This is my first week of school in a new state, my third week living a completely new life.
To me, it’s all just more proof that she cares more about me as an extension of herself rather than a person.
As soon as I get inside the school, I see Parrish and Lumen facing off in the hallway.
Utterly fantastic.
“Well, are you in?” he’s asking, his voice pitched in just such a way that it’s quite clear the rest of the students in the hall are meant to hear. There’s a cluster of girls behind Lumen, a group of boys behind Parrish. Chasm is leaning against the lockers, head back, eyes closed. He looks bored out of his mind.
“I have no fucking clue what you’re talking about,” Lumen replies just as smoothly. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were staging this whole thing to get some attention from me.”
“I’m asking you if you’re down,” he replies as I pause in the middle of the hallway and all eyes turn my way. “You. Me.” Parrish whips out a hand in my direction, pointing an accusatory finger my way. “Dakota.” He smiles and it’s whip-sharp, devastating, completely and utterly unnerving. “If my girl wants to have a threesome, it’s my job to make that happen for her.”
This motherfucker, I think as I narrow my eyes on him and march down the hall with my book bag slung over one shoulder.
“Little Sister looks pissed,” Chas remarks with a lazy smile of his own. I ignore him, pausing beside Lumen and Parrish as the latter glances over at me with that deceptive smile of his still in place. It’s complete bullshit, that look. I live across the hall from the guy, and I’ve never seen him look like that, not even when he thinks he’s all alone in the kitchen, elbows leaned on the counter, head hanging down. Parrish Vanguard never smiles, not for real anyway.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I ask him, glancing over at Lumen. She looks annoyed but not entirely displeased with the attention.
“You wanted a threesome: I’m asking for one.” Parrish gestures in Lumen’s direction and I sigh.
“If this is what you meant by ‘I’m going to bury you’ then your game is seriously lacking. I don’t care if everyone here knows I want a threesome.”
I stare Parrish down, but his expression never changes. Either I’m playing into his hand the way he wanted me to or he’s just that good of an actor.
“Well then, what say you, Lumen?” He turns back to the girl in question and cocks a pretty brow. Last night, I heard him in his room, tattoo machine buzzing, low voices in the background from that stupid murder Podcast that he and Chasm like so much. I tried to get a glimpse of where his newest ink might be this morning, but by the time Delphine woke me up for school, he was already dressed in his uniform.
“Don’t pressure her,” I say, resting a hand on Parrish’s upper arm. He glances down at me like I matter, like I really am his girlfriend and he’s so into me that he can barely breathe. My own breath escapes in a rush and I feel a bit unsteady on my feet. I’m smart enough to realize that it’s all an illusion though, just a game to be played so that my time at this school doesn’t suck royal ass. “You’re a really sweet guy, so kind and gentle, always crying and expressing yourself.” I reach up and stroke some of Parrish’s pretty hair away from his forehead. There’s the slightest narrowing of his eyes, but he doesn’t make any move to stop me. How can he, with everyone watching? “But the micropenis thing really is starting to get to me. I just thought that if it were me, you, and Lumen that I might be able to get off …”
The tightening in Parrish’s jaw becomes a ticking muscle, a sign of anger that he can’t control. Even the prince has flaws.
“I didn’t think you’d want to discuss this in front of everyone though,” I whisper back, a very real blush suffusing my cheeks and chest. “Sorry, Lumen. He can be a bit headstrong at times.”
Lumen crosses her arms over her chest, looking Parrish over with a sharp smirk that tells me I’ve chosen the right path here. Hanging out with the queen bee of the school nullifies the stingers in the rest of the hive.
“You don’t have to lie about my dick just to save my feelings,” Parrish whispers, but it’s a stage-whisper. We are still very much in the middle of a performance here. “I don’t care if Lumen knows.” He turns back to the girl in question as I brace myself for whatever it is that might be coming next. “I can’t get hard for her,” he says, almost as if he’s admitting something scandalous. My hand tightens on my book bag, the metal heart pin that Tess gave me digging into my skin. “We get along great otherwise; she’s a phenomenal gamer. And she has incredible taste in music”—the sarcasm is so thick it’s practically dripping—“but it’s just, when the time comes, she just doesn’t do it for me.” He shrugs his shoulders loosely as Chasm looks on, tapping his fingers against the locker he’s leaning against.
