Page 31 of Take My Crown

“Besides, I want to know what you’ve got against Romy. Surely it shouldn’t matter to you who I hook up with? My father wants me to build connections with the other houses. If that means I have some fun along the way, what’s it to you? I know he slept with your girlfriend, but it’s not like there’s anything going on between you and me.”

“Stephwasn’tmy girlfriend,” Archer insists. “But that’s not why you should stay away from Romy.”

“So why should I?”

Archer shakes his head. “Romy’s got a habit of leaving broken hearts wherever he goes. I wouldn’t want you to be another one of his conquests. You’ve been through enough already.”

“Oh, Archer. Don’t tell me you care? It’s almost as though you’re jealous,” I joke.

A nerve in Archer’s cheek twitches, but he doesn’t say anything.

Maybe heisjealous.

“Tell me something about you growing up. I don’t know you well and you’re the only person who knows everything about me,” I reply.

“I don’t know everything about you,” he counters, but he sighs. “What do you want to know?”

“Anything. Everything,” I honestly reply.

“I’ve lived in King Town my entire life and Milly is my only full-blooded sister. I have three other siblings but none of them live with us,” he starts to explain to me. “My dad loved my mum, and she made him a better person. I grew up in a house full of laughter and joy. We were always dancing, mum said not to dance when there was music was a waste.”

He smiles, lost in the memory, and I smile with him.

“She died when I was thirteen when her car blew up with her inside of it,” he softly tells me and my heart hurts for him.

“Archer…,” I whisper.

“It took dad a year to find out it was one of his many lovers. She was jealous and wanted my mother’s place,” his voice is so cold and empty, spitting with anger. “She was taken out, of course, and I’ve never forgiven my dad for it. It was him that caused her death.”

“Leaving King Town in a way caused my mum’s death. If she had stayed, she could have gotten better treatment,” I admit, and I’m so angry at her. Why didn’t she come for help? What is so bad about this town that it is worth dying and leaving your daughter for? “I’m mad at her…she left me when she could have stayed. Even if it meant coming here.”

“You didn’t grow up here. For people like me, leaving here is a dream worth dying for,” he tells me.

“Do you want to leave?”

He doesn’t answer me even as we get close to my house. “I used to when there was not much here to stay and fight for. Things have changed.”

I feel his eyes on me, but I can’t reply to him. Things have changed for me, too.

Chapter Sixteen

Ivy Archaic

“Morning, Declan.”

My music partner has the good grace to look embarrassed when I walk into class the Monday after the party. I made sure my hair is nice and wavy today, and I have a tiny bit of makeup on. I need to be confident to get through this.

“Oh, hey, Ivy. Look... about the other day…”

“It’s okay.” I shrug. “You wouldn’t be the first guy to turn out a total waste of my time, but I’m working on you being the last.”

The truth is, I cared. A lot.

After Archer took me home, I stayed up all night thinking about everything. I have been in King Town a week and already my life is way more complicated than it had ever been. Archer had done me a favour by walking in on me and Romy. Much as the guy is cute, I was on the rebound and if I had slept with him; I would have regretted it the next day. But there did seem to be a chemistry between us and I know I want to get to know him better so that if there is a next time, it is based on a deeper connection than a bit of alcohol and hurt feelings.

Thinking about Archer makes me wonder what is going on in his mind. The guy is moody and mean and working for my father. He is my kidnapper, for crying out loud. He is the whole reason I am here. Is some kind of sick Stockholm Syndrome making me have feelings for him?

Because I did. Looking back, I realised that when he walked in on me and Romy; it wasn’t embarrassment I was feeling. It was shame. I don’t want Archer seeing me like that. For some stupid reason, his opinion matters to me. I really wish it didn’t. I want to hate him for always being there like some mad stalker, but the truth is, I like the fact someone cares what happens to me, even if it is only because my father is making him do it for some kind of debt he owed.

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