Page 29 of Vengeful Princess

“Call me if you feel dizzy or ill. Anytime, OK, gorgeous?”

“Even in the middle of the night?” I teased.

His eyes lit up. “Especially in the middle of the night.” Then he smirked. “Maybe I should come and stay with you tonight. Just in case you feel ill.”

The thought of Landon in my bed was… way too much. I needed to shut this down before he got the wrong idea and thought I was into him.

I definitely wasn’t into him.

Not at all.

No way.

God.

I was so into him.

“I have to go. Bye.” I shot off toward the cafeteria, hoping like hell he hadn’t seen me blush like a schoolgirl.

By the time I reached the table where Eden sat waiting, I’d calmed down. She took one look at my bruised face and shoved a chocolate brownie at me. To her credit, it had no visible bite marks. The girl had cast-iron willpower. There was no way the cake would have been intact if it had been me left waiting for her.

“Glad I saved it for you, you look like you need the sugar.”

“Thanks.” I shoved it in my mouth and chewed. Not quite as good as the cakes our cook back home made, but still delicious.

“So what happened?” She lowered her voice conspiratorially. “Have you been beating up assholes again?”

“No, I got hit in the face by a football.”

Eden looked almost disappointed. Maybe her home life was more violent than I thought if my beating up random men was entertainment for her.

“Did you kill the guy?”

From the hopeful expression on her face, I wasn’t entirely sure she was joking.

“No, I figured it would be too difficult to hide a corpse in the middle of the day,” I deadpanned.

She nodded with understanding. “God, yes, that would be tricky. Declan has a team he calls when things get, um, messy. He calls them the cleaning crew. They drive around in a small refrigerated van.”

My jaw nearly fell open but I managed to school my expression. “That sounds… useful.”Maybe I should get their number.The way my life panned out, I needed people like that in my corner.

Eden grinned. “He uses them a lot.”

It sounded like meeting Declan Kelly would be an interesting experience given he seemed even more violently inclined than me.

My burner phone buzzed with a message alert and I pulled it from my pocket with a frown. Eden was the only person who knew this number. I made sure I kept my official phone on silent mode, well out of sight in a hidden pocket in my bag.

Eden looked at the screen. Her eyebrows shot up toward her hairline when she saw the name ‘Landon your future husband’ on the screen. “Why is Landon Rothmore texting you?” She looked worried on my behalf. “And why does he think he’s your future husband? He’s a total fuckboy!”

I sighed and stood, pushing the phone back into my pocket without replying. I’d read his message later. He was probably worried about the state of my brain. Frankly, I was too.

“Long story.”

“Oh no, you’re not walking away without explaining, Thea!” I ignored her and trotted off toward my next class, which I was now very late for.

“Catch you later!” I called, feeling a bit bad that I was running out on her, but not bad enough to slow down.

“You better, bitch!” she yelled. “I want the full story!”

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