6. Tristan
6
TRISTAN
S he did fix her appearance. Her collar is once more buttoned all the way up, and she must have been able to get a hair tie from someone in her class because her hair is back in a perfect braid. The only thing she couldn’t fix was her pantyhose. So she apparently took them off instead.
I watch her perfectly sculpted legs, now completely bare, as she walks across the cafeteria and towards a table a short distance from where I’m sitting. It’s empty, since no one else from her sorority has arrived yet.
Each sorority and fraternity has its own table. Not officially, of course. But in general, people accept the unspoken rule and leave those tables unclaimed. I don’t bother disrupting that system either. Especially not since those of us who belong to the White Serpents also tend to claim the same table every day. And even though we’re not a fraternity, people still respect that, because they don’t want to mess with us either.
Sitting at my table with Amir and Paul and the others, I track Elle with my eyes, waiting for her to cast a nervous glance in my direction. She doesn’t. Instead, she simply sets down her tray of food on the pale wooden table and then sits down with her back to me.
Amusement ripples through me.
I have to admit, she’s braver than I expected her to be. I thought she was going to fold like a house of cards when I applied the tiniest bit of pressure, but she did the exact opposite. Not only did she fix her appearance despite my warning, she is also deliberately putting her back to me. As if to show me that she’s not afraid of me.
I’m impressed.
However, it still doesn’t change the fact that I’m going to ruin her life the way she ruined mine. Which means that I’m going to get her kicked out of Bercester U.
I eat another piece of potato from my plate. Chewing carefully, I watch the back of Elle’s head while I consider my next move.
In order to get her expelled, I need to first cut her off from her support system. In other words, her sorority. If they consider her one of their own, they will do everything they can to keep her here. So first, I need to get her kicked out of her sorority. And then, she will have no one to protect her and vouch for her when I set my true plan in motion.
Revenge burns through me, and a vicious smile slides across my lips.
Because of her, I almost lost my spot at Bercester U. So it’s only fair that I return the favor.
I glance towards the left.
Brandi, the blonde girl who opened the door this morning, and some of the others from their sorority have arrived and are now getting their food .
I shift my gaze to Amir and the rest of my housemates. “Follow my lead.”
Paul blinks at me in surprise, but Amir, who also works as a punisher rather than a dealer, simply nods. Grabbing my tray, I stand up from our table and start towards Elle. The sounds of scraping chairs and clanking of plastic trays informs me that the others are following as well.
Since Elle has her back to us, she doesn’t see us coming.
She whips her head towards me with a start as I drop down on the chair right next to her. Amir takes the seat on her other side while Paul, Ian, and Jonas sit down opposite us on the other side of the table.
Elle’s brown eyes are as wide as dinner plates as she stares between the five of us. I lean forward a little. The others follow my lead and do the same, crowding her space.
“What are you doing?” she at last blurts out, her stunned gaze locking on me.
“What does it look like?” I pointedly spear a piece of meat and pop it in my mouth. “Eating lunch.”
“But you can’t sit here. This is?—”
“Elle,” a female voice suddenly interrupts.
Tearing my gaze from the nervous woman seated beside me, I look up and find Brandi and the rest of her entourage standing next to the table. Her pale brows are furrowed in both confusion and annoyance as she looks between us and Elle.
“What’s going on?” she asks, locking her displeased stare on Elle.
“She invited us over to sit with her,” I reply before Elle can so much as open her mouth. Then I let a calculated and, in my not-so-humble opinion, very convincing frown settle on my features. “Why are you here? ”
Indignation flashes across Brandi’s face. “This is our table.”
“Really?”
She must have been able to hear the lethal softness in my tone, because she casts a wary glance between the five of us White Serpents and edges a fraction of a step back.
“I didn’t invite them over,” Elle protests. “I promise. They just showed up and?—”
“We will be sitting over there today,” Brandi interrupts, and nods towards an empty table a short distance away. “If you don’t want to sit with them, you can come and join us.”
