Page 6 of Vengeful Princess

He leaned forward into my personal space and whispered in my ear, “Are you going to be a bad girl, Thea?” His voice sent shivers down my spine. A forewarning of all the different ways he could get me into trouble.

It was on the tip of my tongue to snap he had no idea about howbadI could be, but I bit my lip and stayed silent. I felt rather than heard his huff of laughter when I turned away.

By the time the Dean finished waffling on, even the faculty looked like they wanted to lynch the old bastard. My feet ached, and I was ready for another nap. As the assembly wrapped up and students melted away, I turned and headed toward an exit, intending to pick up some food and then go back to my room.

Only Landon had other ideas.

He grasped my wrist as I passed him and his friend, a cute nerdy guy with glasses and shoulder-length dark hair.

“So, Thea, how about having a coffee with me in the cafeteria? I feel like we should get to know each other better.”

“No.” I tugged my arm away, not wanting to cause a scene this early in my college career. It was better for me if I stayed under the radar.

“No?” He frowned like his brain couldn’t compute the fact a female had turned him down.

Landon’s friend rolled his eyes. “Leave her alone, Lan. Besides, you promised to meet Cass in the gym.”

“He can wait,” Landon hissed.

Nerdy guy rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I’m out of here.” He strode away across the lawn, swerving out of the way whenever a student came too close. I guessed he was like me, fucktose intolerant.

Landon trailed after me when I turned my back on him, still attempting to make conversation. Honestly, it was cute, and part of me wondered what would happen if I reciprocated.

I pictured myself dating a hot guy like Landon. Meeting his parents. Snuggling on the sofa with a bottle of wine and Netflix. Then I remembered my family and the life I’d been born into, and the balloon burst.

We reached the cafeteria, along with every other student on campus. Or so it seemed. A group of female students caught sight of Landon and came hustling over.

“Lan!” one of them called. Her cut-glass accent designated her a high-society girl. No doubt she had a double-barreled surname, lived in a country pile somewhere, and would one day marry a guy like Landon Rothmore.

“Poppy,” Landon gritted out when the girl reached us. She cast an assessing look over my outfit before her lip curled, letting me know I didn’t pass muster. Oh well.

“Lan, I thought you were meeting me for coffee before the meeting?” With her blond ringlets, doe eyes, and pink cheeks, Poppy resembled a pretty little doll.

“Nope.”Ouch. What an asshole. I almost felt sorry for the girl.

I should have walked off - Poppy was the perfect distraction - but I remained rooted to the spot. Not having had the high school experience, I was kinda interested to see where this went.

“But you’re free now, darling? We can catch up. I’ve not seen you for weeks!” Poppy pouted before biting her pink lower lip.

Landon shifted his weight from one foot to the other, glancing at his watch as if he had somewhere to be. “You were in Lake Como all summer and I was with Cass,” he said in a bored voice.

“I’d have stayed with you guys if you’d bothered to invite me,” she whined, tapping her foot with annoyance.

Landon rolled his eyes. “We didn’t want you there, Poppy. Soz.” Then he turned his back on her and gave me another panty-dropping smile. The guy had charm in abundance when he cared enough to turn it on. “So, coffee?”

Poppy’s perfectly painted mouth gaped open in shock. It was obvious she couldn’t quite believe Landon would blow her off in favor of a nobody like me. I almost laughed.

“Soz,” I replied sarcastically. “Got shit to do.” Before he could argue, I shoved past him, straight into the middle of a large group of students standing nearby chatting. I half-expected him to chase me, but this time he didn’t bother.

Thank God. I did not need a stalker problem.

A day later, I sat outside Miss Markham’s office. All new students needed to meet with the college’s student welfare officer at the beginning of the semester. To make sure we were ‘coping’ with college life. Not that I’d been here five fuckingminutes, so unless I was a complete snowflake, why wouldn’t I be coping?

But whatever. I had to be here. I felt sure she’d take one look at me and know I was not someone who needed any counseling. At least not from a do-gooder like her. The last thing I wanted was some nosy bitch poking around in my head. She’d probably have a coronary if she knew some of the shit I’d seen and done in my life.

Because I was ten minutes early, I pulled out my phone and scanned through the last message my father sent me.

Father: Watch and listen, Thea. Anything related to Lucian Forsyth, I want to hear about it.

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