Cruel Prince(Royal Hearts Academy #1) - A. Jade Page 0,110
back up. I approached her in the band room closet after I heard you asked Britney to the dance. I knew Dylan would be upset about it and I was hoping to use it to my advantage.”
I press down on the bat.
“Goddammit, Jace. I’m not done.”
“Then I suggest you talk quicker,” I grit through my teeth. “Because every word out of your mouth makes me want to rip off your nads and shove them down your throat.”
He blanches. “She told me how upset she was, and I suggested that she even the score by going to the dance with me.” He shrugs. “I’d hung out with her in the band room a few times after school by then, and our conversations…I thought I finally had a chance now that you were out of the way.”
My mind floats back to when Dylan mentioned she spoke with Tommy after class.
I ignore the weird feeling brewing in my gut. Shady people aren’t honest with their best friends.
Not to mention, she dared me to kiss her that day.
“Okay. Then what?”
“She turned me down. She said she was already going with someone and it would do a much better job of pissing you off. When I asked her who…she told me it was Liam.”
He’s lying. “Dylan wouldn’t do that.”
“I have no reason to lie to you, man. Not now.” He swallows hard. “Can I ask you something?”
Despite myself, I oblige. “What?”
“Did Dylan ever do or say anything that would make you believe she was into Liam?”
The look on my face must give away my answer because he says, “I’m not trying to be a dick, but why else would Dylan go to the dance with him?”
That thought churns painfully in my stomach. As much as I hate to admit it, there was a small part of me that briefly wondered if she went with Liam to dig at me.
But then I quickly realized how stupid that was, because no matter how angry she was with me, Dylan would never make Liam her pawn.
I figured Liam had finally decided to make his move and she was starting to come around to the idea of him.
Which made me even more of a terrible brother for kissing her.
Regret and remorse punch through my chest.
I convinced myself I was going out there to confront her in order to protect Liam, but seeing her so close with Tommy made my blood boil.
I never spared my little brother a thought after that.
Not until Dylan mentioned she wanted to hang out at my house that night.
Tommy continues talking when I’m silent. “She told me she’d give me a chance if I could help her come up with an even better plan to get back at you.” He looks sheepish. “So I did.”
It feels like a rock is wedged in my throat. “What was the plan?”
I need to hear all the details. Every link in the messed-up chain they constructed that ended with my baby brother dying.
“Since she was already going with Liam, I told her I’d come through with a way to distract him halfway through the dance. This way we could sneak away. As luck would have it, Cole ditching his date provided a perfect one.”
The rock in my throat becomes a boulder, siphoning off my air supply with every word he says.
“My plan was for you to catch us making out in the hallway after you noticed she wasn’t with Liam, but she said that wasn’t good enough. She wanted me to provoke you and start a fight with you.”
I gesture for him to keep going because I can’t formulate words.
“Liam was supposed to catch us out in the hallway fighting over her. The goal was to cause a rift between you and your brother because she knew it would hurt you.”
“Liam said he saw us in the closet, not the hallway.”
I’m grasping at straws here, but it’s all I’ve got.
I don’t want to believe Dylan would be capable of doing something so spiteful and vindictive.
Tommy nods. “Dylan deviated from the plan when she told me to go back inside. I was so angry with her, I decided to spill the beans to Liam myself…”
His voice trails off, but I need to hear the rest.
I push down on the bat. “Keep talking.”
He sputters a curse. “Liam didn’t believe me, so I told him I could prove it.” His face twists in pain. “I took him to the hallway, but you guys weren’t there. I quickly figured out where you might