Page 77 of Pretty Secrets

A lazy smile crosses her face as I stand. I tuck my semi-hard cock into my pants, zipping and buttoning him away to safeguard me from wanting to use him. My buttoned shirt is still loose, and my suit coat is still on the ground, but I help Eden to a seated position first. She runs her hands through her hair, trying to get the blonde strands under control before nibbling her lower lip. “That might have been the best blow job decision I’ve ever made.”

I narrow my gaze at her. Damn Leo pops into my head. He would never let her get away with saying that, and neither will I. I reach around, taking a handful of her hair until she’s staring at me. “Eden Astor, don’t ever talk about another guy after I’ve just had you screaming on my tongue.”

She bites her lip harder, as if she’s going to tease me more. Wisely, she thinks better of it.

Reaching down, I grab her discarded clothes. I start the panties over her feet, and she pulls them up after arranging her shirt and bra. I help with her pants, too, tugging them until all she has to do is slide down from the desk, zippering them into place.

She bends to grab for her bag, but I stop her. “What spurred this on?”

Shrugging, she says, “That needy bitch was annoying me. Then I remembered when you said you thought about me in your classroom, and I couldn’t resist.”

And I’m glad she didn’t. I move past her to reach for her bag. “It’s supposed to beyoursexual fantasy we’re making come true,” I point out.

“We still have time.”

My reminder puts a damper on the situation. She takes her bag from me and moves toward the door. Before she gets there, it careens open, and a very pissed Leo stands in the doorway.

30

Alaric

Leo’s rough breaths halt as he makes eye contact with Eden. “You’re not in your fucking class,” he growls. His gaze shifts to me. “And shouldn’t you be teaching a class?”

Eden presses her lips together, her entire body shifts into a closed off position. When she doesn’t answer, I sigh. “I canceled class,” I tell him, lifting my chin in the air. He’s such a bastard, and he really can’t help it.

He lunges forward, but not at me. At Eden. “So, the only guy you don’t want to fuck at Jarvis Hall is me?”

She glares at him. “Get a hold of yourself, frat boy. I fuck when I want and who I want. Just because I’m attracted to your controlling ass doesn’t mean you get to talk to me that way.” She crosses her arms over her chest. “You’re playing a different game than we’re all playing. You think this is some sex ed course and the fact that your last name is Jarvis means you own my ass. It’s so much bigger than that.”

He grinds his teeth together in her face, and then storms from the room just as quickly as he’d come into it. She sighs. “Jeez, I’m just making everyone happy, aren’t I?”

“Leo’s being a dick. You decide what you want.”

“Oh, I know,” she says, peering over at me. “What we just did was probably a bad idea, huh?”

I swallow. I don’t know how to answer that. Detangling all these conflicting feelings inside is going to be torture. “It depends on why you’re saying that. Because of everyone else?”

She straightens her shoulders. “You’re right. I’m sick of doing what everyone expects me to.” A moment later, though, she drops her head. “Except, that’s my MO, isn’t it? I’m so fucking selfish. Always have been. Dee was the one who always did everything she was supposed to. She didn’t even need a rule book. Or help. It’s like she instinctively knew.”

That sounds…a hell of a lot like me. I always played by their rules before, so I don’t know what my problem is now. Well, actually, I know what the problem is, I just don’t know why this—of all things—has actually gotten to me.

“I don’t even think it bothered her,” Eden says, her voice gripping onto wonder.

“Some people are like that,” I tell her softly. “Speaking from experience.”

She rubs two hands down her face, searching for me over the tips of her fingers. “Would you always do everything the Knights told you?” She sucks her bottom lip into her mouth when her hands drop. “I just keep thinking about Delilah during her Trials. Some of this stuff doesn’t seem like things she’d do. Rewarded with sex?”

“What? You think she was a nun?”

“I think my sister was holding out for one guy, and that guy…” Her jaw hardens. “I don’t even know what to think about him.”

“It’s possible there was nothing like this last year,” I tell her. I honestly don’t know. Once you go through Trials, you’re usually not privy to what goes on until you become an Elder. “And it’s not as if someone sits there and watches while you get your reward.” I hesitate to ask my next question because I think it’ll say a lot about what she thinks of me. “Would you think less of her if she did take sex as a reward?”

She cocks her head, brows pulling together. “No, but I’d probably think she wanted this a lot more than I knew. It’s not fair what happened to her.”

“It’s not,” I say firmly. I’m always skirting the line between truth and lies when I talk to Eden, but this is one thing that I truly believe in. Delilah didn’t deserve to die, whether it was Knights orchestrated or not. I keep trying to feel Eden out, wondering what she thinks about her sister’s death. There are so many times I can read her like a book, but when it comes to Delilah, she keeps things close.

One day soon, we’re going to have to lay all the cards out on the table and see what they show. Right now, I don’t know where any of our quad stands. Is Leo really only here because his grandfather is trying to get him back into the Knights? Or is there another reason why he’s been grouped with Eden?

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