They The Pretty Stars (Court High 1)

“Oh, she’ll be fine,” Demi stated, smiling a little. “She’s drama, and most of this room can’t stand her. Though they won’t admit it. Her family is very important to the Court.”

Though I noticed she didn’t say how. Reaching over, she squeezed my arm, and I noticed the necklace glistening over her chest. She was kept by someone like the rest of them, a part of this place, but she was talking to me. Her smile widened. “I just wanted to say go you. Standing up for yourself is rare in this place, and don’t worry about Mira. I saw her. She’ll be out of the hospital tomorrow.”

Relief flooded me. “I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“It’s really okay. I’ll see you at school, all right?”

I nodded, happy Mira was okay, and I really didn’t want anyone hurt. Demi went off to join her friend, and by then, Jax had finally finished up with his.

He bopped over. “Ready? What kind of shit do you want to look at? Girls like libraries and crap, right? We got like five. Come on.”

He showed me two, the libraries pretty badass, and I enjoyed seeing them. With the layout of this place, it would take me a millennium to get through it, but Jax kept up his tour. He pointed out the tennis and badminton courts from the window of the third floor, and I started to follow him to the next library when a voice gave me pause. We’d passed a room with large oak doors, and I peered inside.

“You called for me, Dad?”

Royal stood behind the doors, his academy uniform on minus the jacket and tie. He had his hands behind his back, presenting himself before a man who sat at a desk with his head down. He’d call him Dad, the man with the same sandy blond hair as himself. Though he’d had some gray in there from where I could see.

His dad didn’t even look at him, continuing to jot something down on some papers. “What’s this I hear about you and your friends out at Route 80 the past couple of nights?”

There was silence before Royal spoke, his hands working behind his back.

“I just…” he started, then stopped when the man faced him.

His dad’s eyes narrowed. “Just nothing. You don’t go out there, and I don’t want to hear about it again.”

Royal said nothing, his dad’s threats eerily similar to the first words Royal had exchanged with me. He’d told me to stay out of somewhere before and said it just as coldly.

His dad’s gaze returned to his desk. “And tell your buddies to lay off the booze. You’re only eighteen, and you and your friends drink like you actually pay for anything around this place.”

Ouch.

I gripped the doors, straining to hear more, but his dad appeared to be done because Royal nodded and turned.

I hadn’t been quick enough, eyes of green pinning me in place. I’d been caught, Royal’s eyes narrowing on me, and they were just as cold as his dad’s had been on him.

“One more thing, Royal. I want to talk specifics for the planned events scheduled for the next few months around here.”

The command raised by Royal’s dad came before Royal could do anything about me, the swallow hard in Royal’s throat before he turned around and returned to his dad’s desk. Out of nowhere, large arms came around me, and before I knew it, the doors were being shut in my face.

“Oh, you little devil,” Jax chided, a firm hand guiding me forward. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s rude to spy?”

“I wasn’t,” I quipped, moving out of his hold. Obviously, this was a lie. He clearly caught me spying on Royal and his dad.

Jax smirked, shrugging. “Whatev. You just about ready? I got a text LJ and Knight are done loading you up.”

I had no idea what “loading me up” consisted of, but as Jax’s tour doubled back to the room of boys and their watchful eyes, I found myself too focused on that. I stayed close to my escort this time, and when he finally left that place and went outside, I grabbed him.

“What’s up with all that back there?” I asked. “Those guys? They were staring.”

Like Jax just noticed, he waved it off. “Don’t mind them. It’s probably because you’re the only girl who’s ever been in there.”

My jaw slacked. “I am?”

“Yeah,” he stated, chuckling. He threw an arm around me. “You must be real special.”

Completely gobsmacked by whatever that meant, I let Jax guide me out to where Knight parked his Escalade. LJ and Knight were standing outside of it, but Jax and I didn’t go to it. The boys led me to LJ’s pickup truck, apparently how I was getting to work that evening, and the minute I saw the cargo stacked in the back, my jaw hung again.

Dog food, like literally bags upon bags were in the truck bed, the last of which another one of the Court boys dropped off when I got there. LJ pounded the guy’s fist, dismissing him, and I stepped forward.