Page 71 of The Ruthless Note

Damn waste of time.

If that disappointing performance in the boat is all I have to look forward to in the near future, then I really am screwed.

I tilt my head back, feeling just as torn up now as I did when I saw Cadence going off with Sol. Their connection is real and it’s irritating as hell.

More irritating is what it does to me. When I saw him taking her away, it was like something deep inside me was coiled and waiting. Waiting for that moment to spring.

I couldn't stop myself from grabbing her. I couldn't stop myself from claiming her.

She’s still got her pretty little hands on the darkest parts of me.

As much as I hate to admit it, the only time I feel anything other than numb is when I’m with Cadence. Whether it's fighting with her or listening to her play piano—it’s only her.

It’s not going to be anyone else.

And that pisses me off.

She's nothing but a servant. A little scholarship kid who wormed her way into Redwood and thinks she’s more than she is. How do I break her hold on me? What can I do to dig her out from under my skin?

The answer doesn’t come until Monday when I’m walking into Redwood Prep with Zane and Finn.

The crowded hallway makes a path for us. Students step back. More than three years and their eyes haven’t lost their terror. Their reverence. Their envy.

But one pair of eyes don’t dart away or glitter with adoration.

Cadence’s.

Her short skirt flares around her impossibly long legs. She’s wearing sneakers which makes her look sportier than usual.

She slams her locker shut, shooting me a look of disgust. It’s unique to me, that fiery glare. It wasn’t always that frosty, but she’s perfected her ‘tough girl’ expression in the short time she’s been at Redwood Prep.

A zip goes straight down to my pants when I see her. It’s a hell of a lot more than that chick on the boat could do for me while she was on her hands and knees that night.

Brahms whirls around. She throws her backpack over one shoulder and weaves her way in the opposite direction to get to class.

My body floods with heat as I watch her defiant shoulders and bouncing brown hair.

Yes. Yes, damn it, it’s her.

The key to getting over Cadence… is Cadence.

I see it. My fingers running down the inside of her thigh. Her lips on my neck. Her body heat scorching my skin…

Sex with random chicks isn’t going to make up for the fact that I’ve yet to get inside her tight little body. She’s stuck in my head because I have unfinished business with her.

Once I sleep with her, the magic will be gone. The mystery. The anticipation. This little game we’re playing is nothing but a tease before the main event.

And once the main event is over, the tug I feel toward her will be too.

My lips curl up.

It’s a light at the end of the tunnel. The one I’ve been searching for. And it all leads to me having some fun with her before I cut her out of my life the way I was supposed to from the start.

“She looked pissed,” Finn observes.

“Didn’t you walk her home last Friday because Christa got loose?” Zane asks, noticing the way I’m standing immobile in the middle of the hallway. “Why is she still angry at you?”

I shrug and keep walking.

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