Page 5 of Gilded Fake

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” she said. “It’s just… You’re not how I thought you’d be.”

“You’ve thought about fucking me before?” I asked with a grin, lifting my arm behind her head again.

She made a face. “God no. You’re like gum on the bottom of the shoes of the guys I pull.”

I just shook my head. “It’s Bye Week, Butterfly. You can be real and stop faking it one fucking moment of your life, can’t you?”

“Fine,” she said with a dramatic sigh. “I just meant you were different than I thought you’d be when we came in here today.”

“How so?” I asked, turning my head to see her face.

“Nothing,” she said, tracing her finger down the center of my abs. “It’s dumb.”

“I just licked your asshole,” I reminded her. “I think we’re past being shy.”

one

Rumor Has It… A certain member of the elite didn’t come home last night. Has this year’s new elite found love at last, or is he out sowing his wild oats?

Gloria Walton

I’m turning the combination on my locker when yelling echoes down the hall of Willow Heights.

“Damn,” Harper says from beside me. “Looks like your boy got busted.”

My stomach lurches, and I spin around, expecting Colt for one careening second, until my brain catches up with my heart. Colt is not my boy. Harper doesn’t even know about yesterday’s locker room episode.

“You’ll stand like a queen before me.”

My mouth goes dry, and my pulse stops, but Harper’s too busy watching Rylan being escorted down the hall by our two resource officers, the headmaster, and his assistant to notice. The resource officers grip his elbows while he wrestles valiantly to free himself.

“Get your hands off me,” he yells. “I didn’t do anything. It was him.” He snarls the last word, glaring bloody murder at someone hidden by a locker door.

I know who he’s blaming. I’ve avoided looking at that locker for so long it’s embedded in my mind deeper than if I stared at it day and night. I didn’t like to see her gloating in triumph even before she took me down. She already had Colt, and that was hard enough, especially because he’s always beside her, loyal as only love can make a man. Now… Now it’s worse than last year.

Someone knocks the door closed, and Colt comes into view, leaning casually against the locker like nothing’s happening, even as Dixie gapes, gagging with anticipation at the latest gossip fodder for her blog. She’s friends with Rylan now, as apparently they both think they’re edgy and different from the others in the elite group, even though they’re exactly the same minus a few superficial details. That won’t save him from the same fate as the rest of us, though. If she’d throw her own boyfriend under the bus for a juicy tidbit, there’s no hope for my ex.

“I’m going to kill you,” Rylan snarls, lurching in the grip of the officers, like he’s going to go after Colt.

Colt looks less than impressed by his efforts. “You might want to watch what you say in front of the admin,” he says, his voice echoing down the hallway, which is dead silent as everyone watches the procession, eager for this week’s drama. “Did I hear a death threat?”

“I didn’t do anything,” Rylan seethes. “You can’t prove anything. But you—you—”

“Yes?” Colt asks, cocking a brow and crossing his arms, waiting for Rylan’s response. “What did I do?”

“You know what you did,” Rylan says through clenched teeth. “And you’re going to pay for it.”

“Sounds like you’re threatening me,” Colt drawls. “Though I have no idea what for. But there are an awful lot of witnesses, Ry-Ry. You sure that’s a good idea?”

“What you did—” Rylan starts, then sees me and breaks off.

I smile and give him my cutest little wave. Whatever Colt did, I’m sure he deserved it.

He twists around in the grip of the admin as they drag him down the hall, throwing a glare over his shoulder at Colt again. “You locked me in a room all night. That’s kidnapping! Imprisonment! I’ll have you arrested, you fucking freak!”

“Oh, I’m not too worried about it,” Colt says, pushing off the locker. “After all those threats, I’m sure they’ll need to check your locker for weapons.”

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