The hallway had filled with uniformed students, all on their way to the lunch room, but that still didn't prevent me from gracelessly crashing to my ass on the marbled floor.
"What the fuck?" I spat, glaring up at the girl. But it was pointless. She'd already faded into the crowd.
"Yeah, you’d better scurry away, Serafina!" a guy shouted, and I tipped my head back to find Nolan standing over me with his hands on his hips and a scowl on his face. "You okay, new girl?" His attention shifted down to me, his brow smoothing.
"Fine," I muttered, taking his offered hand to get back to my feet.
He held onto my fingers a fraction longer than necessary, then released them with a small smile. "You sure? Nothing bruised?"
"Just my dignity," I admitted, smoothing my hands down my skirt to be sure my underwear wasn't on display. "Thanks for..." I trailed off, unsure what I was thanking him for. Maybe for not pretending I didn't exist?
Nolan smiled widely, throwing an arm across my shoulders while whispers escalated all around us. "For not being a narrow-minded, stuck-up prick like ninety percent of this academy? You're welcome. But I should probably point out that the rumor mill is all kinds of wild about you today. You made quite the impression last night."
I grimaced. "Blame your sister. She kept giving me these flaming green drinks." I shuddered at the memory, my stomach rolling painfully. I'd managed to hide my hangover most of the day, but it was far from gone.
Nolan laughed, totally uncaring of the stares and whispers. "She's great like that. You joining us for lunch today, new girl?"
I started to accept, then paused as a spark of suspicion threaded through me. "You and Mattie? Or you and..."
Nolan rolled his eyes, running his free hand through that dark red hair. "Rafe's not as bad as you're thinking. I swear."
I barked a snide laugh. "Oh sure. That's why on my first day he called me frigid and took a bet on me sucking Alex’s dick, and then, this morning, he threatened me when Alex was getting flirty before class."
My new friend cringed slightly. "He has his reasons."
My lips parted to tell Nolan what I thought of Rafe's "reasons," but a strong hand wrapped around my wrist and tugged me out of Nolan's grip. As I slid across the hall, Nolan lunged after me, and his untucked shirt lifted, giving me a flash of bandage with a distinct red seeping through one section. Before I could think on that, I was in another person’s arms.
"There you are, Violet," Alex commented, tucking me into his side. "I was waiting for you outside the dining hall, but someone told me that Nolan had you cornered. Is everything okay?"
"Calm your tits, Alex," Nolan drawled. "Violet and I are friends. You remember what friends are, right? They're those people whodon'thate you. Oh wait. Maybe you don't remember."
Alex’s expression didn’t change, but something lurked in the light blue of his eyes. Shadows flickered across them, dark memories. I recognized that look. I’d seen it in my own reflection more than once, until I’d learned to channel that darkness into something useful. Something that would ensure I never ended up in that position again….
Alex’s wide smile looked more than a little forced as he flashed perfect teeth at us. “At some point,” he said to Nolan, “we all have to grow up, put our youths behind us, and step into the roles that we were born into. Life is not a fucking fairy tale, Nole; you know that better than anyone.”
His words were deeper than I’d expected. They stopped Nolan from replying, his face dropping for a moment. He looked … sad—an expression that existed for about half a second before it was wiped clean.
“Are you coming with us, new girl?” he said, deliberately ignoring Alex. “Mattie is waiting for you. You may not know this about my sister yet, but she will have no issues literally ripping you out of Alex’s arms to keep you away from him.”
A low, angry sound rumbled from the prince who was still holding me far too possessively. The last thing I needed was to draw this kind of attention to myself—students were surreptitiously staring our way, and I could feel their attention. They weren’t doing that good a job at hiding it. So as gently as I could, I again found myself escaping the prince’s hold and stepping back a few paces. “How about we catch up after classes?” I said to Alex, and even though Nolan was glaring a fantastically glare-y look my way, I couldn’t find it in myself to get upset about it.
I liked Alex. I wasn’t the sort of person to lie to myself, not over something as obvious as this. Did I trust Alex? Fuck no. Not even a little, but the attraction was there.
I wanted to explore it.
He nodded, eyes never leaving my face. “Okay, it’s a date,” he said, and I couldn’t quite get a read on how he was feeling. “Why don’t you meet me on the field at 4:30? You can catch the last part of training.”
Training. Soccer.Rafe.
Dammit.
“Sure, sounds like a plan,” I conceded. I’d already rejected him for lunch; I couldn't do it again. Rafe was just an annoying nuisance. I could handle his snide remarks and asshole-ish personality.
Alex shot Nolan another withering look, and then with a smirk and wink for me, he turned and walked away.
The tension eased, and I found myself breathing a little deeper. “Well, that escalated quickly,” I said, joking before I could even think about it.
Nolan laughed, wrapping an arm around me again so he could haul me into his hard body and drag me down the hall. A snort of laughter escaped me, but I didn’t fight to get out of his hold. It was the strangest thing, but somehow, Nolan and Mattie had turned into people I liked and would consider friends—despite knowing them all of two days.
