Page 18 of Reign of the Queen
Grabbing my bag out of my locker, I close it, and turn toward him, smiling and then grimacing. "Hey, Mateo, ugh, you don't look so hot; you should probably put some more ice on that." I point at his face, swiveling to the side and walking away down the hall, leaving him open-mouthed and standing there. As I pass the other three kings, I grace each with a smile and wave but continue on my way, putting a little extra swing into my walk.
Raegan meets me at the front doors, and we make our way out of the cold stone building and into the North Carolina sunshine. We walk down the steps toward my vehicle. The two strapping football players, already waiting by my ride. "Rae, I need you to sit in the back with Evan; before you say anything, I have a show to put on for the kings. Please." I squeeze her hand.
She nods her agreement and then rolls her eyes. "Hope you know what you're doing. Jessie gives me straight-up, Grade A clinger vibes."
We approach the boys by the car and I hit the unlock button on the fob. To his surprise, Raegan gets into the back and motions for Evan to do the same. "Shall we go?" I motion to Jessie with my hand in the direction of the car.
"Yeah, for sure" he opens the passenger door and squeezes his large body into the seat. The Range isn't tiny by any means, but Raegan was sitting in the front seat earlier, and as she's all of five feet nothing, she had the seat pulled all the way up. I watch as Jessie fiddles with the seat adjustments so he can fit that large, chiseled frame in my car. Damn the boy is large and muscled in all the right places. I might just have to take a peek under his hood.
Once we’re settled comfortably in the car, I turn on the push ignition and move us out of the parking spot and toward the student parking lot exit, music blaring, "Crown the Kings" by Migos playing, windows open.Talk about karma and timing.
As we are about to drive past the stairs, I slow down purposely and see all four of the kings coming down the steps. Each one pauses as they see my vehicle approach and notice who is sitting in my front seat. Jessie, the goofball he is, waves to them as we exit the parking lot.Fucking priceless.
Needless to say, none of them wave back. Theo will need some dental work from the way he is so visibly grinding his jaw. I turn in my seat, let a chuckle loose, and then give him a little wave before we exit the parking lot.
We head to the Quick Bean café down the road from the school, order up some lattes and pastries, and then I drive us over to my house. I made sure lots of our fellow students and kids from the public school saw us coming in and out of the café with the boys in tow. Maximum reach of gossip is needed so the “kings” hear it from all directions. I’m pretty sure some sneaky bitch was taking pics of us with her phone on the down low, so IG and Snap should be blowing up now.Oh to be a fly on the wall when they see the pics of Jessie with his arms wrapped around my waist while we waited for our drinks.
I’m kicking myself for not thinking this through the entire way to my house and hoping my mom’s not home. I think she might be a dead giveaway to who I am, or maybe not; Jessie and Evan didn’t know me back then.Damn my stupid, vindictive and reactive ass.
We approach my new house, and I enter the code for the gate. Jessie lets out a whistle. “Holy crap, you live here?”
I guess I can see where he’s coming from; most of the students at Casbury Prep come from lots of money. But even those with money aren’t Stratford rich, well, maybe everyone else other than the Theo Saint-Lambert’s of the world.
“Yup,” I catch Raegan’s eye in the rear-view mirror, and she rolls her eyes. I know how she feels about my Stratford wealth; she never tries to hide it. She knows I don’t take it for granted; once a poor girl living in a rich man’s world, always a poor girl.
We pull up to the house, a great monstrosity of modern glass and chrome. It was once meant to be an outlying fisherman’s cottage that faces the Atlantic with beach access. Now it’s been increased and remodeled to within an inch of its life, thanks to my mom and grandmother.
I don’t see my mom’s Porsche in the driveway or in the garage when we pull into the four-car space. I let out that little breath of anxiety I was holding in.
Once we’re parked, I lead us into the house and then out to the backyard, where the year-round heated patio and pool area are. The backyard has a beautiful cascading waterfall feature that feeds into the heated saltwater pool.Yeah, I know. Why a pool when you have the beach right there? It’s a rich people thing.Jessie and Evan’s eyes are enormous as they look around my outdoor space.
