I lean away from Colt, but judging by the look on King’s face, he saw Colt’s fingers brush the curve of my waist. I scowl at the friendly Darling cousin. It wouldn’t be fair to let this guy think we’re friends. Cutting him off quickly and thoroughly is the only way to go.
“I thought I was a dog,” I say. “You’d better go set up in the hall so you can bark at me when I walk in.”
“Aw, don’t be sore at me,” he says. “I didn’t call you that. Besides, everybody likes dogs. They’re cute as hell.”
“Why are you talking to our sister?” Duke asks, sliding in at to my side and standing over me the way my brothers always do.
One look at them was enough to make most guys back home back off, but Colt just grins. “Last I checked, it’s a free country,” he says. “I figure I got as much right to talk to a pretty girl as the next guy.”
“You figured wrong,” Royal says, stepping up to my other side, jostling Colt out of the way in the process. “Now back the fuck off. Crystal is not available.”
“Understood,” Colt says, raising both hands and stepping back. “See you in second period, Sugar Crystal.”
He gives me a wink before turning and sauntering off.
“Who the fuck is that?” Royal asks, getting up in my face. If he wasn’t my brother, I’d be scared of him. With his thick dark brows drawn together, he looks dangerous as a hurricane.
I shrug, my heart hammering as the words fall from my lips. “No one. We got paired up in class. That’s it.” I won’t say I’ve never lied to my brothers, but it’s not a frequent occurrence. But for some reason, I can’t bring myself to tell the whole truth. Because the truth is, I don’t know if that’s it or not. The truth is, I feel some pull to the magnetism of the Darlings. They are like us, but not like us. I want to know how other people like us run their school, what’s different and what’s not. I want to know why Colt is so casually fearless and why Devlin is so angry.
“Well, tell your teacher you can’t work with him,” King says flatly. “We’re not getting friendly with that family. We’re taking them down.”
It’s not really a choice. It’s not like I’ll pick Colt Darling over my own family. My family is everything to me. They might smother me at times or control me more than I’d like, but they’re family. They’d die for me.
I’ve known Colt for one day.
“Okay,” I say, nodding. Losing Colt’s friendship is not a high price to pay for being a Dolce. Loyalty is everything to us, and we need to show that. Letting people see me talking to a Darling boy is not going to do us any favors. We have to form a united front, to appear as one unit. After all, the Dolce family has a reputation to build.
Still, a small ache forms in my chest when I walk away without an explanation to Colt, without so much as a backwards glance. He’s just flirting. He doesn’t care about me. And I barely know him, so I can’t care about him. But the thought of losing any friend in this hostile place is unsettling. Not to mention that maybe, for once in my life, it would be nice to think of myself first. To not have to worry about what it will look like, whether my brothers approve, or how it will reflect on our family.
I push the thoughts away and head to class. This time, I walk with my brothers. No one barks at me, and I hope against my better judgment that it’s a first-day initiation, that it’ll be forgotten altogether when everyone hears about the fight that almost went down in the parking lot.
And then I walk into first period and see Devlin Darling sitting at the lab table in the back of the room where Mr. Wagnall assigned me the day before.
Fuck no. Not happening.
I turn to the teacher, an older man with little round spectacles and a bald head with tufts of hair that stick out above his ears, making him look exactly like an owl. “Can I sit somewhere else today?”
“Have a seat in your assigned spot,” he drones, sounding bored.
“Yeah, see, that guy wasn’t here yesterday,” I say. “And I’m not supposed to sit with him. Family feud thing. Can I just sit over there?” I gesture to an empty table and give Mr. Wagnall my most charming smile.
“Nice try, Miss Dolce,” he says. “But we have assigned seats. Please take yours.”
“You’ll be hearing from my father.”
“I have no doubt,” he says, not sounding at all impressed.
The room is filling, and I don’t want to make a spectacle, so I grit my teeth and make my way toward Devlin. I hold my head high and keep my eyes forward, my face still. I practice a technique I learned in therapy, picturing myself from the outside. No one can tell my heart is racing and my stomach is knotted with dread, waiting for the barking and name-calling. To everyone else, I’m a pretty girl with flawlessly straightened hair, plum lipstick, and a fitted, conservative dress with a belt and matching pumps.
Everyone is watching me. Silent. Waiting. I pray they can’t see my knees shaking and thank heaven they don’t make a move. I arrive at Devlin’s table, a raised, black-surfaced lab station. Devlin stares at me. “Are you fucking kidding me?” he mutters under his breath. “This is the seat you chose?”
“You weren’t here yesterday,” I say, sliding onto the stool beside him. “I didn’t know you sat here. And Mr. Wagnall says we have assigned seats.”
Devlin smirks. “And you just do what everyone tells you, like a good dog?”
I cross my arms over my chest and glare. “I tried. He refused. Do you really think I want to sit withyou?”
A flicker of surprise flashes in his devastating blue eyes. Apparently, he’s not used to girls not falling for his asshole act.