Page 10 of Wicked Waters

The conversation segued into something about hair-drying techniques, so I tuned them back out. From the sound of it, Quinn hadn’t told anyone about the part I’d played in her dunking. At least she was smart enough to keep it quiet.

For a moment there, when I’d broken the surface of the water and seen her standing frozen, staring at me with that look in her eyes, I’d forgotten the way she’d acted towards me. Forgotten that I needed to punish her. And when I’d had her pressed up against me, all soft and pliant, it had taken every bit of willpower I had not to just rip off those fucking leggings that showed off the curves of her long legs and sink my cock inside her. She would’ve taken it, too. Probably even begged me for it.

Then I’d remembered what she’d said to me. Throwing her in the lake had been an impulsive decision, but she made me irrational. Made my head spin, telling me one thing one day, then begging me to kiss her the next. No, Quinn Farrow deserved to be punished. I knew that no one loved me, that despite the way I looked, I’d never have a close connection with someone. I tried not to think about it, managed to ignore it most of the time, but then Quinn had come along and reminded me of everything I wanted to forget. And she’d made it crystal clear just what I meant to her when she’d told me I needed to forget she existed.

I wasn’t going to let that happen. The lake was just the beginning.

By the time lessons were over for the day, the word had spread around the school, and every time I saw Quinn, she had a murderous look on her face directed at me. Good.

It wasn’t enough, though.

I cornered Tristan in the common room after dinner. Knox was down in the creepy crypts with his girlfriend, Elena, so it was just the two of us.

“Hey, Tris, can I have a word?”

He glanced up from the TV screen, meeting my gaze. “Yeah. What’s up?”

“Over here.”

When we were in a corner of the room away from the others, I shoved my hands in my pockets, leaning back against the wall. “Did you give Quinn her phone back?”

He shook his head. “Not yet.”

“Okay, good.” It was time to put the first steps of my plan into place. “You know how Blaine was talking about going down to the beach for the bank holiday weekend? What do you say we take him up on that and invite a few others?”

“I can already see where this is going.” He shook his head with a sigh, but I caught the wry grin that he was trying to hide. “Let me guess. You want me to get Quinn to come. This is a bad idea, you know.”

“Yeah, but we’re doing it.”

When he gave me a resigned nod, I called Blaine over. He was a guy that I knew from the diving club, plus he was a friend of Tristan and Knox. I hadn’t seen him much lately because despite the fact I was a fucking strong swimmer and diver, I’d been kicked off both the swim and diving teams the previous year, and I’d been banned from reapplying this year. Banned from applying for anything else, in fact. The lacrosse team was the only extracurricular activity I was still allowed to be involved in at this school. The only reason I’d been allowed to stay in it was because I was really fucking good, and the truth was, the number of players that were on my level could be counted on one hand. That, and the competitive nature of Hatherley Hall—the desire to outrank the other schools and come out on top—was stronger than the desire to punish me for my transgressions.

“Hey, mate.” I grinned at him. “Still planning on that beach trip for the bank holiday weekend?”

His face lit up. “Yeah. You coming?”

“Yep. How do you feel about me bringing a few friends? I can sweeten the deal with some contraband.”

“No need. The beach house is fully stocked. But yeah, the more the merrier. We’ve got the space.”

Throwing my arm over his shoulders, I lowered my voice conspiratorially. “There’s a girl. I want her to come, too, but I don’t want her to be pressured into showing up. I want her to realise it’s gonna be a good weekend that she doesn’t want to miss.”

He gave me an evil grin. “Leave it with me. Who is she, and what do you need me to do?”

I glanced over at Tristan, who raised a brow at me. “Well…we have this phone, and we need it to sound like you found it lying outside on the ground…”

When Blaine returned to the common room around fifteen minutes later, he headed straight for me. “Done. Now we have a whole group of girls coming, and I kept your name out of it. I gave the phone to the scary short girl.”

Tristan snorted. “Aria?”

“The one and only.”

I noticed Tristan pretending to study the window intently. “Is she coming?” His voice radiated disinterest, but he was so transparent.

“No. Or, more accurately, ‘Fuck no. Why would I want to come?’” He laughed. “Nah, she said she had shit to do this weekend.”

“I see,” Tristan murmured before changing the subject. “Okay. Who else is coming, and how many cars do we have?”

I left them to make plans and headed out of the common room. Coincidentally, the path to my and Tristan’s room led straight past Quinn’s dorm room. If you took a detour in the opposite direction, that was.

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