Page 5 of Brutal King

I already liked the girl. “I don’t mean to pry, Layla, but... what dorm are you in?”

She pulled out a card and scrutinized it for a moment. “D. I’m in dorm D.”

“Oh, so am I. What room?”

Again, she looked at the card. “37.”

I smiled. “I can’t believe it. That’s my room as well.”

She held her hand out. “Well, then, it’s nice to meet you, roomie. This is great. We’re already acquainted. I was a little worried about what kind of person I would be paired with.”

“Same here.”

“Well, then,” she said as she gestured to the entrance. “Shall we?”

We joined the dozens of students headed to the registration tables set up for the day.

“Here,” I said. “Let’s get into this line.”

Layla absentmindedly followed behind me, but her gaze was on someone beyond the next line.

“You okay?” I said.

“That guy,” she whispered with a not so discreet tilt of the head in the guy’s direction. “He’s staring at me in a very uncomfortable way.”

I glanced in the direction she’d indicated but didn’t spot anyone staring at her. “Is he cute?”

“Yeah,” Layla said. “If you like the maniacal type who devours you with his eyes.”

“Hmm,” I said. “Sounds interesting. What does he look like?”

“Dark hair... almost black. Green eyes I think, but maybe blue... sexy full lips, carefully chiseled cheeks... a kind of muscular build.”

“Sounds more and more interesting.”

“Not really, Kat,” Layla said, her voice trembling with alarm. “He isn’t looking at me with any degree of interest at all. In fact, it looks as if he would just love to kick me to the curb.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Layla,” I said. “You’re gorgeous. Tall, blonde, pretty smile, lovely eyes. What guy wouldn’t want to get a little closer to you? He’s probably just the awkward type who doesn’t know how to behave when he sees a pretty girl.”

“I don’t think that’s it.”

The girl was obviously more nervous about this first day at the academy than she let on.

“That guy,” she said. “I swear to you. He must hate me... and I have no idea why.”

“I’m sure you’re exaggerating,” I said as I tried to discreetly look over my shoulder to catch a glimpse of this guy.

“And he looks just so stuck up and full of it. And look... he’s heading around to the back of the registration tables, walking around with his hands clasped behind his back. The way he has his nose up in the air, you’d think the guy owned the place.”

I turned to look behind the registration tables hoping to spot the... “Oh, my God!”

“What is it?” Layla whispered.

“That’s... that’s... oh, my God. That’s Axel King.”

“Axel King?”

“Yeah... and, for your information, he does own the place.”

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