Chapter 41
FORTY-ONE
Cassia is sitting next to me, and Kenzo’s visibly uncomfortable.
She’s taken over the dorm as her own, and no matter how much I tell her to fuck off, it only seems to encourage her further.
Even her smell is making me nauseous, and I’m really trying not to commit a homicide while on the campus.
If we were anywhere else, she would’ve been dead a long time ago.
“Soren,” Cassia turns to look at me, then shoves her notes in my chest. “Do the assignment for me.”
“No.”
She blinks. “What do you mean by ‘no’?”
“I mean, no way in hell am I doing your fucking assignment for you. Have you not grown up mentally since high school? Because you’re acting like a stupid teenage girl.”
Her jaw clenches, and her eyes snap to Kenzo at the sound of his laughter.
He tries to cover it up with a cough, hiding his face behind the book he’s been pretending to read for the past thirty minutes.
His body’s trembling in silent laughter, and he becomes the second one I’ll murder as soon as I get the chance.
“Stop laughing,” Cassia grunts. She’s aware that Kenzo’s very much a brooding, stoic type. It’s very difficult to rile him up, and she’s not been successful thus far. In fact, it only worsens her mood whenever he ignores her, which he does all the time. “It’s not funny.”
“It’s funny because it’s true,” Kenzo drawls out, lowering the book. “What’s the endgame here, Cassia? You won’t keep Soren to yourself, and even if you do use all the information you have against Sophia, she’ll end up crushing you. This is very much a lose-lose situation for you. Why bother?”
“None of your damned business,” she snaps. “Besides, she won’t retaliate. She won’t have the guts to.”
Kenzo scoffs. “Are we talking about the same Sophia Sloane here?” He slams the book shut, putting it on his nightstand. “I mean, whatever you have on her must be severe, but why haven’t you used it already, hm?”
“Because I like playing games,” she shrugs. “And I like winning. So, I’m waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Though, Soren over here has been a dear lately. He’s not even threatening to kill me anymore.”
“That’s because I’m now at the planning stage of your murder,” I clench my jaw. “You do realize that as soon as I can, I’m getting rid of you?”
“You won’t be able to,” she smirks. “Because, unlike your dearest Sophia, I have nothing you can use against me.”
She’s right.
Everything that she has done in the past has been made public already. Even if I take that information, no one is going to care because it’s old news. And with her tracking my phone, car, and every move, it’s been difficult to act without her knowledge.
Difficult, but not impossible.
Cassia should be very lucky Kenzo was there to hold me off from biting her head off for leaking that image of Sophia, but the cunt only smirked in response, feigning ignorance, acting all innocent. The fury inside me is threatening to burst, and when it happens, all Hell will break loose.
Thankfully, Kenzo’s a genius, one of a kind. He came up with a simple, yet good way of communicating. I told him everything through my notes, which he promptly got rid of afterwards. We’ve been talking through his books, or mine, and made sure not to leave a single trace.
He’s working with Grace and Lila to find everything there is on Cassia, but just in case it all fails, I told them to keep it a secret from Sophia. I’m not sure about the other two, but Kenzo understands the importance of being discreet here.
Cassia might be on the cleaner side here, but her family’s definitely not.There have been rumors about bribery and corruption from the Greyson family. She has a few older siblings, and Lila’s having people look into this. Fucking hell, I hate being this useless.
The only thing I managed to do was sneak into Sophia’s dorm, and remove all the hidden cameras. I purchased a device to detect them all, and there were, in total, thirteen hidden cameras, alongside a few bugs, too. The fucking bitch really did her best to spy on Sophia.
Of course, Cassia found out about me removing them probably as soon as I did so, and then went on a rampage.
Then, I threatened to beat the shit out of her if she tried to do it again, and it seems to have worked.
Because I’m sneaking into Sophia’s dorm regularly just to check if the cunt’s done it again. So far, she hasn’t.
“Oh, I’ll have fun tearing you apart,” I scoff. “You’ll regret everything very, very soon.”
Cassia shrugs, seemingly unbothered. “Empty threats don’t work on me. I always have a plan B, and if that fails, a plan C. In fact, I’ve got the entire alphabet, Soren. Try me.”
“Get the fuck out, I’m tired of seeing your face.”
Cassia scoffs, but genuinely seems to understand that I’m close to snapping. She gathers her things and leaves with a huff, without looking back, and of course, to be dramatic, she slams the door so harshly I’m surprised it didn’t fall off the hinges.
“This has to stop,” I mutter, then rise to my feet. I snatch Kenzo’s phone from his hands, take mine too, then open the window and throw them out. They fall down, smashing onto the ground.
“Hey!” Kenzo protests. “What the fuck?”
I roll my eyes, then grab the detector device that I used to find all the hidden cameras and bugs in Sophia’s room, and thoroughly comb through ours. It takes me around twenty minutes to find everything, and I throw them outside without a care in the world.
“Now,” I turn to Kenzo. “I’m sick and tired of this.”
“Finally,” he sighs in relief. “What do we do?”
“Get me Aiden and Elias, too. First and foremost, I need someone to follow her around because she knows who has the remaining picture from the Christmas party of Sophia and me. I need to know who the motherfucker is.
Kenzo nods. “I’ll have Elias on that; he’ll love the thrill. Are you sure it’s not Cassia who has it?”
“No, she would’ve used it by now. It’s someone no one would suspect. In the meantime, I need Lila to work faster. All of this ends in three days maximum. I’m fucking losing my mind here.”
