by Rose, Louise
“Really? Why?” I try not to make my curiosity too obvious, but this is the perfect opportunity for me to learn more about who Lucas really is. I just have to keep the focus on him and get him to open up.
“Mum has to travel for her work,” he tells me. “And she didn’t like the idea of leaving me with tutors or sending me to boarding school, so I had to go with her. It’s cool though, I saw a lot of the world and now I’m fluent in French, German, Italian, Mandarin and Japanese because of all the places we went to. But the downside is that it got pretty lonely. We were never in one place long enough for me to make friends, so after a while I stopped bothering. It is easier to keep to myself than try to get close to people I’d never see again after we left.”
“There is this thing called the internet you know,” I say. “Why can’t you speak to them on Zoom or stay in touch on social media?”
“Meh.” Lucas shrugs. “It’s hard to coordinate calls when you’re in different time zones. And out of sight, out of mind. Once you’ve left the country, people forget about you pretty quickly. Besides, Mum doesn’t like me to be on social media. She says it’s uncouth to be in people’s faces all the time and no one cares what you’re having for dinner.”
“Uncouth, huh?” I’m not sure I buy into Lucas’ explanation, but we arrive at the coffee shop, so I push open the door and lead the way over to the counter.
Coffee, Coffee, Coffee is an independent coffee shop which prides itself on fast service with a smile and good quality. It is so close to the Academy it could have served rocket fuel and still done a roaring trade, but the drinks were delicious so the place is usually packed with students on a free period wanting to get a break from the common room.
“I’ll have a hazelnut hot chocolate with marshmallows,” I say. “Lucas?”
“Iced caramel latte, please.” He takes out his wallet, but I wave him away.
“This one’s on me,” I tell him. “Call it a welcome to the Academy.”
“Nope. That’s nice of you, but I’m paying,” he says. “Mum would never forgive me if she heard I went out for coffee with a lady and didn’t pick up the bill.”
“Fine.” I’d been involved in enough of these male ego driven conversations to know when it is best left alone. “If you want to pay, be my guest.”
“We’ll take a couple of blueberry muffins as well,” Lucas says, handing his card to the barista.
I look around the room and spot an empty table at the back.
“I’ll go grab a couple of seats,” I tell Lucas, taking the muffins and going over to the table. Sitting down, I pick a blueberry off the muffin and eat it while I gaze idly around the room. I frown when I spot Declan on the other side of the coffee shop. I’m sure he has an art class at this time. He looks up from the book he is reading and I wave at him, but he ignores me.
Strange.
Lucas comes over with the drinks and sits opposite me. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, yeah.” I take the hot chocolate from Lucas and scoop off a bit of cries with a marshmallow, popping the whole thing in my mouth. “What I want to know is how come someone who couldn’t afford to enter a race suddenly rocks on up at one of the most expensive schools in the country?”
“Would you believe I left my wallet at home?” Lucas smiles winningly.
“No. I wouldn’t.”
“Okay. I was undercover. I wanted to check you all out, you especially, before I started at the Academy. I figured that if I pretended to be poor, I’d get a feel for what you were really like, who were the spoilt brats and who were the halfway decent people worth hanging out with once I started school.”
“So I guess that Declan’s your new best buddy then?”
“Not quite.” Lucas chuckles. “He’s a decent guy and I appreciated him paying for me to ride, but he’s too caught up with his music to be interested in making new friends. He seems to really like you though. Whenever I’ve spoken to him, he’s always mentioned you and how cool you are. Is there something going on there Romy needs to know about?”
“No. Of course not. Declan’s just my song writing partner. Why would there be something going on? We have to spend time together to work on our music, but that’s as far as it goes.”
Lucas gives me a knowing smile and I realise I’d given myself away by babbling too much.
“The lady doth protest too much,” he says. “But don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me.”
“I don’t have a secret,” I lie. “Romy knows everything about me and Declan and he’s fine about it because he’s secure in our relationship. Romy trusts me because he knows I’ll always come home to him.”
“Is that right?” Lucas sips his coffee. “I have a feeling that might not be the case for much longer.”
“Look, are we here to talk about my love life which, quite frankly, is none of your business, or are we going to discuss what we came here to talk about? Because if you don’t want to know about what we’ve been doing in business politics, I’ve got homework. I’d rather be home, working, than have you insult me.”
I get up to go but Lucas puts a hand out to stop me.
“Sorry. Of course we’re here to talk about class. You make me nervous, which is strange. Girls don’t usually have that effect on me.”
“What have you got to be nervous about?”
“I’m having coffee with Ivy Archaic. That’s enough to make any man nervous.”
“Are you serious?” My eyebrows shoot up so high they must have gotten lost in my hairline.
“Completely. Who do you think the guys talk about when we think no one’s listening? Your name is on everyone’s lips. Everyone wants to be the one to have you ride pillion. There’s a sweepstake going on about how long your engagement to Romy is going to last.”
“No way.”
“Yes, way. Word on the street is that the two of you are never going to walk down the aisle together, so they’re all biding their time for an opportunity to get inside your knickers.”
“Is that right?” I murmur.
