AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Jaxon rolls his eyes. “I’m not giving up. Sam didn’t say that only the first one to sleep with her would be a brother. He didn’t put any conditions on it. Sleep with Charlotte, and I’m an Alpha.”
“I won’t quit,” I grumble. I’m never giving up on having Charlotte, regardless of what they think they’re going to get. I can barely sleep at night, knowing that she’s across the hall from me, lying alone in her bed. I need a chance to prove to her I’m not what I was when I met her. I do care about her, and I’m trying to figure out how to prove it so she understands.
“Well, I’m in it to the end too,” Hudson announces as we step onto the Alphas’ porch.
“Really, scout?” Jaxon scoffs. “Because I think she hates you. I don’t know what you said to her, but if looks could kill, her eyes would be a lethal weapon. I’ve never seen intense looks of hate like the ones she gave you.”
“Love me or hate me. It’s almost the same. And my plan is lining up. I want her to hate me because when she falls off the pedestal, I’ll be waiting to catch her.” He thrusts his hips in an obscene gesture. “Damaged goods incoming.”
I’d like to give Hudson a hard kick in the dick, but that’s a significant violation of the bro code at Ivymore. No dirty fist-fighting. We can fight dirty in every other way except that. We enter the house and decide to separate instead of walking around like a clingy unit.
Chapter 26
Charlotte
Instead of studying with Asher again, I go to the library with Wren. We have most of our classes together except biology. She’s in a different section that meets in the evening. I have no enthusiasm for being here with her. I miss sitting with Asher as he slyly puts his arm over the back of his chair. It bothers me to admit how much I miss him sometimes. I might have gotten over him if he hadn’t shown up at Ivymore. But now, I’ll never know.
“I like it,” she says about her class. “Some of the students are older, so we’re actually getting through the material faster. They’re mainly sophomores who switched their majors. We’re on chapter eight of the book.”
“We just started chapter seven.” I frown as we head upstairs to the talking area. I prefer sitting there, so we won’t get shushed if we ask each other questions like “can I borrow a pen?” The oversized couch I like is taken, but we can claim a table by the wall to ourselves. Wren sits opposite me, and we spread out our books, bags, and papers, sending a clear message that our personal space will be respected.
“Are you pledging Theta?” she asks. “If you are, you should go to the Halloween party at Alpha next week.”
My body deflates heavily into my chair. “I suppose.”
“Your enthusiasm has to amp up if you want to get in,” she replies coldly. “Have you been following Rush Week on TikTok?”
I nod. “It is brutal, honestly.”
Wren lowers her voice because she doesn’t want people prying. “I’ve already started looking at my social media profile using the incognito browser. So I can see my tweets the way an outsider would.”
My brows knit together. “Your social should be pretty good.”
“Overall, it is,” she replies, “but a few of my formal outfits are questionable and also some old friends. Not Theta material. Unfortunately, there are some things you’ll never be able to scrub away.”
The pencil in my hand snaps in two as I stare at her. She looks down at my hand as I release my grip, and the two pieces fall onto the table. If she knew about my account, Wren would ditch me as fast as she could run out the door.
“The Leister trial,” she explains, guessing the reason for my reaction. “Unfortunately, that will probably show up when they do a search on your name.”
Sighing, I’m able to swallow again. “Yes, that will probably show up.”
“Do you regret testifying?”
“No, I don’t, but Rush would be a lot easier if I hadn’t.” I think about how that sounds and backtrack. “I did something good by appearing in court, and that man got what he deserved. I should never be ashamed of that.”
“No, you shouldn’t be.” Wren agrees. “All I meant is that his name will always show up when your name is searched, and that sucks.”
I know something that will suck even worse, but I can never confide in Wren about it. She would never understand why I had to do such a thing. Money is never an issue in her secure world, and in my mind, I can hear her question me and ask why I didn’t just go to the bank. No matter how superficially alike we appear on the outside, we now have different lives. At some point, people will know I’m no longer a Howland, and I can’t imagine why it hasn’t happened already. Howland is deathly ill, but he’s also very litigious. His lawyers are probably in a circle around his deathbed, drawing up the documents of my demise now.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I get a sick feeling in my gut. I don’t dare check it in front of Wren. “Excuse me. I have to go to the bathroom.” Before she replies, I slip away with my phone in hand.
It might be an alert from OnlyFriends. I have to change my status to hidden right now. Hopefully, the school library hasn’t limited access to certain websites through their server. I tap on my VPN and then log into the site. Swiftly, I go into a stall, change my account to hidden, and then delete the app off my phone, just in case.
The knock-off Timberlands I bought for half price in Weymouth didn’t last through last winter. The soles separated from the toes, and Gorilla glue wouldn’t hold it together longer than a day. But now, I have enough money to buy the real thing online on sale. I stare at my profile picture of my panties draped over my pillow. Camming is something I believed I’d never do, much less think of doing. But a tiny part of me is proud that I earned my own money to keep myself going. I didn’t have to grovel to Howland when things got really tight.
My phone chimes again, and I check my messages. The first text is from Asher, asking if I want to study later. I sigh. That’s not code. We haven’t touched each other since the last time. We actually go study, but I feel the way he looks at me all over my skin. I don’t have to see his penetrating eyes on me to feel it all the way down to my soul. An interlocking fascination binds us. He’s the wild boy that had something to prove. After how Asher treated me, I don’t want to feel this pull toward him. But I believed him when he told me that he had to do it. He had to be cruel to me at Monarch. If he had shown me any kindness, those animals would have torn me apart.
I wouldn’t have made it to Ivymore. Instead, I would’ve withdrawn inside myself somewhere alone where I couldn’t be seen.