Before Elle can reply, Brandi turns on her heel and strides away. The other girls follow.
Elle immediately starts trying to stand up.
I yank my hand down and place my palm firmly on her thigh, pushing her back down in her seat.
“Sit down,” I order.
She jerks slightly when my hand lands on her bare thigh, and because of the power I put behind that small push, her motion is halted and she sits down hard on the chair again.
“And where do you think you’re going?” I say, keeping my hand on her leg.
She just stares down at my hand for a second before anger flits across her beautiful features instead. Grinding her teeth, she drags her angry gaze up to me.
“I’m leaving,” she declares.
“No.” I level a commanding stare on her. “You’re going to stay right here.”
She narrows her eyes at me, that adorable fury still flickering over her face. “Or what?”
A huff of laughter escapes me before I can stop it. She really is ballsy in a way I didn’t expect.
Too bad she’s outmatched .
And surrounded.
After holding her stare for another second, I pointedly sweep my gaze over the other four men seated around the table. She blinks, as if she had forgotten that they were there, and then casts a quick glance at them too. I know what she sees. Dangerous, tattooed guys with very limited morals.
I give her thigh a firm squeeze as I hold her stare. “Are you sure you want to find out?”
She swallows. Then she drops her gaze to the table and shakes her head.
“No,” she says softly.
My cock hardens at the delicious surrender in her tone.
I give her thigh a couple of firm pats before removing my hand. “Good girl.”
That was apparently the wrong thing to say, because her rage sparks again. Fire flickers in her eyes as she snaps her gaze up from the table and shoots me a glare so vicious that I’m momentarily stunned.
Her voice is low but full of venom as she snaps, “If you ever speak to me like I’m a pet again, I will?—”
“You’ll do what?” I interrupt, recovering from my surprise. Twisting in my seat, I brace my forearm on the table and face her fully as I lock hard eyes on her. “You’ll do what , exactly?”
She opens her mouth to retort, but then she hesitates. Once again, she casts a glance at the people around us. However, this time, it looks as if she is watching the other students around us rather than Amir and the rest of my housemates. Some of them study us with curious eyes. Brandi is one of them.
The fury in Elle’s eyes dissipates.
Closing her mouth again, she draws in a long breath through her nose as if to compose herself. Then she turns to face me once more.
“How did you turn out like this?” she says. Holding my gaze, she shakes her head as if she truly doesn’t understand it. “I remember you from high school. You were a nerd. So how did you turn into… this ?” she finishes, and motions towards my body.
A flash of panic pulses through me. Hot and bright like a lightning strike.
From around the table, Amir and Paul and the others suddenly shift their attention to me. Surprise, confusion, and curiosity swirl in their eyes.
Fuck.
They know that I’m studying to become an engineer, of course. But I always keep the door to my room closed, so they don’t know just how much I actually study and how seriously I really take my education here. To them, I’m a ruthless punisher who beats people up without conscience or remorse. Not a nerd who genuinely loves science and math.
“And how are you even here if you lost your scholarship?” Elle continues.
I slide my hand back onto her thigh and give it a warning squeeze. Leaning forward, I place my lips next to her ear. She tries to pull back, but I tighten my grip on her thigh.
She freezes in place.
“If I were you,” I whisper in her ear. “I would keep my mouth shut right now.”
A shudder rolls through her, and I’m not sure if it’s because of my threat or because of how my breath caresses the shell of her ear when I speak. She swallows and draws in an unsteady breath.
And then she keeps her mouth shut .
I give her thigh an approving squeeze.
Then I glance towards the table where Brandi and the rest of her friends are sitting. All of them are staring at us now.
From the outside, this must look like a very intimate moment between me and Elle. Which means that even though she almost revealed my secret nerd tendencies to my friends, I have at least managed to accomplish what I set out to do.
After this little display, she will no doubt be in deep shit with her new sorority.