Chapter 16
SEPTEMBER 18 – THURSDAY 10:15 AM
R en
R: What the hell do you mean you’re thinking of dropping out of school? You have like 9 months left, and then you never have to see the inside of a high school again.
This was not the message I was expecting when I texted Lizzy this morning. Thankfully, I still had some time before Russian class started to get to the bottom of this.
L: I know, but it’s not that simple.
R: It is that simple. What is going through your head?
L: You wouldn’t get it, and don’t talk to me like you’re my mum.
Taking a deep breath, I tried not to act like the worried parent that she accused me of being, but it was hard. I hated being so far away from her, and this was not like Lizzy, not at all.
R: Sorry, you’re just taking me by surprise. Why wouldn’t I understand?
The bubbles came and went a few times before she finally responded.
L: I’m failing all my classes.
R: How is that even possible?
L: See, this is why I haven’t said anything to you. We can’t all be geniuses, you know.
R: I didn’t mean that. I just meant that you always got decent grades, so what’s going on? Maybe I can help.
L: No, just stop. It’s my decision, not yours. You can’t make this all better.
R: Lizzy, please let me help you. Whatever the reason is, we promised to get through everything together.
L: Like how we got through you being shot at together and then having to go on the run? You mean like that? Because I don’t remember you giving me a heads up about any of that.
R: That’s not fair.
There was a long pause and no bubbles. Was that it? Was she done talking? My heart hurt to think that something had happened to her, and she was choosing to deal with it alone. Lizzy was smart and had such a bright future, but if she dropped out, that would all disappear. What was so bad that she couldn’t talk to me, her best friend, about it?
L: Look…Boo. I love you. I really do, you know that. But I just can’t deal with this right now. I’ll talk to you later. Xoxo
R: Lizzy, talk to me. Please.
R: Lizzy?
R: Pleeeeeease
Dammit! I wanted to toss my phone across the classroom and then fly to Canada to find out what the hell was going on with the person I trusted most in this world. She’d always been there for me, and now she needed me and wouldn’t tell me what had her so willing to throw her life away. This helpless feeling was becoming way too familiar.
“Don’t you look chipper this morning,” Nash said as he sat down beside me.
Perfect timing. A little verbal sparring with Nash was just what I needed to get my mind off Lizzy. I turned my glare on him, and he narrowed his eyes as his brow pulled together.
“What the hell happened to your eye? It’s all red.”
Of course, he’d notice that.
“Nothing, I got something in it.”
If Myles or Blake told him what happened, I was going to kill them both. Nash did not need any more ammunition.
“That was a hell of a something. Are you sure you’re okay?”
The mortification was inching higher.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
He leaned closer.
“It kind of looks like pink eye. Maybe you should go see the nurse.”
“Oh my god. It’s not pink eye,” I yelled, and the two girls just walking into the otherwise empty classroom looked over.
“Wow, touchy. Forget I said anything.”
Nash turned away and pulled out his computer for class.
“I’m sorry, I’m fine. It’s just that I hate everyone looking at me like I’m some science experiment gone wrong.”
He snorted.
“Oh, we all know what happened, but I get it. So, you’re really not going to tell me what you got in it?”
“No.”
“Fine,” he mimicked my voice, and a sarcastic smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.
I really wanted to ask if he already knew, but that was probably what he wanted. Then he could trap me into telling him. God dammit, I hated that anytime I said a word to Nash about anything, I had to think about it six ways to Sunday. A thought occurred to me as I drummed my fingers on the table. Nash seemingly was able to accomplish whatever he wanted, but would he do something for me?
Turning toward him, I moved closer and kept my voice low.
“Nash, do you have contacts who are good at finding stuff out?”
“Depends. What are you trying to find out?”
The gleam in his eye said that this was going to cost me. Reminding myself that this was for Lizzy, I swallowed my pride.
“Something is going on with my friend in Canada. She’s always been a B plus to A minus student, and today…she suddenly says that she’s thinking of dropping out of school.”
He shrugged.
