Page 37 of Come Out & Prey

Lifting her head, she looks me straight in the eye. I see a spark of sass there, almost like a pre-cursor to anger. “I haven’t let them break me yet.”

“Don’t start now,” I counter. She straightens, pulling the remains of her dress over her with a determined look, and I grimace. No fucking way can I let her wander around like this. I reach down and pull my shirt off, holding it out to her before I continue. “They can knock you down, but they only win if you don’t get up.”

My dick damn near does backflips when she pulls the shirt over her head and it covers her perky tits. I really should get an award for this shit. The guys will never believe I haven’t hit on her even once. Even Chessie will be impressed.

“Be patient and play the long game,” I tell her. “Let them think they’ve won, but gather your resources and your people. You need people who you know would fight to the death for you andwill never be turned. When you have that, you can make a plan to make them all pay for fucking you over… but not before. You know only the vicious survive in this world, baby girl.”

The blond watches me with big eyes and a little awe as I rant. She’s chewing on a stupidly long fake fingernail as I talk, and I can’t tell if she’s inspired or trying to get the nails off. I thought I gave a hell of ‘rah-rah’ speech, but who knows what girls need to go all ‘boss bitch’ anymore? Maybe I should have looked for fucking Zhenga or something…

“That’s really helpful, Professor…”

Oh, hell no. That’s not happening now.

“Fitz. You should call me Fitz. None of that formal bullshit, eh?” I give her an amiable smile, hoping I don’t look as dopey as I sound. “Do you need to use my phone? You seem to have lost…”

“Everything?” she trills a soft laugh and delight fills me from head to toe. “Yes, that would be very kind of you… Fitz.”

I’m going to hear her say my name in that husky voice every time I fall asleep from now on, for fuck’s sake.

I hand it to her, unlocking it and staring out into the night as she calls someone she refers to as Mattie and arranges a ride. Clearly, she doesn’t want to go anywhere near the people she came with and given her current state; I prefer it. Hell, if she hadn’t gotten a ride with this call, I might have offered to take her my damn self.

Chess is never letting me live this shit down when he hears about it.

“Should I stay with you? I don’t want you to feel unsafe, baby girl.”

She tilts her head, then shakes it. “No, I think I’m okay. Mattie is picking me up here at the library and we have a code where she honks, so I know it’s her. Plus, you’ve been far too kind already. I can’t thank you enough for talking with me.”

I’m not sure I can leave her here without making certain she’s not in danger, but I’m great at hiding behind things to stalk prey. She doesn’t have to know I’m watching and then she won’t feel bad. “Okay. Just remember what I said, baby girl.”

I rise, winking as I move to leave, but then she calls out, “Why are you calling me baby girl? You just said I’m an adult.”

My lips twist and I arch a brow at her. “Because you were in this courtyard last week, dolled up like an e-girl, while you watched me and my consort fuck against that window. All you needed to be hotter was a tiny baby doll tee.”

Her eyes widen and her cheeks flush bright pink at my words. “Oh.”

I shrug and wink at her. “Maybe when you come here in the Fall, you can see another performance.”

“Mmmm, I don’t know if that will work,” she says with a mischievous grin. “Your… friend… got really aggressive and skittish when he gave me that tour of the art building. I’m not sure if he likes me.”

My brow furrows. What tour? Chess didn’t even mention that to me.

I don’t have time to respond when she talks again. “Plus, I don’t know if I’ll be coming here after all. Something happened and well… even if I do, I won’t last long.”

“No one at this school will lay a finger on you or I’ll cut it off, followed by less pleasant appendages. Count on it,” I snarl, flashing a fang again.

She shrugs, unperturbed by my tiger now. “We’ll see, Fitz. Good night.”

Frowning, I wave at her, then turn to head out of the alcove towards the staff housing area. I don’t enjoy leaving her, but I’m also weirded out by Chess not telling me about their encounter. Plus, I just acted like a psycho older dude stalker and I’m not sure how I feel about that. Everything about tonight has been clown shoes and I’m not ready for the damn circus..

Or maybe I am, because I didn’t even ask her fucking name.

That’s okay. I know a pretty good hacker.

Me—I’m talking about me.

Mean

It’scrystal clear I can’t depend on riding back with Todd in the ho-wagon. Even if he was still my boyfriend and the Heathers were still my friends, popular kids run in a mini-pack formation. Until this calms down, they’re going to shun me, or worse. I’ll have to deal with all of my heartache and grief alone.

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