you.
Someone is watching me.
Every hair on my body stands on end as I glance inconspicuously in both directions, ensuring the hallway is empty. But it’s when I turn around, towards the direction of the cafeteria, where only a thin plate of glass separates me from the dozens of tables, that I see him.
Cassian has his arms crossed over his broad chest, a scowl etched firmly in place.
What…? How…?
How is he here?
I try to keep my shock off my face as I stare into his obsidian black eyes. I know that they’re actually a deep, mahogany brown, but from this distance, they appear to be endless abysses. Black holes you could become lost in, swept away in tidal wave after tidal wave.
His muscular forearms flex as he glares at me, and unwittingly, my gaze slides to his crotch.
And his limp dick.
What the ever-loving fuck?
There’s no way in hell he should’ve been able to break my spell. It’s unheard of.
Cassian Jereome is still supposed to have blue balls.
So where the fuck is his erection?
I could almost laugh at the direction of my thoughts. How has my life come to this? Staring intently at the penis of my bully as I wait to see if he has a boner? Not for the first time, I wonder if I’m taking this whole revenge thing too far, but a flood of incandescent anger sweeps away any hint of trepidation or remorse. They tortured me. Locked me in the middle school locker room over the weekend. Shoved me in a locker. Broke my heart.
What I’m doing is only cosmic justice.
Karma is a bitch, my friends, and she just so happens to go by the name of Peony Simone.
When he crooks his finger in a come-hither gesture, beckoning me towards him, I turn on my heel and promptly step away, pushing open the heavy doors to exit the building.
His attention leaves me feeling dirty and disheveled, almost as if I’d rolled around in a mud pit. I desperately scrub at both my arms, hoping to dispel the nauseating aroma permeating the air and clogging my nostrils, but it proves to be hopeless.
How can Cassian, even after all of these years, still affect me like this? Why does one tiny stare from him brand my skin as if he has taken a cattle prod, dipped it in molten lava, and then stuck it to my forehead?
Because even after all of these years, you still—
I shut that thought down quickly. No, not just shut it down. I close all the doors, flip off the lights, switch the sign from open to closed, and then scream at the top of my lungs, “I’m not home!”
“…asshole!” The familiar voice causes my feet to stagger slightly, and I brace one hand against the brick siding for support. Quieting my footsteps, I peek around the corner to see Mariabella and Karsyn huddled together. Tears brim in my friend’s eyes as she glares up at him, fury like I’ve never seen before engraved onto her beautiful face. Karsyn appears tired, almost discouraged, and his head hangs forward, shaggy blond hair concealing his eyes from view.
From this angle, I can only see their profiles, but it’s enough to send a sharp stab of…of…something straight to my chest. I can’t identify or define the emotion, but seeing the two of them together has me rubbing absently at my chest, as if I could somehow fix the organ currently crumbling to dust inside of it.
“I can’t keep doing this,” Mariabella whispers, voice hoarse. She shakes her head slightly, wispy blonde hair framing her angelic face. “I don’t—”
“It’s your decision, Mar.” Karysn’s voice is softer than I’ve ever heard it before. And once more, that pesky pang returns with a damning vengeance, threatening to drag me straight to hell. It’s obvious that he cares about her. A lot.
And why the fuck do I care so much?
“Just…just leave, please,” Mariabella chokes out, and before I can duck away and pretend that I haven’t been blatantly eavesdropping, Karsyn turns in my direction. Fury dances in his eyes as he levels me with a glare capable of dropping a lesser man dead on the spot. But instead of cowering in fear, instead of apologizing profusely, I hold my chin up stubbornly as if I had every intention of getting caught.
Fake it til you make it. Or however that saying goes.
“Eavesdropping much?” Karsyn snarls, and Mariabella’s head jerks up. She quickly wipes at her blotchy eyes, but tears fall faster than she