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“Holy shit.” I blinked, staring at my notes but not really seeing them. “That’s insane.”
“No argument there.” She swatted at my arm, grinning. “Now leave me alone. I’m trying to study.”
Chapter 11
I passed the English Lit test.
Barely.
It was short answer format, which was my least favorite, and everything I’d shoved into my brain the night before felt like a jumbled mess as I tried to spew it out in somewhat coherent sentences.
Mason finished early and leaned back in his desk, legs spread wide in a casual stance, long fingers playing over the silk of his tie as he watched me struggle. He looked thoughtful more than malicious, but I’d learned not to trust his expressions. Usually when his face was the softest, that was when he was about unleash the most cruelty.
But I passed. I didn’t let him or Adena win.
All my classes ramped up after that. The teachers had apparently been taking it easy on us for the first month and a half, and they kicked things into high gear before Halloween rolled around.
On Halloween, I went to a party with Leah. I didn’t want to, but she talked me into it—mostly because I’d accidentally let slip that I was a sucker for dressing up. I loved costumes, although I hadn’t actually gotten to celebrate Halloween in years.
The party was off-campus, at a luxurious mansion in the hills outside of Roseland. An enormous infinity pool was set into the hillside overlooking the town in the distance, and the giant house was full of girls dressed as slutty versions of various characters and guys drinking from red Solo cups.
Adena and Mason got into another fight, and even though I tried to stay out of it, she didn’t need much of an excuse to turn her anger on me. After Mason stormed off, she tripped me by the pool and shoved me into the water. The kids who were already swimming laughed at me and played keep-away with my phone, which I’d hoped I might be able to salvage if I got it out of the water quick enough.
No such fucking luck.
Leah—who’d been my ride—offered to ditch the party early and drive me home. I think she felt bad for making me go in the first place, but I couldn’t really be mad at her. She’d made a good argument when she was trying to talk me into it—that if I never showed my face at these things, if I holed up in my room forever, the Princes and everyone else would think they’d won.
And they hadn’t.
I was still fucking here.
As we ducked out of the party, my fairy wings torn and bedraggled and my wet shoes leaving little puddles in their wake, I noticed Finn slouched on a couch in the huge living room. Ashley Hernandez was draped over his body like a human blanket, rubbing against him like she was trying to start a fucking fire. Elijah and Cole were sprawled nearby, each with a girl of their own.
Finn’s hands casually palmed Ashley’s ass, which was hanging out of her booty shorts, but he was engrossed in a conversation with the other two Princes even as he rocked her against his body and she dropped sloppy kisses along his neck.
My stomach twisted, a barrage of images I’d been trying to forget assaulting my mind.
Finn’s hand on the wall.
The look of ecstasy on his face.
The corded muscles of his neck.
The tension in his forearm.
…the look on his face when he opened his eyes and saw me.
“Hey, Tal?” Leah grabbed my dripping elbow. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” I shook my head, trying to dispel the sick feeling in my gut. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
As I turned away, Finn’s gaze flicked toward me. His brows drew together as he noticed the state I was in, and he sat up a little straighter, pushing Ashley off him. But before I could see anything else, Leah and I were through the door, heading out into the warm night to find her car.
She threw a couple towels she had in her trunk over the seat, and on the drive back to Oak Park, I leaned back against the headrest, inhaling the floral, ocean-scented air. Lights glittered in the distance as we worked our way down into the valley, and beyond them stretched the dark vastness of the ocean.
It looked so beautiful.
So peaceful.
