The Princess and The Jester - A.D. McCammon Page 0,12

his door, opening it slowly in hopes of not waking him.

It doesn’t work.

Cole shoots up as soon as I step inside, rubbing at his eyes. “Princess? What are you doing?”

“I…I’m scared,” I admit.

He sighs, plopping back down on his pillow. “Come on, then.”

Cole lifts the comforter on his bed, and I scurry over.

“Thank you,” I whisper, climbing in next to him.

“Yeah, yeah.” He yawns, his eyes closed. “It’s fine. I should’ve known you couldn’t handle watching that movie.”

The moonlight gleaming through the bedroom window catches the green color on his nails as he tucks me under the covers, and I smile. He gave in to letting me paint his nails after a little begging. It was the best part of my night.

Actually, tonight was more fun than any other night I can remember.

“Cole?”

His eyes snap open. “What?”

“Are we friends now?”

He ruffles the hair on top of my head. “Sure.”

“I’m so glad you’re here,” I say, beaming.

Cole tries to hide it, but there’s a slight smile in the corner of his mouth. “Go to sleep, Princess.”

Chapter Six

Present

GWEN

Sunlight spills into my bedroom through the window, and I cover my head with a pillow, burying my face to muffle my scream. After my little moment with Cole in the kitchen yesterday morning, my entire body felt like an exposed nerve. Even the slightest touch on my hot skin sent painful shockwaves through me. I tried to remedy the situation myself, but nothing worked. There was only one person who could satisfy this need, and that wasn’t going to happen.

By the end of the day, I was a total wreck—crying one minute and having fits of rage the next.

Cole hasn’t been particularly kind since things ended between us, but this was by far the cruelest thing he’s ever done. His stunt yesterday didn’t just screw with my head, he was fucking with my heart now too.

As if I wasn’t already struggling to keep from drowning in the current that is Cole Masterson, he managed to steal another night of sleep from me with one message. Not to me, to Phantom Girl. The alias I used to talk to him.

I tossed and turned for hours, trying to decipher what it meant.

He’s been radio silent for weeks. Though he hasn’t called me out, it can’t merely be a coincidence that he’s reaching out again now, mere days after moving back in here and doing everything he can to make me miserable.

If this is a game, I have to play along. I’m the one who put the pieces on the board in the first place.

I fling the pillow to the other side of the bed, my stomach knotting as I grab my phone and open Instagram. There’s a colorful circle around Cole’s profile picture, and I tap on his smiling face to view the story. A photo of him dripping wet with nothing more than a towel around his waist pops up on my screen, and my entire body heats. An image of Cole all damp and naked is the last thing I need floating around inside my head.

Bastard.

The knots in my stomach tighten when I open our messages. It’s hard to explain what was going through my mind when I sent that first hello. My broken heart was feeling unjustifiably angry and jealous over the girl suddenly monopolizing all his attention.

It was way past time to move on and let him go. I told myself talking to him would give me some closure. A part of me hoped it would prove his bad boy persona wasn’t just an act anymore—that the boy I knew and loved was gone. Only he was as charming as ever, and I’d fallen for him all over again.

It’s not like I planned to keep my identity a secret. Lying to him was killing me. That’s why I told him about living in Westbrook and going to school together. I wanted to come clean. Then he showed up, uninvited, to Shane’s party, reminding me why I couldn’t.

If Cole learns the truth, things could get ugly.

Yesterday 10:45 PM

Hey, stranger.

Hi…

I was beginning to think you

weren’t going to respond.

Yeah…well, you left me on read

for weeks. I wasn’t sure I should.

That’s fair. I’m sorry about that.

I’ve been dealing with some stuff.

Envy drags her sharp nails down the lining of my belly. I’ve heard the rumors about what—or who—has been keeping him occupied lately.

Violet St. James.

Cole is very popular with the female population at Westbrook High. Seeing him with other girls was something I had to get