Alpha Knight (Wolf Ridge High 2)

“Definitely. She’s taken first at every meet so far. We might have a chance at State this year,” Samantha says.

“Yeah right, like Wolf Ridge High would ever give up their reign.”

I open my mouth, about to say something honest, like “you never know”—because we do have to lose sometimes, or it would look strange—until I remember I’m from out of town. “And what else? You two are her besties?”

“Will you stop grilling my friends? You already know all this stuff.”

I flash my flirty grin at the girls. “I like to hear it from them.”

Teri offers, “It’s a good thing you came because she’s probably going to win Homecoming Queen, and she wasn’t even going to go.”

That’s right. Homecoming.

And I’m her date.

“When is that?”

Teri narrows her eyes. “Tonight,” she says with a what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you expression.

Tonight. Right. Fuck—I have a football game.

I wink, though. “I know, I meant what time?”

“Seven,” Teri and Samatha say at once.

Seven. That might work. The game is at four. If Coach lets me play, I still have time afterwards to shower, put on a tie and get back to Cave Hills. Might be a little late, but that’s fashionable.

“We don’t need to go,” Sloane attempts.

“Of course we do, babycakes.” I reach over and thumb some peanut butter from the corner of her lips, loving playing the doting boyfriend role because it pisses her off. “That’s the whole reason I’m here. And you might get crowned queen. And here I just thought you were a princess.”

She elbows me.

I catch her around the waist and pull her back on my lap as punishment. When she struggles, I tickle her, then open my knees to trap her in the hole between them, so I can cage her with legs and arms.

It’s way too intimate, and I know that fucking drives her crazy.

I like torturing her.

I also like the way she feels in my arms. Her scent all up in my nostrils, her soft skin under my hands.

I normally don’t have a thing for humans, but I could honestly say a girl like this one would be worth making an exception for.

Too bad I don’t trust her as far as I can throw her.

And she hates me.

And she destroyed my family.

Chapter 7

Sloane

I told Bo we’re not going to Homecoming.

Not that I believe it will do any good.

When that guy decides something, he doesn’t bend. He left after lunch saying he had a football game but he’d be back to pick me up for the dance.

I told him not to come.

He told me to look sharp.

So here I am, using a curling iron on my hair and wearing last year’s Homecoming dress—a little strappy black number, while my cousin looks on.

“So who is your date?” she asks for the fifth time.

“Just a guy from school,” I say.

“I know, but what’s his name?”

Even that question is tricky. I have too many lies going now. I didn’t tell my aunt and cousin I had a made up boyfriend, so they don’t know about the fictitious Tyler. But if I tell her his name is Bo, and then Teri and Samantha hear it… sigh.

This is all getting ridiculous.

And is a total distraction from what I need to be focused on—survival.

Still, Rikki’s enthusiasm for me is slightly infectious. And one tiny part of me is slightly excited to be taken to a dance by my very drool-worthy date.

If nothing else, he’s a great fake boyfriend. Big. Muscley, and pretend-attentive. I know he’s mocking me the whole time, but sometimes my mind slips to wondering if that’s how he’d really be with a girlfriend.

I doubt it—and I wouldn’t want that doting boyfriend thing. But I do want to know what he’d really be like.

Is real boyfriend Bo like the guy in my room last night—the one who asked if I was okay after pushing me too far?

What would he be like with a real girlfriend? Would he be sweet when he took her V-card?

Ugh! Why am I thinking about that?

Even if I do have sex with him, I’m not going to let him know I’m a virgin.

“His name is Bo.” I go for the truth. I’ve veered too far from it lately, and it only comes back to bite me.

“Do you like him?”

I apply a second coat of mascara. “Um… sometimes. Not really. Yeah.”

She gives a quizzical look. “What does that mean, exactly?”

I laugh. “He’s super hot, but he knows it. And he can be a jerk.”

“But he asked you to Homecoming? Or you asked him?”

“Well...I guess he asked me.” Does forcing me count as asking?

Sophie barks, and Rikki runs to the window in my room. "Oh wow. Does he drive a fancy car?"

"No." I gulp, thinking it must be the mafia guys, but then I see the car she's referring to. It's a beautifully restored old convertible Mustang in shiny red. "Oh wait—yeah, that must be him." The guy works at a body shop. He’d probably have access to a car like that.