Page 63 of Vexatious Queen

Blake kissed my cheek.

“You’re right, we should, but I need to get to my tutoring class. Tonight?”

“Sounds good.” I waved him away. “I’m going to the art room. I’ll see you later.”

“I’m not supposed to leave you alone.”

“I’ll text someone, promise. Now go.”

Blake hesitated a second longer before nodding and disappearing.

I took a moment to calm down. I’d been clenching my fists through my tirade, and now my hands were shaking from the rush of adrenaline and…it wasn’t fear, but it was something.

After a few deep breaths, I stepped out into the hall.

It was always quiet after classes let out, and I’d never understood that. This was my favorite place on the entire property, and it boggled my mind that not even one other person felt the same way.

The art studio felt like a whole new world, or maybe another lifetime. It had been so long since I’d been in here—alone or otherwise.

I walked over to my favorite easel and pulled up a stool. There was no canvas or paint to use, but I didn’t need any. I wasn’t here to create. I was here to remember.

My mother stood in front of me, her hand moving in graceful strokes. She had a serious look in her eyes, but a smile on her lips, and her coveralls were covered in a rainbow of paint splatter like she’d plucked one from the sky.

What are you painting today?

Her answer had always been the same.

Life and love, sweetheart.

She had always smiled at me with a wistfulness in her eyes that I only now understood.

Every stroke voices what my heart can’t bear to say.

“Coming back to the scene of the crime,” Nash asked, making me jump and almost fall off the stool.

He was standing just inside the door, and I glared at him.

“I’m seriously going to get you a bell to wear around your neck,” I growled at him.

“Kinky, I like it.”

“Don’t get any ideas.”

“Too late for that,” he said, smirking at me. Nash pushed away from the wall and slowly stalked toward me. “But…speaking of bad ideas. You aren’t supposed to be alone,” he said as I looked down at my hands.

“I just needed a moment to breathe. I wasn’t going to leave the art room without calling someone.”

“Are you okay?”

Nash walked around behind me, and I smiled as he enveloped me like an oversized blanket. Nash was still an asshole, but there was this sweetness to him when we were alone that I’d never expected.

“Yeah, I’ll be okay. Some days are more difficult than others.”

Nash kissed my neck and then made a quiet sound that sent a shiver down my spine.

“You smell so fucking good. I think I should spank you again for old-time’s sake, especially since you didn’t text one of us right away to say you were alone. Such a naughty girl,” he whispered in my ear, and my body flashed hot all over.

“You’re impossible,” I mumbled, but turned my head and captured his tempting lips.