“Be careful, though,” Kenzo advises, taking his leather jacket and putting it on, “she’s insane. You can’t possibly tell what else she has; maybe she even has something on you. If that’s the case, she’ll use it the moment she sniffs this out.”
“That’s why all of this needs to happen quickly,” I say, taking my own jacket. “I’ll go find Aiden; he needs to charm Cassia’s dorm mate into spilling.”
Kenzo raises a brow. “You can do that, too.”
I roll my eyes. “I’d rather inject bleach right into my eyeballs than do that, and they wouldn’t fall for it. There’s a good possibility that they’re on this, too. Cassia’s rather fond of her little clique.”
“Fine, fine, let’s go.”
◆◆◆
The last class of the day is finance — the one I hate with a burning passion. It’s held in a smaller classroom, since all the bigger amphitheaters are occupied with bigger classes, so they shoved us into this smaller one.
I’m around ten minutes late, standing at the door. The professor, Mr. Jackson, an older man with a balding head, stern gaze, and a pair of glasses that were in fashion back in the 1920s, is staring at me with displeasure.
“Mr. Ford,” he sighs. “Just take the damned seat already.”
“Yes, sir.”
My eyes roam the classroom, breath catching in my throat when I see that the only empty seat is next to Sophia. She freezes when she hears my name, but soon relaxes, eyes glued to the notes in front of her.
Fucking hell, I miss her.
Her long, blonde hair is falling down her waist in soft waves, the uniform hugging her curves perfectly. She has a small bow on the side of her head, holding back her longer bangs, and the color matches the shade of our uniform perfectly.
Fucking hell, even from the door, I can smell her perfume. It’s messing with my head, and I’m struggling to hold back. With a deep intake of breath, I step into the room, taking a seat next to her. My books fall onto the table with a soft bang, and Sophia doesn’t lift her head to look at me.
She looks different.
She’s lost a bit of weight, and she looks tired as fuck. I want to believe it’s because she’s been studying day and night for the final exams, but I know better. I know the words on the highway hurt her, and I know it’s all my fault she’s in this state.
Mr. Jackson starts with the lesson, and the class falls silent. Sophia lifts her eyes from her notes, staring at the professor and soaking in the words leaving his mouth. Her body’s slightly tense, rigid, and it’s clear she’s on alert.
We’re at the back, and just sitting in her proximity is making me dizzy.
I need to do something — to tell her something.
We’ve shared this class since our first year, and ever since this madness with Cassia began, today’s the first time she’s not in class with us.
It’s the perfect opportunity to say something, anything.
The image of me fingering her in this very class, not too long ago, snaps into my head, and I’m struggling to hold back from doing it again.
“Sophia,” I mutter under my breath, inching closer to her.
Sophia freezes a little, looking at me from the corner of her eyes. Her jaw clenches, her lips pull into a thin line, and she’s silent for what seems to be an eternity. The silence hurts more than any insult ever could.
“What?” She grits out, keeping her voice as low as possible.
“We need to talk,” I say, and Sophia scoffs.
“There’s nothing to talk about, Ford,” she snaps, her voice rising a little. She pauses, and only continues when she’s certain Mr. Jackson isn’t paying attention to us. “You told me everything I needed to know, and I’m no longer interested in listening to anything that comes out of your mouth.”
The words pierce through me like a knife, and I have no fucking right to feel like this. Sophia’s words are cold, calm, and the tone is collected. It’s the same way she used to address me, and she’s gone right back to hating me.
It’s no one’s fault but my own.
I was a coward.
The thought of Cassia hurting Sophia, and using her past, private actions against her, made me think irrationally. I was more scared of what Cassia was capable of than hurting Sophia. And for that alone, I deserve to be treated like a piece of shit by Sophia.
Though I won’t give up.
I managed to get under her skin once; I’ll do it again. I’ll beg on my knees if I need to, and I’ll have her forgive me, no matter how much time I need to spend begging for forgiveness.
With a sigh, I run my fingers through my hair.
Sophia’s eyes follow the movements carefully, and her gaze softens a fraction.
It’s only for a split second, but it gets my heart racing.
There’s a possibility, and the moment I’m fucking done with that cunt, I’m taking the chance, and I’m not ruining it.
“Did you do it?” Sophia asks, and I lift a brow.
“Do what?”
“Did you leak that picture of me, Ford?”
“No,” I say immediately. “I would never.”
“Eh, I don’t believe that. If it were you, I would fucking kill you.”
“Sophia,” I speak in a gentler tone, and it catches her by surprise. She shivers a little, and I inch closer to her. “Please, talk to me.”
Sophia swallows thickly and, for the first time, turns to look at me fully.
She’s so fucking close, I could kiss her.
Her scent overwhelms my senses, and I’m yearning to pull her into my arms, and never let go of her.
Her eyes are as bright as the sea, looking at me with that usually stern expression of hers.
Her soft, plump lips are rosy, slightly parted. She’s looking right into my eyes, and a beat of silence passes. Her hands fist on her lap, knuckles turning white, but her expression remains unchanged — stoic, emotionless, and blank.
“You sound so cute when you beg, but the answer’s no. You lost any right to speak to me at all, and the next time you do that, I’ll do much, much worse than the cut on your cheek.”
My hand goes up to touch the spot where she cut with the ring when she slapped me, and my heart skips a beat. I’m praying it leaves a scar, because I want Sophia’s mark on me. Hell, I’d let her cut my entire arm if she wanted to.
“Then do it, Princess,” I mutter, her eyes narrowing in response. “Go ahead and do your worst. I’ll be waiting.”