“Yep. Declan, Archer, Matt, Tyler, everyone. They’re all talking about how they’re going to be there to pick up the pieces when Romy moves on to his next conquest.”
As Lucas continues to tell me all about what people were really saying about me behind my back, I forget all about trying to find out more about his background. I feel sick to my stomach. Did Archer seduce me this afternoon just so he could boast about it to the lads? How would Romy feel if he heard about what happened?
“I’m sorry. I can’t do this.”
“Ivy? Is it something I said? Ivy!”
I get up and practically ran out of the coffee shop, tears blinding me. I hear Lucas coming after me, but I am not going to stop so he can apologise. I’ve had enough.
As I leave the coffee shop, I run into someone. The impact is more of a surprise than anything else, but it is enough to make me stumble and drop my bag.
I kneel down to gather up my things and the person I’d run into bent over to help me.
“Ivy? What’s wrong?”
I dash away the tears when I realise I bumped into Romy.
“Nothing. I’m fine.”
“Don’t even go there. You’re clearly not.”
“Ivy? Is it something I said?” Lucas comes out of the coffee shop.
“Stay away from me, Lucas,” I say. “You’ve done enough already.”
“Ivy? What’s happened?”
I sigh heavily and roll my eyes as Declan comes out to join us, Archer hot on his heels. I didn’t see Archer in the coffee shop, but I am not surprised he is there, given how good he is at sneaking up on me.
Great. All the boys are here and all I want is for the floor to open and swallow me up.
“What did you do to her?” Romy snaps at Lucas.
“Me? I didn’t do anything.”
“Ivy doesn’t get upset like this over nothing,” says Declan. “I saw you say something which made her run out. What is it
?”
“It isn’t important,” I say hurriedly, not wanting to open up that particular can of worms. “It’s been a long day, that’s all. Romy, can you take me home?”
“Not until I’ve taught Lucas a lesson in what happens when you upset my fiancée.”
Suddenly, he lunges at Lucas and punches him in the face.
“Romy!” I scream. “Stop!”
I tug at Romy’s arm to pull him away, but he is a man on a mission, following the punch with another blow.
Lucas makes to hit Romy back, but Archer grabs his arm. Twisting it around, he gets Lucas’s neck with his other hand, pushing him forward so that he can’t move without breaking his arm.
“Nobody hurts Ivy,” he says. “I suggest you suck this one up.”
“Fine,” Lucas spits angrily.
Archer lets him go and Lucas slowly stands up…
…and goes straight for Romy.
Declan sticks out his foot and Lucas trips before he can reach my fiancé. He falls to the floor and the three boys surround him, kicking him.
Is that..? Lucas is laughing?
Even though the others are beating the crap out of him, Lucas thinks it is funny?
The guy is even weirder than I thought.
“Stay away from Ivy if you know what’s good for you.” Romy jabs his finger at Lucas, panting with the exertion of the fight. “If I find you anywhere near her again, I’ll put you in hospital–and you won’t be coming out again.”
“Oh, Romy, Romy, Romy.” Lucas stays on the ground, getting his breath back. “Make the most of her while you can. She won’t be yours for much longer.”
“What did you just say?”
“Enough, Romy.” I pull his arm and this time he listens to me. “Let’s just go home. Leave Lucas in the gutter where he belongs.”
“Yeah. Stay on your knees,” Archer says. “You’re not fit to be anywhere near Ivy.”
“Come on, guys,” Declan says. “Ivy’s right. We should leave him here. He won’t be bothering anyone anytime soon.”
Declan, Archer, Romy, and I walk off together in the direction of the Academy to get our ride home, leaving Lucas behind.
Hopefully, he’d take the hint and transfer out of all of my classes. The boy is trouble, and I want nothing to do with him.
Chapter Forty-Six
There is another Bomber Derby scheduled for the weekend and I am really looking forward to it. It has been one of the worst weeks I've had since my father brought me to King Town. All my teachers were piling on the work and I feel like I am falling behind in every subject, even music. The only good thing is that Lucas has been off school all week. Maybe he’d been more badly hurt than he seemed. If so, he deserved it. I am not one to usually wish ill of anyone, but Lucas is a creep. If he did anything to jeopardise my engagement, it isn’t just Romy and the boys he’d have to worry about. He’d have me to deal with me, and I am a bitch when I’m angry.
This Bomber Derby is in the Dauphin district this time and Declan has promised us a particularly tricky route. For now, I am not making a big deal about not being allowed to compete. Once Romy and I are married, it would be a different matter.
Romy roars up to the meeting point. Loud music is playing and there seems to be more people than normal gathered to watch the race. Most of the crowd seems to be milling around one particular area, and after Romy has parked his bike, he takes my hand, and we go over to see what is going on.
“Are you freaking kidding me?” Romy gasps when he sees what everyone is so fascinated by.
Lucas is standing by a Kaisaki Ninja H2R, arms stretched wide to address the crowd.
“This bike does 0-60 in 2 seconds,” he is saying. “It has a top speed of 248.5 mph. My very generous benefactor gifted it to me because he wanted to make a statement to you all, which is move over, slow coaches. There’s a new champion in town.”
