Page 36 of Cruel Academy (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 2)

“Have things changed?” I ask over the sudden noise. “Do you want to talk over the details of our arrangement here or—?”

Caleb may be a lot of things, but he isn’t an idiot. He sees my question for what it is: a threat.

Before I can even finish the sentence, he hops up from the table, seizes hold of my arm, and starts pulling me from the lunchroom.

We pass a teacher I don’t recognize. She doesn’t even look in our direction. It’s unclear whether she is too old to care about the antics of teenagers, or she is too afraid to stand up to Caleb.

Either way, I get it.

“I’m the one who wanted to talk to you,” I argue, trying to pull my arm free as Caleb marches me through a sea of our classmates. “You don’t have to hold me hostage.”

He doesn’t respond, but his grip tightens around my arm.

As soon as we are through the glass double doors at the other end of the cafeteria and alone in a hallway, Caleb spins me around and pushes me up against the brick wall.

“What the fuck did I say to you?” he spits, his palms flat on the wall on either side of my head. He is a living, breathing cage around me, and I have no hopes of breaking free. “I told you to stay out of my way. I told you I was setting the rules here. I told you—”

“I didn’t know you planned to tell everyone I was your whore!”

He arches a brow. “You dated a Hell Prince. Please don’t try to convince me you suddenly care about what people think.”

I swing to hit his chest, but he catches my hand in midair before I can. He squeezes my fingers tightly, grinding my knuckles together until a whimper forces itself between my lips.

“Please stop,” I whimper.

Only then does he let go.

I gasp and cradle my hand in my lap. It hurts to move my fingers. “Everyone cares what people think,” I whisper, not looking up at him. “You should know that better than anyone.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

I bark out a laugh, though nothing about this situation feels funny. “It means we made this arrangement in the first place because you don’t want people to know what you do on the weekends. Clearly, you care what people think.”

“I don’t give a fuck what they think. Whatanyonethinks.”

He takes a step back and runs a hand through his hair. The silky strands catch the light, revealing streaks of gold and auburn. He really is absurdly beautiful for a boy.

“Sure you don’t.”

Apparently, he doesn’t like my attitude, because he steps towards me again with that perma-scowl on his face he seems to reserve exclusively for me. His smell invades my nostrils. It makes me feel a little dizzy.

“There’s a big difference between keeping things private and giving a shit what the idiots in this town think. That doesn’t mean I give a rat’s ass about your opinion, or anyone else’s. Just means that some things aren’t meant to be shared.”

“Your sex life is not one of those things, apparently.”

At that, Caleb’s mouth tips into a smirk. “It would be pretty hard to keep that part of my life private.”

For the first time, I catch a glimpse of why so many girls find Caleb charming. When he wants to be, he is warm and seductive.

He just doesn’t want to be that way with me.

I try to keep the flush in my cheeks from getting too obvious. “Exactly, and I don’t want to be one of the masses. You’ve lumped me in with half the school and it’s embarrassing. You have to tell the truth.”

“I don’thaveto do anything. Especially not for you, Cochran.”

“Why can’t you just tell people I’m paying you to train me? Tell them I wanted a one-on-one trainer. It’s partially true, and people will know you are only doing it because you’re being paid.”

“I don’t need the money.”

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