A bellow from the doorway cut her off as Carmen appeared with a giant lock of her hair in her hand.
Drawing more shocked sounds from the crowd.
Because yeah, she looked, uh,bad.And the words spilling from her mouth were unintelligible.
Tray’s amusement touched our mating bond.Nice.
I try,I replied.
Carmen collapsed against Ryan—who shoved her away with a disgusted grunt. “Gross! What if you’re contagious?”
Oh, I like that idea,Tray thought at me. Can we make her contagious, dove?
No, I need Ryan to suffer in other ways.
Disappointing. But I can wait for the finale,he replied, draping his arm around me again and steering me away from the meltdown on the stairs. Everyone parted the way for us, their attention drifting between us and my evil stepsisters.
Have you given more thought about Dash?Tray asked on the way to his car.
Yeah. I think we need to take him down with Ryan.Which was what Tray had suggested. It made sense with the two of them attending the Winter Ball together.
Part of me wanted to destroy his societal status the way we’d done Charlie’s, but it would be too obvious.
And to give him the same makeover as Carmen wouldn’t work either.
So I decided a public humiliation for both Dash and Ryan was in order.
“Did you order the cameras?” I asked Tray after sliding into the car.
He buckled his seat belt and grinned. “Of course I did.”
“Because you knew I’d cave.”
“I hoped you would,” he admitted, putting the car in drive. “It’s also a solid way to destroy him.”
“Assuming your suspicions are right,” I reminded him.
“They are.”
“So confident.”
“Always with you.” He winked at me and pulled out of the school parking lot. “But it means you need to initiate the final phase. Can you do it?”
I sighed, allowing my head to fall back on the seat. “Yeah. I can. However, I’m not going to enjoy it.”
He snorted. “I should hope not.”
“Aww, are you going to be jealous, Trayton Nacht?”
His palm landed on my thigh and squeezed. “You’re mine, Ella. And I’m a Midnight Fae. We’re notoriously possessive.”
“Really? Because I don’t feel that way at all,” I lied, grinning at his scowl. “I have no idea why I shocked Ryan. It’s not like she touched you or anything.”
His scowl morphed into a chuckle. “You’re a bad girl, Isabella Cinder.”
“Are you going to pun…?” I trailed off, grimacing. “Nope. Can’t even say it. Too cheesy.” And the words tasted horrible in my mouth.
He laughed outright, shaking his head. “Don’t worry, dove. I’m not into the punishment game.”