I don’t stick around to hear what else he has to say. Just the sight of him makes me sick. I don’t like to think about how much my father must have spent on that bike, but it is another sign there is definitely something going on behind the scenes and it is killing me that I have no idea what it is.
“Hey, Ivy. You okay?” Milly sees me walking away, and she comes over. “Lucas’s bike is pretty cool, isn’t it?”
“It’s okay.” I shrug. “But we all know that it’s the rider, not the bike, that counts. Romy’s going to check out the route now, but Declan’s territory is filled with windy country lanes. All that horsepower won’t do him much good when he’s trying to go round a number of hairpin bends.”
“Lucas seems pretty confident though. He was saying earlier he is going to get back at the ones who sabotaged him in the last race.”
“Good luck with that.” I snort. “Neither Romy, Archer, nor Declan will let him get anywhere near the finish line. He can throw as much money as he likes at his vehicle. He’s never going to win.”
“I hope you’re right. Quite a few people are betting on Lucas taking the crown this time.”
My stomach clenches at the mention of betting. I haven't talked about what Lucas said with Romy yet. I don’t want him to get into trouble for fighting and I know he’d go nuts if he heard what Lucas is claiming. I’d thought about asking Declan if Lucas is telling the truth. He is the one person I thought could trust to tell me without getting angry about it, but I decide against it in the end. Who can I really trust in this place?
I hang around with Milly, wanting a bit of normalcy. All anyone want to talk about is Lucas and his bike and I can’t care less.
“Can I tell you a secret?” Milly asks.
“Of course.”
“And you promise you won’t tell anyone, especially not Archer?”
“I won’t tell a soul, particularly not Archer.”
“I’ve started dating.” A shy smile spreads across Milly’s face.
“Really? Who’s the lucky guy? Anyone I know?”
“He’s not at the Academy,” Milly told me. “I met him at Coffee, Coffee, Coffee. He saw me sitting by the window and said he had to come in and talk to me because I intrigued him. We’ve been seeing each other in secret, but I can’t let Archer know because I’m not supposed to date anyone without running them past my parents first.”
“Don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me.” I mime zipping my mouth shut, locking it and throwing away the key. “Tell me more about this mysterious stranger.”
“His name is Carl, and he’s 24,” Milly says. “He works in IT and he has nothing to do with any of the Houses, so my dad would hate him, but I really like him. He’s so sweet and considerate.”
She is about to tell me more, but Romy comes over, interrupting us. “You ready to race, Ivy? We’re about to start.”
“I think you should ride on your own,” I tell him. “Not because I’m pissed off I’m not allowed to race, but because I want you to beat Lucas and you’ll have a better chance of doing that if I’m not behind you weighing you down.”
“You won’t weigh me down,” Romy protests.
“Even so. I think you should keep your full focus on the race. I’ll be at the finish line to celebrate your victory with a kiss.”
“If you’re sure.”
“I really am. I want Lucas to realise he’s wasting his time hanging around like a bad smell.”
“Okay.”
Romy goes off to get on his bike and I turn to Milly. “Shall we go over to the starting line?”
“Sure.” Her phone buzzes and she pulls it out. “Oh. It’s Carl. He’s nearby! He’s asked me to go meet him. I’ll try and persuade him to come and let me introduce him to you.”
She hurries off, leaving me on my own. I head over to the starting line, where ten bikes are lined up ready to race. Romy is in the middle, flanked by Archer and Declan. Lucas is towards the end, and when he sees me standing by the starting point, he salutes me.
I roll my eyes and shake my head in disgust.
“Are you ready?
Three… Two… One… Go!” Matt gives the signal for the race to start and the bikers surge forward.
Lucas takes an early lead and as they zoom round the first bend, he is already ahead by a couple metres, the acceleration of his vehicle proving to be a huge advantage.
Now there is nothing left to do but wait and hope the boys can find a way of bringing down Lucas. I don’t care who wins, just as long as it isn’t him.
The route is circular, finishing where it has started, and I kick at the ground, bored already. Milly hasn’t come back, and I’m not interested in small talk with the other spectators.
It seems like an eternity before the sound of motorbikes can be heard in the distance. I lean forward, craning my neck to see around the people surrounding me to spot who is in the lead.
I can hear the bikes long before there is any sight of them and it is a while before I see a bike approaching us from a distance. A solitary rider is a long way ahead of the next competitor and unless there is an accident, there is no doubt who will win.
My heart sinks as he draws closer, and I see that it is Lucas in the lead. Apparently throwing money at a problem did solve it after all. As he roars over the finish line, no one cheers. It appears I’m not the only one who has an issue with the newcomer winning. King Town didn’t like it when an outsider showed up our own.
Archer came in second, with Romy a respectable third.
“Sorry, Ivy,” he says. “I guess you were my lucky charm. I shouldn’t have left you behind after all. It’s not like I could have done any worse with you riding pillion.”
“Don’t be sorry,” I tell him. “It is what it is. But now I really need to know why my father is helping Lucas so much. None of this makes any sense.”
“But how are you going to find out what he’s got planned? My father doesn’t have any spies in his inner circle, and it’s not like you can go up and ask him what he’s thinking.”
