Page 136 of Brutal Prince

Her neck muscles tense under my fingers. “I don’t have anything to wear.”

“Dylan won’t be amused if you arrive naked.”

Color touches her cheeks, and she drops her eyes. “I mean…I don’t really have—”

“Now that can’t be true. You’ve gotta have something in your closet.”

Indi’s eyes narrow. “Yeah, I used to. Then some fucker burned down my house, remember?”

She steps back, tugs my hand off her neck, and walks away, turning her back to me.

Shit. How the fuck could I have forgotten about that?

My hand curls into a fist, and I thump it against the wall a few times as I stare at the back of Indi’s head.

I step up behind her, and grab her stomach when she tries to step away. Gentle though, just enough pressure to keep her in place.

“There’s a boutique in downtown Lavish. When we’re done here—”

“No.”

“You don’t want a—?”

“I’ll be at the party, and I’ll be dressed, but it won’t be in something you bought me.” She tugs my hand off her belly and steps forward, turning and watching me warily as if convinced I would try and grab her again.

What Indi doesn’t know is that I can be patient if I want. So I’ll wait until we’re inside before trying to change her mind.

Because now I can’t get the thought of me and Indi alone in a changing room out of my head.

There are a handful of kids ahead of us, some leaning against the wall, others immersed in their phones, waiting for detention to start. One of them murmurs something about Denard being late, and I glance down at my watch. Weird — detention was supposed to start five minutes ago. I’ve never known Denard to—

“Afternoon, everyone,” a voice calls out from behind us.

I turn, frowning at Ms. Parsons as she sweeps past us. “I’m afraid Mr. Denard has taken ill, so if you could all please follow me?”

“Where we going?” one of the kids up front asks.

Ms. Parsons turns, adjusting her glasses with a finger and giving him a wide smile. “I have a heap of fun activities planned for us this afternoon,” she says, her eyes running over the small herd of students trailing her. “We’ll be starting with some visualization exercises on the lawn. Come on, no time to waste!”

I’d been walking at Indi’s side. At Parson’s enthusiastic statement, we both break out in a groan. I glance at her, smiling, and she looks up at me and smiles back. But then her face solidifies again, and she surges forward, putting several feet between us.

Patience is my middle name, Indi, and I’m stubborn as fuck too. I meant what I said — tonight I’m making you mine.

You don’t get a say in the matter.

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