t know sometimes to be a dick.”

“Who? Moi?” I feign innocence.

“Like that.” Aiden points at me. “Your game is strong.”

“What he’s trying to say is” — Cole twirls his finger — “think with the other side of your brain. Let it loose.”

I grin, and my cheeks hurt with the motion. “No idea what you’re talking about.”

“You’ll have to figure it out. Otherwise, you’ll just continue to lose.” Cole speaks in a calm tone. “Either you make the first move or you have to follow someone else’s first move.”

In other words, either I go all the way or I lose.

“And think about the kinky stuff, and the…screams.” Cole’s lips curve in a suggestive smirk. “It might come in handy.”

“Real talk, Captain.” I dig my fingers into his shoulder. “What will it take for you to tell me what you know?”

“Information,” Aiden says matter-of-factly. “Give him something he doesn’t know about the subject of his obsession, though I doubt you have any valuables.”

I grin, and this time, it’s genuine. Since I found out about Cole’s hidden tendencies and figured another thing out, I planned to hold on to this piece of information until I needed a serious favour from him, but I’m at the end of a road here, and I need to carve a way out. “I might have.”

Cole’s head tilts. “What?”

“Une seconde, mon ami. If I give you what you want, will you give me what I need?”

“I might.”

“Not good enough for the shit I have. It’s all documented and with evidence.”

He narrows his eyes before quickly going back to normal. “Fine.”

Of course Cole would choose his battle instead of anyone else’s. He’s Cole, after all.

Friends? Fuck that. Those don’t exist when it comes to himself.

“You go first, Captain.”

Teal insisted she doesn’t have a secret, but as I said, everyone does.

And when I have hers, nothing will save her from me.

She’ll wish she’d never said yes.