Slowly, the room filled with chatter once more and I tried to ignore the ache in my scalp from where Saint had yanked on my hair. I also tried to ignore how much that had weirdly turned me on. I definitely didn’t have a thing for public humiliation, but hair pulling…yeah I could grow to like that. Preferably behind closed doors and with less clothes on – fuck what am I thinking? Those boys were bad news. I’d always had a bit of the devil in me and if I wasn’t careful, I’d end up letting it lead me to sin.
If I screwed a guy on campus, I was gonna have to see him every day for the rest of the year. This wasn’t what I was used to. So I needed to adapt to my new environment and start being smart about my life choices.
The bell finally rang to announce the start of classes and I breathed an internal sigh of relief. Holy shit, it’s only breakfast on day one and I’ve managed to incur the wrath of a demi-god.
I’d already registered for classes yesterday afternoon and had my timetable in place. P.E. was the my first lesson of the day so I headed out of the hall with Mila as she led the way towards the Acacia Sports Hall.
She bumped shoulders with me as we walked, throwing me a smirk. “You’d better watch yourself with those boys, girl. I mean it. I’ve got balls of iron too, but I’ve seen what happens to those who piss off the Night Keepers.”
I fought a tsk as we headed around the edge of the lake and students split off in every direction towards their classes.
“I was kinda aiming to disarm them, not piss them off,” I said innocently. “Blake didn’t seem to mind.”
“Blake is a fuckboy with a one track mind. He’ll covet you, adore you, make you his one and only until he gets your legs spread. Once he’s had a girl, he loses interest. And I don’t just mean he ghosts her. He fucking zombies her. She might as well be the undead clawing at his window for the heartless treatment she’ll get.”
“Have you…” I raised an eyebrow and she released a hollow laugh.
“Fuck no. I don’t mess with Night Keepers. I mean sure, I would if they weren’t fifty shades of fucking psycho. But trust me, you’re safer to keep away from them and date normal hot guys. Play to their rules, keep out of their hair and you’ll have a sweet life here at Everlake. Have you seen how many dudes have checked you out in the past five seconds?” She gestured to a group of senior boys who glanced back over their shoulders at us as they walked by. One of them had his eyes pinned on Mila; he was blonde, tall, a typical jock with his killer smile which was aimed right at my roommate.
I glanced at her, finding her grinning right back at him. “Who’s that?” I asked, nudging her as he jogged off with his friends.
“Danny Harper. He’s on the football team,” she said with a devilish look in her eyes. “We hooked up at the end of year party before summer.”
“He’s cute,” I commented.
“He’s got a big dick too,” she said with a wild laugh. “He doesn’t quite know how to use it yet, but I plan on teaching him.”
I laughed along with her as she started describing the exact length, colour, texture and girth of the guy’s dick. That mental image hadn’t exactly been asked for, but she was clearly the oversharing type. And I was more than happy for the distraction from the Night Keepers. With dick chat or otherwise.
We headed down a track into the trees and the hazy morning light filtered through the canopy above us. The air was sweet and crisp and finally brought the heat of my body back down to a normal temperature.
A huge grey stone building appeared ahead of us, beyond which I caught a glimpse of a large running track and the edge of the football stadium. I noticed a bunch of students were waiting by the glass doors of the sports hall and frowned as two of them rushed forward to open them wide, yet no one moved.
My breathing hitched as someone shouldered their way past me and I scowled at the back of Saint’s head as he strode toward the entrance, followed closely by Kyan who was rolling his shoulders like he was limbering up for a fight.
Blake caught my arm and I turned to him surprise, my heart thumping to a frantic rhythm in my chest.
“Here, fledgling,” he breathed in my ear, his addictive scent making me wet my lips on instinct. He took my hand, placing something slim and hard in it before curling my fingers around it.
“Tell her what it means,” he instructed Mila before giving me a wicked smile and following the other two Keepers into the sports hall.
“Are they for real right now?” I murmured as the other students headed in after them then lifted my hand to see what Blake had given me.
A sharp white object lay in my palm and I frowned as I tried to figure out what it was.
“It’s a chicken bone,” Mila supplied and I grimaced.
“Ew.” I went to toss it into the bushes, but she caught my arm with a gasp, clamping my hand closed around it.
“It’s your entrance pass to the party tonight. They won’t let you in without it. And if you can’t get in, you can’t initiate.”
“Mila,” I groaned. “I’m not taking part in some stupid hazing shit. I don’t want to be initiated.”
“If you refuse, you’ll automatically go on their shit list.” She sprang in front of me, stopping me in my tracks with a firm glare. “And what did I tell you about people who go on their shit list?”
I rolled my eyes in answer.
“Tatum,” she pushed.
I released a breath of frustration. “You said something about Blake being a butcher.”
“He’s vicious. They all are,” she insisted, her dark eyes suddenly full of concern. “Do what they say and they’ll leave you alone.”
“You sound like you’re afraid of them,” I dropped my voice as the last of the students headed inside.
“I am,” she breathed. “I’m not a pussy, girl, but those guys are dangerous. This is my last warning, okay? Heed it.”
I gazed down at the bone in my hand and sighed, tucking it into my pocket. “Fine, I’ll do their dumb initiation, but I’m not gonna start opening doors for them like some spineless idiot.”
“Yeah those dudes live really sad lives,” Mila sighed then glanced away like she wasn’t telling me something. Did she mean sad like miserable or sad like pathetic?
We headed inside and I frowned at her as she twisted a lock of hair between her fingers, ignoring my probing looks. I clearly wasn’t gonna get more out of her than that.
A huge glass wall ahead of us looked into the enormous sports hall where bleachers sat at one end, overlooking the basketball court in the middle. We peeled off to the right into the girls’ locker room and I headed through the flashy space which had silver lockers with honest-to-shit fingerprint scanners.
Mila helped me set up mine and I tossed my stuff inside before stripping down and changing into the green sports skirt, sports bra and white tank top I’d been given at registration. The word Everlake was printed across the tank in bold green lettering. It was too big for me so I tied a knot in the bottom of it, showing off my summer glow stomach beneath it. That glow was gonna be sapped away by layers and layers of winter clothes soon enough, so I might as well let it shine while I still could.
We headed out of the room towards the basketball court and I almost made it inside before I realised I’d forgotten an elastic for my hair. I told Mila then turned back and slammed straight into a solid wall of muscle, stumbling back a step in alarm. I recognised the Viking asshole who’d fallen over my suitcase as he stared down his perfectly straight nose at me, his sharp blue eyes feeling like they were cutting into my flesh. His dark blonde hair was long enough to tuck behind his ears and his jaw was lined with stubble. The enticing scent of pine sailed from him and almost tempted me to lean closer.