I smile to myself. It's like high school all over again. Only, back then, I just wanted to teach her a lesson for betraying me. Now I want to ruin her for how everything turned out.
I've lost so much because of her, yet she got everything she wanted.
Although her being here right now instead of her beloved Columbia makes me question things, but I don't care enough about her problems to let it affect me.
I slump down in my chair, half-listening to Nelson but mostly focusing on her, picking out all the differences I see in her from last year.
I never should have touched her that night. I knew that before I even laid a finger on her but the temptation after all the years we'd danced around each other way too strong. Then when I had her body pressed up against mine, writhing and begging for more, I knew I'd made a colossal mistake.
My cock swells, tenting my pants, as I vividly recall taking her in the muddy puddle as the party raged behind us.
But as good as my memories are about finally claiming what should have been mine all along, I can't forget what was happening inside that house.
I drop my head, thinking of my brother and everything he went through because I was distracted. Because of her.
The class passes faster than I thought possible but I barely hear any of it. Today might be turning out to be better than I expected, but I kinda hoped I’d make a better start with my classes. I missed two yesterday and I've just fucked this one up.
It really is just like high school all over again. Too distracted by a dark-haired beauty to focus on what I should be listening to.
I'm slow packing up, mostly on purpose because I want to watch her run from the room like her ass is on fire.
She might want to appear that she's not affected by my appearance, but it's all lies.
She's terrified.
Exactly as she should be.
In the end, I'm one of the last out of the auditorium. There are a few guys I vaguely recognize from our session this morning but none of them so much as attempt to talk to me. I get it. Their loyalty is to their captain.
Pulling the folded up piece of paper from my back pocket, I stare down at the campus map and try to figure out where I can find some food before my statistics class in an hour.
I grab myself a sandwich when I finally locate the campus coffee shop and by the time I've eaten it and then found the right building for my next class, I'm almost late.
The auditorium is abuzz with student chatter as I step through the door, almost all the seats taken.
I scan the room, looking for a place to sit when my eyes land on a familiar bowed head.
Bingo.
The seats on either side of her are taken, but that's not going to stop me.
I march up the stairs toward where she is and come to a stop by the guy who's getting his iPad set up ready for the lecture beside her.
"You're in my seat," I say, making him stop what he's doing to turn to look up at me. Something about him is familiar and I'm not the only one who sees it because his eyes flash with recognition.
Next to him, Letty tenses at the sound of my voice but she refuses to look up despite the fact her body has locked up tight at the prospect of having to sit beside me.
"Sorry, but I'm pretty sure seats haven't been allocated in this class. Go find another."
"Huh." I tilt my head to the side as if I didn't understand his words. "Clearly, you didn't hear me properly. I said… you're in my seat, asshole."
The students surrounding us begin to pay attention but still, Letty doesn't so much as breathe while I stand here.
"Everything alright?" another guy says, coming to stand beside me but keeping his eyes on the guy who's sitting.
"It's okay," a quiet voice says from beside the guy. "Go and sit with Brax somewhere."
An accomplished smile twitches at my lips.
"But—" the guy argues, ripping his narrowed eyes from mine to look at Letty.
"It's okay." She smiles at him. Anyone else would think she meant it, but I see more than most, and she's anything but happy about this.
"Is everyone ready to start?" the professor says from behind me as the guy begins collecting up his things.
"We'll just be down there." He points to a couple of empty chairs a few rows down.
She nods at him and smiles again and he hesitantly gets up but he doesn't leave right away, instead, he levels me with a look that might have lesser guys running scared. Clearly, he has no idea who I am or what I'm capable of.
"Shoo," I say with a flick of my hand before dropping down into the now vacant seat and unpacking everything I need.
She's like a stone beside me, not moving and I swear not even breathing as she waits for what I'm going to do next.
Professor Richman begins going over his expectations for this class, but his words fade off into the background.
Yet another ruined first class then, I muse to myself as I watch Letty out of the corner of my eye.
After what seems like forever with her sitting beside me and her floral scent filling my nose and driving me insane, I lean toward her slightly.
Her spine straightens as she prepares for my next move.
"Get lost on your way to Columbia, Princess?"
Her lips flatten as she fights the need to say something back to me.
That's the fun with her. She can't help herself.
Her chin drops and I suck in a breath waiting for her response.
"I'm trying to listen."
She leans forward on her desk, effectively putting me behind her. It's a move that pisses me off beyond belief, that she can discard me, forget about me that easily.
I chuckle and after a few seconds, she glances back at me, her eyes are narrowed in anger as she attempts to pin me with a look that she hopes will shut me up. I'd like to think she knows better than that by now.
The gold flecks in her eyes shine under the harsh fluorescent lighting above it. It's only this obvious when she's angry or turned on. I like to think with me this close that it's a little of both, but I know I'm only lying to myself. The reality is that I need to be sleeping with one eye open because she's likely to stab me in the middle of the night. Her and the line of others which will probably be headed up by Luca Dunn himself.
"What?" she snaps. Her eyes briefly flicking around my face as if she's looking for differences in me like I have with her.
She's going to be disappointed if she was hoping to find a weakness because in the eighteen months since we last saw each other, I'm only angrier, tougher, stronger, and more hardened to the realities that lie outside of this campus.
There's only one of us who has any kind of weakness here, and only one of us is going to end up broken because of all the mistakes they've made.
The other is getting revenge.
I just wish I knew she was going to be here so I wasn't so blindsided by her.
I continue smiling at her, trying to hide how I really feel.
"It's just like high school again. You're the nerd taking all the notes and I'm—"
"The arrogant, asshole jock intent on failing everything?"
"Ouch, Princess," I say, lifting my hand to cover my heart. "You wound me."
"Fuck off, Kane. I need this class."
"Yeah about that, what happened to—"