10. Wes
CHAPTER 10
WES
The campus is always quiet the morning after one of our epic parties. The students who attended are either holed up in their dorm rooms sleeping off their hangovers or stumbling around bleary-eyed, propelled by caffeine and painkillers. I’ve got a raging headache of my own to contend with, but I force myself out of bed to hunt down some coffee and post up in the library for a few hours, determined to get some studying in before my degenerate roommates wake up and derail my plans with something they deem more important.
The library is a ghost town when I enter. I pick my way through the stacks, bound for the tables in the back by the windows that overlook the quad. When I round the corner, I expect to find a few other students back here studying. What I don’t expect is for one of them to be Ava.
Guess she didn’t run after all.
I pause in momentary surprise, adjusting my black-framed glasses on the bridge of my nose. I ditched my contacts last night because they were killing my eyes, and I couldn’t be bothered to find a new pair to put in this morning. Plus, a surprising number of women dig the sexy nerd look when I rock the glasses.
Ava’s tucked behind a table, textbooks and notebooks spread out in front of her. She’s not paying them much attention at the moment, though– she’s distracted from her studies by the guy leaning against the table beside her, chatting her up.
Travis Stoker, the bane of my fucking existence.
The dude has been a thorn in my side since the first day I stepped foot on this campus. He clocked Raf and Ford as big fish right away and immediately attempted to edge me out of our triad, thinking he could just slide in as my replacement. As if the Invictus would allow a substitution. If I wasn’t given the boot after my father’s fall from grace, then Travis fucking Stoker definitely didn’t stand a chance of dethroning me as a King. He’s just lucky his family name means something to the Invictus, or I’d have put a swift end to his shit-talking long ago.
I start to advance on them, Ava getting this adorable deer in the headlights look when she spots me striding toward her. Her eyes pop wide, lips parted in frozen shock– as if the library is the last place she expected to run into me.
Surprise.
“Beat it, Trav,” I mutter as I approach, tossing a thumb over my shoulder.
He swings his gaze to me, lips turning down in a frown, and for a second, I wonder if he’s actually going to push back. He wisely thinks better of it, huffing out an annoyed breath and shoving off from the table.
“Sometimes I forget that some people need to actually study to get ahead in life,” he mutters in a not-so-subtle dig at my family situation.
“First time in a library, huh?” I scoff, gesturing around me. “Bet you didn’t know this many books even existed.”
His frown deepens. “Good thing I’ve got the family business to fall back on, right?”
“Oh yeah,” I snort. “I’m sure your dad can’t wait for you to run it into the ground.” Throwing a thumb over my shoulder again, I pin him with a hard stare. “ Beat it. ”
Travis growls in annoyance, turning on a heel and stomping around the table. He tries to knock his shoulder into mine as he passes, but he’s so fucking transparent that I see it coming a mile away, side-stepping so that he stumbles like an idiot instead. I chuckle at his expense, giving him a mocking wave as he recovers, then focus back in on Ava as my nemesis dashes away to lick his wounds.
She sweeps her things off the table, stuffing them into her backpack while actively avoiding eye contact with me. As if that’ll somehow deter me from planting my ass beside her and making myself at home.
“Going somewhere?” I ask, eating up the distance between us in a few long strides. Skirting around the table, I come up beside her just as she’s zipping up her backpack.
“Away from you,” she grits out, slinging her bag over her shoulder and pushing up from her chair.
“Oh, I don’t think so.” I plant a hand on her shoulder, shoving her back down into her seat.
A little puff of air escapes her lips on impact and she tilts her head back to cut me a nasty glare. “Leave me alone.”
My lips curve into a grin. “No, I don’t think I will,” I say, kicking out the chair next to her and dropping down onto it.
She moves to get to her feet again, but I set a hand back on her shoulder, holding her in place.
“I’ll go to the dean,” she whisper-shouts, narrowing her eyes on me. “I’ll tell him what you did.”
I chuckle in amusement, shaking my head. “Seriously, that’s your play?” I ask. “Dean McRae is a nasty old perv. He’s fucking a student, you know.” I lick my teeth, grinning widely. “We’ve got a deal. We don’t tell his wife, and he does whatever the fuck the Kings tell him to.”
Her expression falters, lips popping open. My eyes zero in on them, and all I can picture is how good they looked wrapped around my dick last night. I slip my hand from her shoulder, reaching down to adjust the front of my jeans, making room for my growing hard-on.
“I’ll go to the police, then,” Ava counters, all false bravado.
I cock a brow. “I don’t think you wanna do that.”
“No?” she scoffs. “You assaulted me.”
I roll my eyes, leaning back in my chair. “Don’t act like you didn’t enjoy it.”
She flinches back, shaking her head adamantly. “I didn’t.”
“You sure?” I ask, wetting my lips with my tongue as I rake my gaze over her. She’s wearing one of those fucking schoolgirl skirts again, and damnit if it isn’t sexy as fuck. She may play sweet and innocent, but she clearly knows what she’s doing. This girl’s a fucking tease.
I lift my gaze to meet her wide brown eyes. “I think you’re a liar, Ava,” I drawl. “I’ll bet you’re wet right now just thinking about it.” Leaning in closer, I drag the backs of my knuckles up her bare thigh. “C’mon, let’s slip into a study room and I’ll take care of that ache between your thighs.”
Ava shoots to her feet, jumping away like my touch burns her. “Stay away from me, Wes!” she huffs, clutching her backpack strap so tightly that her knuckles whiten as she backs away. “If any of you come near me again, I swear I’ll call the police.”
She whips around, plaid skirt floating around her thighs as she turns tail and rushes away. I just lean back in my chair, resting my chin on a fist with a grin as I watch her leave. Because I know that no matter how brave she acts or how many idle threats she slings our way, we’re nowhere near done with her yet. Not even close.