Defiant Princess (Boys of Oak Park Prep 2)

Jumped in Roseland?

Was that just the excuse he’d given for the bruises Cole had left on his face? Or had he been attacked again?

And if so, by whom?

I didn’t have to think too hard to come up with a guess on that, but I didn’t let my brain go there.

In a daze, I wandered down the hall to my next class and sat through Spanish without hearing a single word.

Oliver was gone.

Mixed feelings filled me as I processed that fact. First came an overwhelming sense of relief that I wouldn’t have to see him in the halls or sit in the same class with him ever again. But it was also a vivid reminder of how powerful the Princes were—because I was sure at least one of them was behind this.

They had way too much influence and control, and what they’d done to Oliver was essentially the same thing they’d tried to do to me. They’d gotten rid of him. Rearranged his whole life to get him out of theirs. Out of mine. It seemed so fucked up for them to have power over someone’s entire existence like that.

But a part of me was glad they’d done it, and I couldn’t quite face what that said about me.

At lunch, Maggie waved me over to sit with her, Leah, and Dan. Leah didn’t object, and Dan smiled brightly at me. I was pretty sure Maggie hadn’t told him what’d brought the three of us girls together in the locker room the day before, and I was glad. More people knew about that incident than I was comfortable with already.

“You look better,” Maggie said encouragingly as I sat down.

“Thanks.”

“I heard Oliver’s gone.” Leah shot me a meaningful look as Dan’s confused gaze bounced between the three of us.

“Yeah, I heard that too.” I met her stare, my next words almost defiant. “I didn’t ask for that.”

She snorted. “I figured.” Then she shot a glance behind me, her brows pulling together. “I mean, I’m not really sorry he’s gone.”

I didn’t have to turn to know what she was looking at—the table across the room where four boys sat like royalty presiding over their kingdom. But as the conversation around me turned to other, lighter subjects, I couldn’t stop myself from glancing over at the Princes.

Finn looked up as I did, catching my gaze. His honey-brown eyes were stormy, and we stared at each other in silence for a few seconds before he finally pulled his attention away. He turned and murmured something to Cole, and the larger boy nodded. The small bruise on Cole’s face was lighter today, but I was sure if I got closer, I’d see cuts and scrapes on his knuckles.

Mason hadn’t spoken to me since that day in my dorm, and in fact, the brown-haired boy’s back was to me now. He’d called off the school-wide attack on me, but he still seemed to hate me so much he could barely look at me.

Maybe he hadn’t had a hand in it. But one or more of the Princes had made Oliver leave.

Why?

Chapter 12

I made myself go back to the st

udio the next day.

Oliver was gone, and there was no way I would let him steal this haven from me. The small, bare room was one of my favorite places on the entire Oak Park campus—one of my favorite places in the entire world—and I wouldn’t let fear keep me out.

But when I pushed the door open and stepped inside, I froze, my heart kicking in my chest like a startled animal.

What the fuck?

Finn sat on the floor with his back against the wall in his usual spot, elbows resting on his knees as he scrolled through his phone.

Goddamn it. I stared at him in shock for several seconds, but before I could do anything, he spoke.

“Just go about your business. Pretend I’m not here.”

I’d done that before. I’d done it for weeks during my first semester at Oak Park. But why was he back? Why now?