Defiant Prince: An Enemies-to-Lovers Romance (Black Rose University Book 1)

by A G Henderson

  Erik jabbed a finger through the air. “This was your rule, Ro. No pretty, overnight distractions. Those were your exact fucking words. You’ve always been a bastard”—Chrom stepped into view with a growl, wearing nothing but athletic shorts—”but now you decided you wanted to make a liar out of yourself as well? And with her of all people?”

  “Why?”

  It took the slow head turn of everyone’s attention before it registered that the choked sob of a question had ripped itself from my throat.

  My eyes pricked, tears threatening to spill. This wasn’t the time to fall apart. It was the worst possible moment for it, in fact. Still, it was like I was watching from outside myself as I took a shaky step around Renata and stared desperately at my brother.

  “What did I ever do to you?” I whispered.

  Too many things happened at once.

  Erik opened his mouth.

  Chrom stepped forward.

  Renata linked her fingers with mine.

  Above it all, Ambrose’s voice registered loud and clear. “Enough.”

  As usual, he didn’t yell.

  As usual, it didn’t matter.

  The single word carried with it the impact of a shotgun blast, bringing everything to a halt.

  Ambrose moved in front of me until all I could see was the wide expanse of his bare back. “I put off this conversation when I shouldn’t have,” he said carefully. “But we’re not having it now, either. If I do, I’m liable to kick your teeth in and that’ll be hard to explain.”

  He glanced back, dark eyes focusing on me before moving to Renata. I’d held my breath during that brief moment for no reason. The only thing in his gaze was barely leashed rage, a nightmare lurking at the edge of reality, ready to step into the world and be unleashed.

  “Take her home,” he said before turning away.

  Renata had to pull at me several times before I budged. “Come on,” she urged. “I’ll walk with you. We need to get ready for class anyway.”

  Hard steps told me Erik was stomping away, then Ambrose turned to face us again. His frown didn’t mar his gorgeous features, but it did make the cracks in my chest a bit wider. “You didn’t bring your car back?”

  “Nooo...” Renata tipped her head to the side, brown waves falling over her shoulder. “I know you think I’m a princess, but it’s not a long walk.”

  Ambrose flicked his gaze at me, then my knee, before returning to my face. “I’ll—”

  “We’re walking,” I snapped, finding my voice at the worst time. Why was I tipping over the toxic stew Erik had left swirling inside me onto Ambrose?

  I didn’t know and I was helpless to stop myself.

  He glared, features hardening. There was something wrong with me because I breathed easier to see it. This was familiar ground. This was us pulling at each other’s threads and waiting to see who would unravel first.

  It wasn’t hot mouths, panted breaths, and wandering fingers.

  Wasn’t a retreating back in the darkness when all my walls had been under construction.

  Wasn’t a guy I didn’t understand stepping into the line of fire for me.

  Nope. None of that.

  This made sense.

  His rumbled, “get the fuck out of here then,” made sense too.

  I walked away with my chin up, Renata’s arm still looped through mine.

  And if every lance of pain that went through my knee matched the flow of blood from the gaping wound in my heart, no one could tell but me.

  17

  Ambrose

  Chrom scrubbed a hand down his jaw while we stared at the door Emily had just slammed shut.

  He grunted and made some other unintelligible noise. “Are we going to talk about—”

  “No,” I snapped, wanting to grab Father Time and choke him until he agreed to reset how this had all started.

  Then I could tell Mom she needed to find someone else to complete her favor. Emily Brennan would make it to Black Rose, just without ever running into me. She would’ve gone about her life on campus, a face I might’ve recognized without knowing why, and that would’ve been it.

  No car ride.

  No bumping into her around town.

  No watching her stride into a party like she owned the place.

  No knowledge of how full her tits were or how good her cherry-colored nipples tasted or how she sounded coming apart around my fingers.

  No knowledge of how she looked spread out in my bed, asking me to join her.

  Someone else would’ve had that instead, my brain told me. It could’ve been some random douche. It could’ve been Chrom or Baron.

  Homicidal urges gripped me at the thought of either of them seeing her like that. Chrom’s attention drifted towards the door again. I’d never had less of a reason to throw a punch before but goddamn if I didn’t want to.

  What was going through his head?

  How good her ass looked in sweatpants?

  How much fucking hotter it made her that she had no issue giving me said ass to kiss?

  “Why’d you make that face?” he said after a moment. “When they said they were walking, you looked pissed.”

  I could hear feminine voices through the door. They were still on the porch discussing something. Rolling my shoulders didn’t release the energy that had taken over the moment I saw her and amplified when Erik acted like a total shit.

  Of course, it didn’t help that the same energy hadn’t faded after last night in the first place.

  I joined Chrom on his early morning workout because one look in my room—spotting the redhead curled beneath the covers—had made me want to wake her up with my dick in her mouth. Thinking about anything else had become impossible, no matter how heavy the weights got once we reached the gym.

  “There’s something with her knee,” I muttered, scowling at the door. It wasn’t any of their business, but I tried not to make a habit of lying to them either. A large enough lie sat on my shoulders already.

