Page 49 of The Ruthless Note

“Cadence has a boyfriend?” Sol stiffens.

“Cool.” Zane looks smug. “The taken ones are hotter.”

Already tired of the conversation, I dive back under the pool. I hear Zane and Sol trying to yell questions at me, but I tune them out and sink into the world that’s underwater.

Cadence is becoming a problem. How the hell did I go from wanting to bring the wrath of hell down on her to sucking her soul from her body?

It’s like I can’t allow myself to be alone with her when a piano’s nearby. Sooner or later, I’m going to back her up against the keys and rip her open.

I propel my head above water only for a second before diving down again.

She made me lose my damn mind when I saw her panicking. I’ve never heard such tortured, helpless sounds. She acts like such an impenetrable freaking pillar all the time, so seeing her crumble by just hovering her hands over a piano broke my brain.

It’s why I kissed her the first time.

But it can’t explain everything that happened after.

I hear a splash and feel the water ripple around me. A moment later, someone’s arm wraps around my neck and yanks me forward. Shocked, I open my mouth and gulp a bunch of water before instinctually propelling myself up.

Zane’s laughter meets me first. I crack my eyes open, ignoring the way chlorine is stinging my eyeballs, and glare at him.

“The hell is wrong with you?”

My brother’s hair is drenched and so are his clothes. He jumped in here with his full Redwood Prep uniform on.

“Enough with the sulking, Dutch. You got her back for the car thing, didn’t you?”

I shove his arm off and clench my jaw. If my brothers heard what I said to Cadence, they’d think it was a part of my punishment. And I’m sure Cadence thinks the same.

But the truth is even more pathetic than the way I handled my ‘revenge’.

I didn’t push her off because I didn’t want her. It was the opposite. I wanted to screw her brains out of her ears. I wanted to plant her hands on those piano keys, bend her the hell over, and fill the hall with music hot enough to burn the entire school down.

But I couldn’t get this stupid warning out of my head. A little voice that I never listen to but, when it comes to that freaking headache of a girl, seems to get pretty damn loud.

She just had a panic attack. She’s not in her right mind. She needs help, not your mouth on her tits.

I’m not the kind of guy who draws lines when a girl is willing, open, and groaning my name. And Cadence was already making it difficult with the way she was purring and rubbing on me like a cat in heat.

She was right there.

Right freaking there.

A feast laid out in all its bountiful glory.

But I knew she wasn’t really holding on to me because she wanted me or even because she wanted sex. It was a knee-jerk response to being locked in a terrible mental space and I was the convenient target for her adrenaline boost.

And the worst part?

It’s that I care.

It freaking matters that I don’t take advantage of her.

Holy hell.

I don’t even recognize myself.

“Yo, the water feels great.” Zane releases me and swims over to Sol. He makes a ‘come on’ gesture. “Get in here, man.”