“Okay. It happens all the time. She could just be struggling with senior year and wants out.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “You don’t understand. It’s not like her to make rash decisions. She had plans and goals and was focused on going to college. You don’t wake up one morning and decide you don’t want any of that anymore. Something happened. I know my friend like you know your guys. Please, I wouldn’t ask you unless this was extremely important to me.”
He sighed and leaned back crossing his arms as his look turned devious. Within seconds, my pulse began to race.
“Text me her name and where she lives. I’ll see what I can do, but…you have to do something for me.”
Shit, I knew it. “What do you want?”
“Our club is having its grand opening Halloween night…I want you to come as my plus one,” he said.
Would wonders never cease? I forced myself not to smile or say thank God.
“You thought I was going to ask for something sexual, didn’t you?”
“What? Noooo, not you,” I said, with the biggest bullshit smile.
Nash snorted in disbelief but didn’t say any more. I really needed to stop this flirty stuff with him. It was leading nowhere good.
“Thanks for doing this.”
“Don’t thank me yet.” We looked up as Mr. Romanovich walked in. “You may not like what I find.”
He had to say that, didn’t he? Now, my mind was running non-stop, picturing the worst of the worst. It had to be something terrible. There were very few things on my mental list bad enough to make Lizzy quit school. If someone had hurt her…they were going to see my newfound mean side.
SEPTEMBER 18 – THURSDAY 12:05 PM
Ren
Trying to be discreet, I peeked up at Nash again. We were on the path leading to the main building for lunch after Russian class. He glanced down before rolling his eyes.
“Out with it, Davies, what do you want now?”
“Who says I want anything else?”
He stopped and crossed his arms as he waited for me to crack.
“I know that look. Most girls give it to me when they want my cock. But this is you, so what are you trying not to ask?”
Did it bother me that he knew me so well? I chose not to look at that too deeply.
“Fine.”
Grabbing his arm, I dragged him over to the benches, away from prying eyes.
“Okay, I was wrong. You do want my cock,” Nash said, sliding his arm around my waist as he sat down. In a single, smooth maneuver pulled me between his legs. “Not where I would’ve picked our first time, but I’m easy,” he said, and I shivered at the raspiness in his voice.
“Don’t I know it?”
My voice was laced with sarcasm, but the eyebrow raise told me that he had picked up on the hint of interest that I couldn’t help. Fuck.
While my mind still held up and waved red flags like a marching band, my body had other ideas. I didn’t trust myself with Nash and quickly stepped back out of his reach. Each flag had a very good reason to never get into bed with him. Myles and Blake had both called me slut yesterday, and I was starting to believe it. It was imperative for my sanity that I get these errant thoughts of Nash under control.
“Before you get off on another tangent about our nonexistent sexcapades…” Nash smirked at me but remained quiet. “I want to ask you about Fiona, and saying something in class seemed like a bad idea. I’ve asked Myles a dozen times, and he says he can’t say what happened and to trust him. First her, and now Lizzy, I just…I need to know.”
He looked around and crooked a finger at me. Shit.
I stepped in close enough for him to touch me again before he whispered. “My rule is I don’t do or say anything without something in return.” He caressed his fingers down my arm. “Are you really sure you want to ask another favor already?”
Crossing my arms and staring into his blue eyes, I knew this was a bad idea, and yet, I was going to ask anyway.
“Okay…what do you want now?”
He patted his lap, and my eyes dropped down following his movements. This wasn’t helping the rapidly spreading rush of warmth I was fighting.
“I don’t understand.”
“Myles has never invited you to sit on his lap? He’s slacking, and I’m thoroughly ashamed of him,” he teased, and that evil glint was back in his eye, making me squirm.
“You want me to sit on your lap?”
“Yes.”
“Right now?”
“Why not?”
“In front of everyone passing by?”
“Can’t get anything past you.”
His snark was grating on me, and I rolled my eyes.
“Shut up. If I do this, do you promise to keep your hand out from under my kilt?”
“I promise nothing when you’re the one who needs something from me,” he drawled and licked his lower lip.
This was a really bad idea.
“Forget it,” I said and turned to walk away.
