The Princess and The Jester - A.D. McCammon Page 0,74

you’re going to mess with the wrong person and…”

I can’t even finish the sentence. Someday has come, and we’re both going to pay the price.

“Everything is under control,” he says, trying to reassure me. “I’m not afraid of any of the assholes in this town. Let them take their best shot. I’ll just hit back ten times harder. As long as I have you, nothing can touch me.”

My heart swells then shatters, Shane’s words from earlier echoing in my head.

“Cole’s an expert at finding people’s weaknesses, but I know his too. If you want me to keep this from him and the rest of our peers, you’ll have to do something for me in return.”

“What do you want?”

“Revenge. Your asshole boyfriend thought he could fuck with me and get away with it. Now, I’m going to take away the one person he cares for most in this world. You’re the key to his demise.”

Chapter Thirty-Five

Present

COLE

The tension in my muscles grows tighter with each minute that passes by, my mind running a hundred miles an hour while I wait for Gwen on the hotel bed.

She was quiet on the way here, her mind seemingly somewhere else. Every time I asked what was going on, she’d give me a fake smile and tell me how excited she was to spend the night with me.

I tried to tell myself it was nothing more than paranoia—that I was simply trying to find something wrong because everything is so perfect. Yet I still can’t shake the feeling that something happened when she disappeared at the dance.

Until the game last night, Shane had been making himself scarce. It seemed like our little chat had an impact on him. Gwen stopped receiving texts, and he hadn’t so much as looked her way. But he didn’t seem like someone who learned his lesson when he was glaring at me from the top of the bleachers.

Thatcher and Arwen weren’t happy when they learned I handled that situation alone, though they’ve been helping me keep an eye on him since. None of us saw him at the dance, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t somewhere lurking in the shadows.

Gwen steps out of the bathroom in a black lace nightie and all my worried thoughts evaporate into thin air. I’m alone in this room with the girl I love, here and now. That’s what matters. All the other bullshit can wait. I won’t let any of that or my demons fuck this night up.

She looks at me shyly as I get off the bed and prowl toward her. “God damn, I love you.”

Her lashes flutter, her eyes widening. “You do?”

I chuckle, thrown by her confusion. “You act like this is news.”

Maybe we haven’t exchanged those exact words since we started dating again, but it doesn’t make it any less true. There are other ways to tell someone you love them.

“It’s just…that’s the first time you’ve said it since…”

She doesn’t need to finish her thought. The last time I said those three words to her is permanently etched into my mind. It was only moments before she broke my heart. Maybe subconsciously I’ve been holding out on saying it again because of what happened two years ago.

My hands land on her hips, and I connect my body with hers. “You haven’t said it back. Does that mean—”

“I love you,” she rushes. “I never stopped. Not for a second. There will never be a day when my heart doesn’t belong to you.”

“For keeps?”

Her lips curl into a warm smile, those maple syrup eyes swirling with love. “Promise.”

“Hey, sweet boy,” my mother greets me as I walk in the door. “How was your night?”

“Great,” I call over my shoulder, not bothering to stop on the way to my room.

It felt incredible waking up next to Gwen this morning, but it made getting out of bed difficult. We stayed at the hotel until check-out time, getting in two more rounds of sex before going at it one more time in the shower. Then we went for pancakes, both of us ignoring our phones and the rest of the world.

But we couldn’t stay in our bubble forever. As soon as we left breakfast and Gwen checked her phone, that gnawing feeling that something was wrong returned. It was obvious whatever she saw on her phone upset her. When I asked what was going on, she quickly shoved the phone back in her purse. She seemed freaked, like she was worried I might find out why. She