Page 32 of Peaceful Chaos

Undivided Attention

Raven

"You don't go anywherewithout me," Sin tells me for probably the hundredth time.

"Don't you mean without the security team?" I have told him this at least a hundred times as well.

The muscle in his jaw ticks. My poor control freak doesn't really trust anyone except for me, and maybe my brother. We've got the best private mercenary group protecting us, and he still insists on being my personal bodyguard. I'm not complaining, really, but I'm not the only one at risk. I think he forgets that.

"I promise to try and reach you first before I go anywhere." This is my compromise. It's not that I want to put myself at risk. I'm not that bullheaded, but a world class private military organization should be able to keep me safe. Javier assured us there are enough mercenaries to look after all of us. It's clear that normal operations of the Soldiers of Chaos, whatever those are, have been suspended until my father is handled. It seems everyone who meets us has to sacrifice something.

"I don't like this. One of us should be with you at all times," he grumbles. He rakes his hand through his hair. "Why are we even arguing about this? Our last two classes are together."

I kiss his cheek. "Exactly. We've got enough problems, let's not borrow any more."

Missing early registration left us with few open classes. The football team registered Ford before he took his finals, and Jen had her spot held when the nursing program threatened to cut her if she didn't return to this round of clinicals. The rest of us weren't as lucky and had to take whatever classes were still available. If that weren't the case I'd have had either Sin, Lucien, Ford, or Teddy in all of my classes. As it is, I've ended up with one class I'm taking alone.

"I hate this," he breathes into my hair as he walks me to the door of my class. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. "Please—"

"I know," I whisper and kiss him before he can suggest me dropping the class as he's urged since last night. He responds by deepening the kiss. It's enough to make me more agreeable. "I'll wait right here for you," I promise. He already knows I won't go anywhere without him, but he needs the reassurance.

Once he walks away from the door, I make my way to the back of the classroom. I follow Sin's usual habit in any room he's in and take a seat in the back where I can keep my eyes on the door, and my back protected. I never would have thought of things like this before. I should have though, because with or without Sin entering my life, this world of threats and violence was the one I was born into.

The class starts to fill with people, and my heart begins to pound hard in my chest. I didn't let on to Sin or the rest of them this morning, but the truth is I've been a little scared to have a class without them. Ever since we started at Playa Community College, we've been the subject of interest. I'm afraid how much more attention we're going to get now, especially since I'm going to be without my scary husband as a buffer.

I chose to keep these feelings to myself this morning because not only has Sin tried to convince me to drop my class, he tried to drop his just so he could stand outside the door of mine when I refused. This is the first thing I've been able to do on my own since leaving boarding school and the first thing I've ever attempted that I have any control over.

I try to remind myself that as my classmates look over their shoulders at me, gawking and gathering more details for the rumors they'll spread as they move along to their next classes. I've been seated less than a minute and already the whispering has begun.

A woman I've never seen before takes the seat next to me. "You know everyone is talking about you, right?"

I glance at her. Even though she's seated I can tell she's tall, probably five-eight. Her pale blonde hair is cut in a short angled bob that highlights the delicate angles of her face. Her lips aren't as full as mine, but they still draw the eye. She watches me from honey brown eyes that seem to almost match the gold in her hair.

"You must be new here," I say. My tone is flat and cold because I've managed to grow less trusting in recent months. Opening myself up to make new friends is outside the scope of my current comfort zone.

She seems unaware of my frostiness and introduces herself. "I'm Jenna. I just moved here from back east. Wanted a fresh start, ya know?"

Oh boy can I relate. "This place is good for that. I'm Raven."

She looks around the room, filled with classmates not even bothering to hide the fact they're talking about me.

I lean toward her and lower my voice. "It's okay. You don't have to sit next to me. It could be bad for your chances at having a social life."

Jenna shakes her head. "Nah, I'm good here. You just saved me from making friends with a bunch of cunts. Think about it. I could have accidentally talked to any one of these assholes, and then, bam, all my friends are dicks."

I fake shudder. "That would have been a nightmare." I'm not sure what to make of her, but she's entertaining, and she hasn't instantly decided she hates me. I'm still wary, but it does beat having to sit next to one of the aforementioned cunts.

The professor comes in and starts class, but it doesn't keep the other students from continuing to whisper. Some of their words filter back to me. I hear them mumble the same tired rumors they've been passing around since I started here about my "fake marriage" and being a mobster's daughter. I guess they got the last one right.

"I know it's only the first day," the professor's voice drowns out the gossipers. "Even so, I'm assigning your first project. I want you to choose a partner. Together you're going to complete an annotated bibliography on the topic you are assigned. All of the information is contained in the packets that are being passed out now. Find a partner and I'll give you your topic."

The papers shuffle from the front to the back. Jenna waves hers in front of her face. "What do you say, wanna be my partner?"

It doesn't take me long to think about it. I could partner with the new girl I know nothing about, or I could partner with one of the people who've made it clear that they hate me for ridding them of their favorite campus rapist. Yeah, it’s pretty much a no brainer.

I nod and write down my cell number on her paper when she hands it to me. She does the same, writing "J" and her number on my paper.

She stuffs her things in her bag as the professor is wrapping up class. "Cool, let's get our topic and make plans to meet in the library soon."

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