Reign A Romance Anthology - Nina Levine Page 0,87

hallway, I stop outside the heavy wooden door and listen for sounds. But there is nothing. The night is still. The building is settled.

As quiet as a mouse, I slip into the headmistress’s office and make my way across the room to the large desk. Within minutes I have the desk drawer unlocked and Felicity’s phone in my hand.

Quietly shutting the drawer and relocking it, I feel the buzz of adventure course through me. I won’t lie. I get off on this. The adrenaline. The sneakiness. The quest. The rise of the little guy against authority.

Among the students, I’m known as the safe cracker. There isn’t a lock I’ve come across that I can’t crack. It’s something I learned as a kid from one of my father’s many associates, and one that’s earned me a lot of perks from the students who have required my abilities over the last year. Headmistress is big on confiscating the things that distract us from our studies, and from being well-bred young ladies.

And there’s a lot to be said for being able to break into the refrigerator for midnight snacks, or for some comfort food for one of the girls when her heart has been broken by one of the boys at the neighboring boys’ school.

I guess you could say I’ve always been rebellious.

A rebellious heart is what my father calls it.

He thinks I was born with a wildness brought down from my mother’s Irish roots. Maybe he’s right. My mom was feisty. With a fiery temper to match her flaming red hair. I have the same temper, and the same head of red curls. Dark fire, someone once described it, which I have to admit, I kinda love. I don’t know why, but people have always fallen in love with my hair—family, friends, the media, him. But for me it’s a mass of tangled curls that drive me crazy on a bad day.

Another reason for my rebellious nature? According to our headmistress, I’m a bad egg. Maybe she’s right. Maybe I really am the bad guy.

Or maybe I’m just a restless soul with a penchant for drama.

Or maybe, just maybe, I’m a little brokenhearted after all the pain I’ve endured in my seventeen short years.

Whatever the cause of my rebelliousness, it has led me to this moment, right here, right now, putting everything on the line for someone else.

Tomorrow, our headmistress will lose her shit wanting to know where Flick Morgan is, and how the hell she got her hands on her phone.

No one will know.

Oh, they’ll all suspect it was me. But no one will say a thing because we’re a close-knit group of girls, and just like me, they all want to see Flick get her happy ending.

Eventually, the commotion will die down, and things at Havenwood Girls School will go back to normal.

Until one day, I will be gone too.

I think of my one true love.

I haven’t touched his lips in almost two years.

Haven’t felt the warmth of his skin.

But in less than a month we’ll be together again.

He promised.

I can barely wait.

But for now…

… I’m happy to be the bad guy.

2

Bella

Ten years later

I hit the floor with a thud and groan. I try to breathe but my lungs rattle, I’m winded.

Smiling, Ari stands over me and offers me a hand.

“You’re distracted,” he says with an amused gleam in his eyes. “You’re making this too easy for me.”

I reach up and accept his hand. “Too easy, huh?”

While he is distracted, I kick out and get him behind the knees, dropping him to the floor beside me.

“What about now?” I ask smugly.

He looks up at me from the mat and his handsome face breaks into a bright smile. Green eyes twinkle. It’s no surprise all the girls in New York are in love with him. All the girls except me, of course. He’s my best friend and my feelings for him are too brotherly to be anything else. We’d kissed once, back in the early days, but there was no spark and it had weirded us both out. It didn’t surprise me when he came out two years later.

Besides being one of my best friends, Ari was also my Krav Maga coach. We’ve been sparring for years and are both fiercely competitive.

Climbing to my feet, I help him to his.

“I don’t think there is any more I can teach you,” he says.

“I know. I just like kicking your ass.” I wink at him. “Hey, I’m meeting Imogen for a drink. Wanna