Broken Empire A Reverse Harem High School Bully Romance - Callie Rose Page 0,18

had done it. My grandmother could carry a grudge into the next lifetime, and she already hated me. I didn’t see any reason to put him on her list too.

The remaining week before spring semester seemed to simultaneously rush by and drag out.

Truthfully, I needed the extra time to keep resting up and healing. Two days after Gregory Nichols called, Philip drove me back to Roseland Medical to get my stitches taken out. The skin on my shoulder and chest where the seat belt had dug into me had been badly abraded, but it hadn’t been the kind of wound that could be stitched up. There had been several deep cuts on my arm and side that had needed sutures though.

Doctor Garrett seemed pleased with how everything was healing, although the wounds were still pink and raw looking—their appearance seeming even worse somehow without the stitches covering them up. He was happy with how my leg and ankle were looking too, although I couldn’t even bring myself to glance down at the puffy, swollen flesh when he took the cast off to examine it.

I was quiet on the way home, and Philip didn’t press me to talk, which I was grateful for.

As much as I hadn’t wanted to go back to my grandparents’ house, I found myself sort of glad that I’d been forced to. Even though things had been getting better and less tense between me and my grandfather before all of this, we’d still felt like strangers in a lot of ways. But he felt more like family now, and I liked it.

Jacqueline was all set to have her driver take me to campus on the Sunday before school started, but the Princes offered to pick me up instead, and I accepted their offer immediately. It might’ve been more comfortable in the back of the big black SUV, but I was a little worried my grandmother would try to come with me, and I’d rather be lowered face-first into a pit of lava than be alone in a car with her.

I heard the sound of someone at the door around one o’clock and hopped off the bed as quickly as I could. Jacqueline had sent one of the house staff out to buy me clothes I could wear with my cast—lots of shorts and baggy pants—and I’d packed them all up in a small duffel, along with my medications and bandages. At least it would be easy enough to wear the cast with the Oak Park uniform, since the girls were all required to wear skirts.

As I was trying to maneuver the bag’s strap onto my good shoulder, a knock sounded at the door at the same time it swung open. Cole let out a noise like a growl and strode toward me quickly, plucking the bag from my grip and draping it over his shoulder.

“Ready?” he grunted.

“Yeah.”

The other three were waiting for us in the entry hall, chatting amiably with my grandfather, and as I hobbled in with Cole hovering close behind me, it occurred to me that at this point a year ago, I had disliked—if not actively hated—every person in the room.

Jesus. A lot can change in a year.

As if called by my thoughts, Jacqueline stepped into the foyer, coming from the doorway opposite the one Cole and I had entered through. My body tensed slightly as she entered, automatically going on the defensive like it did whenever I saw her.

Annnd… maybe some things will never change.

I didn’t spare her a glance as I joined the other Princes and headed for the door, but she stepped outside after us. She and Philip stood at the top of the steps as I worked my way slowly down them and slipped into the front seat of Mason’s car. He shut the door behind me while the others piled into the back. As we pulled away, I glanced out the window to see my grandfather putting an arm around my grandmother’s shoulders.

God. I don’t fucking get it. The way he is with her—the way she is with him. It makes me think she does have a heart.

So why can’t I see it?

Mason had put the top down on the convertible, and even though it wasn’t exactly top-down weather, I liked the feel of the fresh air rushing past my face, tossing my hair around. His hand fell on my knee while his other held the wheel, the gesture seeming almost unconscious. As if it reassured him to touch