Treachery

“That’s probably a good idea.”

The corner of my lip curled at her clipped tone of voice. I turned to leave the room with Luca stomping out behind me, Damon getting one last crack in before we were out of sight.

“Be sure to film that shit, Ta

Luca growled at my back, and I couldn’t help the grin that stretched my lips to hear it.

Stopping in place once I reached the foyer, I turned to Little Miss 4.0 GPA and glanced down at the paper clenched in her angry, tight fist.

“I’m afraid I can’t help you with your project, Luna -“

“Luca,” she sneered, “with a C.”

“Whatever. The point is me and you,” I wiggled a finger between us, “aren’t happening. Regardless of what your piece of paper tells you.”

We were totally happening, but I would make her fight for it.

Cocking a hip, she crossed her arms over her chest, the position forcing her breasts to push up enough for me to see she was sporting a nice handful at least. Not too big, not too small, just the way I liked them.

“My face is up here, Ta

I leaned a shoulder against the wall and allowed my eyes to do a slow crawl up her body.

“As I was saying, it’s a no go on my end. But I’ll happily lie for you and claim I participated, if that’s what you want.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“That would be great except you’re supposed to deliver oral arguments with me during class. It’ll be kind of hard for me to pretend to be two people. Especially one who’s an arrogant jackass.”

“Did somebody say oral?”

My lips twitched when Luca rolled her eyes at Ezra’s question from the other room.

A bark of laughter shook my shoulders.

“Your words touch my heart. Perhaps you should march your little ass back to class and try to get assigned to a new senior advisor.”

“I tried that already. Professor Stewart said I was stuck with you.”

Until that moment, Luca had never said or done anything to truly surprise me. Sure, she showed a little spunk, but who wouldn’t when shoved around by a bunch of hecklers?

Hearing that she’d actively attempted to get out of working with me was a tiny little stab to the ego. Not huge. More like using a toothpick to poke an elephant, but still, it was there.

It wasn’t that I didn’t know she wouldn’t have a chance in hell of wriggling out of it. That was the entire point of the computer randomized assignments.

The professors preferred them in an effort to cut down on claims of favoritism, and to stop sniveling students from asking for changes when they were partnered with someone they didn’t know or like.

Which is exactly why I had Taylor hack the system and do exactly what the program wasn’t intended to do: Make sure Luca Bailey was stuck with yours truly, and for an added cherry on top of the fuck you sundae, I had him toss in the subject of emotional distress. The shits and giggles were endless.

The best place to attack her was through her grades, and now, poor little Luca glared up at me with nowhere to turn and no one to run to. Not the professor, not his ass kissing suck up of a T.A (also known as Luca’s boyfriend to my dismay and confusion) - Not a soul. Nobody...

But me.

Exactly as I’d intended.

The only response I gave to the little a

“It sounds to me like you need a favor.”

Luca flinched, her shoulders tensing again, her eyes damn near bugging out of her head.

The second her lips pulled into such a tight line they almost disappeared, I knew she’d taken note of the rumors about us.

“No. I’m not asking anything of you. Not a damn thing. I’m merely suggesting you live up to your duty as a senior advisor and work on this project with me.”

The red color of her face deepened when I gri

“Except, I don’t have to. I can afford to get a shitty grade for not completing the assignment. My future is set already. But you, with your pristine GPA, can’t afford to take the hit. If you ask me, it’s in your best interest to take the deal. I work with you, and in return, you help me out sometime in the future, if and when I need it.”

It amused me she was so pissed off she hadn’t noticed I knew something about her beyond her name.

Why hadn’t she questioned the fact I knew her GPA? How is it people can be so blinded by rage that they miss the clues I toss out that I have an advantage over them?

Sometimes messing with people was far too easy. I’d hoped Luca would be different. But I was on the fence about how all of this would play out.

Shaking her head, Luca stormed away from me en route to the door, her generous ass teasing me as it bounced with every step. Spi

“What is your problem with me, Ta

In truth, the only issue I had with Luca was that I needed something from her. Not me, actually. Warbucks needed something from her, and I was simply the henchman unleashed to get it.

If anything, Luca would have been a nice distraction for a night, a warm body to share my bed for however many hours it took for me to get bored with her. But that wasn’t how fate brought us together, and unfortunately for her, I was the bear-trap waiting to clamp down on her leg, one she wouldn’t escape unless she gnawed her way out of it.

Nobody likes to gnaw off their own leg.

She would take the deal. If not tonight, then tomorrow. I could be patient when I had to.

“Because you make it so easy.”

Snap. The camel’s back was broken, the teapot was shouting, and the blood inside her was boiling over with such red hot rage that her entire body quivered beneath the strain of it, her lips opening and closing so many times, she resembled a fish flopping out of water.

“You can fuck the hell off to fuck off mountain and take your fucked up offer with you, Ta

Shaking my head, I laughed to hear the f-bomb dropping from her lips like a leaky faucet. She didn’t seem the type, not with her modest clothing choices and strict adherence to ma

“Just take the deal, Luca.”

“No.”

I took one step toward her. She took two steps back. It was a mating dance of sorts between the strong and the weak, the predator and the prey.

Her back hit a wall as I closed in on her, my arms coming up to cage her in, my head lowering until the tips of our noses touched and our lips were a teasing inch apart.

Trying not to remember how sweet those lips had tasted the last time we’d been this close, I lowered my voice to a gritty whisper.

“Has anybody ever told you it’s easier to catch a fly with honey than it is with vinegar?”

The heat between us was staggering. Never in my life had a girl aggravated me to the point of intense desire. I found myself ru

With each inhalation of the air we shared, the tip of her breasts would rub against my chest, and damn if I didn’t like it.