Page 102 of Cruel Riches

“He’s been great,” I blurted out. “He brings me food when I need it. Cleans up for me. Keeps me alive.”

It wasn’t entirely untrue.

“It’s the least I can do,” Nate said, leaning down to plant another quick kiss on my cheek. “You’ve had such a rough time lately.”

Ruby smiled. “I had no idea you were such a sweetheart, Nate,” she said, playfully smacking his chest.

“I’m usually not,” he said, lifting a brow. “But you know what Alexis is like. Stone cold fox. If I didn’t treat her like a queen, she’d throw me in the trash.”

Ruby giggled, cheeks flushing pink.

Laurel wasn’t so easily fooled by his shallow charms. She wrinkled her nose at him and then looked back at me. “Are you coming back soon?” she asked. “Or have you dropped the whole semester?”

“I don’t know yet,” I said, nervously twisting my fingers. “I haven’t really thought about it.”

“You’ve only missed a couple of weeks, so I think you could catch up easily enough if you wanted to.”

I nodded slowly. “Maybe. I’ll see how I feel in a few days.”

“I’ll email you my notes just in case.”

“I wish my friends were as nice as yours,” Nate cut in, lifting a brow as he nudged me. A smile broke out on his handsome face again. “Hey, we should have them over for dinner soon.”

I tilted my head. “What?”

He ignored my confusion and focused on Laurel and Ruby. “Alexis is coming to stay with me for a while, because I don’t like the idea of her being all alone in that cramped little dorm when she’s having such a shitty time,” he said. “You two should come over sometime when she’s feeling up to it. Keep her company.”

“That’d be awesome!” Ruby said. She turned to me. “Seriously, Lex, he’s right— we totally have to hang soon!”

“Yeah, for sure,” I said, knowing Nate would never actually allow my friends to visit. This was probably the last time I’d ever see them.

“I know you said you wanted to be alone for a while, but it’s been so long already, and we’ve missed you so much,” she went on. “I think it’ll make you feel better to be around people.”

“I’ve missed you too,” I said in a small voice.

Laurel tilted her chin to the side and knitted her brows as she looked at me. “So you’re going to stay at the frat house?”

Nate chuckled. “No, I’m taking her to my house. Not the Skulls house.”

“Ooh, fancy,” Ruby said, arching a brow. “You’ll be living on a giant estate like a princess while the rest of us peasants are stuck here in the dorms.”

Nate flashed me a sickeningly-sweet smile. “Well, she’s my princess, so she deserves it,” he said, digging the point of the knife into my back until my nerve endings cried out. The message was clear. Get rid of them. Now.

“We better head off,” I said, pasting on another smile as bile rose in my throat. “I know it’s really early, but I already feel like crawling back into bed. I’m so tired.”

“Okay, we’ll let you go. We have to get to the library anyway.” Ruby smiled back at me. “I’m glad you’re starting to feel a bit better.”

“Me too,” Laurel added. “I hope you can come back to class soon.”

“Yeah, I hope so too,” I said. My lips felt like they were about to split open from all the fake smiling.

“We’ll have to figure out a time when we’re all free so we can set that dinner up,” Nate said. “Next week, maybe, if Lexie is feeling up to it.”

“Sounds good.” Laurel leaned in to give me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she added in a whisper.

I swallowed hard and nodded. “Yeah. Not a hundred percent, but I’m getting there.”

“Okay. Remember, just text me if you need anything.”

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