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I begin walking and with every step, I feel like my thighs are shaking even more than usual. My entire body is bouncing more than it usually does.
It’s him. He makes me conscious of my figure. I thought I’d forgotten all the mean things his minions would say to me when my boobs started growing back in the ninth grade.
But that’s the thing about bullying, isn’t it?
You never forget. Never. You might pretend that everything’s okay now. That it doesn’t affect you anymore, their little insults and jeers. That years might have dulled their effect.
But he’s bringing it all back for me.
“Who’s him?” I ask her nonchalantly.
“The new Mr. Prince.”
Mr. Prince sounds super weird. I only ever think of him as Zach, the asshole.
I decide to walk faster and not think about what that is doing to my body. The sooner I’m out of his sight, the better. “Nope.”
She chuckles. “Okay. Don’t tell me. But just so you know, he was staring at you.”
I try to swallow, push saliva down my throat, but it’s like my heart’s stuck there and it won’t budge.
I know he was staring at me. He still is. I can feel his eyes on my back as I keep walking away, trying not to be self-conscious in my own skin.
Maybe he’s not even thinking about my less than perfect body. Maybe he’s thinking about how best to spoil my day like he did yesterday, when he doused me with water and ruined my uniform.
I had to run back to the cottage and hunt down my back-up. By the time I was presentable again, the lunch hour was over and I had to go clean the windows. I was almost dead by the time I was off for the day.
“I don’t care,” I say.
“Got it.” Then she shrugs. “It’s against the rules, anyway.”
“What is?”
“You know, consorting with the people we serve.”
She air-quotes the word serve.
I burst out laughing. “Oh my God, you’re adorable.” I side-hug her. “There’ll be zero consorting where the new Mr. Prince is concerned. Believe you me.”
No one hates him more than I do.
As soon as we come down the stairs of the service entrance, I smell pie. Grace walks toward the staff room while I make a beeline toward the kitchen. I need a piece of pie after all that staring.
Before I even make it inside the kitchen, I squeal, “Maggie! I love you, you know that? How did you know I wanted pie this morning? You have no idea how shitty my week’s been –”
My words get stuck inside my mouth when I find him, of all people, in the kitchen.
How did he even get in here this fast? Wasn’t he just outside?
Zach is sitting in the nook and Maggie is fussing over him like he’s a little kid. He has a piece of my pie in front of him and he’s just taken a bite out of it when I barge in.
He’s still sweaty from his workout. But thankfully, he’s put on a shirt. Or rather a vest-like t-shirt with sweaty patches that puts his biceps on display.
“Cleo.” Maggie beams at me. “Sit.”
I don’t. I stay standing at the threshold, cursing the fates. Is this what my life is going to be like from now until he leaves? Seeing him everywhere?
I don’t wanna see your face for however long I’m here for.
Then why the fuck is he in the servant’s wing?
I glare at him and he returns it with a cool look.
“Cleo?”
“Huh?” I look at Maggie. “Sorry. I just kinda checked out.”
“Did I hear you say something about a shitty week?” Maggie is cutting up a piece of pie and plating it, probably for me.
With my eyes on Zach, I nod. “Yup. Super shitty.”
His lips twitch.
“Why? What happened?” she asks.
I narrow my eyes at him, then. “Bedbugs.”
“What?”
“Uh-huh. They came back.”
“Came back? What do you mean? I thought we called in the exterminators last time.”
So another thing about our town: we have bedbugs, both on the south side and the north. It’s probably all the heat. And a couple of months ago, we had a big break out at The Pleiades. Mrs. S freaked the fuck out.
“I know. I thought the same.” I shake my head slowly. “I thought they were gone for good. But the fucking bastards came back.”
Zach lowers his fork and chews slowly as he stares at me.
His eyes are hot and they move like they did the night he came back. They stop at my breasts for a few seconds before going down and pausing at my belly.
I’m all covered from top to bottom, but his eyes make me feel… unclothed. They make me sweat. I’m very aware of the droplets sliding down my spine and even my stomach. I swear with the way he’s watching me, he can see that drop plopping into my belly button.
