Devil Incarnate (Boys of Preston Prep #4) - Angel Lawson Page 0,122

and shoes went missing, roaming around the natatorium before lunch, even though he had no reason to be here.

Micha, bored, picking glue off the pads of his fingertips a couple weeks ago.

Springing out of the seat, I lunge over the desk, grabbing the front of his shirt in a tight fist. “This is all you!”

Micha’s eyes go wide before instantly narrowing, jaw locking. “Get off me, asshole!” He tries to pry my hand away, but it only works because I let go, shoving him back.

“You threw my phone into the pool,” I growl, vision going red as I round the desk, ticking off on my fingers. “You stole my clothes, my shoes, put the glue into all the locks, that fucking glitter—”

Micha smirks at me, eyes flashing maliciously as his arms cross. “Finally figured it out, huh? Took you long enough. I thought you were smart, but you haven’t even listed half the things I’ve done.” When I advance on him, he doesn’t even look scared, unfolding his arms to splay them out, like a welcome. “What are you going to do? I’m a minor. A student. You can’t touch me.”

“Wanna fucking bet?”

“Whoa!” Georgia suddenly appears between us, palm flat on my tense, heaving chest. “Calm down, Heston! They were just some stupid pranks. And Micha is right. He’s just a kid!”

“He’s a dead fucking kid,” I seethe. “Do you have any idea how much that shit costs? Of course you don’t, because you’re a spoiled, rich little shit!”

She looks between us, expression torn. Finally, she says, “Micha, go. Heston will turn in the form later, okay?”

“It’s not like you don’t deserve it,” Micha says, brows crouched low as he picks up his bag from the floor.

Georgia shakes her head. “Not now, Micha.”

He slips through the door and I start angrily collecting my things—not that there’s much—hoping Georgia will leave.

Unfortunately, she has no idea how to do that.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” She says, ducking her head to catch my fiery gaze. “He’s a kid! A student! You can’t intimidate him like that. Do you want to go back to jail?”

I chew on a million responses, each one worse than the last. Running my hand through my hair, I argue, “I had a shitty day, and that asshole was a significant fucking part of it.”

She gives me an exasperated look. “Shitty days don’t mean you can abuse people.”

“Days like this do. You have no fucking clue what I went through today. While you were off flirting with your new boy toy, I was here getting curb-stomped by the universe. Look at me.” I hold my arms out. It’s been hours since I received that package, but glitter’s still falling off. “I look like a fucking joke.”

“Micha didn’t send the glitter bomb.” She sighs, looking away. “I did.”

I stare at her, frozen. “You did.”

She winces. “It was just supposed to be a silly joke. Obviously, I didn’t know what kind of mood you’d be in when you got it. I’m sorry, okay?”

Taking a deep breath, I grind out, “Follow your own advice, Haynes. Leave.”

19

Georgia

I’ve never seen Heston like this before. He’s always calm and collected, calculating and smug. For years, I’ve basically operated on the belief that nothing got to him. Even lately, with the way he often looks tired and a little frayed around the edges, he’s still carried an air of composed arrogance that made it seem like a temporary inconvenience.

The wild, crazed look in his eyes—the way his shoulder twitches with a barely restrained motion that I can’t even predict—is something I’ve seen before. Just never on him.

It’s more like Sebastian.

“Hey,” I say, trying to get him to look at me. There’s a patch of glitter glued to the tip of his nose, and any other time, it’d be absolutely hilarious. Instead, it just makes my stomach clench with guilt. “Tell me what’s going on.” When he doesn’t answer, just releasing this short chop of breath, I reach out to brush my fingers against his tightly curled fist. “You know how you told me to come to you when I’m down or feel like hurting myself? You can come to me, too.”

“I already told you,” he says, voice clipped as he flinches away from my gentle touch. Even though I’ve just begged him to let me help, I really feel like I should duck for cover. “I’ve had a shitty day.”

I reach for the waist of his pants and inch him toward me. “Whatever is