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A low growl rumbles out of Matteo. And I genuinely wish my body would stop reacting to it.
“Your car is parked outside the campus gates, on the street. It’s probably fine. I just made sure the trash got taken out.” He tells me, reluctantly.
“Wow,Your Majesty, quite the class act. I feel thoroughly enlightened by your words. I think I might even be smart enough to understand what you’re saying, I’m the low level trash that came in and sullied up your beautiful kingdom. Am I right? Is it my name written across the front of the building? Somehow, my presence affects you, but why? I never wanted your kingdom. I wanted to come here, lay low and get my diploma.
“In fact, I haven’t even told anyone my name. It’s everyone else in the school that’s felt the need to bring it up. It was them that knew who I was before I got here. It was them throwing my newfound name in my face like I had any control over it. I didn’t ask to come here! So fuck all of you for thinking so highly of yourselves that you thought I’d give two shits about taking your crown. If any of you had bothered to talk to me instead of acting like immature pieces of shit, you’d know that. But now? Ha, now I’m going to find out why you’re so threatened by my being here and I’m going to use it to make your life hell. It can’t just be my last name. Now, I’m going to make this so-called kingdom mine. You just signed that threat with your own blood on my knife. I can’t wait to see you fall to your knees before me.” I turn towards my car and walk away without waiting for a response from any of them. I hear the telltale growl though.
“This isn’t over Alessandra. We’ll be watching you. You’re bound to fuck up sooner or later and then you’ll be gone again. I’m going to make sure of it.”
I flip him off but I don’t look back.
Chapter Nine
Quinn
“Damn girl, I’m so proud of you. You made it through your first week of school. I don’t know how you managed, in just one freaking week, to get caught up in every single class and make a name for yourself in fight club. Everyone is now walking on eggshells around you because, you bitch, are fierce as hell. They are all shit their pants, scared of you, every freaking one of them and let me tell you, it’s the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. I don’t know how you do it, but you’re a force to be reckoned with. Quite the one eighty from your first day. I’m a lot less nervous about you getting hurt now though, that’s for sure.
“The royal court is watching your every move, the kings especially, which is driving all of the female race crazy.” SB says, almost looking high she’s so delirious with excitement. “Seriously, my bestie is dope, y’all!” She yells to the universe, before turning her starry eyed gaze back to me, or her phone, I guess.
“Hey, can I be you when I grow up?” SB is cracking herself up right now so I turn down the volume on my phone because, holy hot damn, that girl can be loud. I really am starting to like her and it’s freaking me out.
“Alright, calm down. No need to get hysterical. Are you still coming over for the weekend? Cecelia is cool with it.”
I’m downplaying Cecelia’s reaction. No one actually needs to know that she freaked out about how I’m “already making friends”. Talk about embarrassing. I made her promise to never do that again.
“Duh! I’m stoked to finally see your house. Did you know that your great grandfather built it for your great grandmother? It was her dream house and he made it come to life. Some real life Nicholas Sparks, pure love type romance, especially when you factor in how they were never supposed to be together in the first place.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.. Slow down. How do you know all that? I swear you’re like a walking encyclopedia of personal information. Is it only my family history you know or is it everyone’s?”
“Ugh, girl.. You are the most confusing person ever. You’re a straight gangster-street fighter goddess-queen bitch-genius. You’re the girl who gets straight A’s and is perfectly proper in all of our classes but fights like a savage. You can outsmart more than half of our teachers but every once in a while your inner thug vocab comes out - and that shit is terrifying, by the way- but you don’t even know your own family history? You’ve been here over a week now. How could you not even be a little bit curious?”
She’s giving me that sassy ass face she makes when she has a valid point and now I’m low-key regretting FaceTiming her. Only then do I realize what she just said.
“Hahaha. Oh my god, ‘gangster-street fighter goddess-queen bitch-genius’? What even is that?” I have to wipe tears from my eyes, as I try to breathe through my laughter.
“And honestly, I just figured Cecelia would tell me about my family when we finally talk about everything that happened when I was a baby. No use in going on a fact finding mission when I can get it firsthand sooner or later. Plus, I had a lot to study this week to get caught up and I’m exhausted from showing up most of those fools on the MMA team at school, or as you like to call it ‘fight club’.”
I’m still wrapping my mind around the fact that a school has a legitimate MMA club. It’s awesome but I kind of singled myself out since I’m the only girl. It also doesn’t help that the kings of Salvatore Prep are also in that particular after school activity. I swear I can’t round a corner in that building without one of them being right there in my face.
It’s so much worse when one of them rubs up against me on the mats. It’s not like it can be avoided, MMA is a full contact sport. The violence is practically an aphrodisiac between me and the three of them. The hatred between us is our foreplay. It’s as hot as it is nauseating.
Pheromones are flying free in the gym and it’s killing me. My hormones are constantly fighting me for dominance and it’s making me sick to my stomach. What the hell is their game?
They act like they hate me yet they give me every ounce of their attention. I don’t need even one man, yet I’ve caught the attention of three of them, whether good or bad remains to be seen. They haven’t done anything fucked up since that first day but that doesn’t really mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes plotting takes time. Ugh, I need to stop thinking about it so much, I’m here for a damned education. Plus, you know, they’re assholes and I hate them.
* * *
My alarm goes off too early again.It alerts me with that incessant beeping that it is, in fact, time to go back to school. Oh goodie. I’m so excited to go back into the silent war between myself and the royal court. Not.
“One day at a time” I remind myself and think back on my weekend.
It was the most relaxing weekend I’ve ever had. I still hit the gym hard in the mornings before SB woke up but for the most part, I got to act like a girl my own age, just hanging out with a friend. We ate too much food, watched too many movies and so much trashy tv. We laughed. A lot. I’ve never laughed so much in my life actually. We laid out by the pool until my skin turned this perfect olive color and naturally highlighted my waist length dark hair.
Thanks to the regular food intake I’ve been able to get and getting into the gym so frequently, I look the healthiest I ever have. I’ve put a lot of my emotional shit on the backburner but I think I’ll leave it sit there for a while. I’m enjoying the freedom of this new life for a minute. Is it the smartest thing to do? Maybe, maybe not. But I have lived a lifetime of hell. I don’t want drama with Cecelia at home when I already have battles at school.
Once I’m ready, I go downstairs to find Cecelia setting out our new normal, way too much, breakfast. I hope she donates what we can’t eat. I’ll have to make a mental note to ask the chef later. We load up and when I think she’s going to start making her usual small talk, she surprises me.
“So, your grandfather will be here sometime within the next couple of weeks for the holidays. He’s been in Italy on business but once he’s home, I think it would be a good time to lay everything out on the table and tell you about how your life came to be what it was. I know you haven’t really wanted to discuss any of it but now that you’re settling in, I truly think it’s time. You’ll have a couple of weeks to adjust to the idea of learning a lot about our family. Most of it is pretty ugly if I’m being honest. I just need you to always remember that I’m on your side. Alessandra, I love you. I’ve always loved you. Please remember that.”
