three, wearing jeans tight enough to reveal a beefy bulge that proved he definitely didn’t need to drive a fast broom or monster truck, smiled while palming a longneck beer. “You don’t look like you’re enjoying your detention.”
She scratched the back of her head, squinting at him. “Ya think?”
He crossed muscular arms, slanting a knowing grin. “Need a lift?”
“In that thing?” She jumped to her feet and backed away from the bubble. “What if it pops?”
“It won’t pop.” The stud standing next to him, wearing nothing but boxer shorts and an unbuttoned dress shirt, jumped up and down, his bare feet making deep indentations in the bubble. “See?” He pushed his wire spectacles up the bridge of his nose, a gesture that reminded her too much of Professor Periwinkle.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
The tallest stud nodded at the cave wall. “To the next dungeon over. We’ve got detention, too.”
They had detention? They didn’t look like high school boys. They looked to be in their early twenties. Tall stud even had a full beard.
It didn’t matter how old they were. Floating in a bubble with three good-looking guys was a far cry better than her current situation. Unless, of course, Grandfather found out. “What if we get caught?”
“We won’t,” the one wearing navy sweats said, his cheeks flushing, making him look adorably sexy. “They’re not coming for us until morning.”
That Doublewart bitch was more sadistic than Serah had realized. “I have to spend all night here?”
“Not if you come with us.” Bearded Guy held up his beer. “We’ve got music and drinks.”
Please say yes! the siren inside her begged.
“Come on,” Boxer Shorts said. “You don’t want to spend all night there, do you?”
Serah grimaced. She feared these guys could be a trick of the imagination, a tempting illusion sent by Dame Doublewart to make her hellish stay in detention even more miserable. When Boxer Shorts poked through the bubble, holding out a hand, she drew back, apprehension twisting a knot in her gut.
“We won’t bite,” he said with a wink.
“Unless you want us to,” Bearded Guy added.
Fuck yeah, she wanted them to, and that was the problem. She’d repressed her siren until Periwinkle had revealed her inner goddess, introducing her to the carnal pleasures she’d denied herself too long. Now that her siren was awakened, Serah didn’t know how to put her back or even if she wanted to. Grandfather would be so disappointed.
Go to them, Serah, her siren hissed, releasing a wave of pheromones that nearly swept her under lust’s tide. Gritting her teeth, she reached for her savior’s hand, praying to the goddess these men weren’t an illusion. If she did end up sleeping with them, she hoped Grandfather never found out.
DORIS DOUBLEWART DIDN’T know if she was more worried or relieved. Apprehensive, definitely. Why had she admitted this girl into her school?
Half a million merlins, that’s why.
She pressed the intercom button on her ancient landline. “Lady Hoofenmouth, will you please come to my office?” She waited anxiously, listening for the heavy footsteps of the one woman whose opinion mattered most. Clenching her teeth, she grabbed her coffee cup when thunderous stomping rattled her desk.
The door swung open, slamming into the wall with a thud. Athena Hoofenmouth looked like a bull ready to charge as she stared her down. “What took you so long?”
Doris slowly stood, smoothing invisible wrinkles out of her gray, polyester slacks. “I was showing our new student to the dungeon.”
Steam poured from Athena’s flared nostrils, and her pupils turned red. “I thought you weren’t going to admit her.”
Trolls were notorious for their short tempers, and though Doris loved Athena, she also feared her ever-changing moods. She instead pulled out the deposit slip she’d been keeping in her desk since this morning and waved it in Athena’s face.
Doris’s breath hitched when Athena snatched it from her hands, glowering at the slip of paper attached to a carbon copy of the check with Nathaniel Goldenwand’s signature scrawled across the bottom.
Athena frowned. “What’s this?”
Doris cleared her throat, summoning the courage to face her lover. “Half a million merlins from Lord Goldenwand.”
“Great goblin gonads!” Athena shrieked, dropping the paper on the floor.
Doris snatched her wand and used it to retrieve the receipt, zapping it back into the safe under her desk. She’d be a nervous wreck until the money cleared the bank.
“No wonder you admitted her.” Athena rubbed her hands together and licked her lips. “We could retire to Elysian.”
Doris sighed. “Or build a bigger and better school.”
Athena’s