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“Baby, look at where we are right now. I just claimed you in the most public way I could think of. If that doesn’t tell you that I’m serious about this, I don’t know what will.”
Good point. “Oh no. Everyone’s watching us, aren’t they?” I buried my face in his shoulder.
He laughed. “Yeah. Watching their team captain kiss the fuck out of his girlfriend.”
Girlfriend? I raised my head, and his expression turned hesitant. He bit his lip. “That’s if you want to be?”
There was no hesitation on my part. Not anymore. “Yes. Yes, I want to be. So much.” Glancing behind me…yep, everyone was staring, I huffed in mock-annoyance. “I guess I’d better get used to the attention, huh? Since my boyfriend is kind of an attention whore.”
“Attention whore?” He lowered me to my feet, grinning. “I can’t even deny it.” Leaning down, his lips skimmed over my ear. “I’m your boyfriend. You’re mine now, little trickster.” Drawing back slightly, he smiled, then slayed me with another kiss.
“I need to get back to the team. Wait for me?” He suddenly looked unsure again, and something about his open vulnerability made my stomach flip.
“I’ll wait.” This time I kissed him.
He gave me another blinding grin, then placed a kiss on the top of my head, before jogging back to his teammates.
I stumbled back across the barrier, almost going flying, but was steadied by Imogen at the last minute. “When Carter wants something, he goes all out.” She grinned at me as I collapsed back into my seat.
“I wish everyone would stop looking at me.” I slumped downwards, but I couldn’t stop my smile. Happiness filled me, as my mind replayed what had just happened between me and Carter.
“Stop hiding. You have to get used to it, now. Don’t worry, everyone will get used to it, and soon enough, something else will become the new gossip,” Anastasia told me.
“Did you know about this? Is this why you brought me here?” I looked between her and Imogen, and Imogen nodded.
“Yes. I knew…not the details, but he asked me to make sure you made it to this game and stayed until the end.”
“Our boy’s got it bad.” Xavier leaned around Imogen with a grin, and my cheeks heated even as my smile widened. I didn’t miss the way his arm was casually leaning on the back of Imogen’s seat, and I made a note to ask her about it at some point. If we were going to be friends, I had to know these things.
Anastasia leaned over to me, catching my attention. “So… Now you and Carter are together, you’re officially invited to my birthday party. If you want to come, that is.”
The words were falling out of my mouth before I had a chance to censor them. “Are you really okay with all of this?”
Her brows pulled together, but then her expression smoothed out. “I was a bitch. I know. I just, well, I am a bitch. Apparently.” She laughed humourlessly. “I will admit that I felt…possessive of Carter, I guess, at the beginning. But it’s become clear to me that you both have feelings for each other. I’m not hung up on him or anything. I promise you that.”
My mind raced, going back over what she’d said. “Wait. Those pictures that appeared. Did you have anything to do with those?”
She recoiled as if I’d slapped her. “What?” Her shocked whisper was louder than a shout. “Are you serious? Did someone say it was me?”
“If it wasn’t you, then who?” Icy tendrils of dread prickled my spine. “What about the masked figure? And the money?”
“What are you talking about?” Confusion was followed by worry. “Raine, are you in trouble?”
“Tell us what’s going on.” Xavier’s tone was commanding. He reached over and scooped Imogen into his lap, then sidled across to her empty seat. She leaned back on him, but her gaze was focused on me. Anastasia moved closer, Emmeline occupied talking to one of her friends on the other side of us.
In halting tones, I told them everything. How the money had been stolen and made to look like I’d taken it, and Ana had been the only person other than Carter and the teaching staff who had known about my financial situation at that point; how the masked figure had appeared at the party and tried to grab me; and how someone had managed to take photos of me and Carter through a locked door and post them and deface my locker. By the time I’d finished speaking, my voice was wobbly from trying to hold in the tears.
“Raine.” Ana swallowed hard and placed a tentative hand on my arm. “I’m sorry. I had…I had no idea how bad things were. I know that’s not an excuse. When you came to the table at lunchtime and Carter shot you down, I…I felt really bad. You didn’t deserve to be spoken to that way. I should have said something to Tina. The stuff she said to you…that wasn’t right.”
Imogen interrupted her. “It couldn’t have been Anastasia at the party, anyway. Straight after the spin the bottle game, we were both doing shots with some of our friends, and Ana ended up drinking too much, and I had to take her drunk ass home.”
A cold trickle of fear made its way down my spine.
Xavier pursed his lips, deep in thought. “Okay. I think there’s an explanation for the party photos. Earlier that night, before the spin
the bottle game we, I mean, I was in the office briefly.” I noticed Imogen’s cheeks flush as he spoke. “There’s a window. It’s quite high up, so you might not have noticed it, but anyone could take a photo through there if they climbed up on something. Wouldn’t need to even be anything that big. A crate or something would probably be enough.”
I thought back to the angle of the photos. “You’re right. I don’t know why I never thought of that before. But I don’t know who it could be. Who else would hate me that much?”
