My hair is still in good shape from last night so I kept it dry in the shower. I put on a minimal amount of makeup, just lip gloss and mascara today. I start making myself a bowl of oatmeal when dad comes in holding a gift bag.
“Good morning, Lil.” He sets the bag on the counter. “Ready for your first day at the fancy new school?”
“Morning and yes, I guess.” I point at the bag. “What’s that?”
“Open it and find out.”
I take another bite of oatmeal and pull the tissue out of the bag. There’s a buttery soft camel colored leather messenger bag sitting in the bottom. I pull it out and look it over. “Thanks dad,” I reach over and hug him.
“You’re welcome. I figured you could use an upgrade from your frayed three year old backpack.” He grabs one of his pre-made protein shakes and chugs it. “What time are you leaving?”
“Connor said he leaves at ‘8 am sharp’” I use air quotes. It was the last thing he said to me when we got home from dinner. Then he disappeared into his wing and I retreated to our apartment. I check the time and see that it’s 7:50. “I’ll head down now.”
“Okay, have a good first day.” He hugs me and hands me a bottle of water before taking my empty bowl and putting it in the dishwasher.
“You too. Love you, Dad,” I say as I walk out the door. I get down to the foyer and Connor’s not there yet. I decide to FaceTime Z real fast. He’ll get a laugh out of the uniform. It rings for a minute and then I see Z’s crazy bedhead.
“It’s too early, Lil,” he says with one eye open. “Ready for the first day?”
“Yeah, check this shit out.” I sweep the camera over my body. “I can’t believe I’m wearing a school uniform like this.”
“Holy shit. Yeah,” he shakes his head to clear the sleep from his eyes. “Show me again.”
I do another sweep for him, feeling self conscious now.
“Damn, Lil. You look hot.” His warm moss green eyes are a direct opposition to Connor’s cold jade green that appear in my line of sight.
“Ha, yeah right. Shouldn’t you be getting ready?”
“You done playing show and tell? We have places to be.” Connor snaps at me.
“Who the fuck was that?” Z growls.
Connor snaps the phone out of my hand and turns it too so he can see. “Her ride. We have to go. She can talk on her own time.” He hangs up on Z.
“Excuse me!” I grab my phone back. “Do not ever yank my phone from my hand and hang up on someone I’m talking to again. What the fuck is your problem?” I shoot Z a quick apology text and scurry after Connor. Edward is there holding the door open and studiously avoids looking us.
“You are my problem.” Connor yanks open the passenger door for me, ingrained manners winning out over his usual dickheadedness. When I stand there and cross my arms over my chest he stares back at me with narrowed eyes. “Get in the damn car before I pick you up and put you in it.”
“Apologize.”
“Never.”
“Fuck you.”
“Not interested, peasant. I can readily get quality pussy, I don’t need to slum it with hood rats.” He grabs my bag and tosses it in the back seat.
When he reaches for my waist I squeak and knock his hands away. “I can get in myself.”
He waits until I tuck my legs in and then slams the door of his fancy sports car. He tosses his bag in and folds himself in. I stare out the window while he turns the music up loud enough so we can both attempt to ignore each other’s presence. Except I can smell his spicy aftershave and if I’m honest, I like it way too much. If he wasn’t such an epic asshole I’d be trying to find subtle ways to sniff him all the time.
We get to the end of the drive for the school and he pulls over suddenly.
“Out.” He unlocks the doors.
“What?” The drive is at least half a mile uphill. “Are you serious?”
“Get. Out.” He reaches past me and opens my door. “I’m not going to be seen with you getting out of my car.” He tosses my bag in my lap.
I get out, flabbergasted at the level to which he’s taking this. When I shut the door he rolls the window down.
“Enjoy your first day,” he sneers as he drives off.
A G Wagon barely misses hitting me and I stumble off the pavement into the grass.
Right behind it a small BMW convertible stops in front of me. A tiny brunette gets out mumbling to herself about assholes needing to learn a lesson comes to check on me. “Are you okay?” She helps me up.
“Yeah. I’m new and the guy who gave me a ride just left me at the curb.” I say as I brush my skirt off.