Nash didn’t let me get far. I squealed as he pulled me back, and I ended up in the exact position I hadn’t wanted to be in…sitting in his lap. My arm naturally wrapped around his neck, and all I could hear was the whooshing of my blood in my ears.
It was impossible to ignore the almost angry, sexual energy that was always around Nash. His body was hot when we touched, but that didn’t stop me from shivering. Nash’s eyes were trained on the open buttons of my blouse. God, it felt like he was touching me, and I couldn’t help wiggling.
“That’s better, Princess. This is how you ask me for a favor from now on,” he whispered.
If it weren’t for his hands holding me in place, I would’ve leaped up and ran for the hills. At least, that was what I tried to convince myself.
“Fuck, how do you always smell so good,” Nash groaned, burying his head in the side of my neck.
My mouth ran dry, and I sat frozen on his lap like a deer caught in headlights.
“We can’t do this,” I said.
“Do what? We’re just sitting here,” he said, his breath seductively fanning my ear.
“You know exactly what I mean and what you’re doing.” I glared at him with zero effect.
As hard as I tried, my voice just didn’t sound pissed off or annoyed. Any other day, I’d smack him and walk away, but my defenses were down, and he had found the tiny crack in my armor. He was also the one who had ordered Myles not to tell me a damn thing, so he’d probably planned this exact scenario. What I really needed was a Nash repellant, like bear spray, but stronger.
“Just ask your question, Princess,” he growled as he stared into my eyes from inches away.
Nothing wanted to work right. Not my mouth, my body, or even my brain. It was as if someone had come along, grabbed all the different colored wires, and scrambled them up, short-circuiting everything.
“I should just go.”
His hands tightened.
“No, you should tell me what you want from me.”
“I…I…I can’t think with you doing that.”
I pointedly looked at his hand, resting on the bare skin of my thigh and sliding ever so slowly up and down. He smirked.
“Princess, I thought you weren’t susceptible to me,” he challenged with his fake shocked expression.
“I’m not.”
“Then, you wouldn’t mind me doing this,” he said, inching his hand up a little higher. My breath hitched. “And this wouldn’t bother you either.”
Dropping his head to my neck, he growled like an animal against my skin, sending a vibration through my body that had the last of my resolve falling away. His fingers squeezed a little tighter.
“No…of course not,” I managed to mumble, but even I called myself a liar as I gripped his shirt, not caring if I wrinkled the once perfectly pressed fabric.
“Fuck you make me hard, Princess. So fucking hard. I should spank you again just for that.”
My pussy clenched, and I shook my head, trying to rid the hormonal haze that surrounded us. Nash was having none of that, and I gasped as his hand slid all the way up my kilt.
“We need to stop this,” I argued, even as he pushed my thighs further apart with no resistance.
“Do we? Tell me why?”
There were a thousand excellent reasons, and not one of them came to mind other than adding him to the group would be like dropping a bomb in the middle of all my happiness. Although Myles and Blake kept teasing me like they expected this to happen. This was all too much. It was messing with my head.
“Nash….”
“Yes, Princess?”
He teasingly ran his finger up the front of my panties, and the surrounding noise and why this shouldn’t happen was quickly fading away.
“Nash, please….”
“Careful, Princess, you keep moaning my name like that, and I’ll start to think you want me.”
“You always have to ruin a moment, don’t you?”
I shook my head and smoothed out his wrinkled shirt.
“I have a talent. What can I say?” He moved his hands so I could stand.
Glancing around and fixing my uniform, I tried to calm my racing pulse. He actually seemed a little disappointed.
“You really are trying to kill me, Princess.”
A smart remark was on the tip of my tongue, but I managed to hold it back.
“I have no idea what you mean. You pulled me onto your lap, but if you want to blame me and it will get me my answer, then fine, blame away.”
“Fuck, you’re a trip,” he growled and adjusted his pants. Don’t ask me how I managed to keep my eyes on his. “Fine, but if you want an answer, you need to promise that you’ll never mention her by name again. Call her the red-headed wonder. I really don’t care, but never mention her name…for all our safety,” he whispered, but it was an order.
