by Elle East
“—I just need to be alone for a bit. I’m so tired and this is all too much. Please. I’ll talk to you later.”
He pressed his mouth into a straight, tense line, but said, “Ok. Whatever you need.”
“Thanks,” I whispered.
He went into the bathroom to get his coat off the sink. Archer was still standing in the doorway, but as soon as Dean left Archer leaned against the doorframe for support. He’d been trying to keep it together and look strong in front of Dean, but I could see he was still suffering from the effects of the cold water.
“Maddy—” Archer started.
“Go,” I said, leaving no room for argument.
He looked at me for a moment, his eyes filled with an emotion I couldn’t interpret. He finally nodded and then turned and started down the stairs.
Dean came back into the room.
“Are you sure, Maddy?” he asked one last time.
“Yes, please.”
Reluctantly, he turned and walked out the door after Archer. I shut and locked it behind him. They would probably run into each other on the stairs, but I was beyond exhausted and too tired to worry about if they would kill each other or not. I went to my bed, crawled under the covers and slept like I was dead.
Chapter 15
The next day, I was walking down the hallways alone. I didn’t get Dean because I needed some time by myself to think. And the halls were crowded with students, so there was no way someone was going to attack me again. I felt safe… until Grayson came up to me.
I groaned. I didn’t want to deal with him at the moment.
He had his patented smirk on his lips. His dark brown hair was messy today and hung over one eye. He’d been sporting a new design shaved into his undercut since the beginning of the year. I liked it more than last year’s pattern. This one was made up of subtle geometric shapes.
He brushed his hair back from his face with a tattooed hand. His nose ring caught the light. He took me in with his eyes, up-and-down, and his cheeks hollowed out as he sucked them in appreciatively. His sharp cheekbones looked even more dangerous when he did that.
He was the one who stopped me, so I wasn’t going to be the first to speak. I waited impatiently until he was done checking me out, an annoyed look on my face that he seemed to relish when he finally looked at it.
“How are you doing?” he asked.
“Fine,” I answered curtly.
Grayson pushed my buttons like no one else—and seemed to get off on it.
“You shouldn’t be walking the halls alone.”
“I’m safer alone than with any of you,” I shot back.
“Were you with any of us when you got pushed off the boat yesterday?” he asked snarkily.
“No, but…” I was at a loss of what to say.
He was right. The only reason I was still alive was because the three of them had saved me. Why would they push me off the boat just to risk their own lives? Dean had said they’d gotten cold feet at the last-minute when they realized they could actually be charged with murder, but that didn’t seem plausible to me—wait a minute.
“How did you know I was pushed?” I asked suspiciously. “That girl said she saw me slip and fall over the edge.”
He shook his head slightly, as his dark eyes stared into mine. I found it so hard to tell if he was lying. I used to live in a rough part of town where my survival had relied on my ability to read people. It was a skill I thought I’d mastered and was proud of, but the Kings were something else. I couldn’t read them properly, and I hated it. They had tricked me last year, and I’d been too dumb to realize it.
“It’s pretty fucking obvious you didn’t slip. Those railings were too high, and even if they weren’t, the deck wasn’t icy enough for that to happen.”
“Who did it then?” I asked.
“We don’t know,” he answered.
I couldn’t read him. I couldn’t tell if he was lying or not, and it was frustrating as hell.
“Was it you?” I asked point-blank.
I watched his usually mischievous eyes grow noticeably darker in anger.
“I would never do that to you,” he whispered darkly.
“Oh yeah? Because last year you treated me so nicely? You tormented me. You then made me think you cared about me again. You tricked me into thinking there was a chance for us to be close. You made me miss you all and then threw it in my face—and you did all of that just to stab me in the back again. You almost ruined my life.”
“We did what we had to do.”
“Bullshit!” I threw my hands up in exasperation. “I don’t know what your game is this time, but there’s no way I’m falling for it. Maybe you pushed me off the boat, maybe you didn’t. Maybe you got cold feet. Maybe someone saw what really happened, and that’s why you saved me. Maybe you didn’t do it and you’re covering for someone else. Maybe you’re just playing mind games with me so I won’t suspect it’s you. Whatever it is, I don’t trust you. And I never will ever again. Get away from me.”
I stormed passed him and started walking down the hall as fast as my cast would let me.
“Maybe we aren’t the ones you should be suspicious of, Sunny,” Grayson called out after me.
I spun around. Grayson and I were the only people standing still in a hallway of students rushing to class.
“Look closer at your boyfriend,” he added, and I knew he meant Dean.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” I answered. But I didn’t know why I felt the need to correct him. It was none of his business, and I didn’t care what Grayson thought about anything. Still, I had.
Grayson gave me a look. He put his hands in his pockets and started walking away.
“If you know something you should tell me!” I called out after him.
“We don’t know anything… yet.” And with those final words, he strolled away in the cocky, self-assured—infuriating—way he always did.
Just then, Dean ran up to me.
“I was looking everywhere for you,” he said, slightly breathless.
