“I have no idea,” she replied, her eyes wide as she stared down on the fighting players, “but I’m pretty sure it started when Alex punched Rafe in the face.”
I groaned, rubbing my forehead. It didn’t take a genius to work out what might have happened, considering all the slut-shaming slurs Rafe had slung my way at breakfast. I hoped Alex hit him hard enough to hurt.
“Should we…” I indicated to the brawl, which was only growing bigger by the second.
Mattie shook her head. “Nah, they can sort it out themselves. Come on, let’s go. You can tend to yourgreatboyfriend’s wounds after they all shower and change.” She snickered at her own lame-ness, and I glared at her in good humor.
As we followed the crowds out of the stands and toward the exits, security guards were rushing to the field to contain the situation. It didn’t take long for the fight to be broken up.
“So, you want to hit up the after party at Drake’s place?” Mattie asked as we emerged back into the academy halls. It was pretty awesome how it was all connected so we rarely needed to step outside into the frosty winter weather.
I shook my head, thinking of my prior engagement for tonight. “Nah, my liver can’t handle another round of flaming flamingos.”
She snorted a laugh. “Flaming illusions. But whatever, spoilsport. You’re going to lurk around to kiss Alex’s injuries better, aren’t you? So much for waiting until you’re off campus to start fucking.” She was teasing, so I gave her a playful whack on the arm to shut her up. Just in case the entire school didn’t already know we were having sex—they totally did—I’d rather her not be broadcasting it.
“Whatever, girl,” she snickered. “I’m going to get changed so I can score myself somegreatsex tonight, too. Tell my dickhead twin I’ll meet him there, okay?”
I nodded at her and waved. “Will do.”
I hadn’t bothered denying her joking accusation because she was at least partly right. I did want to hang around and make sure that Alex wasn’t hurt… but then I had a prior engagement with an illegal Damascus steel blade, a purple catsuit, and a mask. Tonight Vengeance was coming out to play.
The crowds of spectators thinned out as I drew closer to the locker-room door and away from the main thoroughfare, so I didn’t feel like too much of a creeper lurking in the hallway.
I propped my back against the wall right beside a team photo from the year before, when the Arbon Royals had won the University League Cup, and prepared myself to wait until Alex had debriefed, showered, and changed. It was only a few minutes, though, before I heard raised voices, and the locker-room door slammed open.
“You,” Rafe snarled, advancing on me like a wolf released from its cage. His cheek and left eye showed a pink discoloration where Alex’s first punch must’ve landed, which said he’d been caught by surprise. No way would that have happened if Fallen Angel had had his wits about him.
I heaved a sigh and tried to ignore his proximity. “I’m just waiting for Alex. You know, myboyfriend?” I glared up at the surly prince. “That is unless you’ve hospitalized him?”
It’d been a snarky remark, but as soon as I said it, the genuine possibility sent a shiver of concern through me. “You didn’t, did you?”
The smirk on Rafe’s face was pure malice. “I should have.”
He started to walk away, and fucking hell, I should have let him. But no, me and my short temper justhadto poke the bear with a stick.
“Seriously, what’s your fucking problem? I’d actually started thinking you were a decent human being after last weekend, but then bam!” I flicked my fingers. “Monday rolls around, and you’re just as bitchy and pathetic as ever. No, worse. Did me getting beaten half to death somehow offend you? Or was it the fact that Brandon didn’t finish the job and rid your royal presence of the poor little orphan girl?”
Rafe froze mid-step, then turned slowly back around to face me. His eyes were narrowed and his shoulders bunched with tension.
Immediately, I knew I’d made the wrong move.
“Tell me something, Vi,” he ordered, prowling back towards me. Crap. I tried to step backward, but I was hard up against the wall. What. A. Moron.
“Tell you what?” I snapped back, raising my chin with determination. I’d be fucked if I let this asshole see any fear in me.
A small, cruel smile touched his lips as he closed in on my personal space, and his palms hit the wall on either side of my head with enough force to make me squeak. Mentally, that was. On the outside I was a goddamn fucking ice sculpture.
“Did you want me to follow through on that threat this morning?” His voice was dark and sultry, full of danger and seduction. Oh shit, I was so screwed. “Did you want me to slide my hand inside your jeans and see how wet you were? How wet are you right now? You get off on danger, don’t you,Violence?”
One of his hands left the wall, and he trailed a finger down the front of my shirt. All the way down, until he reached the waistband of my jeans. My breath caught, and I mentally cursed my overactive libido. Sex with Alex had only made it worse, not better.
“What would you do, I wonder, if I plunged my fingers into your cunt right here? I bet you’d be soaked, and it hasnothingto do with your murderer of a boyfriend.” His fingers hooked into my fly, flicked the button open, and slid the zipper halfway down before I found my brain.
“Stop it,” I hissed at him, grabbing his wrist in an iron grip. “You want to know what I’d do? I’d knee you so hard in the balls you’d be coughing up pubes for the next month. Wanna try it?”
The cocky smirk on his face made me want to do it anyway.
“Neither one of us believes that, princess.”
