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First thing Carlton does after a short greeting is ask about the happy couple’s time in paradise. It would be a good time for me to slink away, call Romano, and ask to be done with this today so I can disappear tomorrow.
But then I see Annie stagger over, balancing a plate of food in one hand and a carafe of orange juice in the other, her arm securing her ever-present tablet against the side of her torso. She carries that thing around like it’s part of her body. Her tongue is curled to the corner of her mouth in concentration, and once again, I find myself wondering where all the food goes that she ingests. The woman has a metabolism that would make any Hollywood star jealous, as would her perfect little face behind those huge glasses.
“Hey, chickens, what’s kickin’?” she chirps before she plops down in a seat next to me. “You better not have started the story about your honeymoon-before-the-wedding without me, Justice.”
“I missed you too, Annie Bunny.” Justine and Annie bend over the table with huge smiles, hugging each other. Under any other circumstances, the Kings would probably make nasty remarks, but since Sade and Justine became a thing, it’s like proper gentlemen take possession of their bodies when they’re around us. Only Carlton’s jaw tightens as his eyes flit down to Annie’s ass, but he curses under his breath and looks away like he hates her for drawing his attention.
“Liar,” Annie says after Justine releases her. “I bet you didn’t waste a single moment thinking about any of us.”
“You’d be surprised how many opportunities she found to tell me about you girls’ adventures,” Sade chimes in. “I might have heard more about you than you’re comfortable with.”
Justine lightly slaps his chest with the back of her hand.
“And you’ll be keeping all that to yourself, thank you very much.” Her tone is light and amused, but I’m pretty sure Sade catches the serious undertones as well as I do. She’s warning him not to say a word about me.
So he doesn’t, expertly turning the discussion to Carlton and Damon. The air between him and the mountain man seems to have cleared somewhat, even though I think Carlton still holds a grudge for Sade’s ugly break-up with his cousin. Remembering how exactly Sade twisted the rich heiress’ arm into accepting the official separation turns my mouth sour.
I can’t help but zone in on Micah’s role in it. Wearing a Michael Myers mask during the Scream My Name event on campus in October, he lured her to the dark recesses of the college building, had her suck him off, then snapped pictures of her with his cum in her mouth.
I grit my teeth, my spine plank-straight as I chase the memory away. I can’t be thinking about Micah now, or everybody will see that I’m unraveling on the inside, and nothing good ever came out of me showing my vulnerability.
Putting up with Justine’s indecision about whether she’s still my friend or not is hard, too. I use the conversation and hearty laughs to slide my coffee off the table and slink away inconspicuously. But Justine catches up with me before I reach the exit.
“Eva, wait.”
I square my shoulders and lift my chin, ready to swivel around and let her know that I won’t be putting up with any of her shit. That she’s no one to judge me. But when I spin around, I find those caramel eyes so close that I have to step back, blinking to regain my focus.
“Damn, are your boyfriend’s stealthing abilities sexually transmissible?”
“Let’s go to a quiet place and talk.”
I look around at the cafeteria. It’s full now of students having their breakfast and their early dose of gossip.
“I really have to prepare for the next class.” Which is probably going to be my last one.
Justine grabs my hand.
“I’m not judging you, Eva.”
My gaze flies back to her.
Is it just me, or did she come back from the Maldives even more beautiful than she already was? Justine Pracht was always a special kind of beautiful, a dreamy poet with long lashes. She had the innocent, ethereal beauty that men felt they could never quite grasp or own. Sade tried to do that by force, but he ended up wrapped up in her web of enchantment, and he’s never getting out.
And now, that charm is making me want to fold myself in her arms and cry all of my anguish out like a baby. But I can’t do that, not until I know how she feels about all this. My eyebrows dip in silent inquiry.
Justine’s hands grip mine over the coffee I’m holding in one hand and the Ultrabook I’m clutching in the other.
“You’re right. I should have never doubted you had a solid reason for seeing Romano, not for a moment. But when Micah showed us that picture of you with the Duke before we left, my whole world turned upside down. It shook to the core everything I thought I knew about you and—”
“Micah showed you a picture of Romano and me?” I interrupt.
“The day before Sade surprised me with the trip to the Maldives,” she says. “I was going to ask you about it, but there wasn’t enough time. As for Sade, he left the issue in his brother’s hands.” She looks apologetically into my eyes. “Micah must have used these past weeks to get as much dirt on Romano as possible.”
“And on me.” I look around the hall. More and more students are pouring into the cafeteria.
“Let’s take this to my office.”
Justine looks over her shoulder at Sade, who’s been watching her every second like a hawk. They are so finely tuned to each other, that an exchange of looks and slight nods is enough for them to communicate with each other.
