I turned back to Blake with a smile, gliding my fingers over his arm. “I don’t care if they like me, golden boy.” I ran my hand all the way up to his shoulder, his muscles flexing beneath my touch.
“But you care if I do, right?” he growled like he needed to know the answer to that.
I leaned in close to his ear, a smile pulling at my mouth as I prepared to tease the hell out of him. “No, not really.”
I turned and walked away to join Mila in one half of the class, scooping up a dodgeball and preparing to get some revenge on Saint and Kyan. Blake wasn’t deterred and he crossed the room to join my team too.
“You okay, girl?” Mila asked, her brows pinched in concern.
“I’m fine,” I said firmly, casually tossing my hair over my shoulder in case anyone around me was sniffing for weaknesses.
“Monroe always does that shit to newbies. Although, you’re the first one I’ve seen fight back. You were lucky they were playing nice.” She grinned at me and I broke a smile.
My dad had taught me to scream, kick and bite if I ever got backed into a corner by an enemy. But the key was to never get cornered to start with. So if the Night Keepers were intent on testing me tonight, I had to be ready for whatever their initiation involved. Because if that was an example of the boys playing nice, I wasn’t looking forward to finding out what it was like when they played dirty.
The dodgeball game was as savage as expected with this bloodthirsty lot. Eric Balthers was the first to be sent to the nurse when Kyan Roscoe slammed a ball into his face hard enough to break his nose and Kirstin Effers followed him as Blake Bowman’s ball took out the backs of her knees and she fell hard on her elbow.
I was sure she hadn’t broken it, but I couldn’t stand a crier so I’d sent her scurrying off too. She could wipe her snotty nose and dry her damn eyes good and proper before she came back into my class. No. Thank you.
I watched the princess as she darted around the sports hall. Her aim was good and she had the cutthroat instincts she’d need if she expected to survive this place. She wasn’t even afraid to go up against the top dogs and I suppressed a smirk as she aimed a ball perfectly, catching Saint Memphis square in the back of the head. It was against the rules to hit above the shoulders, but I didn’t give a shit about enforcing that particular rule. Especially for him.
Saint swung around with the glint of the devil in his eye as he snatched up a ball of his own and threw it back at her with his full strength. The princess didn’t even flinch, planting her feet and catching that motherfucker like a pro. She stumbled back a step, but it was clean.
“You’re out, Memphis!” I shouted, punctuating it with a blast of my whistle.
Saint stalked from the game with a heat in his expression directed at Tatum which said he was gonna kill her or fuck her. Maybe both. I just hoped she didn’t lose that spark in her eyes once she fell prey to him and his friends. Which she would. The Night Keepers weren’t even trying to hide the fact that she’d become their latest infatuation and the sad truth was, that probably wouldn’t end well for her.
I glanced at my watch as we closed in on the end of the lesson and released two short blasts on my whistle to call time on the game.
“Next time, let’s see if any of you can actually dodge the balls,” I growled, letting them see my disappointment in the piss poor effort I’d just seen from most of them. There were a few exceptions to that, but I didn’t hand out praise like candies at halloween. If they wanted my flattery, they’d need to do something a lot more impressive than be good at a game designed for kids.
Blake Bowman cupped his hands around his mouth and crowed like a rooster to celebrate his team’s victory, running over to Tatum and slapping her a high five. In all honesty, I hadn’t bothered to keep track of the score so I had no idea if they’d really won. Who gave a shit anyway? Aside from Blake of course. That kid had to win something at least five times a day to keep his ego propped up and he invented competitions for himself to win if there weren’t enough real ones to keep him satisfied.
Kyan Roscoe strolled up to me, re-tying his top knot as he offered me a dark smile. “Are you free tomorrow night, Nash?” he asked me casually like we were old friends instead of student and teacher.
“It’s Monroe around the other students,” I reminded him, rolling my eyes. Not that he ever listened.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Actually I’ve got a hot date,” I joked. The only chance of that would be if I went off campus, and with the staff meeting planned for tonight I’d have to do an extra workout tomorrow to stick to my goals so there wasn’t much likelihood of that. Besides, the closest town was ten miles away and it wasn’t exactly filled with bars and nightlife. No, once I set foot on campus I basically got to say goodbye to my dating life until the holidays.
“Yeah. With me. I promise to treat you real nice before I get you on your back and start pounding you,” he joked and I snorted a laugh.
“You know I prefer being on top,” I replied, earning me a heated look from Pearl Devickers as she walked by. I swear that girl could scent testosterone from a mile off and always came panting like a bitch on heat at the slightest whiff. I cleared my throat as Kyan laughed. “Fuck off before you get me into trouble.”
“Yes, sir,” he said mockingly as he backed away. “Tomorrow at nine?”
“I’ll text you. I do have other students to teach, you know?”
He nodded, hiding his smile as he headed away after his friends. It wouldn’t matter if I told him to meet me at four am, he’d still show. Kyan was even more addicted to training than I was and he was damn good at it too. It didn’t hurt that our little sessions earned me a cut of his illegal brawl winnings either. Although officially I didn’t know anything about those of course.
I folded my arms and watched as all of the students headed away to the locker rooms to get changed.
The princess fell into step with Mila Cruz, laughing her head off once again as she sashayed out of the gymnasium without so much as a backwards glance.
My jaw ticked as I waited for her to remember her rendezvous with me, but she just kept walking. And walking. And fucking laughing.
I blew out a long breath through my nose and started counting to one hundred as I gave her one final chance to realise her mistake.
One, two, three…
What was it about these jumped up little rich kids that made them believe they were so superior? Was it the solid gold diapers they wore to catch their shit as babies or the thoroughbred ponies they were gifted for their fifth birthdays?
Twenty six, twenty seven, twenty eight…
Maybe it wasn’t the stuff though. Perhaps it was the careless way Daddy ignored the cleaning lady or the look Mommy got on her face whenever the bellboy dared to open his mouth.
Forty one, forty two, forty three…
It could be the casual way their parents tossed hundred dollar bills out as tips as if they weren’t even worth the paper they were printed on.
Seventy five, seventy six, seventy seven…
Maybe it was all of those things, but I had another theory. I was willing to bet it was the way their parents just made problems magically go away. DUI? Sorry Officer, maybe I can just pay the fine this time and we can forget the paperwork. Disgruntled employee? Just talk to my team of lawyers, they can wrap up your issues in a mountain of red tape and you can sign an NDA for good measure.