Page 23 of Forged in Blood

“The girl you were gawking at like you’d seen a ghost.”

I shake my head, trying to dampen the onslaught of painful memories brought to the surface at the sight of my high school bully. I guess Malachi knowing who she is doesn’t matter. If she’s here as a student, my life at Montridge just got one hundred times worse. And there’s not a single thing I can do about it. Thanks to the stipulation attached to my trust fund, I’m required to attend Montridge University if I want to go to college.

“She…” I swallow down another knot of emotion. “She went to my high school.”

He frowns. “I take it you weren’t friends?”

“Definitely not,” I croak.

“Seems like there’s more to it than just going to the same school though.” He probes further, his green eyes burning into mine.

I shrug. “She was kind of mean to me.” That’s the understatement of the century, but to tell him the full extent of her cruelty would take me at least a week and no doubt make me come off deranged. Nobody could put up with that level of torture without doing something about it. Except that I did. I was completely powerless to stop her.

“Kind of mean, huh?” He searches my face for more answers, but I refuse to give him any further information about my traumatic time in high school.

“Kai. You coming or what?” Xavier yells from the other side of the dining hall.

Malachi keeps his eyes locked on mine for a few beats longer, then blows out a breath. “Don’t let her get to you, sweet girl,” he says, before he heads off in the direction of his friends.

Yeah, right. If only it were that simple.

Chapter

Fourteen

AXL

Ophelia tucks a lock of pink hair behind her ear, her brows pinched together as she peers down at the textbook on her lap. She sits cross-legged on the grass beneath the shade of a tree on the edge of Gaea’s Green. Alone. Friendless. And if I have my way, that’s exactly how she’ll stay. Much easier to sneak into her dorm room and make her life a misery when she has no one else to look out for her.

After we met Ophelia, the professor told us about her intended roommate suffering a nasty case of getting her head trampled by one of the wild colts who roam the mountain ranges near here a few weeks before the semester started. What a way to go. I was trampled by a horse once. It was after I was turned, so I was fine, but it still hurt like a motherfucker. Whatever happened and whether it was an accident or not, it worked out better for us. It’s easier to keep a close eye on a lonely little pyromaniac that nobody cares about.

My lips twitch as I saunter over to her. She keeps her head bent over her book, her painted fingernail running along the lines of text.

“You’re such a fucking nerd, Pyro.” I flop down beside her on the grass.

She glances up and rolls her eyes at me. “What the hell do you want, Axl?”

I look out over the quad in a display of disinterest. “I’m bored.”

“So go be bored somewhere else.” She huffs and refocuses on her book. At least she pretends to, but I don’t miss the spike in her heart rate. And it isn’t fear—Ophelia Hart isn’t afraid of me. Not even a little. And that intrigues the fuck out of me.

“Why do that when I can annoy the hell out of you instead?”

Her pupils are blown wide when she looks up at me. “If you’re not careful, people are going to start thinking you like me.”

I narrow my eyes, allowing them to rake over every inch of her. Her perky-as-fuck tits. The curve of her hips and her thighs that I’ve imagined having wrapped around my neck more than once. “Me… likeyou?” I snort a laugh. “Nobody is gonna believe that for a second, nerd, and you know it.”

She blinks away tears. Why does hurting her make my cock so hard?

Malachi comes up from behind me and sits beside Ophelia, nudging her shoulder with his. “So this is where you’re hiding.”

Her pulse spikes again, and a faint smile tugs at the corners of her lips when she looks at him. But her smile turns to a groan when Xavier walks up and stands over her with his hands on his hips, and I can’t help but smirk.

“What the fuck are we doing?” Xavier asks.

“Leaving so I can get back to my book.” She holds up her textbook, waving it for emphasis.

“Nah.” I lie back on the grass with my hands behind my head. “I think I’m gonna stay right here. Such a nice spot.”

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