Cruel Devotion (Sinful Scholars #1)

1. Haley

1

HALEY

T he minute hand on the clock over Professor Blume’s podium ticked by slowly. And slower yet. Staring at the small lever, I willed it to circle faster and get me out of here.

Sitting through the last class of the day always wore on my nerves. After a grueling week of a full load of lectures and labs, I grew impatient to just get out of here and go home. Unlike the majority of my classmates here who had dorms or apartments near campus, I had to wait even longer to get home—to the house I shared with my Aunt Cindy.

My Aunt Cindy who would be so annoyed to wait even longer in the parking lot.

I sighed, trying not to fidget and endure the last blithering drivel Professor Blume wanted to ramble on and on and on about. He wasn’t my favorite teacher, not like the two or three I had in elementary and high school who motivated me to want an education degree and be a teacher myself.

But didn’t the stuffy old man ever listen to himself?

Couldn’t he see all the bored students practically falling asleep in this lecture hall? British Lit could be such an exciting course, but he turned it into medieval torture.

Glancing up at the clock, I played a game with myself, estimating that three whole minutes had passed since I’d last looked up and checked the time. I lost each round, making me wonder if we’d entered a black hole in here and time had actually stood still.

At last, it was over. Professor Blume gave a heavy sigh, as he always did, like it was such a tragedy that he couldn’t ramble on any further.

“Well, I suppose that’s it for today, unfortunately,” he said as students shot out of their seats, rushing out of here en masse.

No. It is with great fortune that we can get out of here. I stood and straightened my pile of books to slide back into my bag. Professor Blume was one of those tricky ones who hated to update the online agenda and would sneak in an assignment to write down at the very last minute. It appeared he was in a merciful mood today, not tacking on any additional reading or homework.

Shuffling down the row of seats, I made sure not to make eye contact with my peers. It wasn’t fair that a collective effort of bullying followed me from high school to college, but I was so used to it, so familiar with the need to just keep my head down and stay off everyone’s radar, that it came as second nature.

“Haley,” Professor Blume called out before I reached the aisle.

I tensed.

“Haley Feldstone,” he repeated, as if I hadn’t heard his dry, booming voice.

“Yeah?” I glanced up, avoiding the smirks and smiles from the two jerks closer to the front of the auditorium-style lecture hall.

Preston West stood and flicked his thick black hair back from his brow. His smug grin couldn’t bode well for me—ever.

As I walked over the outdated and thin carpet on the aisle’s walkway, I paid attention to Professor Blume seeming to wait for me at the podium.

“Mr. Young,” he intoned instead of explaining why he’d called me out.

“What’s up, Prof?” Eli replied from the other end of the row that I walked past.

I didn’t dare glance at Mr. Popular over there. Striding past Preston, I had to be super-aware and bracing for anything. I’d argue that sticking your foot out to trip someone going down the aisle was juvenile bullshit that immature kids did when they were younger, but this was Preston. Once a bully, always a bully.

“Both of you, in my office.” Professor Blume turned his disapproving glower to me. “Now.”

Oh, dammit. You’ve got to be kidding me! Right when I was nearly drooling at the chance for this day, this week, to be done, he expected me to delay getting out of here.

I pressed my lips together, wishing I could tell him no, thanks. I’d done nothing—nothing wrong to warrant his giving me that haughty, snooty look like I was a delinquent. I hadn’t done anything necessarily awesome to potentially earn his wanting to praise me or anything like that.

Since I was a Feldstone and my family’s reputation would never, ever leave me, I knew for a fact that all I’d done here was blend in. Pass. Do the bare minimum and succeed without calling any attention to myself.

“I said now ,” Professor Blume said when I slowed down.

Pausing would be out of the question. Telling him that I had a ride waiting for me wasn’t happening either. If I wanted to avoid making any waves, my only option was to see what he wanted.

“What’d you do this time, Haley?” Preston taunted as I stepped onto the lowest level of the room.

Ignoring his question, I followed the prof through the door that led directly to a hallway that opened into the maze of the English department’s offices. Eli fell into step behind me, also following, but I refused to glance up at him and acknowledge that he was near. I felt the disdain. His stare never went unmissed. And like every other time he wanted to stare at me and make me feel off-kilter and uncomfortable, I resisted the urge to make eye contact.

Hating how much later I’d be and worrying that Aunt Cindy would be peeved to wait, I followed Professor Blume all the way until he gestured at the small waiting room in front of his office door. A teaching assistant—or TA—sat at a small desk outside his office, likely a secretarial student worker.

“Ms. Feldstone,” Professor Blume said, gesturing for me to enter his office. “Mr. Young, you can wait here.”

I stepped in and took a seat, praying this wouldn’t take long. “Is there a concern, Professor?” I reached up to tighten my ponytail, regretting that my blonde hair was taking forever to grow out since a few girls thought it’d be hilarious to cut my hair during a history lecture.

“Yes, I have a concern,” he said, tapping his fingers on his desk as he glared at me. “Hearing about a student cheating on an exam is always concerning.”

I caught myself from rolling my eyes. Not this again. “Professor Blume, like the last time Eli accused me of cheating, it’s a lie. I haven’t cheated on anything in your class, or in any of my classes.”

This was bullshit. I didn’t need to cheat, unlike him. Eli had always struggled with keeping his grades up, clearly more concerned about his football goals and being popular.

“Mr. Young didn’t bring this cheating to my attention.”