  “With her knee?” Baron grabbed a Monopoly card and twirled it between his fingers. “We’re Freshmen, not geriatrics heading into a nursing home. What’s wrong with it?”

  “If I knew, don’t you think I would’ve said that in the first place?”

  “Maybe if you could focus on anything other than trying to stare a hole through solid wood,” Chrom chipped in.

  Baron sighed, getting to his feet. “I’ll go open the garage.”

  “Why?” I called to him when he set off.

  “So you can take her back to the dorm,” he said without turning. “Or are you going to pretend you’d be able to focus on anything else?”

  My lips thinned. “Sometimes I hate all of you.”

  Baron flipped me off before dipping down the hallway.

  Chrom laughed. “You might be able to fool the rest of the world, Ro, but never us. This is more entertaining than a soap opera, and I gotta say I’m fucking loving every second of it.”

  A few scattered pieces fell together, and I renewed my scowl. “You invited her last night, didn’t you?”

  His eyes widened in mock surprise. “Me? Brother, you know I wouldn’t do such a thing without giving you a heads-up.” He grinned when I took a step forward and nodded his head over my shoulder. “You can try to badger it out of me now if you want, but I’m pretty sure they just started walking.”

  Just leave it alone. She wants to limp around, that’s on her.

  Except the sensible voice didn’t stop me from crashing through the door in hot pursuit, catching sight of Emily and Renata just hitting the sidewalk outside of our house.

  I didn’t bother announcing my presence as I caught up.

  I was already in reaching distance when Emily’s shoulders tensed and she started to turn.

  Too slow, cupcake girl.

  I caught her by the back of the neck and turned her around, ignoring her screech of protest. Dropping my shoulder to her waist, I hauled her into the air.

  “You fuck!”
Tiny fists beat against my back. “Put me down!”

  “Not happening.” I tapped Renata’s chin to get her to close her mouth, but she kept staring like I’d grown a second head. Fuck it. I set off up the path leading to the garage and heard her heels tapping along behind me.

  The four-door garage was open, and Baron was just sliding out of Chrom’s Escalade when I came into view. He tossed the keys my way, along with a smirk, before retreating into the house.

  No one paid any attention to the rant Emily was on, but it was certainly creative.

  “...even listening to me you motherfucker?” she was yelling. “I’m not a piece of fucking luggage to be hauled around. Put me the fuck down if you know what the fuck is good for you or I’m going to tear off your tiny ass balls and feed them to you!”

  I chuckled as I threw open the back door and tossed her in. She immediately lunged for me, face bright red with fury, blue eyes so stormy I could almost hear the crack of thunder and the crash of waves against the shore.

  “Ambrose LaCroix!”

  I pushed her back with one hand, dodging her feet a moment later as she did her best to catch me between the legs.

  My sweeping gaze found Renata at my side, staring with open confusion at the scene.

  “Get in,” I told her. “Don’t let the wild woman do something stupid like jump out of a moving vehicle.”

  “Don’t you ignore me, Ambrose!”

  Emily’s foot connected with my thigh, and I had to admit her legs were more than pretty decoration. That shit hurt. Even though I mostly kept the grimace from my face, her vicious grin said she knew she’d scored a good hit.

  To keep from sliding in there with her and teaching her a goddamn lesson that would leave us both panting and spent, I shot Renata a look.

  It said, Any fucking time today would be nice.

  Miraculously, she climbed in beside Emily without complaint, and cupcake girl was reduced to snarling around the shield I’d placed between us.

  Giving her my cockiest grin, I slammed the door and climbed in the driver’s seat while she continued cussing me out.

  “This is why I fucking hate men!”

  I met her glare in the rear-view mirror as I drove. “You certainly changed your tune from last night. The only complaint I remember spilling from those lips was—”

  “Shut! Up!”

  My ears might’ve bled. It was worth it. I’d eaten at restaurants so expensive and in-demand that you needed reservations a year in advance.

  But Emily’s rage was better than anything I’d ever tasted. Delicious. Filling. Capable of creating a craving I’d never be able to shake.

  “Wait a second...” Renata laughed. “You two banged? Is that what this is all about?”

  Emily made a noise that sounded like a war cry while I answered, “No. But maybe if we had she wouldn’t be so damn irritable.”

  “Your dick is not magic you”—she realized she could kick my seat at that moment—”cupcake destroying, pompous, arrogant, selfish, insufferable asshole!”

  I smiled so wide my cheeks hurt before I reined it in. “That was a lot of adjectives. I’m sure your English teachers would be incredibly proud.”

  “Dear God, please get me out of this car before I kill him. Painfully. Slowly.”

  “You sure you should be calling on the man upstairs after that barely-there dress you wore?” I chuckled, feeling the heat of her glare on my neck. “Shame on you, Emily Brennan. What would your parents think?”

  It was the wrong thing to say. I knew it the instant the words left my mouth because that was how fast her expression iced over, the inferno from a moment ago extinguished like it had never been.

  Her anger fell off a cliff and I wanted to chase it over the edge and haul it to safety if it meant bringing that glow back to her eyes.

