Page 73 of Pretty Secrets

When she’s out of sight, a cruel smile carves my face.

“What are you grinning at?”

“He wussed out. It’s our turn now.”

He doesn’t answer as he retreats to his room, shaking his head.

I’m not going to let this opportunity pass me by. I take the steps two at a time, opening the door to her room. Her back is to me, her head tucked into her shoulder. Her voice rings out. “Yeah, Oliver, it’s me. Just making sure you’re okay. Call me.”

Suddenly, I’m not in the mood to get my dick sucked anymore.

The doorknob creaks under my grip. She turns, glaring at me. “What do you want?”

“Just wondering when you were going to get your ass ready since apparently I have to walk you to class this morning.”

“Alaric can do it.”

“Fine,” I grumble, stepping back to leave, but something makes me pause. “Are you mad because you want to fuck me? Is that it?”

She presses her lips together. It doesn’t take her long to think about what I’ve asked, though. “Yeah, actually, I am. And I’m hurting my best friend in the process, so save your whole fantasy sex talk for another time.”

I heave a sigh. “Listen, Little Astor, there’s no way he won’t come back, so calm your tits. Just figure out what you want.”

“Easy for you to say,” she mumbles, then moves forward to slam the door in my face.

29

Alaric

Istart across campus, but a student calling out, “Professor Barclay” halts my steps. Turning, I find Eden power walking toward me. I stop to wait and she hikes her bag up over her shoulder. “Didn’t Leo tell you I was walking with you?”

I peer at her as if to sayReally?,and a smile teases her lips.

“Of course not. He’s kind of a dick.”

Those are tame words for Leo Jarvis, but… “He’s had a shit life.”

“Apparently,” she says, but there’s no malice behind it. A cute little wrinkle forms between her eyes that I try not to stare at as we make our way across campus.

I wasn’t expecting to be so curious about this girl when I decided to come to Carnegie. It’s so fucking cliché, but there’s something about her. Her refusal to give up; the way she pulls her shoulders back and trudges straight ahead no matter what she’s gotten herself into.

Men like me aren’t taught to respect women, and I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been an ass in the past. Many, many times.

I drop my gaze to her gait. “How are your feet feeling?”

Despite what she came down wearing first thing this morning, she’s dressed completely different now in Knight-appropriate attire, complete with little black flats, one rhinestone twinkling in the middle of the bow. “Fine,” she says. “My feet are the least of my worries.”

“You like Oliver, then?” I ask. It was apparent the other night, but if Oliver’s gone, maybe she had second thoughts.

She narrows her gaze. “Are we really going to talk about this?”

I shrug. “Not if you don’t want to.” Maybe I’m taking my professor role a little too literal. It’s actually not a terrible gig. The part I like best is living at Jarvis with Eden, helping her through Trials.

Leo grates on my nerves, but for as much as he likes to play, he’s in this like the rest of us. I’ve seen the way he looks at her. He may be too stubborn to realize it, but he’s worried for her as well. It’s not all about jumping into bed with her like he tries to make it out to be.

It’s not easy for guys like us to care about someone. When it happens, usually someone tries to take it away. Or test it. Or just ruin it completely.

That’s why most of us have surface-level lives and something else altogether in secret. Something no one else can touch.

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