Page 47 of Filthy Elites

I sense her move, but I refuse to look when she gets up. I can still see her movements from the corner of my eye. She grabs her bag and violin case and slips out of my room without another word.

ChapterTwenty

Nicola/Isabelle

I don’t likehow I allowed Jason to nudge his way into my heart. Despite all the horrible things he’s done to me so far, my head is filled with guilt because of him. My chest aches as if it had been bruised—or is trying to recover from heartache.

I wish I could talk to someone about him, but the closest person to a friend I have here isn’t talking to me. I head to school early, trying to avoid bumping into Jason on the way. I have no idea if he’s coming today, but I also stopped myself from checking on him. I must remember we aren’t friends; we’re enemies who allowed the lines to blur and had hate sex.

I text Sage again, hoping she’ll reply. I wish I had talked to her more. If I knew her schedule, I could wait in front of her class.

But destiny will have it that I bump into Justice in the hallway. He’s alone, and when he sees me making a beeline for him, he tenses.

“Hey, Nicola. I’ve been meaning to thank you for paying for lunch the other day.”

Thank me? You should be coughing up the money, you ass.I have a bigger issue to bring up though. “Whatever. What did you say to Sage?”

His expression changes from friendly to wary in the blink of an eye. “What makes you think I talked to her at all?”

“You went after her on Saturday. Don’t insult my intelligence by claiming you didn’t catch up with her.”

He looks around in a cagey manner. He’s probably making sure we don’t have an audience. It’s early, so no one is at school yet.

“Listen, I like Sage, okay? I’m sorry you got the wrong idea about us.”

My eyebrows shoot to the heavens. “The only idea I got is that you have no sense of boundaries. If Sage arrived at the wrong conclusion, that’s your fault, not mine.”

He runs a hand through his hair. “True. I didn’t say anything about you. I swear.”

I watch him through narrowed eyes. He sounds sincere, but there’s something off about him. My sixth sense is telling me he’s a snake.

“I hope you didn’t. I’d hate it if Luke found out about Saturday.”

A gleam of annoyance shines in his eyes. “Are you blackmailing me, Nicola?”

I shrug. “This isn’t blackmail. Just a warning that if you lied to Sage about what happened at the diner, there will be consequences.”

He steps into my personal space, leaning down for a menacing effect. “I’m not afraid of you, bitch. Say a word, and you’ll be the sorry one.”

A bubble of laughter goes up my throat. “Are you seriously threatening me, Justice?”

“Yeah, Justice. Are you?” Jason asks from behind.

Shit. I so didn’t want him to witness my exchange with this douche canoe.

Justice steps back from me at once, looking positively ill. “This isn’t what it looks like.”

Jason steps forward and stands next to me. His hand finds my lower back in a possessive way, and Justice doesn’t miss the gesture. “Is that so? What did I just witness, then? Explain it to me.”

“I…” His gaze darts to mine as if he wants my help coming up with an excuse.

“You what?” Jason snaps. “Can’t come up with a half-baked excuse on the fly? Maybe I should tell Luke you’re still sniffing around his sister and let him deal with you.”

Justice’s tanned face goes a shade paler. Why does everyone here seem to be afraid of what Luke can do? Is he some kind of a menace?

He glares at me. “Did you tell him about Saturday?”

I don’t care for his accusatory tone one bit.

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