“He’s hot in a preppy, I-iron-my-boxer-briefs kind of way.”
She smirked. “Okay, that rules out one of them. What else did you notice?”
“Brown hair. Gorgeous hazel eyes with more brown than green. He was tall, with a sporty, muscular frame. Broad shoulders. Maybe a swimmer.”
I was surprised by how much I had noticed about him, especially while distracted by the hot professor I’d kissed.
Nina stared at me like I’d just spoken another language. “Are you fucking with me right now?”
We’d reached the cashier, and I pulled out my student ID. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Andrew Knightsbridge,” she rasped. “You sat next to Andrew freaking Knightsbridge.”
The moment I heard his last name, I gripped her arm tighter. “The president’s son? The president’s actual real-life son was in my economics class?”
Had that been why he looked so familiar? But if so, why did he alsofeelfamiliar? As if that hadn’t been the first time I’d sat at his side and listened to his cultured voice.
“The one and only,” Nina confirmed. “He’s the eldest son of President Geraldine Knightsbridge, and she loves him more than life itself. You should see when she visits and brings the whole Secret Service. Andrew is the light of her life.”
“I had no idea,” I whispered, jolting when a student behind us yelled that we needed to move our asses. We were still standing at the cashier, and flustered, I ordered a chicken salad sandwich and grabbed a bottle of water. After swiping my student ID, I waited for Nina to follow me over to an unoccupied table.
“I shouldn’t be so surprised,” she said as she opened her fruit and poured in a tub of yogurt. “I forget that most people don’t know their faces. All of our zillionaire parents are out there ensuring no one knows of our existence. Either because we’re annoying gnats in their world or because they don’t want to keep paying ransoms while we lose our pinky fingers as proof the kidnappers are serious.”
I blanched and returned my sandwich to the plate. “Does that really happen?”
She shrugged. “Twice last year to people I know, but never from the school grounds. No one gets to us here.”
Excellent news.
She dug into her food like we hadn’t just been discussing severed body parts, and I picked at the edges of my sandwich and glanced around the dining hall. It was much fancier than my last school, with proper tables and chairs, white tablecloths, and real silverware. Even my sandwich was nicely presented on a plate with a side garnish.
As Nina finished chewing a bite of her sandwich, I asked, “Are your parents important out in the real world?”
While we’d been sitting here, she’d waved to a few othergirls that passed by, but so far no one else had joined us. Maybe she was a loner like me. Or maybe her friends were unsure because I was here. Either way, I was curious.
“In comparison to everyone else in this school, not remotely. My grandparents were shrewd enough to buy into shares and property back when it wasn’t nearly impossible to make a return on your investments, and when they died, they left their fortune to Mom.” She laughed humorlessly. “That was the day my parents retired and decided that it wasn’t much fun having a kid around the house. I’ve been at some form of boarding school ever since, so it just seemed natural to continue into tertiary education in the same boarding school format. This one at least has more coed fun and alcohol.”
My backstory was screwed up too, and while I assumed my father had legit reasons for dropping me off for “a week” at the Lewis home, the fact that he hadn’t bothered to even contact me since left me with more than a few daddy issues. I was just lucky that Karolyn and Mitchell hadn’t kicked my freeloading ass out of their house.
They were good people. Really good.
Deciding I needed a subject change, since it wasn’t in my best mental-health interest to dwell on the past, I said, “Okay, give me the breakdown of the hierarchy here. Who should I watch out for? Who should I avoid? Who hates who?”
Her feet hit the ground as she straightened. “You flashed the Batman-gossip-girl signal, and I am just the woman to answer the call.”
A snort of laughter escaped me. “You’re a true superhero, my friend.”
She beamed in response. “Firstly, you’ve actually met two of the heavy hitters already. Connor Sullivan and Andrew Knightsbridge are absolute powerhouses at Meadowridge. The crèmedelacrème of men here. They’re huge rivals in both academics and popularity and hate each other with a passion.”
I didn’t correct her about meeting Connor because I could not let her start trying to figure out who else it might have been that I kissed. Especially now that I had another piece of the puzzle. “ConnorSullivan,” I murmured.
That explained how two devastatingly handsome men could share the same unusual, piercing eyes.
“Oh, yeah, Connor is sexy as hell, but he’s also scary as hell.” Nina dragged her tray closer, as if needing a shield. “I don’t know what his family does, but I would bet Gran’s fortune that they dabble in the darker side of life. Most of the school is scared of him, but Andrew never flinches. His clout is solid thanks to his mom runningthe whole damn country.”
Releasing the tray, she leaned closer again. “If I were you, I would not mess around between those two. It’s not worth getting caught in the middle of their fuckery since they’re practically sworn enemies at this stage.”
“I have no intention of going anywhere near either of them,” I said, because I couldn’t be about the drama here. “My priority is graduating early and getting out of college once and for all.”
