Football dude—Bark—flashed me another winning grin, then slid into the empty seat beside me. Of course the seat beside me was empty. I was starting to think I’d just woken up in a clichéd teen movie or some shit.
“Welcome to CRIM 100,” the professor continued, picking up a fresh dry erase marker and turning to the whiteboard as he spoke. “I’m Professor Barker, and before anyone asks, yes, that Neanderthal trying to chat up the prettiest girl in the room is my son, Rhett.” The professor spoke in the kind of way that suggested he had zero intention of making this class easy on his son. In fact, I almost felt sorry for Bark. I’d rather run twenty miles over broken glass than have my father as a professor.
The lecture period flew by so fast I was actually shocked when Professor Barker declared the end and started packing up his things. My laptop was full of notes, and for the first time since stepping foot back into Shadow Grove, I was excited to be home.
11
After Intro to Criminology, I rode an excited high all the way through my next two classes—Intro to Psychology and English Literature—and by the time I made my way to the cafeteria for lunch, I was damn near smiling.
I hadn’t seen Bree yet—our class choices were pretty polar opposite—but on the upside, I also hadn’t seen Steele, Kody, or Archer either.
“You know, for a girl the entire freaking campus is gossiping about, you’re surprisingly hard to track down.” It was Bark again, stepping up beside me as I browsed the lunch options. There were all kinds of salads, some freshly made roast meats, and there were even some shellfish options. Dad had really gone all out on this university… Made me wonder where all the money had come from. Not that Samuel Danvers couldn’t afford to fund something like a brand new, top tier university… just that he wouldn’t.
“I wasn’t aware anyone had been gossiping about me,” I replied with a blatant lie. The whispers had followed me all morning, but I was pretty good at tuning it all out. Let them talk; it didn’t affect me.
Bark laughed, flashing that winning smile at me again and making me want to roll my eyes. I had exactly zero interest in flirting with him, but apparently my resting bitch face was having very little success in dissuading his attention.
“Sure you weren’t,” he said, grinning like we were sharing some kind of joke. We weren’t.
I opened my mouth to tell him as much, but he planted a hand on the counter in front of me, stopping me from walking any further down the buffet.
“What are you doing Friday night, Madison Kate?” he asked, dropping the joking tone but laying the flirting on a whole lot thicker. If that was possible.
I blinked at him a few times, trying to comprehend the fact that he was trying to ask me out. Or that’s what I was assuming. I’d barely actually spoken ten words to this guy, but apparently my reputation preceded me.
Ugh. Crap. My reputation.
I’d be willing to bet money that he wasn’t asking me out based on my reputation as the Riot Night scapegoat and exiled heiress. Nope, that leering twinkle in his almond-brown eyes said it was all about my reputation as a cheap drunk and easy lay. Damn my past promiscuous self.
It was right there on the tip of my tongue to decline. I had no attraction to Bark, and even less inclination to revisit old, slutty-drunk Madison Kate of a year ago. But then someone caught my attention, storming across the cafeteria like a thundercloud.
Deep sigh. Here it goes.
“What the fuck are you wearing?” Archer snarled, shoving Bark aside and getting all up in my personal space like he had no right to do.
Admittedly, I’d kind of known my outfit would set one of them off in some way… except my money had been on Kody trying to get into my pants. Then again, Archer being pissed off and all alpha male might be better.
“Clothes,” I replied, my voice dripping in sass and my hands propped on my hips. “Clothes that your lovely mother left for me, I might add. Is that a problem for you?”
I mean, I was still surprised Steele hadn’t said anything on the drive to school. Then again, Archer definitely had the worst case of BDE—Big Dick Energy—so I should have known it’d be him that had an aneurysm over my tiny pleated skirt, tight white T-shirt, and thigh-high socks worn with high-heeled Mary Janes. I looked like—
“You look like you just stepped out of a schoolgirl porn video,” Archer growled, his blue eyes flashing with so much disdain that it almost made me laugh. Okay, fine, I chuckled out loud. “Go home and change. Now.”
Shrugging, I stepped away from him and flipped my long, rose–colored hair like a pro. “Take it up with Cherry if you don’t like her taste in women’s clothes. In the meantime, I don’t take orders from you. So, you know, fuck right off.”
Brushing him off like he wasn’t still hovering right there, glaring like he could set my clothes on fire with the power of his mind, I grabbed a few items of food and added them to my plate. In fairness, I had no idea what I’d just grabbed because every one of my senses was focused on Archer.
“Madison Kate,” Archer snapped again as I paid for my food on the self-service machine. I continued pretending he wasn’t there and turned back to Bark who was shockingly still standing there with his jaw gaping.
“So sorry, Bark, that was really rude of my new step-brother. You were saying?” I smiled sweetly, indicating he should join me as I made my way to a vacant table and placed my tray down.
He hesitated a moment, shooting his gaze between Archer and me several times before scanning my outfit and clearly deciding I was worth the effort. “Yeah, I was, uh, I was asking you…” He trailed off, glancing over his shoulder nervously. Archer was just a few yards away, glaring at Bark now, and it was making my potential suitor all kinds of uncomfortable.
“You were asking me out, right?” I prompted him, trying to pull his attention back to me. I was going off plan with this, but anything that made the vein in Archer’s temple throb like his head was at risk of exploding seemed like a good tactic.
“You’re acting like a brat, Madison Kate,” Archer informed me—like I wasn’t aware. His fist was clenched at his side, and I smiled sweetly at him.
“Which is it, Archer? A brat or a porn star?”
His gaze darkened with something that spoke to a dark, depraved corner of my soul. “Both.”
Unnerved by the way my heart raced when he said this, I pasted my best forced smile back on my face and batted my lashes at Bark once more. “I’d love to go out on Friday night, Bark.”
“Fuck off, Bark,” Archer snarled.
The preppy footballer looked between us again, then backed away a step. “I’ll, uh, I’ll see you in class, Madison Kate.”
He beat a hasty retreat, and I glared at Archer. Not that I particularly gave a shit about him running Bark off—I would have found some excuse not to turn up on Friday anyway—but he was acting like he had some claim on me.
“Go home and change, Madison Kate,” he ordered me, folding his impressively tattooed arms over his chest, his muscles shifting in a way that would normally make my panties wet.
“With what transportation, D’Ath? I don’t have a car, remember?”