“Connor Volkov?” she asks with pursed lips.
“The one and only.” I roll my eyes.
“I’m Ivy Bane.” She holds out her hand. “I’ll be your only friend in this living nightmare of a school. Levi Marsh is my step brother and the asshole who nearly ran you over. Hop in and I’ll take you the rest of the way.”
“Thanks.” I get in and notice my knee is bleeding. “Do you have a tissue or something?” She hands me a napkin from a coffee shop to blot the blood with. “What did you mean by you’ll be my only friend?”
“I’m the only person in this school not afraid to cross the Titans.”
“The Titans?”
“Connor, Levi, and Griffin.”
I throw my head back and laugh. “They have a name? Like a special boys club?” I laugh even harder. “That’s ridiculous.”
“It is and honestly I don’t think they like it. It happened after an article in the local paper about their fathers. Margaux, the queen bitch, latched onto it and started hyping them up as the Titans. Everyone follows their lead and they’ve already black listed you.” She pulls into the spot next to Levi and flips him the bird. “Eat a bag of dicks, Levi!”
I laugh and realize I forgot to introduce myself. “I’m Lilith, by the way.”
“Oh, I know. You’re all anyone’s been talking about in The Ridge.” At my blank stare she explains, “It’s an app for the school. Like our own social media. No adults. No school officials. Give me your phone and I’ll put myself in it and send you an invite.”
I hand my phone over to her and watch as her fingers fly. “Okay, I got everything set up for you. I’ll walk you up to the head master’s office to get your schedule.”
“Why aren’t you afraid of the wrath of the guys?” I can’t bring myself to call them the Titans, I just can’t.
“I’m Levi’s step sister. He can’t do shit to me.” She rolls her eyes. “I’m a senior, too.”
We get my schedule from the office and she pulls hers out to see if we have any classes together.
“You want the good news or bad news first?” She asks.
“Bad. Always start with the bad.” I respond.
“Okay, you’re going to have every one of your classes with one of the guys. The good news is that I’m in four of them. Our first class is senior seminar, basically a study hall with some college prep thrown in.”
She gives me a tour on the way. She points out the gym and field complexes. There’s a science building, a liberal arts building, and a math and languages building. The library and cafeteria are in their own building. There’s a gorgeous quadrangle with sidewalks cutting through between all the buildings and beautiful landscaping are the edges.
We walk into our seminar class and the only two seats that are left are right in front of Connor and Levi. Everyone in the class has stopped to watch us come in. I feel like a baby gazelle walking into the lion’s den. Ivy sits in front of Connor and makes sure to flick her long dark hair in his face. It’s a pretty on point mean girl move and I’m a little impressed. I’ve never been a good hair flipper. I sit in front of Levi.
He immediately leans forward and runs his finger along the side of my neck. “I see you’ve already bloodied your knees for me. Getting them broken in for all the times you’ll be on them for me?”
I turn around in my chair
and grab his tie to bring him in close to me, not missing Connor snap to attention. When our noses are almost close enough to touch I whisper with a saccharine smile, “Never in a million years will I touch your diseased dick.”
“Oooh, you wound me, hood rat.” He grabs his heart. “Those pretty pink lips would be lucky to wrap around my c-”
“Do not finish that sentence, Mr. Marsh.” A handsome young teacher walks into the room holding a coffee cup in one hand and a briefcase in the other. “I hope you all had a productive summer, wasting your parents money and falling far short of your potential.”
I look over at Ivy and she mouths so hot with a nod toward the teacher.
“Most of you know who I am and I you. Looks like I have one new name on the roster. Lilith Nelson?” He looks up at me.
“Hello.” I say quietly.
Please don’t make me introduce myself.
Please don’t make me introduce myself.
“I think we should have Lilith introduce herself,” Connor says with a smirk.
“Brilliant idea, Connor. You start and we’ll go around the room.” Mr. Hottie says.
“Sure thing.” Connor looks at me. “I’m Connor Volkov, but you already knew that peasant.”
“Connor,” the teacher warns. “Watch it.”
