I sigh. “It doesn’t matter what I want right now. What matters is that all of this ends.”
Her face softens with pity, and I hate it.
“Cirella, what you want matters most.”
“It’s not that simple.” My heart aches.
“Why? Because of Adrianna and your parents’ house?”
“Yes, exactly because of that.” It’s not a small reason. “She will destroy everything, Jules. Everything. I can’t let her do that.”
“We’ll help you deal with her. Besides, the second you tell everyone the truth, she’ll be dirt beneath their shoes,” Jules argues.
She may be right, but that still wouldn’t get me everything I wanted.
“That doesn’t help me if she refuses to sign over the deed.” My skin crawls at the thought of losing that house. “I can’t risk it.”
She mulls my words over, taking a few breaths before her excitement finally wanes. “Okay. But I still think you’re insane for not pursuing them. Not just because of who they are, but the way you guys met, talked, danced. It’s like it was adream. Not everyone gets to experience that in their life, you know?”
“I know,” I whisper, feeling more disheartened by the second.
I don’t want to lose them or the connection we have, but I don’t want to make this harder than it already is.
“How are you going to get them off your back?” she asks, as we continue to walk back toward the mansion.
Shrugging, I exhale slowly. “That part I haven’t quite figured out.”
She skips a step. “I know a way you could.”
“How’s that?” I roll my eyes, expecting some kind of silly response.
Cheers and shrieks cry out behind us, like a flood of fangirls. We turn, and my jaw nearly falls to the floor.
Thirty feet behind us stand Dean and Asher with about forty girls surrounding them. It looks like what I imagine would happen if Justin Bieber walked across campus.
“That is a whole new level of desperation,” Jules groans in disgust.
“Maybe they’ll find their princess in that group.” A small part hopes that statement will come true because it would mean Ididn’t have to get any more involved. But it would absolutely obliterate the other part of me.
“No, babe, you’re one of a kind. None of those groupies are ever playing your part that well. Trust me.”
A pit of tar and sulfur forms in my stomach. The guys are smiling at everyone, clearly overwhelmed with the crowd surrounding them.
A stupid, very idiotic thought pops into my mind to rescue them, pull them away to somewhere private. But then what?
Exactly. Nothing good.
“Come on. Let’s go,” I mutter, sick of seeing so many girls touching them.
I don’t even deserve to be jealous when I won’t do anything about it. But that doesn’t quench the way I yearn for their touch … and their kiss.
Dean’s head whips up, his eyes locking immediately on to mine. My breath freezes in my lungs, my mouth instantly drying.
Oh God. Oh God. He’s going to recognize me.
His dark green eyes, lighter in the sunlight, study me intently. I can practically see the wheels turning in his mind.
Oh no … this is it.
