Hunter
“How the fuckis she still here?”
Elijah’s upper lip curled in contempt, and I followed his gaze over to Laney.
She was walking across the quad with Trina, not paying a scrap of attention to the muttered insults from other students as they passed.
There was something different about her today.
Her dark tartan skirt appeared to be two inches shorter than usual, and she’d traded her usual opaque black stockings for a sheer pair. Also, even though the air outside was crisp, she wasn’t wearing her school blazer. Just the white long-sleeved collared shirt with a black cross tie. The shirt wasn’t too small for her, but it was still tight enough to accentuate the curve of her waist and hips. Not to mention those tits…
Jesus.
Her face was slightly different, too. She usually didn’t seem to bother with much makeup, but today she’d applied a swipe of dark red to her lush lips.
I’d never liked the caked-on makeup look on girls, but I’d always been a sucker for a little bit of red lipstick. On Laney, it was even sexier than I could’ve imagined, contrasting perfectly with her pale skin and making every red-blooded male within ten feet of her wonder what it would be like to have her mouth wrapped around their cock.
She’d never looked so fucking hot.
No, not just hot… beautiful. The mere sight of her made me feel like someone had sucked all the oxygen out of the air.
I turned back to Elijah. “Huh?”
I’d already forgotten whatever the hell it was he asked before.
“I said, how the fuck is she still here?” he said, jerking a thumb in Laney’s direction. “I thought they would’ve kicked her out by now.”
I looked over at her again. She’d just stopped to talk to Trina by the fountain, twirling a loose strand of hair around one finger. A smile lit up her face, and heat instantly flooded me. “She must’ve talked her way out of it,” I said, eyes narrowing.
Elijah grunted. “Guess she’s smarter than she looks.”
I finally tore my gaze away from Laney and nodded curtly at my friend, lips pressed into a thin line.
A bunch of girls were flocking around us now, vying for our attention. Flipping their hair, laughing in a high, exaggerated manner, ‘accidentally’ pulling their skirts up to reveal more leg or a hint of their panties… the usual.
They all wanted to date or hook up with a Prince to earn bragging rights and popularity, and afternoons in the quad were a prime time for them to take a shot at it, because we always hung out here then. Today was no different, with the exception of Chris.
I’d barely seen him since his party at the lake the other week. He answered texts and calls, but he was hardly ever around in person, always claiming to be ‘busy’ with assignments or some other shit. Not surprising, given the little dust-up we had in the woods during the party. He was probably worried he was going to lose his spot in our group if we actually saw each other in person, so he’d taken to avoiding me until it all blew over.
He thought I was pissed that night because he defied my orders and tried to hook up with Laney, but I knew there was something else behind my fury. I couldn’t tell what it was at first, and it annoyed the shit out of me that I couldn’t identify my own emotions. Then realization hit me like a fucking truck.
It was jealousy.
I was jealous of Chris getting close to Laney. Sweet-talking her. Touching her. Trying to steal a kiss from her. It filled me with uncontrollable rage; at him, at her, at myself.
Mostly myself.
The girl was everything I despised, but she just so happened to be gorgeous as well, and I was only human. My body forcefully reacted every time she was near, making my dick ache with the need to sink inside her and my fingers tingle with the need to touch her. Claim her. Possess her.
I hated her, but I wanted her. She was a thorn stuck deep in my side, haunting me endlessly, filling me with guilt and self-loathing.
I’d tried to get rid of her so that she’d stop fucking me up so badly, but she survived and came back every time, stronger than ever. No matter what I did, she kept clinging to her new life here at RFA; clinging to the chance to become one of us, as miniscule as it was.
I had no idea what it would take to make her leave now. As much as I hated her, I had to admit that Elijah was right about her—she was smarter than I initially figured, and she was damn resilient too. I might’ve won a few battles by humiliating her and getting her into trouble, but she was winning the war.
“She’s coming over here. Want me to tell her to fuck off?” Elijah asked, elbowing me in the side.
I glanced to the right, assuming he meant that Talia was heading over to flirt with me yet again. My brows shot up when I realized he was still referring to Laney. She was sauntering toward us, mesmerizing eyes trained on me.