Page 118 of Vengeful Princess

“Missed you,” I murmured. I wasn’t sure who was more surprised by that confession: him or me. Before my cheeksignited in another fiery blaze, I shot out of the physio room. The guys could clean up our mess. It was their fault the table was a black light crime scene.

Totally nothing to do with me.

That was a hill I was willing to die on.

Eden took a seat opposite me as I sipped coffee and reflected on the shitshow that was my life. There were a few unopened messages on my official phone from Dad, but I didn’t dare look at them. Hopefully, he thought I was in a lecture or something.

I didn’t always reply to their messages immediately. Mostly because it was one of the few things I could control.

“You look…tired,” observed Eden as she bit into a bacon roll. “We need a girl’s night out. Away from all the men who flock around you like dogs chasing a bitch in heat.”

I glared at her. “You have a way with words. Ever considered becoming a poet?”

Eden snorted and gobbled down more bacon smothered in tomato ketchup. Around us, students chattered and stared at their phones.

The snow around campus had turned into slush, thanks to a sudden rise in temperatures. The grounds keepers kept the pathways between the various buildings clear, but several large snowmen still adorned the grassy areas. I laughed when I noticed one of them had a pink dildo sticking out of its crotch area.

Eden followed my amused gaze and laughed. “I heard on the grapevine that’s Landon’s work.” I rolled my eyes. “He posted a photo on his Instagram and then it got picked up by the tabloids. No doubt his father was thrilled.” She sniggered some more before gazing over my shoulder and smirking.

“Oh look. If it isn’t your future husband heading this way,” she told me gleefully.

My skin heated as I tried really hard not to blush. Even though my coffee was still too hot to drink, I swallowed it down anyway, wincing when it burned my tongue.

I couldn’t sit here. The minute Landon joined us, Eden would know exactly what we got up to earlier. She seemed to have a sixth sense about these things. After my last little outing to Landon’s house, she’d taken one look at me the morning after and rolled her eyes knowingly.

“A night out sounds good,” I told her as I grabbed my jacket. “Message me.”

“Will do!”

Landon saw me leaving, but he got caught behind a group of girls batting their eyelashes at him, hoping he might notice them.

It irritated me no end that girls threw themselves in his path all the time, but I reminded myself he wasn’t mine. Sure, we’d fooled around some, this morning being a case in point, but they were only casual hookups, no matter what spin he tried to put on them.

Landon would marry some well-bred young woman from an aristocratic family. A woman his father approved of.

There was no Landon and me. And there never would be.

The sooner we both understood that the better.

The sound of my door opening woke me up. Acting on instinct, I reached for the knife I always kept under my pillow, but a whiff of fresh pine and lemon told me it was Milo.

I rolled onto my back and stared up at him as moonlight painted the sharp angles of his face silver.

“Where did you go this week?” I rasped, still half-asleep.

He shook his head and briefly rubbed the bridge of his nose, not saying a word. OK, so he wasn’t in a chatty mood.Fine.It was the middle of the night and I was tired, so I curled up on my side and closed my eyes. The bed dipped behind me, but like always, he maintained some distance between us.

It should have been easy to fall asleep. Milo’s presence usually helped soothe me, which helped me sleep better. Only this time, sleep remained elusive.

I couldn’t help but remember how he looked at my breasts before Kyril blocked his view. Did he find me attractive?

It was hard to tell with Milo. He wasn’t physically demonstrative like Kyril or charming like Landon. Maybe he neededmeto make the first move.

It was probably a dumb idea, but the fear of rejection wasn’t enough to stop me from trying. Sure, I knew he liked me, but did helike mesexually? Or was it more of a friendship kind of thing?

We could just be friends, but in truth, I wanted more from him.

Like I did with all of them.

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