Page 86 of Fractured Fates
Principal York looks to Tristan next and taps her fingers on the desk.
“Okay,” she finally answers, “Miss Blackwaters, you will be helping-hand to the dueling team for the remainder of the term. Mr. Kennedy will be able to fill you in on what that entails as well your duties.”
“And will I be doing this as well as my kitchen duties?” I ask with a serious dollop of sarcasm.
“Yes,” the principal answers, turning her attention to her laptop screen. “You are dismissed.”
Tristan makes no move to disguise his grin this time. His smile is wide. He looks just like a tiger that’s caught the prey it’s been toying with.
Stone strides from the room, his boots banging angrily against the floor.
And I follow him out. I don’t want to hang about either. It looks like I’ll already be spending more time with Tristan Kennedy than I want to. I certainly won’t spend a second more than I have to.
26
Rhi
The lookon Winnie’s face when I fill her in about my additional punishment tells me everything I need to know. She actually turns green and swallows hard.
“Is it that awful?” I whisper to her. We’re meant to be reading a passage from the book Stone placed under our noses. But as our professor is currently engrossed in messaging on his phone, we’re taking the opportunity to talk.
“Worse,” she leans in closer to whisper in my ear. “I mean, lots of girls would give their right arm,” she pauses, “and probably several sexual favors,” I pull a face, “to be the dueling team’s helping-hand but you’re basically their slave. At their beck and call, answering their every wish and their constant demands.”
“Why would anyone volunteer to do that?”
“Because most of the school is in love with the dueling team and it’s one way to attract their attention. A lot of girls seem to believe that if only one of those dudes would notice them, they’d fall hopelessly in love with them and they’d live happily ever after.”
“That’s incredibly sad.”
“This is the problem with crushes,” Winnie says with a smirk. “They tend to warp your judgment and common sense.”
I elbow her in the ribs but my eyes can’t help straying to Stone. Is it my imagination or does he look especially hot today? He’s lost his jacket and rolled up his sleeves revealing the inks that run down his arms.
I practically drool. Yes, my mind is definitely warping.
Didn’t I kiss his best friend last night? Why am I crushing on two men? Isn’t one enough?
Stone glances up from his phone and frowns at me.
And I remember for the second time today that my mind is an open door to this man.
“Eyes on your book, Blackwaters,” the professor snaps.
And, if all my free time wasn’t already occupied with my new various duties, I’d give him the finger. But I decide it’s not worth the risk. I don’t want to add toilet duty to my kitchen and helping-hand ones.
I concentrate on the words in front of me instead and try my best not to relive my meeting in the principal’s office, try not to imagine what Tristan will have in store for me. Probably washing their sweaty jockstraps. I almost gag.
It turns out, Professor Stone has no desire to teach us this morning and we spend the remainder of our lesson reading passages from the book until finally the bell sounds. I pack up my bag along with everyone else, but when I stand to my feet, the professor is by my side.
“A word please,” he whispers, and a shiver spirals unexpectedly through my body.
It’s his proximity. The dense growl of his voice. And his woody scent.
Shit.
“This is beginning to become a recurring request,” I say, as the last student steps out of the classroom.
Except this time he doesn’t lead me to his office. He simply scowls at me, standing there right in the middle of the sea of desks.