“Then who did?” No, let me guess. It couldn’t be that prick who thinks he’s some kind of god among men…

“It doesn’t matter who brought this to my attention, but I’m grateful he spoke up. Then again, Mr. West is an exemplary student who does no wrong as far as I can see.”

Sure. Of course, he’d praise a slacker idiot like Preston. The West family was very important in this small college town, and they carried even more clout on campus as a founding family and wealthy donors.

“It hardly matters who bravely comes forward and identifies a cheater when I have?—”

His phone rang, and he frowned down at it, losing his place.

“When you have?” I prompted.

“When I have evidence.” He furrowed his brow at his phone, holding up his hand. “Which I will find in a second. Please go wait out there while I handle this call.”

Sure, sure. Since I don’t have anything else to do like go home. Since my time is invaluable and I don’t matter, right?

I slipped out of his office, furious that Preston would slander me like this—again—and plopped into the empty chair next to Eli.

He leaned over, making his spicy cologne reach my nose faster. “In trouble again?” he whispered.

“No.” I refused to look into his blue eyes and acknowledge a thing he said. I couldn’t be in trouble when I’d done nothing wrong. “Failing again?” I teased back.

“I’ve never failed,” he replied hotly.

I shrugged, feeling small and petty to bully him right back. That was the difference between us. I had a conscience and my bullies never did.

“I’ll take a guess that he’s after you for cheating again.”

“I’ve never cheated.”

Eli chuckled. “That’s not what I heard.”

“Have you heard,” the student worker at the desk said, obviously listening in, “that Mariana Roost doesn’t have a date to the winter dance?” She batted her lids, giggling.

“I haven’t heard that,” Eli replied conversationally, unbothered to gossip and talk about that stupid tradition. Who cared about a damn winter formal? Not me. I was here to learn and get out of town once and for all.

“Just a month away,” the secretary student said.

“It is. Coming up so soon,” Eli replied, almost flirting with her. “I can’t wait.”

I rolled my eyes, wondering if I could just walk out of here and defend myself against these accusations later.

“Not that you’d know anything about it,” Eli said, turning to face me.

I refused to make eye contact, enduring the burn of his stare on my profile.

“You don’t have a date for it, do you, Haley?”

“No, Eli,” I replied wryly. “I don’t. Nor would I want one. It’s a stupid dance and a dumb tradition for idiots who want to cling to their high school days and not grow up to act like adults.”

He whistled softly. “Someone’s prickly about the idea of a simple dance.”

I looked up at the ceiling, debating again to just walk out of here. “Then you tell me. Why should I care about this dance?”

All I cared about was graduating and moving out of here to live with my sister in the city.

Professor Blume had yet to call either of us in, and I gave up. I quit. He could email me about this so-called evidence of my cheating. When he did, he’d see that he was wrong.

I got to my feet and walked out, leaving Eli and his teasing, Professor Blume and his unfounded concerns. I’d had enough for today.

Not stopping until I got outside, I kept my eyes on nothing but where I’d put my feet in this hasty exit. A chilly breeze hit my face the second I was exposed to the wintry air, and I tightened my coat around me a little more.

There she is. I spotted Aunt Cindy’s rusty minivan and jogged toward it. She was idling in a no-parking zone, so I rushed to open the passenger door and dive in. Stale, warm air blasted at my face in a whiplash of temperatures compared to the frigid air outside.

“Took you long enough!” She didn’t waste a second shoving the gear into drive and speeding away. “I was standing around for fifteen minutes. That damn parking guard came by and told me to move it or I’d get another ticket. I’ve been circling the lot all this time.”

“Sorry, Aunt Cindy.”

“What took you so damn long?” She shook her head, making her frizzy gray hair bounce with the motion.

“Professor Blume asked me to come to his office after class.”

“Oh, God.” She groaned. “Don’t tell me he’s some pervy asshole trying to take advantage of you just because you’re a Feldstone.”

“No.” Ew. But I knew why she’d assume that. My mother—and my sister—hadn’t really given anyone in Marsten a reason to have rosier opinions of us. “Preston West accused me of cheating on an exam and?—”

“Come on, Haley. You know better than to mess with the West family.” She slowed at a light, and the van juddered and grumbled at the lower RPM.

“I know better than to mess with anyone, Aunt Cindy. I don’t go looking for trouble, ever.”

“You'd better not.” She faced me while waiting for the light to turn green. “Because I swear, Haley. I can’t handle it if you screw up. Whatever you do, please, for the love of all that’s holy, don’t make my life harder than it is.”

“I won’t,” I promised, like I had many times before. “But it’s not my fault. They pick on me and bully me and?—”

“Then you ignore it,” she advised. “You don’t let the West family even notice you’re there.”

Ignoring the jerks and brats who bullied me was all I did. And I hated how my aunt never believed that I was the victim in all of this.

“I shouldn’t have to remind you that everyone in our family has had a bad past with the Wests.”

“No,” I answered glumly, looking out the window as the snow-covered scenery blurred by. “You don’t have to remind me.” Sometimes, I felt like everyone had a bad past here. Marsten could’ve been called quaint and cute, but its citizens were too closed-minded.

I sighed, refusing to be down about this.

This is the last semester.

Just tough it out and graduate.

I was almost out of here, and I couldn’t wait to start the rest of my life elsewhere—on my own terms and without any small-town prejudices making my existence more difficult than necessary.