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He tasted like sweat and peppermint, like hate and burning desire. A soft, rough noise rumbled in his chest as his tongue plunged into my mouth, no longer asking permission now that I’d opened the floodgates. I opened my lips, allowing him in, running my tongue over his as I gasped for air. Cole’s large hands still cradled my head, fingers threading into my hair as he slid his leg between mine, his body pushing against me. I could feel him reacting to me, warm and hard, and it terrified and thrilled me.
We kissed as if we were going into battle, as if our tongues and teeth were weapons. As if we were each trying to steal the other’s soul before we lost our own.
He kissed me until I couldn’t see straight. Couldn’t think straight. Until the only word in the English language I could remember was Cole.
Then, slowly, he pulled back.
My eyes had fallen shut sometime during our kiss, and I clung to his forearms as he drew away, blinking up at him in a daze.
But it was like someone had flipped a switch. The warmth—or at least the heat—I’d seen in his piercing blue eyes was gone, replaced by pure, dark hate.
What the hell?
He’d shifted so quickly it gave me whiplash, and I dropped my hands from his arms like he’d burned me.
“That’s how I know you can’t be trusted.” His nostril flared as his lip, still swollen from our kiss, curled. “Because you’re willing to take whatever scraps you can get. Doesn’t matter which one of us it is. As long as you can get ahead, you’ll offer yourself up to whoever will have you.” The shutters fell back over his eyes, the blank look returning as he shoved himself away from the wall. “Stay away from my friends, Legs.”
I stared after him in shock as he walked away. The locker room door banged closed, and I jumped before tears burned my eyes. My heart felt like a dead thing in my chest, useless and rotten.
Is he right? An hour ago, I was thinking of Finn.
Will I just take any of them?
Cole’s words echoed in my head as I fled the locker room. Seventh period had already started, but it hardly mattered because I wasn’t going. I didn’t care if they called my grandmother.
I couldn’t stand another face, another class… another Prince.
Chapter 13
I felt sick. My stomach pitched and rolled as I laid my head on the wall of my dorm bathroom and tried not to vomit.
I hate this fucking place.
It was worse than being back home. At least there, my father had never pretended to be anything he wasn’t. He’d been a crude, cruel man who’d hated my guts, but he’d never smiled in my face and twisted my emotions like this.
My hand fumbled with the toilet paper as I rolled off a wad of it. I quickly wiped at my eyes and my nose, willing myself to stop crying. Something had snapped in me as I’d run from the locker room, still wearing my leotard and sneakers and clutching my bag and rumpled uniform in my arms. Halfway across campus, the tears had started to fall, and even though I’d put my head down and walked faster, I knew everyone on the quad had seen them.
They hadn’t stopped when I’d reached my room either, building into harsh, painful sobs that ripped from my lungs and tore at my throat. Every painful emotion I hadn’t let myself fully experience over the past decade seemed to rear up all at once, forming a tidal wave so strong it’d pulled me under. I’d never cried so much in my life.
With a grunt of irritation, I quickly tossed the toilet paper away and forced myself to my feet. Resting my hands on the sink, I stared at myself in the mirror. My eyes were lined with red, and I looked tired and defeated.
Who the hell is that?
I’d always been determined, strong. My dad had put me through hell, but despite everything he’d done, I’d come out the other side. Now I felt like I was falling apart at the seams. I turned on the tap and splashed cold water on my face, ignoring the way Cole’s words kept trying to worm their way into my brain.
“Get it together Talia,” I hissed at my reflection. “Are you really going to let these rich assholes drive you out of this school?”
I had the opportunity of a lifetime here. Having a school like Oak Park on my application would put me in the running at colleges I’d never even dreamed of. It would give me the opportunity to take charge of my own destiny so no one could tell me what to do. No one could crack a whip or dangle a carrot and make me play along.
Not my grandparents. Not the Princes. Nobody.
I’m not going to give up because those fuckwads want me to.
I snatched up a towel and dried my eyes and hair. Once I’d scrubbed what felt like half my face off, I hung it up and walked back into my room. I’d ditched my last two classes of the day, but if I got a jump on the next sections we’d b
e covering, I wouldn’t get too far behind.
“Fuck you, Cole,” I muttered. “Eat a fucking dick.”
