Page 73 of Wild Fury (Fallen Royals 6)

Or this society—which Theo tells me is everywhere—has sunk its claws deeper into her.

“Ready?” she asks.

I glance at her. “Are you?”

“Almost.” She picks out a lipstick, the color as bold as her, and carefully applies it. “Okay, now.”

A group of us are going to the football game tonight. Ruby didn’t include that detail in her invitation, but I suppose beggars can’t be choosers. I pocket my key and ID and follow her out.

My thoughts return to Theo, how he says it’s crueler of him to be nice. And it’s true—besides the bathroom incident, he’s been overwhelmingly… not bad. The fact that I didn’t notice until he pointed it out worries me. It seems like both of us are softening toward each other.

Ah.

That’s it. He’s figured out a new way to get under my skin—like he doesn’t live there full time anyway. He’s going to try and make me fall in love with him, and that’s when he’ll crush me for real. It won’t work, though. I know I’m not worth loving.

So even if I do fall, I know he won’t catch me.

“Oh, Lucy, you’re joining us?” Felicity beams at me. She’s been nice and bubbly. Normal, even.

If only I could get the image of her and the mystery man from the woods out of my head. Or the fact that she’s part of the society whose name I have yet to uncover. They recruit sophomores. Not everyone on LBU West is one of them.

Those are the things I keep repeating.

“Ruby invited me,” I say.

Well, I’m sure she’d retract that invitation—especially after yesterday morning.

“Lovely. We ordered a car, it should be here soon.” Her gaze flits down to my camera bag. “What’s that?”

“Lucy is a photographer,” Ruby says. “Gorgeous portraits in her portfolio.”

I shoot her a look. I never showed her, which means she might’ve gone snooping after Sebastian and Hale invaded my privacy. The nerve of this girl.

My stomach swoops, followed by the urge to get away from all of them.

Ruby watches me, and I paste on a smile.

“Thanks,” I say sweetly. “Portraits are okay, but I prefer action shots. I covered the sports for my high school and thought this might be a good opportunity.”

Felicity doesn’t seem to notice anything amiss and nods along with me. “Cool.”

“Let’s go.” Ruby points. “Is that the car?”

“Yep.” One of the other girls—Miranda, I think, from the frat party—smiles at me. “Heard you turned down Bash.”

I roll my eyes. “He’s not for me.”

“Theo, right?” She nudges me. “He’s not bad to look at. Plays well, too.”

“The coach shuffles him around,” a guy adds. “He plays a variety of positions well.”

For all my photography, I don’t know much about football. No one took the time to explain the game to me—not even Theo. But I hid my ignorance by refusing to talk about it, and even now I nod along like I know what he means.

We pile into the SUV waiting at the curb outside the campus gates, and it takes us a mile northeast, past the main campus, to the LBU stadium. This, unlike Lion’s Head, really is a stadium. We enter through one of the big arched gates and up a short flight of stairs. A wide hallway sweeps around the field with intermittent openings. Giant numbers direct fans to their seats.

“Come on,” Felicity says. “We’ve got special seating.”

Ruby perks up. “Yeah?”

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