Gritting my teeth, I forcefully pushed his wrist until he was no longer in touching range of mywaytoo eager pussy. “I have a boyfriend, Rafe. Maybe that doesn’t mean much toroyals,but it sure as shit does to me.” I glared at him, forcing as much disgust and poison into my gaze as possible. “I’m not a cheater.”
He stared back at me for a long moment. A longtensemoment, one in which I seriously thought he was just going to pin me to the wall and take what he wanted, consequences be damned. But then he stepped back and laughed.
He fuckinglaughed.
“What a shame your so-called boyfriend doesn’t hold the same moral code.” With another infuriating smirk, he turned his back on me and started down the corridor. “See you tonight, Vi. Can’t wait to see what you’re really made of.”
Outraged and infuriated, it took me a few moments to remember that I was standing outside the men’s locker room with my jeans undone and my red lace panties on display. Fuck. Fuck, fuck,fuck.
Hands shaking, I righted my clothes, then strode across the hall to the locker-room door and knocked on it loudly. Rafe’s words were still sinking in, and I needed to ask Alex what the fuck he’d meant. Now. I needed to know right fucking now.
“Whoa.” The guy who opened the door looked me up and down, then yelled over his shoulder. “Girl!”
“Clearly,” I snarked at him, folding my arms tightly over my chest to hide that they were shaking. “I need to see Alex; can you tell him Violet’s here?”
The guy’s grin was just this side of leering, and I was two seconds away from smacking it off his face. “Sorry, cutie, he’s already gone.”
I frowned. “What? When? I’ve been waiting…” I jerked my thumb over my shoulder to indicate the hallway. How could Alex have already left without me seeing him?
The guy just shrugged. “After that scene with Rafe, Coach told him to go cool off. He probably went back to the dorms.”
Ugh. Of course.
“Right. Thanks.” I gave the dude a half-assed smile and turned to leave.
“Hey,” he called out, and I paused. “Look, I know we haven’t officially met or anything, but the guys seem to think you’re a pretty cool chick.”
By “the guys,” I could only assume he meant Nolan and Jordan. No one else really knew me.
“Okay, and?”
He awkwardly shifted, scratching the back of his neck. “Look, just… be careful, you know? He’s got a pretty wicked temper.”
I snorted a laugh. “Yeah, I know. Rafe seems to be permanently pissed off at me.”
The guy frowned. “Uh, I meant Alex. Anyway. Catch ya.” With that he disappeared back into the locker room and let the door swing shut behind him.
What the fuck was that all about? He wasn’t the first person to mention Alex’s temper, but I’d never seen anything like that from him… I mean, hehadjust started a fight with Rafe on the soccer field and there had been that fight the first day I arrived. But that was just stupid boy shit, wasn’t it?
Chewing at my lip, I hurried down the corridor. I needed to see Alex face to face and hash some of these rumors out.
My wrist buzzed, and I pulled the message up as I walked, clicking on my reader to open it.
Angel:Newbies fight first, don’t be late.
The message was accompanied by a picture of one of the academy hallways. In it, a small lamp on a shelf was circled in red and a time scribbled beside it. Shit. That was only twenty minutes from now!
Confronting Alex was going to have to wait. I couldn’t miss this fight. Not for anything.
Changing my course, I ran back to my room and hauled my old duffle bag out from the closet. My purple Vengeance catsuit and boots were tucked into the false bottom, along with my blade, so I quickly pulled them out and dressed.
Back home, no one gave a shit if chicks were fighting, so my costume didn’t conceal my gender. Quite the opposite, I’d made a weapon of it. I’d lost count of how many fights I’d won simply because my opponent saw some tits and hips and assumed I’d be a pushover.
Once dressed, I threw a black woolen coat on top to conceal my costume and hide the deadly blade at my waist. A quick glance in the mirror told me it just looked like I was wearing purple leggings and boots. Nothing suspicious there.
I took a few steadying breaths before applying my makeup: smoky black eyeshadow and winged eyeliner with plenty of mascara, then a soft lilac lipstick to compliment my outfit. I’d never needed to wear a mask in my previous matches, but I tucked the black one Nolan had given me into my coat pocket.
“Nice to see you again, old friend,” I murmured to my own reflection, smiling wickedly at the gleam in my eyes. Fuck yeah, this was going to be fun.