Everyone goes around the room and introduces themselves. I don’t even try to memorize names. There’s no way I’m learning an entire new school’s worth of names. I’m out of here in nine months. When it’s my turn I introduce myself and Levi coughs into his hand hood rat while Connor does the same saying peasant. Hot teacher, whose real name is Mr. Jameson, asks me where I’m from and tells me he went to Northwestern.
The rest of the period goes by fairly quick with Mr. Jameson going through what to expect for the year. Since it’s not an actual class there’s no syllabus, just class guidelines.
I have my next three classes with Connor, Russian Literature, Calculus, and Political Science. Luckily Ivy is in the latter with us. Her presence eases the cloud of tension that exists around us when we’re near each other. There’s also a short girl with bottle blonde hair that clings to Connor like a barnacle. He seems to barely tolerate her but never pushes her away.
* * *
I have to reign in my surprise when Ivy leads me to the cafeteria. Calling it a cafeteria is like calling Buckingham Castle a house. It’s true in theory but a serious understatement. The tables have tablecloths and servers take our orders..
“I know, it’s so excessive,” Ivy says when she catches my expression. “I went to an all girls boarding school before I transferred here and even that place was nothing like this.”
“How long have you lived here?” I ask as I look through the menu, the freaking school cafeteria menu. “Do you live with Levi?”
“Yeah.” She sighs. “My mom married his dad two years ago and we moved in after the wedding. Franklin insisted that I transfer to Founders Prep instead of staying in boarding school. I didn’t really care either way.” She shrugs. “But now I have to deal with Levi and his over sexualized self.”
“What about your dad?”
“He doesn’t care what I do as long as I don’t end up pregnant and keep killing it in the pool.” She looks up and rolls her eyes. “Queen bitch incoming. Prepare for a shakedown.”
Connor’s stage five clinger saunters over to our table flanked by two other girls. She clears her throat with a high pitched dolphin clicking sound. When I don’t acknowledge her she snaps her fingers at me to get my attention.
I slowly look up at the bitch and raise an eyebrow. “Yes?”
“I’m Margaux, this is Leighton,” she points to a willowy brunette behind her, “and this is Darcy,” gestures to a redhead on the other side.
“Great.” I know she doesn’t give a shit who I am so I don’t bother with niceties or introducing myself.
“I just wanted to warn you.” She pauses for dramatic effect.
Instead of playing this game with her I turn back to Ivy to continue our conversation.
Margaux lets out a startled gasp, as if me ignoring her is the biggest shock she’s ever received. “Stay away from Connor. He’s mine. We’re destined for each other,” she seethes.
I throw my head back with laughter, knowing all eyes in the cafeteria are on us. “Don’t worry. I’m not interested in spending any of my time sucking the limp pencil dicks of the uber privileged. They’re all yours.”
Margaux and her two puppets look outraged and stomp away with dramatic hair flips while other students around us snicker. I look up and make eye contact with Connor who sits with a look of cool disinterest on his face but icy anger in his eyes. I smirk and wink at him before going back to ignoring everyone aside from Ivy.
“Oh, I fucking love you girl,” she says through peels of laughter. “Where were you two years ago when I started going to school here.” She wipes a tear. “Damn. They want to break you, like they have everyone else who’s transferred in but I think you might be unbreakable.”
“Is that what they told everyone to do? To break me?” The only negative experiences I had so far are interactions with the guys and Margaux.
“Yep,” she says popping the p. “If you want, I can drive you to and from school until swim season starts. That way you can avoid a repeat of this morning.”
“That would be great. It’s not out of the way for you though, is it?”
“Not too far. I live in the same gated community, just at the front.”
I have the rest of my classes with Griffin and Connor. They both ignore me which is fine by me, although they do end up sitting near me in every class. My last class of the day is Physics and I’m surprised when Mr. Jameson strides through the door. He runs through the syllabus and gives our first assignment.
“Miss Nelson, I’d like to speak with you after class if you have a moment.” Mr. Jameson says as he dismisses the class. I pack up my bag, heavy with books and the school issued iPad and walk to the front of the class.
“Connor? Do you need something?” Mr. Jameson raises an eyebrow at Connor lurking in the back of the room.
“I’m Lilith’s ride home,” he says, sounding bored as hell.
