Page 73 of Her Devil

I scoff out a laugh, raising my chin in her direction.

Oh, I know all about complicated.

How complicated must it be for her to be heresupporting the next generationwhilst spending a year at a fancy as fuck preparatory school where the tuition fee is more than most people make in a year. Most normal people anyway.

It ain’t that complicated.

Daddy threatened to take her credit cards away and she stomped her high heels and toddled along like the good little girl she’s been trained to be. She’ll make the perfect Angel, but which Devil is she linked with, and how do I get closer to them?

“Two minutes, ladies,” Amy calls brightly.

“Well, it was nice to meet you.” Ivy smiles, I guess hoping I’ll fill her in on my name or some small detail that she can hold on to until we’re shoved together in the next session.

I almost feel bad for her. Everyone else got anice girl, someone easy, someone who wanted to be here. But poor little Ivy got me, and I’m not going to make it easy on her.

“We can swap numbers if you’d like?” she offers, looking at the phone I fidget with, turning it on its side, back, side, and front, and then repeating the sequence. “Then we can talk before we meet up next time?”

“I’m good, thanks.” The smile I give her is forced and she knows it.

“Ruby, it’s time.” Amy’s hand comes down on my shoulder, and I just about manage to hold in my startled reflex, clearly too interested in the woman opposite me and not paying enough attention to everyone else. Next time, I’ll sit where I can see the rest of the room.

“Well, Ruby, I look forward to seeing you again soon,” Ivy says, picking up on the name drop.

I nod, getting up and sliding the phone back into my pocket, following Amy to the door and waiting for everyone else to finish up their overly exciting conversations. Ivy’s gaze lingers on me, I can feel the heat of it trickling over me as she analyses and catalogues.

Average height, average build, average mousey brown hair.

Everything about me is average, nothing special, nothing worth writing home about, and yet, I know she’s going to be thinking about me. Wondering why I didn’t respond to her as the other girls have done. Wondering what has happened to make me shy away.

With the right clothes, the right makeup, and the right confidence, I could be much more than mousey, much more than average, and she knows it. But does she want to pull that out of me, or is she more interested in getting to the bottom of what’s going on here?

TWENTY-THREE

IVY

“So, how did you get on?” I ask, closing the bedroom door with my elbow and placing the two mugs of hot chocolate down on the small coffee table. Dragging a blanket from the end of the bed, I take the second chair by the bay window, wrapping myself up.

“Brooke seemed really nice,” Tamsin replies absentmindedly. “I’m not sure I’m going to be able to impart my couture knowledge on that pink look she’s got going on, but I guess time will tell. What about you?”

“Honestly?” She nods. “It was like getting blood from a stone.” I sigh. “I thought these girls were supposed to be excited about being part of the programme and wanting to take the next step in their lives, and yet this girl seemed like she couldn’t wait to get away.”

“Sounds like you’re going to be having fun.”

“And she’s not the only one,” I continue. “At least two people moved away from me in classes today, and then the whispering in the corridors. We had to get to this meeting with the Little Sister thing, so I didn’t have time to dig into it too deeply, but what the hell is going on? Do I smell or something?”

“Only of that flowery perfume you like,” she brushes off. “But did you not hear? The Devils have put out some kind of warning to stay away from us. All the male apartments on campus woke up with our pictures taped to their doors in police tape.”

“Well, it’s not quite what I was expecting from them, but I guess that would do it,” I admit.

“Pretty much,” she agrees. “Doesn’t help with your little sister issue though.”

“No, I guess I’ll have to figure that one out on my own. Did you have a good time on your date with Taylor the other day? It feels like we never get five minutes to catch up anymore.”

“Things are a little busier than they used to be, I’ll give you that.” She chuckles. “And I’m doing my best to keep the boys from crowding around you all the time. I swear, every time Taylor suggests hanging out here, half the house wants to come along.”

“I bet they do,” I grumble. “Unfortunately, this place isn’t equipped for that many people.” And thank God for that. It’s been hard enough adjusting to having five other people in my space, never mind boyfriends too.

It’s a weird place to find ourselves.

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