Groaning and uncomfortably sore between my legs, I slung my heavy backpack back on and left Nurse Reller’s clinic.
I’d only made it a few steps down the hall when I heard my name.
“Wait up!” Alex called out, hurrying to catch up with me when I paused. “I’ve been looking for you all week. Where’ve you been?” His brow was furrowed with something bordering on annoyance.
“Classes?” I offered, confused. “And Nurse Reller made me do this whole… thing.” I shuddered, and Alex nodded knowingly.
“Quarterly physicals? Yeah, those suck. Sorry, I thought you knew about them, otherwise I would have warned you.” He tucked his hands into the pockets of his suit pants and gave me a sheepish smile. “But I was trying to find you so I could apologize for the other day.”
“Okay…?” I pursed my lips, waiting.
He stared back at me a moment, then must have understood what I was waiting for.
“So, sorry. It won’t happen again.” His apology was so vague that I narrowed my eyes with suspicion.
“Alex, do you even know what you’re apologizing for?”
“Uh…” he hedged, running a hand through his sun-bleached blond hair. Who even had hair like that when it was snowing and dreary outside? “For… being an ass?”
Wow. He had no clue.
Sucking in a deep breath, I counted to five in my head so that I didn’t end up junk-punching him or something. “Alex,” I said on a heavy exhale. “You were totally rude, entitled, and arrogant, and you scared that poor kid half to death in the library. What happened to the whole idea that everyone was on equal footing here? Or is that just a bullshit line the dean feeds to new students?”
Alex’s eyes had widened at my tirade, and he shook his head. “What? No! That’s not…” He trailed off, frowning. “I guess I was pretty rude. I didn’t mean to be; I’m just…” He waved a hand, grimacing. He’d clearly come to the realization that he had no good defense for his actions.
I had to cut him some slack, though. “You’re used to acting a certain way and having people treat you a certain way.”
Helplessly, he nodded.
“I really am sorry, Violet. No one has ever pointed that out to me before. Can I, uh, I mean, would you let me try again?” He looked so hopeful with those big blue eyes pleading. “I really can help you study, and I promise I’m not as entitled as you think.”
I bit my cheek to keep from scoffing. He was a fucking prince and one of the richest to boot. Yeah, I was pretty sure he was more entitled than I thought, but I was also kind of willing to find out for myself.
Was it terrible that Nurse Reller’s invasive questions about my sex life, and her unasked for contraception, had me thinking about what sex with Alex would be like?
My gaze dropped from his face to his lips, then skated lower to where he’d loosened his school tie. Tanned skin disappeared beneath his collar and—
“Violet?” Alex prompted, and my attention darted back to his face.
Bad Violet. Quit ogling the prince while he’s talking to you!
“Um, yes?” I totally hadn’t heard his question but was too embarrassed to admit I’d been fantasizing about him naked.
His face lit up with a broad smile. “Really? That’s great! I sort of thought Matisse had claimed you for all mealtimes. She can be a bit pushy like that when she likes a girl.”
“Huh?” I was so lost. Mealtimes? Mattie? Wait, had I just agreed to sit with Alex at dinner? Damn it all to hell. This is why we listen when people are asking questions. Now I’d need to deal with Mattie and Nolan being pissed at me, and Rafe… ugh. What was their deal with Alex? Couldn’t we all just… get along?
“You do know Mattie is into chicks, right?” Alex was saying, clearly thinking my confusion was about that part of his sentence. “She’s totally crushing on you. Not that I can blame her, seeing as I am, too.”
That had me stopping dead in the hallway.
“What?”
Alex’s cheeks tinted pink, like he hadn’t meant to say that out loud. “What? I kinda thought that part was obvious.”
I shook my head. This conversation was getting way out of hand. “No, I mean, yeah I knew Mattie was not totally straight.” I used her words exactly. “But we’re just friends, nothing more.”
Alex shrugged like he didn’t totally believe me. “Okay.”
A smile pulled at my lips, and I watched him shift awkwardly from foot to foot.
“And yeah, I sort of figured you were interested in being more than just study buddies.”
He smiled, his eyes dropping for a beat. “You figured right.”
Alex was again staring at me in this intense way that I would have enjoyed had my vagina not been protesting loudly at me. The fuck? That nurse was on my shit list, and I was going to hide the next time I saw her bitch face coming.
“Want me to walk you to your room?” Alex said, not noticing my discomfort. “You can drop off the books you don’t need, and we’ll start your schoolwork. I don’t have soccer today—Coach has some meetings, so it’s a rare day off.”
“I’ll meet you at the library in thirty minutes,” I said, really wanting some time to myself. I needed to shower off the invasiveness of that medical procedure and hopefully track down some painkillers.
Alex frowned, but knowing he was still on rocky ground with me, didn’t push. “Okay, sure. I’ll find us a table. An available table.” He tacked onto the end.
I couldn’t help a smile; he was adorable sometimes. A complete dick others. Vast improvement to Rafe, who was a dick all the time.
“See you soon,” I said, waving as I hurried off, trying not to wince as I walked.
Alex didn’t notice though, already walking as well with students calling out to him as he passed. Yeah, it wasn’t hard to see where his arrogance came from. The crown royals grew up knowing they owned the world.
When I made it to my hallway, I slowed down. The pain had dulled, less stabbing, but I could feel dampness on my underwear, and I had a sneaking suspicion I might be bleeding a little.
What the heck had she done? Hacked me up?
I only had thirty minutes to get back to Alex, so I couldn’t linger in the hall. Hauling my bag higher, I wiggled my shoulders to relieve the tension and started to walk again.
“Violet!”
That one word, it was a snap of command, and I gritted my teeth. Someone fucking hated me today because I could not catch a break.
Rafe and Jordan were striding toward me; somehow I’d missed them in the hall. I was all kinds of distracted today.
Rafe stopped right in front of me, intimidatingly close, while Jordan hung back just a little. “Who hurt you?” Rafe demanded.
I swallowed hard, confusion no doubt marring my brow because I had no fucking idea what he was talking about.
“Sorry, what?”
His hand twitched at his side, like he was going to reach out for me, and for a single, desperate moment, I wondered what would happen if he touched me.
“You’re moving like you’re in pain,” he said slowly, eyes locked on mine, intensity radiating from him.
What in the...