“Was he bothering you?” he asked when he saw me staring at Grayson’s back as it disappeared down the hall.
“No, he wasn’t.” I turned to look at Dean’s handsome face.
“Why didn’t you wait for me? I would have walked with you,” he asked.
“Sorry, I guess I just needed a minute to breathe.”
I stared up at him. I took in his warm amber eyes and thick, brown hair. His square jaw—that I had held in my hands last night. It felt so solid in my palms. Could I really trust him?
“Yesterday was a lot,” I said.
Dean sighed understandingly. “Yeah, it was. I get it. Are you ok?”
It felt like lately everyone was always asking me that, and I was starting to not like it. It made me feel weak, and I didn’t like to think of myself as weak.
I nodded.
“Let’s get to class,” Dean said and put his large hand gently in the small of my back.
Normally his touch would electrify me, but instead I was starting to wonder how much did I really know about Dean Smith?—Stop it, I told myself.
I hadn’t been suspicious of Dean at all until Grayson had planted that seed in my mind. That’s what the Kings did. They played twisted games. They ruined lives for fun. For no other reason than their own sick joy.
The whole situation was frustrating as hell. I hated being in the dark. I hated not knowing who I could trust. Not knowing who was telling the truth.
I looked up at Dean. He smiled down at me, and it warmed my insides and my suspicions disappeared. He’d never given me a reason to suspect his motives. We were here together, to get dirt on the Kings and bring them down—of course the Kings would try to turn us against each other. They were just trying to make us suspicious, to tear us apart. I knew I could trust Dean.
… Right?
Chapter 16
The next couple of weeks were relatively quiet. Dean accompanied me everywhere, so I was ne
ver alone again. I also noticed Brett hanging around more and more. I kept seeing him standing off to the side wherever I went. He was keeping an eye on me. Haunting me like a silent shadow. But despite him helping to save me from dying, his constant presence didn’t make me feel any safer. The other two Kings were leaving me alone for the most part, and I was grateful for small mercies.
One day, Dean and I walked into our chemistry class to see lab stations set up. This was the part of class I dreaded last year after I’d lost all my friends. I’d practically had to beg our teacher, Mrs. Melon, to work on labs by myself so I wouldn’t have to be in a group that didn’t want me. She’d reluctantly agreed but said the labs were meant for four people and it was a lot of work for one person—and she was right, but working four times as hard was still a more desirable option to me than being in a group of people who didn’t like me.
Luckily, this year I had Dean, an automatic lab partner. I wasn’t going to have to stay late to complete three other people’s portions of the project. I wasn’t as much of a social outcast when he was around because at least I had one person who wasn’t afraid to be seen with me. For the millionth time since I came back to Crestmoore, I was happy Dean was here.
After about ten minutes of instruction on how the lab was to be conducted, Mrs. Melon said, “All right, it’s time to group up. Four people per station and remember you will be handing in one assignment. It’s up to you to make sure you all divide up the work fairly because all four will be receiving the same grade. It’s not my job to know who did what, it’s your job to work as a team. Any questions?… No? Ok, go ahead.”
My first chemistry class after the boat ride had been awkward. It’s weird seeing your teacher again after she’s seen you completely naked. After she’s had to wrap your naked body in a blanket. But Mrs. Melon was nice about it. When I walked into class that first day after, I could barely meet her eyes, but she’d called me up to her desk.
She had asked how I was feeling and said she was glad to hear it when I told her I was doing a lot better. Then she told me to take a seat, and we’d gone back to normal as if it had never happened—which was exactly what I wanted. I wanted to pretend it had never happened, and she had never seen my breasts.
“Hey, Ces, do you guys want to be in a group together?”
I looked over in surprise to see Dean turned to Cecily and Ava. Ces? He was already using her nickname? I didn’t know they were so close.
“Uh,” Cecily hesitated and turned to Ava.
They both looked back at me nervously, and I could tell I was the reason they were hesitating. The scholarship students had expelled me from their group for their own safety, and Cecily and Ava were scared to be associated with me for even something as small as a group lab project.
“It’s ok, Dean. I can ask the teacher if we can be in a group with just two people. It’s fine,” I said and stood up to go ask.
“No, it’s ok. We’ll do it,” Ava answered quickly.
I stopped mid-stride. I was surprised by her answer. I thought the two of them would be too scared to ever have anything to do with me again. As much as I wanted to hang out with them, I didn’t want to put them in an awkward position where they felt forced to be in a group with me just because they were friends with Dean and we were kind of a package deal at the moment.
I opened my mouth, about to turn them down, when Dean said, “Great! Let’s do this.”
He stood up and walked over to an empty lab station. The three of us followed after him uncomfortably. This whole thing was awkward as hell, but if Dean felt any of that awkwardness he didn’t let on.
We all put on our safety goggles and aprons and then started the assignment. Cecily read out the instructions while the rest of us carried out the steps. The lab wasn’t too complicated, and we quickly got into a good rhythm.
Dean started joking around with Cecily. I could tell she was still a bit on edge about the whole thing but quickly warmed up and started joking back. Dean got Ava and I to join in, and pretty soon the four of us were laughing and having a great time.