The conspiratorial tone had me looking around to see who might be listening.
“Okay, done. Never again.”
“She’s fine,” Nash said as he stood, forcing me to step back or be in his space all over again. One Close Encounter of the Third Kind with Nash was all I could handle in a day.
“That’s it?”
“What else do you want to know,” he asked, turning to walk away.
“That is such a guy answer,” I grumbled, shading my face from the bright sunlight that hurt my eyes but felt wonderfully warm at the same time.
Nash chuckled. “What else do you need to know? She’s alive, isn’t that enough?”
“No, far from it. Where is she? How did you make that happen? Is it just her or her whole family? Will your father kill Myles if he finds out? Will Owen find out and what will that mean?”
Nash stopped walking, forcing me to stop as well. He waited for a group to pass before lowering his voice.
“You don’t need to know any of that.”
I was going to murder him in his sleep. That was all there was to it. Balling my hands, I opened my mouth to spout off, but Nash cut me off.
“But…I will give you a few details. Just remember, the more you know, the more you’re at risk.”
“Understood.”
“She’s here in the States. It was all staged with the help of a few families loyal to Myles’s mother. They hate Owen and suspect that her death was no accident. The rest of her family is in Bulgaria because no one would ever look for them there, and they will help when it’s time to make the final push for control. That’s all I’m telling you.”
Before he could march off again, I grabbed his arm. Nash stared at my hand before his gaze darted up to mine. He didn’t say it, and he didn’t need to. The look in his eyes clearly said that if I didn’t drop my hand, he was going to drag me into the bushes and finish what we started on the picnic table. Letting him go, I crossed my arms to avoid the temptation.
“Where in the States? Can I speak to her?” Nash rubbed the back of his neck. “Please. I feel partially responsible for this happening. If I’d never met Myles, then she would still be safe.”
“Guilt is a weakness,” he said. “Don’t let it cloud your judgment on what’s actually important.”
“Maybe, or maybe it helps us make better choices in the future.”
His lip twitched.
“Fine, she’s in California, staying with your extended family.” What the hell?
“What? But…but….”
Nash rolled his eyes and his shoulders.
“Relax. First of all, I would bet my life that it wasn’t them who killed your mom. Second, Nathaniel owed me a favor, and to keep her safe, she needed to not only be in a location where no one would look for her but with a powerful family hard to attack. Now, I’m going to go and jerk off since I’m still hard, and you won’t lift that skirt for me. So unless you’ve changed your mind and you want to get on your knees, shoo, little princess, shoo.” He flicked his fingers at me like I was an insect.
“Asshole,” I growled.
“You love it,” he shot back as he kept walking.
You’d think by now that I’d be used to the random comments that came out of nowhere, but no. The worst part was the scene playing out in my mind.
“Nash?” I called after him as he veered right at the fork that would take him to the parking lot. There were some things you just had to have the answer to, or in this case, some things that I needed to hear out loud even though I knew the answer.
“Yes, Princess,” he said with a heavy sigh.
“Why did you tell Myles not to tell me that?”
He smiled wide.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
I cocked my head, keeping my expression neutral.
“Because then you’d be forced to ask me. And if there is one thing that I love, Princess…it’s watching you squirm when you need my help.” Smirking, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and wandered off, just missing Myles as he poked his head out the front door.
“Are ya all good? I was startin’ to wonder what was taking ya so long,” Myles said, softly kissing my cheek.
He looked up and noticed Nash leaving. Then those gorgeous amber eyes were on me. Myles lifted a brow.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Nash was telling me about F…um…our red-headed…Irish…friend.”
Myles laughed. “Did ya just call her a rif?”
My cheeks flamed hot as he continued to laugh. “It was all I could think of.”
“Ya know, it’s actually kind of genius. Anyone listenin’ would think we’re talkin’ music. Good job, Snowflake.” Myles linked our fingers together and rubbed his thumb over my skin. “I’m glad ya finally know that was weighing on me. Come on, I’m starvin’.”