Page 18 of Deceit

I pause, casting a disbelieving eyebrow towards him.

“How? Everyone on this bloody campus seems to have known who I am, from the moment I arrived.”

Ronan shrugs, his eyes on mine as he continues.

“Do I seem like the type of man to keep up with the latest gossip?”

No, but still.

“You do seem to know enough.”

“Just enough,” he agrees.

Something in his words rings true, as ignorant as it might be of me to believe, I decide having an ally through this mess might not be such a bad thing. Flirting is most definitely off the table now. Damnit. He was the only blip of light apart from Maggie, in this school and this town.

“Okay,” I say, taking a seat in front of him. “If you really don’t mean any harm, then tell me what I can do to handle Asher. What can I do to make sure he never humiliates me like this again?”

He’s silent for a moment, his body language unwavering and I go to stand yet again. Of course he’s not going to turn on his own nephew. Not even if he thinks it’ll buy him brownie points with the young college student he was most definitely interested in, at least at first.

“Ignore him,” Ronan says. “I know it’s probably not the revenge you want, but Asher is just like his dad. He feeds on attention and power, the more you give him, the more insufferable he becomes. He may spiral from lack of attention, but him coming for you and you not reacting is like attacking a dead animal. It becomes boring after a while.”

He’s right, that’s not what I wanted to hear, but it is what I suspected. Asher seems to have every bit the arrogance and controlling nature that my father possesses. So though he’s, in asense, a new enemy, this is an old game. One I’ve been playing my whole life.

I nod. “I haven’t met him before– your brother. What’s he like?”

Ronan’s jaw tenses and he takes several seconds before speaking.

“Didn’t I just tell you?”

“You told me the downsides of his personality. Are you really telling me that’s all there is to him? To both of them? You’re the only good Putnam man around?”

I say that last part teasingly and he seems to pick up on it, a self-deprecating laugh escaping him before he shakes his head.

“Who said I was any good?”

“Fair. You were trying to coerce a nineteen-year-old student,” I agree.

His jaw drops and he looks outraged.

“I did no such thing,” he defends.

“You would have in a heartbeat,” I challenge with a laugh and a ‘don’t lie to me’ look.

He opens his mouth to argue before he snaps it shut, shaking his head as if he were trying to hide his smile before his blue eyes peek up at me.

“I’m not sure how much coercion you would have taken, Miss Parris.”

True.

I don’t agree, obviously. Instead, I shrug my shoulders as I look across the bar.

“Do you want something?” he asks.

“What do they have?” I ask.

“Food, beer, liquor,” he rattles off sarcastically.

I roll my eyes at him, but don’t hide my smile.

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