AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Down, boys,” she drawled. “I’ll get her home before she turns into a pumpkin, I promise.”
Finn rolled his eyes, but Mason’s face stayed impassive, a muscle jumping rhythmically in his jaw. Cole’s hands had clenched into fists at his sides, and Elijah’s deep hazel eyes were worried. I flashed them a quick smile and a wave, as if it wasn’t at all strange to be dropped off for a friend date by my four… whatever the Princes were.
And as much as I’d wanted to go out with Leah, as determined as I’d been to make this point, I had to admit that my stomach clenched with nerves as she started the car. I felt naked and exposed somehow as she drove out of the parking lot, and I found myself glancing at the rearview mirror more often than I should, watching for anything suspicious around us.
“So… now will you tell me what’s up with you and the Princes?” she asked as we headed toward Roseland. “Seriously, it’s something, right? I mean, are you dating one of them?”
“No,” I said absently, craning my neck to watch a gray SUV until it turned right down a side street behind us.
“Well, does one of them want to be dating you? I mean, seriously, the way they act around you, it’s—”
“Creepy?”
She belted a laugh, pressing a button on the wheel to turn the radio to a different station.
“No!” She laughed again, then added, “I mean, when they were like this last year, admittedly, it was a little creepy. But I think Maggie’s right. That was different. Before, it was like they pulled you along wherever they went. Now, it’s like they’d go anywhere you go.” She dipped her chin as she glanced at me, peering at me over the tops of her sunglasses. “Seriously. I think you could probably walk straight into the fucking ocean and they’d be right behind you.”
Her words made me think of the one time I’d been in the ocean with the Princes, and I bit my lip to hide the expression trying to steal over my face.
“Yeah, I don’t know about that.”
“I’m dead serious, girl! I mean, do you like them like that? Would you want to be with one of them?” She stopped and reconsidered. “I dunno though. Somehow that doesn’t feel right. In my head, they’re kind of like a package deal now.” She giggled raucously, waggling her eyebrows at me. “Hope you can handle that.”
I didn’t have to look in the mirror to know I was blushing. I could feel the heat creeping up my face, burning a path all the way from my neck to my hairline.
Forcing my voice to sound semi-normal, I chuckled. “I think the bigger question is, could they handle me?”
Leah glanced over at me again, a grin splitting her face. “I like this new Talia. She’s a badass.”
Yeah? She still doesn’t feel like it. But she’s trying.
In a blatant attempt to turn the conversation away from me and the Princes, I reached over and poked her in the ribs. “What about you? Anybody you’ve got your eye on?”
She heaved a dramatic sigh, glancing over her shoulder before switching lanes. “Ugh. No. I’ve decided to wait until college. Every hot guy at Oak Park is either spoken for or an utter douchebag. I’ll hold out for some of that fresh college beef.”
I laughed and made a gagging noise at the same time, and she grinned.
We arrived in Roseland early for the movie, so we killed a little time by window-shopping. It was fun, and nice to catch up with Leah one-on-one, but that anxious feeling I’d had in the car never really went away. I felt vulnerable and exposed, and I kept glancing subtly at the people around us on the street, watching for… I didn’t even know what.
The movie was stupid and silly, with a heartwarming ending and a hot lead actor. Leah complained that we could’ve seen the new slasher film that’d just come out, but I was glad she’d let me veto it. I wasn’t in the mood for anything that dark.
Afterward, we drove back to campus with the windows down, letting the warm glow of the sunset fill the car. Mason had texted me three times to make sure I was okay, and the other Princes one time apiece. But having seen Mason’s face before I’d left, I knew how much restraint it’d taken him to only send three messages.
When Monday rolled around, I felt refreshed and ready to tackle the week, but that feeling quickly died out. Adena kept ramping up her attacks on the Princes, and she’d recruited some of the braver—or weaker—students on campus to join her efforts.
It made me fucking furious, and it also made me question the blond girl’s intelligence. Yeah, she’d gotten her hands on some seriously damaging and embarrassing information about the four boys. But just because she was succeeding in dethroning them, it didn’t make them powerless. There were still plenty of students on their side, and their families still had status in Roseland that went beyond the walls of Oak Park.
Did she think she could just keep pushing them and pushing them? None of them were the types to roll over, and even though they’d shown restraint so far because I’d asked them to, there was only so far she could push before one or more of them snapped.
On Thursday, Cole and I were walking out of our eighth period History class when an underclassman caught up to us.
“Hey, uh, Cole. There’s a phone call for you in the admin office.”
“Fuck.” His face went still, but I saw the tension gathering in his jaw. “It’s my dad.”
I didn’t know why exactly his dad felt the need to call the school office to reach his son when he had Cole’s cell number, except that it was another means to control him, to make sure Cole went where his father said when he said.
The dark-haired boy looked down at me, conflict raging behind his piercing blue eyes.
