Page 1 of Lords of the Campus

1

LYRIC

Crestwood Academy, two years ago.

As I ring the doorbell, I swallow, the metallic taste in my mouth a reminder of the bitter thing I’m about to have to do.

“Hey, Lyric, the boys are upstairs,” Beanie says as she answers the door. The sound of old-school pop-punk filters from the landing and I give Beanie a weak smile, trying to pretend everything is fine.

Archer’s housekeeper waves me off as I climb the stairs and my mind flashes back to the last time I was here, before everything went sideways.

It was the night after prom, the three of us giggling and stumbling as we climbed the steps to Archer’s house after getting buzzed on wine coolers in the limo.

“Shh,” Archer says, putting a finger to my lips as he unlocks the door. “Mom and Dad are asleep. We can’t be too noisy.”

My mouth opens, swallowing around Archer’s finger. Impulse is reigning supreme tonight, and I desperately want to give in, to finally taste the forbidden fruit.

“Shit, Lyric,” Archer swears, his eyes going straight to my finger.

I grab his hand and pull the finger out, looking up at him. “I want you,” I whisper. “You and Levi, and Zane. All three of you. I don’t want to choose.”

“Baby, we won’t make you choose,” Zane says, brushing a curl behind my ear as he leans down to kiss me. “We’ve all wanted you for so long. None of us are selfish enough to make you choose.”

This close, I can smell the scent of Zane’s aftershave and hear the beating of his heart. I lean into him, reaching a hand out to cup Levi’s face.

“Are you sure?” I ask, hoping this fairy tale will finally come true.

“We’re so sure,” Levi assures me. “All three of us want you, Lyric Shaw. And tonight, you’re ours.”

We head up the stairs, the three of them kissing me and tugging at my clothes as we get closer and closer to Archer’s bedroom, to the point of no return.

At the time, I was so excited, but so scared. Now, I’m just scared. I have to face them. I have to tell them something important.

As I reach Archer’s bedroom, the door flies open and Levi comes out, grabbing me by my arm. “We’ve been waiting for you, Lyric,” he says, tugging me inside.

The two of us crash together on Archer’s bed while Zane gives me a lazy wave from the window seat, blowing a puff of smoke out the open window.

“Laurie is going to have a fit if she catches you smoking again,” I warn him. Zane shrugs, too relaxed to care.

“Listen to this, Lyric,” Archer says, clicking on a video on YouTube as a song begins to play. Strains of Fleetwood Mac filterthrough the speakers and I lean back, cuddling Levi as he strokes my hair.

“I need to tell you guys something,” I say, nausea rising inside me as I try to brace myself for the fallout.

“Can it wait until after the pep rally?” Zane asks.

“Yeah, we got a fuckin’ epic prank planned, Songbird,” Archer says, abandoning the computer to crawl up the bed and lie on the other side of me. “We wanna start our senior year off with a bang.”

“Just wait until you see what we have planned, Songbird,” Zane says with a grin, taking another hit before setting it down on a plate and coming to join us. “It’s going to freak everyone out, but it’ll be totally worth it.”

“Sure,” I say, smoothing a hand over the leg of my jeans. “It can wait.”

“Sweet.” Archer grins, leaning down to kiss me, making my head spin. I’m still not used to the casual affection between us, the way they so easily touch and take from me when before, we were all so guarded.

“I wish I could join the prank,” I tell them, “but my senior year is next year.”

“Don’t worry,” Levi says, draping his arm over me. “We’ll still take you to your senior prom. And then all four of us will move in together when you start school with us after that.”

It sounded so nice, so neatly thought out. But after today, I don’t know if they’ll still want the same future.

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