Page 47 of Broken Princess

They could say that, and Bella might do it just to fuck with her, which is why I need Jordanna to trust me, before they get wind of us hooking up. She studies the model again before shadowing in the area on the top of his shoulder.

“Logan, we fucked. It was good, but we don’t need to make a big deal out of it.” She scrunches her lips, swiping her eyes across my face. “This should be right up your alley. Why are you being all weird about it?”

I’m being weird? She booty-called me and is accusing me of overreacting. She’s the one acting weird. “I can’t control what my friends say or do, Jordy. I can only promise that this time will be different.Mymotives are different. I want to spend time with you, not because of a game. But, because I want you, and I want to be with you. You hate me because of what I did, but admit it. Deep down, youknoweverything wasn’t about the game.”

“Sounds like the same lies you told before, Logan, and for the very same reason. Because you want me to spread my legs for you. I’ve done that, so give it a rest.”

Resting is not in my makeup. And accepting rejection is never the path I’d take. “I don’t expect you to believe me right away.” Picking up my pencil, I finally turn to face the front of the room, ready to get to work. “I’m just asking you to give me a chance to prove it.”

“I guess you can’t teach a dumb dog new tricks.” Bella snickers, her eyes trained on the front door of the cafeteria. The bite in her voice is enough to clue me in on who she’s talking about. My silence distracts her from staring. “We still need a plan, Logan.”

“Do we?”

“Of course we do. Wehaveto get rid of her before it’s too late.”

I’ve already fucked Jordanna and decided she’s gonna be mine again. I’d say it’s already too late. Not that I can tell Bella this. Instead, I use the one piece of information that no one can argue against.

“She works for the dean, and she’s writing for The Guild. We have to be careful with whatever we do, because she’s got a lot of eyes on her right now.”

Hal lifts his head from between the breasts he’s snuggled against. “First she’s still here, and now she’s working in admin? That means the rumors are true.”

“What that means, is, we have to stick together until we know what we’re up against. And no deviating from whatever plan we come up with.” Tabitha says, flicking her gaze at Bella.

“I’m not about to let her ruin what I’ve got going on here.”

Frankie and two others chime in their agreement. Trying to diffuse the grumblings, I say, “Everything’s under control Bella.”

“I don’t buy that. Something’s going on with her, and I don’t like it. And if the dean is letting her work for him, that means something big happened. Look at her. New clothes. New shoes. Haven’t you noticed she’s not eating twigs and peanut butter crackers anymore?”

I had noticed. My eyes seek her out, finding her in the corner with her grad school buddies. Could one or both of them be paying for her meals?

“Maybe she has a job.” Tabitha suggests.

“Where? With who? Working in the dean’s office is voluntary. She doesn’t work anywhere on campus, and nobody I’ve spoken to has seen her working at any of the shops out in town. Is the little skank stripping? They say it’s never too early to start working towards your future profession.”

I’ve had enough of the venom spewing from Bella’s mouth. “Why do you do that? Why is your first reaction always to criticize her?”

“Maybe for the same reason yours is to suddenly defend her.”

Settling back in my chair, I cut my eyes to the right. I should’ve known Hal wouldn’t keep his mouth shut about me going after Will. It’s our group above all others, but it’s hard to miss that they pick sides when it’s convenient. Thankfully, more times than I can count, Tabitha is on mine. Hal and Frankie usually are too, but this thing with Jordanna has all of us acting out of character.

“So this is about Will?”

“Beating up people for her… it makes you look like you care. Like you’re weak.”

“And allowing sleaze balls like Will to think we condone sexually assaulting women makes us look like we’re no better than the degenerate assholes Worthless U accuses us of being. We all agree we go as far as we want, but we have limits.No, is a hard limit we never pass.”

“Maybe she wanted it.”

That’s the same thing Will said that night, and a sickening thought occurs to me. “I saw her when she ran out of the party. She didn’t, and no matter what you think of her, that’s not a line I’m going to let you manipulate someone into crossing. And if I find out you had anything to do with what happened…” I let her see the anger simmering below the surface.

“I didn’t. God Logan, relax. Yes, that’s a hard limit and we all agree on that.”

Satisfied with her answer, I address her other issue. “The grandmother of one of the students from the Carlington line was at the auction. Did you know that? She was on the verge of signing a check for half a million dollars to the school.Half a million. She ripped the check up in front of Dean Allen. Two other donors did the same within a week of hearing what went down. That’s a lot of money, just gone.”

“We don’t need their money.”

“True, but reputations are built on money. The more people throw at the school the higher we’re regarded.”

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