Page 100 of Cruel Prep (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 1)

Lily is still sitting rigidly beside me.

“Like where your girlfriend likes to go for her runs,” Ryan says, grinning. When his eyes slip from mine to peruse Lily’s outstretched leg resting on the coffee table, I want to lunge across the room and gouge them out. “Remember me? We ran into each other in the park the other night.”

At that, Cora whips her head towards him, brows furrowed. “You know her?”

Ryan nods like it isn’t a big deal, but it is clear he likes being the center of attention. All the Hell Princes are the same. They like to cause a mess and have eyes on them.

Cora glares at Lily as though any of this is her fault. “How would you know anything about her? Does her mom clean your house? Or did she suck you off, too?”

Her red mouth turns up in a smile, her eyes flicking towards me to see if her words hit their mark, and they do.

But I’m too mad to care about appearances. “Watch your fucking mouth,” I tell her.

“Or what?” Cora asks, sneering, though the fear in her eyes is obvious. She knows she is pushing the bounds.

“Leave.” I press a kiss to Lily’s temple as I stand up, finger pointed at the door. “Both of you. Get out of my house. Now.”

Cora blinks up at me and then turns towards Viktor, like maybe he’ll offer support, but he just wraps his arm around Melody’s shoulders and looks in the other direction.

“No one wants you here. Either of you. So leave.”

Neither of them make a move to leave. I am done with all of this stupid drama.

I reach across the coffee table and grab Cora’s arm, starting to pull her towards the door.

Suddenly, Ryan jumps up and grabs my wrist. “Let my girl go.”

“Your girl?” I snort. “Well, tellyour girlto get the hell out of my house before I throw her out.”

“You’re an asshole, Finn,” Cora says. “You’ve let this trash pussy cloud your judgment. You don’t even know which way is up anymore.”

I grit my teeth, growling out my next words. “Shut your mouth and leave.”

Cora opens her mouth to argue, but Ryan presses a hand to the center of her back and shoves her forward. “It’s fine, baby. It’s fine. I’ll take care of him later.”

“Oh, will you?” I ask, sarcasm thick in my voice. “I’m quaking in my shoes.”

Ryan looks over his shoulder as they leave. “Just remember later that I warned you.”

When the door shuts behind them, the party is quiet for a few more seconds, no one sure how to proceed.

Finally, Viktor barks out a laugh and jumps to his feet. “Bitch left her vodka here. I call dibs!”

He runs into the kitchen to make a drink, Caleb and Noah set up beer pong on the dining room table, and the party turns out to be mildly enjoyable. More than I thought, at least.

“Are you okay?” I whisper in Lily’s ear later. Her face is warm from the alcohol in her system. Even I’m slightly less steady on my feet than normal, my usual rough edges dulled.

“I’m fine.”

I spin her towards me so we are eye to eye. “Are you sure? Because that idiot just admitted to following you the other night, and you never mentioned it to me.”

“I got away, so I didn’t think it was worth mentioning,” she says, lifting her chin defiantly.

I sigh. “I can’t protect you if you don’t tell me what’s going on.”

Lily’s caramel-brown eyes soften, her pink mouth tipping into a smile. “You want to protect me?”

Alarm bells go off in my head. Warning signals that I’ve said too much. That Lily is looking at me with eyes that are too full of admiration. That I need to do something to remind her of who I am.

---