Chapter 9
NINE
CASSIE
All anyone can talk about is The Claiming challenge. It spread through campus like wildfire and it appears that every girl has signed up for it. I wonder if the list is as long for the guys because from what I’ve been told, they enjoy a free for all here which kind of disgusts me.
I’m used to men and women getting it on. Despite the fact I’m kept away from the bar at home, I hear the bikers and the whores talking. Whores is a harsh description for the women who live at the compound. They prefer the term because it gets them free access to any guy of their choice. It’s no different here, but to label any of these girls the same would be incredibly rude.
The fact so many have signed up for The Claiming challenge tells me they’re really only searching for that special guy. The whores at home are not. They don’t want commitment. They are mainly just passing through. If they do want more, the biker who falls for her makes her his old lady and they set up home in the grounds. I know how it works and I’m also aware my father doesn’t want that life for me.
It’s why I’m here. To study. To graduate and head off to a city firm to study as an attorney. A respectable job for a respectable lady. At least that’s what my father thinks.
I envy Jack. He is heading to the military academy and is guaranteed a job. My father was once high up in the military and has many contacts. Jack’s future career is set, and when he’s proved himself, he is intent on becoming a Twisted Reaper. It was inevitable because his father is one. Mine, however, would allow me to follow Jack’s career path over his dead body and yet I want to—more than anything. Women don’t ride as Reapers. Lexi was the only one I can remember until she met and married her Wall Street billionaire.
She was considered the best and earned the respect of all the guys, my father included. I want to be Lexi more than anything, and so the idea of The Claiming ceremony churns my stomach. It’s archaic, domineering and limits our freedom. I hate every aspect of it, and yet there is one distinct advantage. The guy with the secretive eyes and smoldering personality. I already accept I’m screwed just thinking about him and, more than anything, I need Jack here to tell me what a fool I am for even considering it.
* * *
Seven days have passed in a flash and I am lounging beside Siri on the grass outside the main building when a familiar face appears on the horizon.
“Oh my God!”
“What’s up?” Siri is confused as I jump up and run at speed toward the most important guy in the world to me, outside of my father.
“Jack!”
He grins, his usual cheeky lopsided one and opens his arms, and as I jump into them, they close around me, the familiarity bringing a strange tear to my eye.
“I missed you, baby.” He whispers, as he nuzzles his face against my hair and I fight back the sob that threatens to reveal how emotional this reunion is making me.
“I’ve missed you too.”
He lowers me to the ground and as I search his face, I note the grief shrouding his eyes and I whisper, “I’m so sorry, Jack. Was it terrible?”
“Kind of.” He shrugs, a fleeting moment of grief in his expression before his smile chases it away.
“So–” He glances around him. “This is Rockwell Academy.”
“It is.” I grasp his hand and pull him after me toward Siri.
“Come and meet my roomie. You’ll love her.”
Siri is watching with interest as we approach and laughs at my obvious delight in being reunited with my best friend.
I pull Jack down on the grass beside us and make the introductions.
“I’m pleased to meet you, darlin’.”
Jack drops her a wink and I swear Siri blushes.
I don’t blame her really because Jack is incredibly handsome and has a rugged aura that most girls seem to adore. Like most of the Reapers, he has an easy going nature and yet anger him and you’ll regret it. He is also totally buff and when his t-shirt comes off, the beginnings of a trail of ink is already decorating his toned skin.
Siri, for once, is speechless and merely stares at him in astonishment and as I catch his eye, he winks with the smug acceptance that once again he dazzles on sight.
“So, tell me about this place.” He asks, and I shrug.
“It’s okay I guess. The tutors are cool and the facilities average.”
“What about the other students?”
“Okay, I guess, although we haven’t had the opportunity to make many friends yet. It’s been all work and no play so far.”
Siri has obviously lost the power of speech and I fill in the awkward silence.
“Where is your dorm? Have you met your roomie?”
“Roomies.” He shrugs. “There was no room in the main block, so the principal placed me in one of the houses.”
I have a premonition, don’t ask me how and say fearfully, “It’s not with the Elusives, by any chance?”
Siri’s eyes widen as Jack nods. “I think that’s what they called it. Some guy called Jesse showed me around. He seems cool. I’m not complaining.”
The cold fingers of dread clutch at my soul as I picture Jack among Frankie and his group of friends. I may not have been here long, but I’ve learned a lot about how they work and that’s not Jack. He simply won’t fit with them, and I’m not sure what to say about that.
“So, baby, tell me about you. What’s the real deal around here and don’t tell me there isn’t one because you forget I know you inside and out?”
“Truth is—nothing.” I shrug. “The only piece of news is some challenge everyone is talking about.”
“The Claiming?” He raises his eyes and we share a wicked grin.
“Yeah, Jesse told me about it but warned me off it. He told me I would thank him later when the chicks were crawling all over me.” He winks, and I shake my head.
“That’s not you, Jack, and you know it. Although–”
I glance between Siri and Jack and a wicked grin lights my face as an idea forms.
“I’m familiar with that look.” Jack chuckles and Siri finds her voice at last.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” I shrug. “Not yet, anyway. So, Jack–” My voice is bright to disguise my racing mind.
“How about you buy us a coffee and tell me more. I am desperate for news from home and did you see Imogen while you were there?”
I pull him up and motion for Siri to join us. Catching up with Jack is now the most important item on my agenda and I need Siri to be part of this if the plan weaving its magic through my mind can work.