  I felt Renata’s attention bouncing between us and knew without looking that our temporary truce was over.

  Not that I really gave a damn.

  Talk about putting my fucking foot in my mouth. The parents? Really? What was I thinking?

  Except that was the problem right there. I hadn’t been thinking. Or planning. Or observing. All the things I usually prided myself on. Around Emily, I became someone reactive, and I didn’t know how to feel about that.

  Silence strangled the three of us. When I pulled up in front of the dorms a few minutes later, Emily hopped out and pumped her legs to get away before I’d even come to a complete stop.

  I watched her head into the building, hardly aware of Renata not being at her side until I was staring into amber eyes filled with venom.

  A manicured nail tapped on the glass and I rolled the window down.

  “What?” I grunted, wondering why I didn’t drive away. She was going to chew me out and I knew it.

  Renata Fontana had never been intimidated by me. It was one of the reasons our so-called relationship didn’t work out. Neither of us had any give.

  But that undefined spark that lit me up from the inside out when Emily and I engaged each other had never happened with Renata.

  We got together because it was expected of us, and it came with the added perk of keeping away the sharks that had circled from the moment we were born with our last names. We were friends who’d been there for each other before my mistake crashed into all our lives like a meteor, spreading destruction and collateral damage.

  I knew this girl.

  I knew whatever was about to come out of her mouth wouldn’t be a superficial dig.

  Sure, she could trade jabs with vicious bitches like a champion. But when it came time to go for the throat?

  Let’s just say Renata would’ve made a great sniper in another life.

  One shot. One kill.

  “I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing here,” she said carefully, eyes narrowed, “and I know that there has to be one. You don’t do anything unless there’s something in it for you because you’re a manipulative dick. I can’t even blame you. You learned from the best, after all. Mrs. LaCroix is—”

  I growled. “Be very careful what comes out of your mouth next.”

  Renata ruffled my hair and I cursed, pulling away.

  “I was going to say she’s my role model.” Her grin flashed and vanished in the next heartbeat. “But we’re talking about you and whatever the hell you think you’re doing with Emily Brennan.”

  I wish someone would give me the answer to that.

  No, I didn’t admit that shit out loud.

  I didn’t respond period.

  Renata considered something for a moment. “She’s...nice. Terribly new and unaware of what kind of arena she’s stepped into, but nice. In case you’re not reading between the lines here, that means she’s way too damn good for you.”

  I gripped the wheel tighter to keep from punching something as I whispered, “You think I don’t know that?”

  Her gaze softened. I knew her tricks. I knew this was the lull while she loaded a bullet meant for my brain.

  Still, I didn’t drive away.

  Renata put her hand on my arm, the contact designed to do exactly one thing: make me pay attention.

  Voice soft, she pulled the trigger. “Wasn’t breaking one girl enough for you, Ambrose?”

  Headshot.

  I flinched, whole body clamping down until my bones ached.

  She could’ve split my chest open and yanked my heart out; it would’ve hurt less.

  The cold fingers of misery and the acid-tipped digits of regret jammed into my soul as she threw my greatest mistake in my face without so much as blinking.

  “Stay away from her,” she said, patting my arm again before she walked away.

  I sat there like an idiot for I don’t know how long. My eyes faced forward, but I wasn’t seeing anything but the past. So vivid, it was like I was there all over again.

  I remembered the scream of horror in my throat that had come too late. The frantic windmill of my legs that hadn’t carried me fast enough.
The desperate reach of my fingers that had come up short right before everything changed forever.

  Nothing compared to the sound of a human body breaking in ways that couldn’t be mended.

  Nothing.

  In one fell swoop, without ever meaning to, I’d ruined a life.

  And that was before I’d gotten used to having blood on my hands. What was I capable of now that I wouldn’t see coming before it was too late?

  I squeezed my eyes shut and gathered those thoughts into a steel case I summarily tossed into an imaginary black hole.

  Then I hit the gas so hard the tires squealed and I went rocketing away from the dorm.

  Stay away from her.

  I could do that.

  I would do that.

  It only made sense.

  I’d known I couldn’t afford to be interested. Renata’s reminder was just what I needed to hammer that fucking point home.

  The next time Emily came at me—and I knew there would be a next time after this morning’s little stunt—I’d have to keep my hands and eyes and tongue to myself while I got rid of her.

  Easy.

  No problem at all.

  Simple as walking on fucking water.

  18

  Emily

  After a forgettable Thursday and a disappointing Friday where the culinary arts teacher had her assistant send out a notice that classes would be delayed for a week—along with a list of supplies we would need for next Friday—I found myself in my room, doing something I never thought I would do without significant bribery involved.

  Research.

  And not just any research, either. This was completely unrelated to any of my classes so far. Instead, it revolved around the continued pain in my ass, just like everything else at this fucking school.

  I’d been fortunate enough to not have any other classes with Ambrose. Well, it was good luck for both of us to be honest.

  Following his bullshit manhandling after the party and his callous taunts, I’d been liable to claw his face off if I saw it up close.