very important.”
“You wallpapered my room?” He let out a choked chuckle. “And no one stopped you?
“With superglue. They might have to burn the room down to get them off.” Landen smiled proudly, rolling his shoulders back. “And no one, not even your bodyguards, can resist my charms.”
“My guards stay outside the school.”
“Then who the hell did I bribe then?” Landen tossed his arms out. “Wow… that makes so much more sense now. No wonder they so easily agreed.”
“You guys are so weird.” Theo shook his head, pulling me into him, his nose nuzzling my ear, whispering privately to me. “You are making it really hard to keep my hands to myself.”
“Good.” I went back on my toes, kissing him, his fingers gripping my face firmer, pulling me into his physique.
“Okay, okay. Nobody wants to see this.” Landen groaned, motioning to us.
“Actually, I think billions of people would.” Mina tapped her chin. “We could make millions.”
“Wait?” Landen perked up. “I could have sold my cousin out and been living in Fiji? Drinking and napping in a hammock between hot yoga instructors and maids coming over for sex?”
“Yep.” She nodded.
“I’m sorry, Spence, never liked you that much.” Landen shrugged, and his mouth pinched together. “Not even the pictures you have can stop Fiji.”
“That’s why I have even more blackmail on you.” I turned to face him, Theo’s hand lightly touching my waist. It still felt like I would wake up and us becoming a couple seven months ago would all be a dream. I couldn’t get over the fact that I had fallen for a prince. I, who hated that whole aristocratic world, was now right at the center of it. Though being here at school, we were able to keep “us” quiet from the press. No one outside these walls knew we were dating. “I have a naked video of you in the bathtub with a rubber ducky.”
“Oh, when I was three? Please, Fiji is worth that.” He huffed dramatically.
“Try last year.”
“What?”
“New Year’s, baby.” I winked at my cousin. “After a crate of champagne and eating some space cake.”
“Fuck! Again, my dreams are thwarted by blackmail.” He let his head drop. “Goodbye, hot yoga instructor… hammock… pretty blue water. Lots of sweet money.”
“Seriously, I thought my friends were weird. Until I meet you guys.” Theo shook his head, dropping his arms from me.
After that moment eight months ago in class, Theo put me on his radar. Pursued me. A month later, we were dating, which meant dating his friends too. Being around Theo, Ben, Hazel, and Charlie so much, I had come to see they loved to tease and be mischievous, but only in the way true elite understood. They had existed their entire lives in such a bubble of just them, what they found funny or naughty existed way out of the realm of the normal person. They didn’t watch movies, TV, or couldn’t talk about the latest Netflix binge. They spent their breaks taking private jets to islands and partying with rock stars, models, and actors from the shows I watched on the sofa in my sweats.
I liked them a lot. They were more “real” than most of the people trying to be part of their world. But there was still a disconnect, a sphere they lived in I could never touch.
“We’re going to head to my godfather’s pub tonight. You are coming, right?” Theo kept space between us. Everyone here knew we were together, but the future king, no matter what, couldn’t be caught making out with his girlfriend. When we did kiss at school, it was quick and chaste. He tried to make up for it in private, but there never seemed to be time to really be together. Duties, lacrosse, schoolwork. The prince was always needed somewhere. “He’ll have it secured for us. I’m so ready to let loose.”
Theo’s godfather, Thomas, owned a chain of upscale pubs and restaurants, but the one we went to the most was a very small, local pub. It was randomly stuck in a neighborhood in the middle of row houses and flats in an up-and-coming area. It certainly wasn’t hip or trendy, and I think that was why Theo liked it. Having a pint of beer while he watched a footie game with the locals, he could be a normal guy for a night. The reporters and paparazzi hadn’t figured out the place yet, probably because it was not where they imagined a prince would go. The bodyguards preferred it