Chapter 5 #2
I quirk an eyebrow at him. “If we both swung that way, we’d be fucking married by now. I would have wifed up her ass last year.”
He roars with laughter.
The chapel is still my least favorite place at Hannaford, and as Mr. Trevelen starts his welcome speech, I zone the fuck out.
It’s slightly more bearable to be in here now that I’m firmly wedged between Avery and Ash, his fingers tracing patterns onto my thigh in a delicious way that makes me want to squirm.
The problem with being lost in my own thoughts while he’s petting me like this is that I suddenly can’t think about anything else. I’m fucking starving and these bastards are parading around like French toast topped with cherry ice cream served with freshly brewed coffee.
I’m gonna break.
My attention snaps back to the stage as a woman in her late twenties walks across, her heels far too high to be a teacher.
She’s attractive; curvy and seductive, blond hair with a slash of red lipstick finishing off the Monroe look.
She caresses Mr. Trevelen’s arm as she passes him and his feet stumble.
The row of sophomores in front of us start whispering and shifting in their seats. Avery and I share a look.
The fingers on my thigh don’t falter.
“Thank you for that glowing introduction, Richard. Good morning, students. As your principal has just informed you, my name is Ms. Vivienne Turner. I expect I will enjoy meeting you individually throughout this first week and teaching you all history.”
Avery and I share another look before her phone comes out. Blaise angles his body so the teacher at the end of our row can’t see what she’s doing. Mr. Embley is on the Jackal’s payroll and we’ve already discussed keeping a low profile until we can flush out his other eyes in the school.
Ms. Turner leaves the stage, swaying her hips like she’s trying to fuck the air, and Trevelen steps back up to drone on and on about his plans for the school.
I let my mind get back to more important concerns than his continued naivety, like planning out my study schedule and making sure everyone knows about it.
Getting ahead in my studies early is my number one priority because I have to be more prepared this year.
Compared to last year, my plate is now overflowing; I have three boyfriends, I’m protecting the man who killed the Vulture, the Jackal wants Harley dead, I haven’t sorted out the O’Cronin’s yet, the Beaumont’s, and now there’s the Morrisons.
Sweet lord fuck, I might just be in over my head.
When the assembly finally finishes, we leave for our morning classes together and I try not to panic too much about how overwhelming my list really is.
And of course, I’m then reminded of yet another pain in my ass as one of the girls in the group in front of us glances over her shoulder, careful enough with her gaze not to look at either of the Beaumonts or Blaise, but she practically sneers at Harley and I.
When all I do is stare back at her, zero fucks given, she huffs and turns back to the others, murmuring something to them.
I don’t care what any of them have to say about me, but the second I hear Annabelle Summer’s name, my eyes roll so hard they almost come out of my head.
The other girls all join in with sneaking glances that are about as subtle as a punch in the face, and I have to remind myself we’re back at school; killing them will be way harder to clean up than back in the Bay.
Doesn’t mean it’s off the table because, apparently, she’s dumb enough to assume that we’re fair game without a legacy backing our names. Too bad she doesn’t know I do have one, and it’s soaked in blood. Just like she will be if she doesn’t quit dragging Harley into Annabelle’s manipulative games.
Turns out Ash isn’t a fan of their shit, either, and he steps in front of me to block the girls from my view. I don’t know what he does and I don’t hear him speak, but they scatter at a pace that really is impressive.
Avery slips her arm into mine, before murmuring quietly into my ear, “I just heard back from the school board. Annabelle is here on the scholarship.”
I cut her a look. A freshman nudges past us and the snarl Blaise throws at him is orgasm-inducing. “Why would they give it to her? She’s barely scraping through her classes.”
Avery snorts. “She wrote to them over the break and made her case. Told them she wanted the right education to resurrect her family business.”
I roll my eyes. “Sure. She’s definitely here for education and not for dick.”
When we arrive to class for the day, having missed the first two sessions for the assembly, Blaise sulks when he finds himself on the other side of the room thanks to the alphabetical seating arrangement.
I’m at the back of our history class with Harley, and the twins are directly in front of us.
I don’t know the girl that’s seated with Blaise and that worries me.
I make a note to see who the hell she is and find out her grade average.
With all of the joint assignments we’re forced to do, I need to know that she’s not going to be a dead-weight.
Harley sees me side-eyeing the life out of her and nudges me gently before handing me the syllabus with a haughty look; Avery must have gotten it early for him.
He’s already marked the joint assignments and where we’ll split them.
I smile sweetly at him. I’m sure it looks fucking stupid on my face, but he grins back.
“I have plenty of ways to keep you busy this year,” he jokes, and I snort at him like the lady I am not.
He chuckles back at me and says, “If you show me how to teach Morrison, I’ll help keep him on track. We can split the children up, work out study plans, and keep everyone on top. I’ll even do my best not to rip his throat out when he’s a dick to me.”
I roll my eyes at him. “Maybe if you didn’t talk to him like that, he wouldn’t be a dick back.”
Harley shrugs. “He’s always going to be a dick, Mounty; it’s in every fiber of his being.”
I open my mouth to snark back at him in Blaise’s defense, fuck knows why because Harley isn’t exactly wrong, but then the door opens as our new teacher arrives to class and the whole room goes quiet.
Christ, give me the fucking strength I need to get through this, because she really does strut around like a bitch in heat.
It only takes a quick glance around the room to see I’m not the only one being a judgmental asshole, because most of the girls are pulling faces at her and all of the guys are practically panting.
Well.
Not all the guys.