Trick Me Twice - Becca Steele Page 0,43

Raine to thank for this.” He looked between us, his eyes narrowed.

I glanced down at my paper. B. Fuck, yes!

“Nothing to do with me,” Raine said softly. I glanced over at her paper—A, of course. I couldn’t even be mad, though. With her help, I’d somehow managed to bullshit my way to a B. My sense of relief was immediate—my place on the football team was safe for now.

“Today, we’re going to continue watching our recording of Macbeth,” Prof. Patel announced, returning to the front of the room and flicking on the projector. “This will cover the entirety of Act 2, and we will follow up with a discussion.” He dimmed the lights, and I settled back in my seat, my legs stretched out in front of me. Raine shuffled in her seat next to me, then did the same, kicking her legs out in front of her. My eyes were drawn to her smooth thighs, covered in sheer tights, and I had a sudden urge to touch her.

After looking around to check no one was paying attention, I lifted my arm and rested it casually along the back of her seat. I smiled at her sharp intake of breath as I leaned closer to her and spoke low in her ear. “Tell me what I’m supposed to have done to get you kicked out of drama club.”

She sat in silence for a moment, then turned her head slightly, still facing the screen but angled towards me, her mouth close to my ear. “Someone took the money from the cash box that we use to buy stuff for the costume department, and I’m the only student who knows the combination.” Her voice wobbled. “Mrs. Whittall blamed me, of course. I can’t even blame her for that—it’s the obvious conclusion.”

My fingers curled around her shoulder. “Maybe she made a mistake?”

Raine shook her head almost violently. “No, there was four hundred and twenty pounds missing. And now—and now I’ve been kicked out of the drama club unless I pay the money back. Where am I going to get that kind of money from? You know the situation with my uncle.” Her body was trembling, letting me know how much the news had affected her.

“Four hundred and—what the fuck, Raine?” My grip on her shoulder tightened, before I realised what I was doing. Moving my hand to her hair, I started sliding my fingers through it, soothing her. “It wasn’t me. Fuck, Raine. You drive me insane, but I wouldn’t do that.”

She stiffened under my touch. “No, you’ll just post photos everywhere to make people think I’m a slut. Do you know what people have been saying about me?”

My mind went to Chris, earlier, and unreasonable jealousy pulsed through my veins, followed by a surge of anger at the reminder that she’d tricked me.

Fuck, should I have posted the photos? It wasn’t like I hadn’t done worse than that to people before. I’d never felt any remorse in the past, though.

Her soft sigh hit my ears, distracting me from my thoughts, and I leaned closer to her. “I’m sorry about the photos, okay? But I didn’t take the money.”

“If it wasn’t you, then who was it? No one else has access to that box.”

I couldn’t be sure, but I needed to pay a visit to a certain blonde ex-girlfriend of mine. In the meantime, I needed to distract Raine from questions I didn’t have the answer to.

“Remember how you came all over my hand at Fright Night?” My voice was low and seductive as I leaned over to whisper in her ear.

She swallowed hard, her chest rising and falling as her breathing became shallow. I slid my hand onto her thigh, waiting to see what she would do.

Another hiss of breath, but she didn’t say anything. I glanced around to make sure no one else was paying us any attention as I moved my hand a little higher. The guy in the same row was oblivious, glued to his phone, watching YouTube under the table.

“What would your boyfriend do if he knew I was touching you like this?” I murmured. I squeezed her skin lightly.

She turned her head to mine, our faces so close, I was almost tempted to kiss her. Fuck, I probably would have if we weren’t in a classroom surrounded by people. Then she said five words that shouldn’t have made me happy, but they did.

“I don’t have a boyfriend.”

19

As soon as the words fell from my lips, I clamped