Page 22 of Snitches and Serpents

Her brows are slightly furrowed, and it looks like she is clenching her jaw.

I scowl at her.

What could she possibly have to be tense about? Her entire life is a fucking walk in the park. She has never had to worry about her future. Never had to worry about how she was going to afford to attend university. Never had to worry about how to get out from underneath crippling debt.

Elle Summers has never had to learn what it’s like to live with a near constant pressure. Pressure to succeed. The constant pressure to live up to someone else’s expectations, because if you don’t, they will take away your future. If she had known just how hard I worked to get that full scholarship from Bercester U, then she would never have destroyed it all with a few careless words. Or maybe she would have. Because why would she care?

Bitterness washes over me.

Tearing my gaze from her sleeping form, I shake my head in disgust and instead sneak over to the set of drawers. Elle might have breezed through life up until today. But now, she is about to learn just how difficult it can be when you have no real support system.

After carefully moving aside some neatly folded sweaters, I hide a few small bags underneath them. Then I check to make sure that everything looks untouched. Satisfied, I give myself a nod and then straighten again.

Fabric rustles behind me.

My heart jerks, and I whirl towards the bed.

Elle is moving.

For a brief second, I’m completely frozen.

But then I notice that her eyes are still closed.

A tiny groan escapes her lips as she kicks off the cover and turns slightly on her side. The moment she has finished, that tense expression on her face eases up a little. As if she can breathe easier now.

I watch her. Several conflicting emotions swirl inside my chest.

That perfect image of her lying on her back with her arms by her side and the cover pulled up has now been shattered. With the cover gone, I can see her clothes. She sleeps in a thin silk top and a pair of tiny shorts in the same material. Both of them are a pale pink color and have an elegant look to them. But the top has slid up her stomach and the shorts have twisted a little around her thighs. It makes her look… messier.

Every time I have seen her, she has always been immaculately dressed and perfectly composed. Even back when we were in high school, it always filled me with the most irrational irritation. I just wanted to stalk up to her and mess up her hair and rumple her clothes. Which is why I couldn’t stop myself from doing just that yesterday.

Originally, I had just planned to show up to her house and walk her to school as a way to make her housemates angry with her. But then I saw her in that stylish dress, and I just couldn’t help myself. I just had to shatter that perfect façade and see if there was a real human being underneath that robotic exterior.

And the way she reacted to what I did back in that alley… surprised me.

The way she shivered when I brushed my hands over her neck. The way she almost seemed to lose track of reality when I slid my hands into her hair. The way her voice turned breathless when she spoke. It was not at all what I had expected. And it affected me too.

Though in truth, what affected me the most was what she looked like when I was done. When her collar was unbuttoned and her hair was messy and her clothes were torn… She looked hot.

Just like she does now.

Standing there two steps away, I watch her as she lies there on her side among the messy sheets.

She is extraordinarily pretty. She always has been. And her body is the perfect mixture of soft curves and sleek, toned muscle.

Another wave of bitterness crawls up my throat.

Yeah, Elle Summers is hot.

Too bad she’s a rat.

Turning on my heel, I leave the little snitch in her bed and make my way back to the open window in the other room. After climbing down the wall again, I drop to the ground on the grass outside the house.

Soft winds tug at my clothes as I hurry back down the street. But when I reach my house, I pass right by it and instead head for the main campus area. I have one more mission to complete tonight. Then I can finally get some sleep.

I have classes, important classes, in the morning and I need to be well rested. Initially, I had planned to do this last night. The night right after I ruined her clothes and her lunch. But Bracken called me in for work, which caused me to lose most of the time I needed for my studies. So I had to push it to today.

The roads are dark and deserted around me as I make my way up to the small building where campus police have their offices, but I still check over my shoulder to make sure that no one is watching me as I slip an anonymous tip in through the slot in their door.

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