“Um, Mia, what did you say your family did again?” Evan questions with his eyebrows up by his hairline. I know his family is in the business of exporting goods from Asia; there’s good money in trade. I always do my research in advance. He comes from money, not Stratford kind of money, mind you.
Bringing my latte over to one of the patio chaises, I sit down and turn on the integrated outdoor television and sound system, my phone automatically connecting to the Bluetooth andAva Max’s “Sweet but Psycho”playing through the speakers. Raegan turns to me, breaks out in a giggle, and points her finger at me. I stick out my tongue at her.
“Real estate and corporate takeovers” I take a sip of my latte, my anxiety still riding me. Raegan takes the chaise on one side of me, and Jessie heads for the other one, leaving Evan to have to pull up an outdoor lounge chair.
“This place is unreal; how long have you lived here?” Jessie takes a sip of his latte and then grimaces when the heated drink hits his mouth.Guess that’s still sore, poor, handsome baby.
“Since just before school started.” Staring at Raegan, I indicate with my eyes for her to follow my lead. At first, she gives me a look filled with utter disdain, a grimace crossing her mouth, but then she peeks at Evan and nods. We both know I’ve been out here before that time, back and forth from New York to get my plan in order, staying hidden so as not to run into the kings before the first day of school.
“Wow, I didn’t even know this house was out here, to be honest.” Evan keeps looking around, entirely wowed by the space. I get it; it’s huge, shiny, and a massive F U to every other rich person in the area, as it’s meant to be. Grandmother Stella made sure of it.
“It wasn’t. My grandmother had the original cottage ripped down, and this was put in its place at the beginning of summer, when my mom and I decided to move here.” I grimace, remembering the arguments between my mom and her. My grandmother absolutely had a fit when my mom wanted me to move back here to Casbury five short months after my stepfather, Jared, died. To top it off Mom wanted us to live in a house that wasn’t fit for a Stratford princess, and it almost caused a war between her and Grandmother Stella.
Grandmother Stella finally relented when she purchased this property herself, bulldozing through the town committees and permits personnel.God, I felt sorry for those suckers; they’ve never had to deal with Stella Stratford and her steel will.She had this house built in under three months, despite their objections. Then Grandma Stella handed me the deed with only my name on it. She made it clear she wasn’t giving my mom anything more than she had to. Money is never of any consequence to a Stratford, but pride and holding grudges are one hundred percent always on the menu.
“Holy crap,” I hear Jessie’s comment under his breath.
For my plan to work, I will need to make a real effort here with Jessie, enough of one that the kings find out about it, either from him or Evan. I know it’s not exactly fair to lead him on, and he’s never done me any wrong. Guilt starts to rise again, and my stomach tightens painfully. I didn’t even know him back then, but I need to get back at the kings. It’s all I can think about, it’s what I came back here to do, and nothing and no one will deter me from my plan. Jessie is about to become unfortunate collateral damage.
I take out my phone, lean into Jessie, and snap some pics. The cutie he is; he even smiles broadly for the phone with his swollen and bruised face. Then I upload them to IG and Snap and tag his ass in them. I’m sure someone will eventually bring those to the king’s attention. By tagging him, I have given them a way to find my social media handles, which is all part of the plan anyway.
“Jessie, want a tour of the house?” I raise an eyebrow and give him a little twitch of my lips. I see the moment he realizes that I just asked him, not both him and Evan. A slight blush appears on his neck and cheeks.Crap, why does he have to be adorable?
“Umm, yeah, that would be great.” He gets up and walks toward me, swagger in check. Glancing back at Raegan, I notice Evan has taken over my original seat. He doesn’t look too disappointed that he hasn’t been invited on the tour. He’s eyeing Raegan like she’s his favorite slice of cake. She, in turn, is giving him a death stare worthy of any box office villain.Shit, I hope he’s still alive when I return.
Clearing my throat and tilting my head, I give her a look that says, “play nice bitch,” and she finally relents, shoulders relaxing against the back of the lounger, phone firmly in her hands, ignoring Evan.
