Concern brushed his face as his smile faltered. “Is it bad still? Should you be back in class?”
Is it bad still…
Uh…
Had he already forgotten the myriad of bruises and cuts that had scattered my skin like a patchwork quilt? It had been two and a half days. I mean, I was good, but not even I could heal that fast.
“I’m fine,” I said softly, deciding I was being too harsh. I could see his concern. And he couldn’t feel my pain to really know.
Breakfast was quiet and kind of tense. Alex being at this table had a lot of gossip flowing around the room, and it caused the usual inhabitants of this table to bail early.
“Finally alone,” Alex said with a smirk once Mattie skipped out.
“No one can clear a room like you, babe,” I said.
Alex’s lips twitched. “Babe?”
I rolled my eyes to cover my own awkward embarrassment. “You called me beautiful, so I thought I’d test it out.”
He grinned widely, but his gaze was firmly locked on my lips. “I like it. I like anything you want to call me.”
His lips met mine in a kiss firm enough to make me gasp. Not just because he was kissing me in the middle of the dining room, but because my split lip was still healing and it kind of hurt.
Still, nothing in this world could make me stop kissing Alex.
“I’ll see you at practice today?” he asked when we finally parted. His breathing was labored, and I could see the hard evidence of his arousal straining against his uniform trousers. The way he looked at me while his thumb stroked my cheek… it was honestly like I was the only girl in the entire world.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” I murmured back, my voice dripping with desire. “Pretty sure the Arbon Royals is my favorite thing about this school.”
Oh yeah. The academy team was legitimately called the Royals. Arrogance ran deep in these families.
Alex’s brows quirked up. “The whole team?”
My mind played images of hot, sweaty, muscular boys kicking around a ball, and I bit my lip. Yeah, dude. The whole freaking team. But that was my raging hormones talking, so I gave Alex an indulgent smile and kissed his lips softly.
“Okay, one player in particular.” Lies.
The smile on my boyfriend’s face made that small truth-stretch worthwhile, though.
“I’m walking you to class,” he said firmly as we picked up our bags and walked hand in hand out of the dining room. Whispers followed us like a swarm of bees, but I couldn’t give two shits.
I smiled, bubbling with confidence from his very public displays of affection. Claudette and her lackies had tried to break me, and they’d fucking failed. They could all kiss my damn ass.
“No, it’s okay,” I told him, “Your class is nowhere near mine and I’ll be fine. Go and learn stuff, I’ll be in my usual spot this afternoon.” I’d only attended three of his practices, but I was already thinking of my seat in the sports area as my seat. Yep, I was falling hard and fast.
Alex hesitated, but something in my face must have convinced him, because he relented. “Okay, but message me when you’re at your desk.” I nodded, and then he kissed me one more time like no one was watching, before he headed toward his class.
For a moment I stood there pressing my fingers to my lips and basking in the glow he’d stoked in me. It didn’t take long for the whispers to start dampening my mood, though, so I headed off to my own class.
Chapter 20
“Dear sweet baby kittens,” Mattie sighed, slouching in the seat beside me as she fanned herself. “Have I told you lately how much I love this sport?” Her eyes were firmly glued to the field, and her cheeks held a pinkish tint.
I snickered a laugh, clicking the cap back on my old-school ink pen and closing my workbook over it. Accessing eBooks on my palm reader was a blessing for my aching shoulders, but now that I had access to paper and pens, I was a little bit in love with writing my homework out by hand.
“I can’t imagine why,” I replied with heavy sarcasm. “But you are aware that kittens are already baby cats, right? There’s no such thing as a baby kitten.”
Mattie tore her eyes away from the players just long enough to give me a confused frown. “What?”
I sighed. “Never mind. How come you’re here, anyway? I thought you had debate meetings on Fridays.” It’d been five days since Alex had kissed me in the dining room, and we’d been the hot topic around the academy since. While I loved the fact that he wasn’t afraid to be seen with me, that he wasn’t sneaking around with the scholarship student like I was a dirty secret, it kind of made me uneasy. I felt like it had been less of a spontaneous expression of his feelings and more of a political move. Claiming ownership.
Mattie shrugged. “Yeah, I didn’t feel like going. Figured you might like some company out here.”
I laughed and arched a brow at her, but she wasn’t even looking at me. Her gaze was back on the field where the guys were splitting up into two teams for a practice match. They had a big game tomorrow against Tsinghua—a rival school from the kingdom of Beijing.
Apparently the players had warmed up enough—and the arena was kept at a pleasant enough temperature—that instead of marking one team with a tag, they’d opted for something far more eye-popping. Shirts vs skins. Yep. There were eleven delicious, ripped royals stripping their shirts off just twenty yards from us.
“Holy shit,” I muttered, forcing my jaw to maintain its correct position on my face and not drop to the ground.
Mattie snickered a laugh. “See, I knew you liked the bad boys.”
My cheeks heated because she knew exactly where I was staring. Rafe. Or more specifically, Rafe’s myriad of colorful tattoos that seemed to hug his defined muscles in a way that should be illegal. He was so far removed from the refined prince, and I fucking loved that about him. If only his personality was better...
“Oh, I wouldn’t call Nolan a bad boy. He’s just misunderstood.” I said it so innocently, shifting my gaze to Mattie’s twin quickly enough that when she spun around to glare at me, I was staring in the right direction.
Actually, come to think of it, Nolan had a seriously banging body. Fucking hell, was this a requirement of being rich? Be uber sexy and possess the ability to melt a girls panties at five hundred feet?
“Gross, girl,” Mattie objected, wrinkling her nose, “Don’t ogle my twin unless you’re willing to ogle me, too.” She shot me a teasing wink so I knew she was at least partly joking. Still. Nolan was hot.
“Whatever, I’m not here to perv on the guys,” I informed her with a superior tone. “I need to get this economics paper finished to turn in this afternoon.”
Mattie screwed up her face at me. “That’s not due until Monday, overachiever.”
I laughed. “Yes, I know. But with the game tomorrow, then Alex asked me if I’d keep Sunday free for him…” I trailed off with a small shrug.
Mattie coughed a sound. “Uh, he asked you to do what? Why?”
My cheeks flamed, and I dodged her scrutinizing gaze. “If you must know… he wants to go to a hotel.”
Her jaw dropped as she read between the not-so-subtle lines. “He scheduled a time to fuck you?” she snorted with laughter. “Oh my god, that’s so Alex.”