Eden

16

Saint’s not in his dorm room when I show up to pound on his door. Digging out my phone, I try calling him, but he doesn’t answer. I try again and again and again, but the truth is obvious. He’s ignoring me.

Fucker.

I try to think of what I can do, but the only idea I can come up with is to hunt him down at his beach house. That’s not an option right now, though, as I’m too broke to afford to get there and back. I could ask Loni to drive me, but things are still so uncertain between us, I don’t want to do anything to rock the boat. Asking her to help me hunt down my enemy/fuck-buddy would probably be a little much right now.

Releasing a frustrated growl, I decide I’ve no other choice but to wait for him to turn back up. He can’t avoid school or me forever, after all.

I’ll get the truth from him, one way or another. I just need a little bit of patience.

My patience is nearly gone by the end of first period the next day. To my utter frustration, I didn’t see Saint at breakfast. I told myself it was fine. That he could’ve eaten earlier than me, or maybe skipped a morning meal altogether.

When he didn’t show up in class, however, I nearly lost it. The sonofabitch is going to great lengths to avoid me. I fume the whole class time, paying absolutely no attention to anything our teacher says. When the bell finally rings and it’s time to leave, I shoot from my seat and storm from the room.

If this is how he wants to play it, fine. Let him be petty and cowardly. I’m done with him, for real this time, and I just need him to show up for five seconds so I can tell that to his dumb, asshole face.

“Mallory, wait up.”

I pause my furious march down the hall and peek over my shoulder, my nose crinkling when my blue eyes co

“What?”

Dipping his head, he scratches at the back of his neck. “Look, I wanted to apologize for last night,” he mutters. “I shouldn’t have said what I did. It was insensitive and stupid, and I was an idiot to think you’d ever do some shit like that.”

His sincerity goes a long way to soothe the worst of my irritation.

I let out a deep breath and wave his apology away.

“It’s alright,” I say, the corner of my lip curling into a tired smile. And I mean it. That’s the one thing that Saint’s failed to realize about me—that a true apology goes a long way because God only knows the amount of crap that I have to be sorry for. “Honestly, if I were in your shoes, I’d probably think I did it, too.”

“Still, it was pretty shitty of me,” he replies.

Taking in a cleansing breath, I bob my head. “We’ve all done terrible things. At least you were still willing to help me, despite what you thought I did. I appreciate that, Liam. You … you have no idea how much I appreciate that.”

When he grins, his whole face lights up. “Nobody’s perfect.”

I can’t help the chuckle that slips from between my lips. “Very true.”

“Why do I keep finding you two like this?”

I roll my eyes and spin around at the sound of Saint’s growl, my blood pressure spiking so much I see red instead of a tall, ripped, and terrible god.

“Maybe if you stopped avoiding me, then randomly creeping up on me out of nowhere, we’d avoid these situations,” I tell him, hoisting my backpack higher on my shoulders. “Nice to see you, by the way.”

The way his blue-gray eyes narrow is excruciatingly satisfying.

“Why do you run to Liam anytime I do something to piss you off?” he snarls. “Is he offering you more comfort than you’re telling me? Am I not giving you enough to keep you satisfied, little masochist? If so, I’ll be glad to demonstrate my abilities right here, right now.”

My lips curl, and before Liam can advance on his best friend, I step forward, poking my finger against Saint’s rock-hard chest. “You don’t get to lash out at me when I don’t bother to wait around for you to drag your big head out of your ass.”

His hands clench into fists at his sides. “I should take you over my knee and whip your tight little ass to get rid of that attitude of yours.”

I lose my breath and my heart begins to race. Damn it. I can’t let my head go to mush so easily. I grit my teeth as I try to push down the lust that instantly flames up for him.

“I should smash your fucking face in,” Liam snaps, stepping closer to Saint.

I let out a breath of a

“Oh, my God, would you two just stop?” This time, I place my body in between them so they can’t start wailing on each other in the middle of the hallway. “I’m so sick of this shit. Saint, is there a point to you being here, other than to a

His glare to me is frost, but then he looks over at Liam, the veins in his neck spasming.

“I’ve been in Headmaster Aldridge’s office all morning answering bullshit questions about what went down at Thornhaven. Just thought I’d pass along the heads up that they’ll be coming to ask you shit next.”

Liam’s lips press into a white slash and he goes back to pulling at his sleeves as he spits out, “Fucking fantastic. That’s just how I wanted to spend my day.”

Saint gives Liam’s head a little pat in mock sympathy. “There, there, big guy. Just get it over with, write a check, and then you can go back to sniffing after my little masochist like nothing ever happened.

I’m so confused that I don’t even bother to check Saint on that last comment, even though Liam makes it a point to give him a rough shrug after he shakes Saint off of him. Thornhaven is another academy—an all-boys prep school in Sherman Oaks that’s one of Angelview’s rivals, just like Ravenwood. What did these two do there? And why?

“That’s all I came for,” Saint snarls, tossing a disgusted look between his best friend and me. “I’m out.”

Turning, he begins to march away. The urge to follow him and question him further proves too powerful a pull for me to ignore.

When I shoot Liam an apologetic smile, he groans and waves me off. “Whatever. Just … go.”

I hurry after Saint and catch him just as he’s walking outside.

“Hold on,” I shout.

He peers back at me and I’m not surprised to see he’s still looking at me like I’ve just admitted to fucking my way through the entire track team. “What?”

I come to a stop next to him and ask, “What was that about? About Thornhaven? When were you there?”

He hesitates, and for a moment I think he’s going to brush me off again, but then he surprises me by saying, “Friday night.”

I gasp as the pieces of the puzzle finally snap into place. “That’s where you and Liam went? Why? What’d my attack have to do with Thornhaven?”

He looks like he’d rather do anything else in the whole world than answer my questions, but he grabs my hand, tugging me along after him as he continues across campus. I ignore the stares as we pass by other students. They’ve seen worse from us, I’m sure, and probably heard even more. This will just be more juicy gossip for the masses to devour until our next dramatic display.

When we reach the middle of the quad, I dig my heels in and bring us both a halt.

“Saint,” I hiss. “Stop dragging me around and answer my questions.”

He faces me, and I can’t tell if he wants to yell at me or kiss me. Probably both, in all honesty.