AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Holy crap. You didn’t—was it—it was her, wasn’t it! The Scorpio chick!”
“No,” Archer said quickly. Too quickly. Zack’s eyes lit up with delight.
“You are an inspiration to us all, Archer,” he said, his voice faint with a mocking reverence that made Archer feel sick to his stomach. “I can’t believe you turned her around like that. I didn’t even think she came to the party.”
“She didn’t. She—”
“What! You went to her? Unbelievable.Unbelievable. Wait until I tell the guys.”
“Don’t,” Archer said, feeling a lurch of dread hit him. “Don’t, okay? It’s not classy to brag about that kind of thing. She’s—she’s a nice girl.”
“A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell, right.” Zack was nodding solemnly, but his eyes were still glinting. “Totally. I got you. I didn’t hear it from you.”
“You didn’t hear it at all,” Archer said through gritted teeth. But it was no use. No matter what he said, Zack just kept nodding and winking… and it wasn’t long before he gave up, stalking up the beach away from the party. It was fine, he told the sick worry in his gut. It was probably fine. Zack was drunk, he probably wouldn’t even remember the conversation they’d had there by the bar, let alone share it with anyone.
But by the time the weekend was over, the word had well and truly gotten out. Not only had Zack remembered the conversation, he’d clearly made a point of embellishing the story, too… or maybe that had been the people he’d told, or the people they’d told. At any rate, by the time the next school week was beginning, Archer had heard about ten different versions of the story of his dramatic seduction of Morgan the Ice Queen. All the stories varied—some involved Morgan coming to the party, in others he was the one who sought her out in her dorm room or even in the library, where she was rumored to have been studying. In some stories, Morgan threw herself at him, in others, it was Archer who wore her down… but all of them ended the same way, with the two of them having sex.
And all of them made him feel sick to his stomach. None of it was true—the kiss the two of them had shared had been more powerful than anything he’d felt before, but it had gone no further than that. But what could he do? He didn’t want to tell any of the guys what had actually happened. He knew them well enough to know how they’d respond, assuming they even believed him. The unfortunate fact about gossip was that the harder you denied it, the more people would be convinced it was true… and if you didn’t deny it, it would keep spreading unchecked. There was no winning, here. No way out.
And he knew it was only going to be a matter of time until the rumors reached Morgan.
The weekend passed by torturously slowly. The storm that had been building all week broke early on Saturday morning, trapping everyone indoors as rain lashed every exposed inch of the island. It was a good excuse to stay inside, at least. Archer spent long hours in his room alone, pretending to study but actually just staring hopelessly at the wall. What could he do? Should he go to her, tell her what had happened, apologize profusely for his asshole friends? Every time he thought about it, the fear rose up and threatened to choke him. Maybe she wouldn’t find out, he kept thinking. She was pretty sheltered, right? Not interested in the social scene? Maybe the rumor would just pass right over her head while she was buried in her books. It was a vain, desperate hope… but what else did he have to hang onto? It wasn’t like he could go back in time and convince Zack not to tell anyone. And he couldn’t really blame Zack, either. The guy barely remembered the night of the party.
No, all of this was Archer’s fault. He was the one who prided himself on being a playboy, he was the one who’d carefully built his reputation as a guy who could get any girl he wanted to sleep with him. Of course everyone was talking about his big victory over the one woman who’d made her disinterest in him clear… the one woman, he thought miserably, that he actually wanted to spend more time with.
It was three days before she found out. When she came to find him, it was like he felt her coming before he actually saw her. He was sitting in the dining hall alone, a few minutes early for lunch and waiting for his friends to turn up, and a shiver ran down his spine that was at odds with the comfortable warmth of the room. It was as though the atmospheric pressure of the room itself had shifted, the way it often did right as a storm was breaking. He worked his jaw a little, trying to equalize the pressure in his ears with a frown… and then he saw her.
She didn’t look angry, that was the truly frightening part. Her face was as calm and still as the surface of a frozen pond, and her green eyes were level as they sized him up, took him in. Still, he knew without her saying a word that she’d heard the stories that were going around the school. He’d expected panic to set in when he’d imagined this moment, but he was surprised to find a strange calm settling over him instead. There was a strange sense of something like relief. She knew, now. He didn’t have to hide anymore… didn’t have to wait for the other shoe to drop. It felt a little like the moments when his father stopped hiding his rage and started actually shouting at him. Awful, yes, but better than the suspense. The sooner the shouting started, the sooner it would be over.
But Morgan wasn’t shouting. She slid into the seat across from him, her eyes not leaving his face. She had this odd way of looking straight through him, sometimes, as though she was actually looking at something or someone behind him. It always made him feel unsettled, as though she was seeing more of him than he wanted to show her. But that was Morgan, wasn’t it? Insightful. Intelligent. Terrifyingly perceptive. How had he ever fooled himself that she wouldn’t find out what he’d done? She was never going to forgive him for this.
And just like that, his courage left him… and he reached for the mask that had always kept him safe.
“Oh, hey,” he said, leaning back a little in his chair. “How’s it going?”
“Archer,” she said coolly. “A friend told me this morning that there’s a rumor going around the school that you and I slept together at the full moon party over the weekend. Do you know anything about that?”
He resisted the urge to glance around them, knowing it would make him seem weak. People were always listening, he didn’t need to see them to know that was true. “I don’t listen to gossip,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders.
“Sure. Only it’s mostly your friends who seem to be the source of these rumors.”
Those cool eyes kept on boring through him, but he held her gaze. What else could he do? She wasn’t going to beat him in public. He wasn’t going to let her humiliate him again… he greeted the burn of indignation like a long-lost friend, letting it rise in his chest. If he was angry, it meant he didn’t feel anything else. “I don’t know what to tell you, Morgan.”
“Tell me that you’re going to talk to these so-called friends. Tell me you’re going to advise them to stop telling lies about us.”
“I’m not their boss,” he snapped. “I’m not some dictator.”
“Oh, you’re not?” There it was—hard to make out, but he saw it. A flash of anger in her eyes, buried deep. The slight tightening of her jaw, the deep inhale. “They certainly follow you around like loyal little puppets.”
That stung him. He leaned forward, flattening his hands against the table as his voice rose. “Listen, if you have a problem with something my friends are saying, take it up with them. I don’t try to manipulate or control my friends. That’s more your speed, isn’t it? Scorpio?”
Her eyes widened, and now he could see the anger really flaring in her. Strange, how different they were. His voice got louder the angrier he got, but for Morgan it was just the opposite. When she spoke, her voice was hardly loud enough to hear above the murmur in the dining hall around them… which, he couldn’t help but notice, had quieted significantly since this confrontation had begun.
“You’re going to regret that,” she said softly, and despite his determination, he felt a shiver run down his spine. But what could he do? He could see his friends arriving, their steps already slowing as they took in the scene. He couldn’t exactly back down and apologize now, could he? Even if there was the faintest chance she’d forgive him now… so instead he shrugged, folded his arms across his chest, and affected disinterest.
“Sure. Whatever. See you around.”
She didn’t even dignify him with a response, just turned and walked away, her movements sharp and jagged. His whole body felt like he’d just run ten miles without stopping, and he was sick to his stomach as his friends joined him at the table, nudging each other knowingly. He flashed them all a smile he didn’t mean and shrugged his shoulders innocently, winning a roar of laughter that he hoped Morgan hadn’t heard.
