His bed, which he used to love, was now far too cold on one side for his liking. He wanted that remedied. Immediately. He’d even considered fucking someone else, had gone to Fornication, the club, in search of a potential bedmate, only to leave empty-handed.
No one had been appealing. None of them could even hold a candle to his flower.
Kelevra Diar was an Imperial Prince. He demanded only the best, and Rin Varun was it.
“Tag me in,” a new, gruff voice said from the side a second before a large man with inky hair jumped into the ring. Kazimir grinned challengingly at Kelevra before making his way to Zane to share a fist bump.
The two shared a weird love-hate relationship wherein no one else could know what stage they were currently in at any given moment. Considering the way Zane nodded at him and allowed him to stand so close, they were obviously in one of their love stages.
Kel rolled his eyes and motioned between the two of them. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
“Two against one?” Kazimir whistled. “Someone’s feeling cocky today.”
“I’ve got a lot of pent-up energy.” Energy he’d much rather be expending burying himself in Rin’s tight heat, but since that was out… “Giving the two of you matching friendship scars should do the trick.”
Zane didn’t seem to like that idea, but Kaz, ever the asshole, simply barked out a harsh laugh.
“Bring it on,” Kazimir stated, yanking a thick blade from a sheath attached to his narrow back.
Kelevra grinned and charged forward.
By the end of the fight, he was bleeding from several small cuts, but it was nothing compared to the large gashes he’d delivered to the backs of Kazimir’s and Zane’s right shoulders, deep enough they’d leave a mark for a long time to come.
Matching scars for the sometimes besties, just as he’d promised.
Kel always got what he wanted.
Chapter 9:
The gymnasium was sweltering, the heat causing all of their shirts to stick to their bodies uncomfortably. Everywhere Rin glanced, another cadet was trying to discreetly peel the cotton material away from their backs and sides, fanning themselves with their hands as they waited for the Active to arrive.
His gaze accidentally landed on an intense hazel one and he turned away quickly, trying to tell himself he imagined the light chuckle coming from that direction afterward. There was too much distance between them right now for him to have heard any sounds the Imperial Prince might have made.
It’d been five days since the encounter at the library and just when Rin had started to think that maybe he was out of the woods and Kelevra had gotten bored after all, their two classes had been summoned together. In his constant state of anxiousness—thanks to said prince—Rin had completely forgotten about the group assignment.
Every year the senior classes were paired with sophomores to act as mentors. Both were graded, and to help break the ice an assignment in the form of a case was typically given for them to solve. It was a competition, something that would ensure the seniors did their job and interacted with their sophomores, and that the sophomores weren’t left scrambling trailing after them begging for attention like lost puppies.
No matter what it ended up being, this assignment had already put a damper on Rin’s plans to avoid the Imperial Prince at all costs. He’d been doing so well, too, extra careful what areas he traveled to on campus, avoiding the main cafeteria in favor of pre-prepared meals bought at the convenience store just down the road. Living under the radar was nothing new to him, and he’d slipped back into that mindset easily enough that it hadn’t taken all that much out of him to bother.
And if he’d spent the nights waking in a cold sweat, rock hard, with the lingering memories of deft fingers circling his cock as a rich voice laughed in his ear? Well screw Kel, those could have been dreams about anyone since Rin never saw his dream lover's face.
Maybe he should give Arlet a call and see if anything could come of that after all. She didn’t attend the Academy and the two had met through mutual friends at a bar a couple of months ago, but she seemed sweet. Fun. Rin wasn’t looking for anything permanent, but maybe the two of them could have a good time.
Before he could change his mind, he lifted his emblem multi-slate and scrolled through his contacts, sending her a quick message just as Active Banks stepped in from the adjoining office.
Everyone quieted around Rin and straightened, both classes taking position with their wrists crossed and settled behind their backs.
He clenched his jaw when it reminded him of how he’d been abandoned in the library, left tied up with no means of freeing himself. He’d had to wait a full twenty minutes for those girls to finally leave so he could take a proper look around for anything that could have been useful. Eventually, he’d found a jagged edge of one of the bookshelves—the thing must have been damaged for a while, since it was definitely sharp enough to constitute a safety hazard.
By the time he’d made it out the door, the sun had already begun to set and he’d half expected Kelevra to be in the parking lot waiting for him with a stopwatch and mocking shake of his head.
Fortunately, that hadn’t been the case. Even better, the following days had been peaceful with no hint of the Imperial Prince in sight.
They hadn’t been instructed to line up based on age, so seniors and sophomores were mingled into the three tidy rows of eight, with Kel all the way down the line and in the far back from Rin.
Since he hadn’t approached him, he could take that as a positive sign, right?
Maybe he really had gotten over it, and if Rin felt a little disappointed by that notion? It was only because the dick had been good.
