Page 32 of Vicious Desire (Fallen Royals 4)

School starts Monday, and I’ll see all of these people again.

“She’s repulsive,” Eli says. “I don’t know why Amelie picked me. I’d rather cut off my arm than touch her.”

I freeze in the doorway. The music is too loud—I shouldn’t have been able to hear that. But I did, and now those words are ingrained in my head. I can’t go farther into the room. My muscles have locked up, and it’s probably a form of self-preservation at this point.

I catch Skylar’s eye and wave, pointing to the front door. She nods and gives me a thumbs-up.

I don’t waste more time than that. I hurry back the way I came, finding Noah and Kaiden on the front lawn. Neither of them mention Eli, the scene Noah made in the kitchen, or why we were upstairs. Some things just shouldn’t be spoken about.

In the car, I touch my lips. They don’t feel different, but… they are. I am. My first kiss is gone, given away freely to a boy who just said I was repulsive.

He’s a liar, Riley.

As long as I don’t forget that, I’ll be okay.

9

Eli

Emery-Rose’s two athletic coaches, Marzden and Lennon, stand in front of me. My old lacrosse coach has a slight smile, and Lennon is downright scary. I never spent much time with her, but I know what students say about her.

They call her Medusa. It has less to do with her wild curls and more with her expression.

It can turn you to stone.

Apparently.

“You want to help the cross-country team?” she repeats. “Not football.”

Assholes in padding or girls with tight asses? The answer seems pretty fucking obvious to me.

“I think it’s perfectly respectable, Marisa,” Marzden says. “He’s a good runner, and you were just complaining last week that you wanted to split the team. Now’s your chance.”

I straighten, as if to say, See? Great runner.

She sighs and picks up the stopwatch. “Fine. You two get the details sorted. Meet me here before the end of school. I need to rework my plan.” She sweeps out of the office, and the door slams behind her.

Coach Marzden snickers. “I love seeing her panties in a twist.”

“Mission accomplished,” I mutter.

He scowls. “Enough of that. Let’s get your paperwork all sorted so you’ll be ready. I’ll admit, I was surprised you called.”

He’s only surprised because he didn’t expect the classic college dropout to be me. There was such an expectation of success… His bet was probably on Liam.

That thought stings, but it’s also satisfying to know I’m protecting Liam. That bastard better stay in school forever thanks to what Theo and I did for him.

“This is perfect for me,” I reason. “I’m home, I’m still in shape—”

“Because you thought you’d be playing college lacrosse,” he snaps. “And honestly? I was looking forward to seeing you play against the big boys.”

I frown. “Well…”

“We all fail sometimes,” he continues, squatting next to the bottom drawer of his giant filing cabinet. “I’ve got this paperwork around here somewhere…”

Dad once told me the story behind Coach. How he was a hotshot in school—a football and lacrosse star who made it all the way to the championships in college—and now he’s… well. He coaches high school sports. I guess I can’t knock it, since I’m now working for him.

But not forever.

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