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A warm arm drapes over my shoulder. Gabriel Fallen faces off against Alec with his chin cocked and that aristocratic smirk on his lips – the one that carries all the power of the lord of the manor demanding loyalty from his serfs.
She’s hanging with me.
“She your girl, Fallen?” Alec flashes him a smile that’s all teeth and violence.
Gabriel shakes his head. His cheek presses against mine, and the touch feels so intimate it sends a shiver of desire through my veins. “Mackenzie Malloy is no one’s girl.”
I turn to Gabriel, pushing through my fangirling to flash him a wicked smile. “You took the words right out of my mouth, Fallen.”
Gabriel turns back to Alec. “So, if we’re done here, Mac and I have to get to homeroom.”
I want to groan at that stupid nickname, but Gabriel shoves Alec aside and barges into Stonehurst, dragging me behind him. Students gape at us, stepping aside to make room. From the way he smiles and preens, Gabriel’s used to all eyes watching him, but I’ve lived alone in an empty house for four years, and it freaks me out.
“You don’t have to save me,” I hiss. My skin crawls as their eyes rake over me.
“Maybe I wasn’t saving you. Maybe I wanted to have the pleasure of your company.” Gabriel winks as he slides his arm from around me and leans against Eli’s locker.
Fuck, the way he says ‘the pleasure of your company’ in that British accent of his… I need to rescue this situation. I’m in serious danger of falling hard for this guy, the exact guy who could end up destroying me. I open my locker and collect the books I need. “I’m not hanging out with you tonight.”
“Sure you are,” he grins. “We have our chemistry make-up.”
Fuck. I completely forgot. An hour being stuck in the chemistry lab with Gabriel. I lean my head against my locker, allowing the cold metal to drop my body temperature. This is a bad bad bad idea. But no matter how many times I say that to myself, when I think about Gabriel’s eyes fixed on mine with such interest and the feeling of his arm around me, I can’t see how it can possibly be bad.
I’m in trouble.
I need a cold shower and—
My locker door slams into my face, knocking the sense back into me.
“Ow.” I grab my throbbing nose with one hand and lean back to see who wants to die today. I find myself facing off against a girl who belongs on a magazine cover – deeply tanned skin, pouty lips, sleek black hair straight out of a shampoo commercial. She’s flanked by a triangle of other girls – their faces caked in makeup, their hair perfectly styled. Some of them wear cheerleading jackets over their uniform blazers. But my focus is on their leader.
“Oops.” She smirks, flicking her hair over her shoulder. Every strand falls perfectly in place, like it’s too afraid to disobey her. “I didn’t see you there. Melrose, was it?”
“Mackenzie.”
“Oh, right. Mackenzie.” She says my name like she’s talking about a new type of bathroom cleaner. “Mackenzie Malloy. The girl who used to be somebody. Allow me to reintroduce myself, since you seem to have forgotten the way things work around here. I’m Cleo St. James. That’s short for Cleopatra. As in, the Queen. It’s an appropriate name, because I’m Queen of this school.”
Jeez, what is it with these people and royalty? “That’s… quite some introduction.”
“I couldn’t help but notice you draping yourself over Gabriel.” She rolls her eyes. “You’ve been on a desert island or a mental asylum or whatever, so I don’t know if you know this, but we don’t appreciate it when crazy bitches break people’s noses just for being friendly. You should apologize to Alec – your actions cost him an important audition.”
Is this bitch serious? “I don’t appreciate it when people try to intimidate me because I don’t want to sleep with them, so Alec can shove my apology up his ass. Why has he sent you to bother me? Are you his secretary?”
Cleo’s eyes narrow. “I thought we should get to know each other again, since you seem determined to make enemies of people who should have been your friends. Your father may have been a big shot, but he’s old news now, and you’re nothing. I will make your life a living hell, Melrose, unless you step in line. That includes staying away from Gabriel Fallen.”
I slam my locker shut. “You choose my friends now? I’d have thought you wouldn’t have much spare time between plotting the downfall of Rome and bathing in your ass milk.”
Behind me, Gabriel snorts, and I get a little flutter of excitement that I made Gabriel Fallen laugh.
“I’m telling you this out of the kindness of my heart.” The smile Cleo gives me is anything but kind. “I know what you’re feeling – Gabriel’s pretty and famous and he makes you feel special. But you’re not special – you’re the ghost slut, and he’s only after you because he wants to be the first to fuck the mysterious girl. He’ll use you and spit you out and leave you a bloody mess, just like he’s done with every girl in our year. Leave him for the woman who can handle him.”
From the way her eyes raked over Gabriel, I knew she meant herself.
Gabriel gives a dark chuckle. “That’s a rather revisionist view, Cleo. If I recall, you broke into my hotel room after junior prom, and when I politely declined, you pushed me through the French doors and cut yourself on the glass. I may be a man whore, but I don’t do crazy.”
One of Cleo’s minions giggles, but a stern look from Cleo soon puts a stop to that. She turns back to me and addresses us both in a sickly sweet voice. “I’m talking to Melrose now, Gabe. But we should catch up later, in private. I want to hear all about your tour. Now that no-good druggie drummer is out of your life, maybe you’ll have more time for your real friends.”
Gabriel stiffens. My blood boils. If this girl is sinking her claws into Gabriel, she should at least bother to know something about him. I’ve read every press interview and seen hundreds of YouTube clips of Gabriel and Dylan playing and laughing and crying together. They’d been friends since they were in diapers. Gabriel has to be cut up about Dylan’s death, and Cleo can’t even figure that out?
