Court Kept (Court High 3)

I breathed them in, wanting to sink inside her. I wanted to be part of her, and I wanted her to let me.

She did nothing at first, and I was scared of what she’d say next. I was scared she’d unravel me.

Instead, she told me to let go.

The words had been light but present, and when I pulled back, she had her eyes closed. All too quickly, she let out a breath, and when I let her go, I got back mine.

You’re so fucking stupid.

There wasn’t a world in which this girl and I could possibly be together. Too much had happened, and too much was still going to happen. She wasn’t supposed to be here.

“What do you want?” I asked, gripping the chair at my desk. I closed my eyes. “Why are you here?”

Why was she haunting me? A ghost like one of my sister’s china dolls. Her feet crunched more glass, and when I turned, she’d stared down at the floor. She noticed the glass, scraping through it, and eventually noticed the room too. It was in more than a disarray even with what I’d tried to do before she came in. I had stuff everywhere when things were normally tidy, and the amount of empty booze bottles that lined my dresser drawers and even my desk she’d definitely taken in. She started to look at the tower of shot glasses on the desk and the bottle of tequila I had beside it before I crossed my body in front of them both.

Her expression chilled. “Where is he, Royal?”

“I asked you who, princess,” I said, turning around. Opening my desk, I slipped my hand inside. “I’m not a mind reader.”

If looks could kill, I’d be dead where I stood when I passed a glance her way. She shot daggers at me, sinking her hands into her big ole coat.

“Your girlfriend was going on about how you made some pledge’s life hell all weekend in gym class today,” she said, her eyes to the floor again. She pushed out a breath before facing me. “So if you have Ramses—”

“Mallick?” Enraged now. Livid, I seethed. My hand in my desk, I pulled something out, gripping it. “What about him?”

Of course, she was here for him. The two of them besties, and I felt like an idiot again.

She’s not here for you.

The reality of that forced me to consider all the acts I’d done, all the things I was going to do to make sure she put herself and this town in her rearview mirror. December didn’t belong here and especially not right now. I thought I was protecting her.

I’d only screwed myself, doing things I didn’t want to do that not only made me sick but were pointless. Touching other girls had been pointless. She was over me.

The vacuum suck of that was heavy, my insides cut worse than they should. I shouldn’t care and maybe her lack of emotional tie would keep her away.

That’s what you wanted.

I supposed the ends did justify the means after all. I closed my eyes.

“I want to know where he is,” she said behind me. “He told me he was pledging to get into your Court.”

I raised my head, my breaths harsh. “Did he?”

“Yes. So if you have him…”

I turned, gripping that object out of my desk. I kept it behind my back, running my hands over it. “What makes you think I have him?”

And what else did she know? What else had he told her about what he thought he knew? He wouldn’t be that stupid. He wouldn’t… hurt her with nothing but theories. He would possibly if he wanted to hurt all of us, hurt me. He may not know anything about my relationship with December, but he knew I was friends with her sister. I’d protect her at all costs.

An attack on her would be a hit against me.

It made me long to rewrite history and how I’d handled recent events. I’d made a judgment call, and maybe it’d been the wrong one, but when December approached me, eyes on me, I took those thoughts back again. I hadn’t made the wrong choice.

And I knew just as well as her standing in this room.

She cared about Mallick, was friends with him, and though that drove me fucking crazy, that was the truth. The pair had a tie. They had a friendship or whatever.

She wet her lips. “Because you are the king of that group. You have influence, so you know everything that goes down. You tell me where my friend is or I’m calling the fucking cops.”