Zodiac Academy: The Awakening(50)
“You need to learn to respect women,” I snarled, resisting the urge to kick him while he was down.
I turned and headed for the exit but Darius’s voice halted me.
“He sent me copies of those photos, you know,” he said calmly.
I turned to look at him, my teeth clenching as I forced myself to meet his dark gaze.
He didn’t make any move against me and I wasn’t foolish enough to attempt anything myself. I may have just taken down Milton but I knew full well that without the element of surprise, I couldn’t have done it. And Darius was an entirely different kind of beast. I knew my chances against him ranked at less than zero even if I snuck up on him while he was blind drunk and fast asleep.
“Teach her a lesson, baby,” the redhead cooed and I offered her a moment of my attention. Suddenly her face clicked together with a trout-pout picture I’d seen on FaeBook as I trawled through my most vocal haters and tried to put names to faces.
“You’re Marguerite right?” I asked, my face making it clear that her angular features and pouting lips weren’t going to intimidate me. “Or do you go by muff scruff now?”
More than one of the onlookers laughed in response to that and for half a second I thought that Darius had to suppress a smile too. But as my gaze fixed on him again I was sure I’d imagined it. There was nothing in his expression beyond a bored kind of loathing.
Marguerite’s eyes flared with rage and she made a move towards me but Darius flicked a hand at her, making her back down like a little whipped puppy. How pathetic. She needed daddy’s permission to play with me and he wasn’t giving it.
“So are you going to try and make me delete my copies?” Darius pressed, holding his Atlas out as if he were offering it to me.
My heart thumped steadily in my chest and I let out a breath before replying.
“Keep them,” I said dismissively. “If you’re that desperate for material to jerk off to then be my guest.”
“As if he’d be turned on by pictures of you!” Marguerite spat as Darius scowled, clearly irritated that I wasn’t going to try and reclaim them. At this point they were probably all over the school anyway. Anyone could have saved copies and I’d punished the guy responsible for distributing them. There was no point in me trying to hunt down each and every copy so I was just going to have to make my peace with the fact that those images were out there.
“Don’t worry, Marguerite,” I said soothingly. “It’s not your fault that he needs them to get his motor going. I’m sure your hairy bush does it for him once you start bouncing about on his lap.”
Marguerite looked about ready to scratch my eyes out but Darius still hadn’t given her permission to act. “You jumped-up, two cent alley-whore!” Marguerite screeched at me but Darius cut across her before she could go on with what was shaping up to be a beautiful rendition of mean-girl hysteria.
Top marks for making more friends, Tory.
“I can have any girl I like. Why would I be interested in looking at images of you?” Darius growled, his deep tone sending a shiver down my spine.
I raised my hands in mock surrender. “Hey dude, you’re the one with naked photos of me, not the other way around. And you can’t have any girl you like. Because that’s a hard no from me. But you may as well enjoy the fantasy you’re creating with those images because I can assure you that you’ve got zero chance of getting your hands on the real thing.”
A couple of the guys sniggered in amusement before quickly schooling their expressions.
Darius’s lips pressed into a thin line and I backed out of the room before he decided to burn my clothes off again or humiliate me in some other way. Did I actually manage to get the last word there?
I ran down the steps with a smile tugging at my mouth and headed straight out into the sunshine before heading for The Orb where I was set to meet Darcy for breakfast.
When I arrived in the huge bronze dome, I looked around until I spotted my sister sitting at a table slap bang in the middle of the room. It was to the left of the huge fire pit while the Heir’s favourite red couch sat to its right. For a moment I wondered why the hell she’d chosen that spot then noticed the tall A.S.S. girl sitting beside her.
Darcy smiled knowingly as she noticed me, her usual morning perkiness a welcome reminder of all the breakfasts we’d always shared. She beckoned me over to join her and I navigated the sprawling layout of couches and tables which filled the circular space.
Sofia and Diego sat with her, the latter wearing his trademark beanie hat and I couldn’t help but wonder why he was allowed to couple it with the preppy uniform.
The A.S.S. girl perked up as she spotted me coming and suddenly I was surrounded by a flurry of scraping chairs as people at all of the surrounding tables scrambled to their feet.
I fell still behind the chair across from my sister, frowning at the group of around thirty students who now all stood staring at me.
None of them seemed inclined to do anything other than stare and I slowly sank into my chair, looking to Darcy for an explanation.
As soon as my ass hit the seat, the onlookers all sat down again too.
“What the-”
“I’m Geraldine Grus,” the tall girl gushed, lowering her head as she reached for my hand across the table. “And I am so delighted to meet you Queen Roxanya!”