“It’s okay, I’m riding with Ivy from now on. We’ll be able to start our day without wanting to kill each other now. Plus the peasant won’t drag her filth into your fancy car.”
“No.” He crosses his arms.
“What do you mean, no?” I growl. “I found a ride with someone else. Go. Home.”
“No.” He says again.
“Oh for fuck’s sake, go home. We can fight about this there.” Then I realize I just swore in front of a teacher. “Sorry,” I tell Mr. Jameson.
“It’s okay. Connor, Lilith asked you to leave and you don’t need to be privy to this conversation either. Goodbye.” He gives Connor a stern look and for the first time I see Connor back down.
“This conversation is not over, peasant,” he throws over his shoulder.
“Can’t wait,” I drawl with an eye roll.
Jesus Christ this prick is next level.
“How was your first day?” Mr. Jameson asks.
“Fine.” This is weird, are we just chatting?
“I know how these kids can be to new students, they’re bored and privileged and cruel. The guys are, well, teenage boys with one thing on their mind. The girls are worse. I noticed you have attracted the attention of Connor, Levi, and Griffin. I want you to know that you can come to me if you need anything,” he smiles warmly.
“Thanks. After growing up on the south side I feel equipped to handle just about anything though. Truly, these rich punks don’t scare me.”
“Okay,” he squeezes my shoulder, “see you tomorrow.”
I shoulder my bag and head out of the building. The parking lot has cleared out, I see Ivy talking to a few guys by her car. She’s flirting heavily with one of them. I dump my bag in the back seat of her car and wave hello.
“This is We
s and Felix,” she points to the guys standing by her. “This is Lilith, newest badass in town.”
I talk to Felix for a few minutes while Ivy and Wes continue to flirt. Then Felix pulls Wes away for practice.
“Are you and Wes a thing?” I ask after they’re out of earshot.
“Not yet,” she gets a gleam in her eye, “but we will be.”
6
Connor
I let the door slam behind me. I cannot believe she dismissed me like that. She would have welcomed my presence if she knew the rumors about Mr. Jameson from last year. He picks a girl every year and spends the year trying to get into their panties, all while being a huge prick of a teacher. I don’t want Peasant here but I also don’t want her to actually get hurt.
I storm into the kitchen for a drink and see Victor sitting at the island reading the paper. I almost spin around but he heard me and turned.
“Connor. How was your first day?”
“Fine.” I rip my jacket off and yank my tie loose.
“Looks like it was fine.” Victor hums with raised brows. “A certain leggy blonde getting to you?”
“No, not at all. Not everyone lets their dick rule them. A hard concept for some, I’m sure.” I spit venomously. Mom wouldn’t have taken off with Claire if Dad had kept it in his pants. I grab a bottle of water from the fridge and down it all in four gulps.
Fuck. I need to hit something.
I throw the bottle into the recycling can and stalk down to my room to throw on some gym shorts. I check my phone to see if Claire has called or texted, it’s evening in Ireland now. Nothing, so I send her a text checking in and asking about classes. She started high school last week. I toss my clothes into the hamper and pull on a pair of shorts, change my shoes and socks.
I hear Peasant speaking with Victor in the kitchen. He’s probably checking her out, sick old pervert that he is. I hear her lilting laugh and grind my teeth to avoid storming in there and throwing her over my shoulder. Not for her benefit, no, just to keep her away from my dad who’ll get his dick wet in any available pussy.
Damnit.
I slam the gym doors open and go straight to a bag. I don’t even bother wrapping my knuckles or putting on gloves. I want the pain. I want the blood. The first hit feels so good. A release of all my pent up anger. Another hit, for dad cheating. Another hit, for mom leaving. Another hit, for Claire being on her own in Ireland. Another hit, for having to deal with fucking Margaux. Another hit, for Peasant not accepting my protection. Another hit, for me wanting to protect Peasant. Another hit, for Peasant being so beautiful that I snuck a few pictures of her yesterday when she wasn’t looking. Another hit, for Peasant making my dick hard just by sharing the same air as me and her perfect snarky attitude.
Cold and Broken (The Titans of Founder's Ridge Book 1) Page 4