It felt so much like old times that it made me remember how much I missed Ava and Cecily. We hadn’t been friends for very long last year before my “friendships” with the Royalty had torn us apart, but I had felt a genuine connection, and I was sad we’d lost it.
The end of class came all too soon. Realization that it was over hit us all at once, and we packed up our station in silence.
After we grabbed our bags and were walking out of the classroom, both Cecily and Ava gave me sad smiles that said more than words ever could. They missed me too.
“See you for lunch?” Dean asked me.
I nodded and smiled. He took off, and I headed to my math class. He didn’t really have to ask since we ate lunch everyday together.
Nothing else had happened between the two of us, romantically, since we’d made out and he had slipped his fingers inside of me in my bathtub. And I didn’t really know why. We spent most of our time together so it seemed strange it hadn’t happened again, but it just never did. That night in my room had felt so right, so natural, but no time since had felt like that.
I wanted it to happen again. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. His hand sneaking up my thigh. Him being so into what we were doing that he didn’t care his clothes were getting soaked. His strong jaw in my hands. His lips against my lips. His tongue caressing mine. It had all been incredibly hot, and I wanted it to happen again ASAP. But he didn’t seem to feel the same—or if he did, then he seemed like he was holding himself back for some reason.
Maybe he could sense I was unsure about a lot of things. Almost dying had been pretty traumatic. And the Kings saving me was a twist I never would have expected. My life seemed very unsettled at the moment—but it had felt that way for the past six months.
After math was over, I headed to Dean’s class to pick him up for lunch. It was on the way to the dining hall, so he usually waited right outside the classroom for me. I rounded the corner and heard a low, muffled voice coming from a nearby alcove. I was pretty sure it was him, so I wandered over.
I looked in, and sure enough it was Dean. He had his hand over his mouth to block the sound and was speaking into a cell phone. He was whispering and whatever he was saying seemed intense because I could tell he was on edge.
He noticed me, and his eyes went so wide it would have been comical if the situation wasn’t so serious.
“Got to go,” he said into the receiver and hung up.
“Who was that?” I asked.
“No one,” he said quickly.
My eyes narrowed in on him, and my heart dropped. What was he hiding?
A second later he must have realized how suspicious he sounded. He took a deep breath before saying, “Sorry, you just startled me. It was my dad.”
“Detective Smith.”
“Yeah. He wanted an update and couldn’t wait until I was back in my dorm.”
“Oh, ok… I didn’t know you had a phone.”
“Yeah, just so we can keep in contact with the police department back in New York.”
I nodded. “You know you could have gotten into a lot of trouble if a staff member saw you with that.”
“I know, and that’s why I was so jumpy when you came up. I usually wait until I’m back in my room before calling, but this time they couldn’t wait.”
“You should have told me about the phone,” I said. “I thought we were in this together.”
He looked down and shook his head like he couldn’t believe he hadn’t told me sooner. “I know. You’re right. I should have told you… I guess the reason I didn’t was because when we first came here I was still a bit suspicious of you, but that wasn’t right of me. We’re in this together.”
“Right.”
“I’m sorry,” he said sincerely.
“That’s ok.”
I quickly accepted his apology because I understood his reasoning. We hadn’t been on the greatest terms when
we came to Crestmoore in January, so I understood why he hadn’t trusted me with this secret.
Also, it wasn’t that big of a deal. It would have been nice to know we had a phone, but who was I going to call? My friends back home? After what happened last year with the Queens bugging my phone, there was no way I was going to feel comfortable using another one I hadn’t bought myself. Also, last year when I had a secret phone the main person I talked to on it was Dean. And now I had the real thing.
“Don’t worry about it. All is forgiven. Let’s go get some lunch,” I said.
He smiled in relief. “Sounds good to me.”
“Unless you have anymore secret phone calls you need to make?” I raised my eyebrows.
He laughed. “Nope. I’ll save the rest of those for when I’m back in my dorm. You can be a part of them too if you like. It’s basically just giving my dad an update on what’s been happening here.”
“I’m all right. Your dad is nice and everything,” I said unconvincingly, “but I’m not in a big hurry to talk to him if I don’t have to—especially since we don’t have a lot of good news to share at the moment.”
“Yeah, he’s definitely a bit gruff. The kind of guy who’s all business.”
“Totally. Ok, should we go?” I asked and started to walk off towards the lunchroom.
“Maddy,” Dean called, and I turned back around.
“Yeah?”
He suddenly looked so serious and earnest. There was clearly something he was wrestling with internally—something that was bothering him.
“It’s important to me you trust me,” he said. His eyes looked so sincere.
I was taken aback and said honestly, “I do.”
He nodded like he was thinking.
“I should have told you about the phone. I screwed up.”
“Dean, really, it’s ok. I get it. Just don’t keep anything else from me, ok?”
“Ok.”
“Can we eat now? I’m starving.”
He smiled. “Yeah, let’s go.”
And we walked together to the dining hall.
