Page 26 of A Knight’s Revenge: The Complete Series

Bennett sat in an armchair near Noah, looking like a GQ model in his dark sport coat he was wearing over an equally dark dress shirt.

He appeared bored, of course, occasionally sipping from his glass as he watched over the party.

While he spoke to no one, Harper had parked herself on the plush arm of his chair while she held court, chatting animatedly to her friends and looking very smug about where her ass was at the moment.

Tonight, she wore a skimpy black dress and dark, bold makeup, and I wondered if Bennett liked that kind of thing.

Fuck—no, I didn’t .

If any of Heirs had noticed or cared that I’d shown up to this party, they didn’t show it—not that it mattered anyway. If Bennett planned to just sit in his chair and brood all night, this was probably all going to have been for naught.

Half an hour passed as I observed the room.

People were getting drunker by the second, and the faint smell of weed also wafted through the air.

I spotted quite a few couples (and even some throuples) getting busy on open couches and in dark corners of the room as if most of these people didn’t have their own private dorm rooms just one quick elevator ride away.

Exhibitionism was apparently an A Dorm party staple.

And Bennett never moved from his spot, which meant Harper didn’t either. I decided I would drink about half of this glass of champagne, convince Mari to dance a few songs with me while I gave Bennett one last chance to move, and then we’d call it a night.

Dom and I could reassess my plan over the break.

“Well, if it isn’t Southside,” a lazy voice sounded, interrupting my plotting. “And here we all thought you didn’t like hanging out with us.”

Chad ambled into the space in front of me, flanked by a few of his meathead bros and some clinging, giggling girls I didn’t know. His eyes were glassy and his words a little slurred, so I doubted anything good was about to happen.

“Fuck off, Chad,” I drawled. “You’re looking a little pale, there. Mari’ll kill me if you puke on her shoes, so best keep it moving.”

His girlfriends gasped, scandalized on his behalf, but he just chuckled.

“Oh!” he boomed over the music, shooting me a shit-eating grin.

“Are you here because you’ve finally decided to let one of us up in that slum pussy?

I’ve asked around, and apparently you think you’re too good to fuck an Academy guy. Or girl—I asked them too.”

Ugh, well, now people were starting to look this way, as tended to happen if someone starts drunkenly shouting the word “pussy” in a crowded room.

Since I did not enjoy the feeling of Chad looking down on me where I was seated—so comfortably—on the couch, I stood up on my borrowed high heels with an annoyed groan.

His smirk dimmed a bit as I rose to my now well-over-six-foot height on five inches of borrowed Jimmy Choo.

I crossed my arms and looked down into his beady little eyes.

“Careful, Chad. You’ll upset your flock of prime pussy if you keep worrying so much about mine.

” I motioned to the pouting girls behind him.

“Look, their feelings are hurt already.”

He tossed a careless look over his shoulder, rolling his eyes before he did a very dumb thing and stepped into my personal space.

He made a show of looking me up and down with a gross leer.

“It’s too bad for Donavan he didn’t get what he paid for, isn’t it?

Or maybe he got further than we’ve all been led to believe?

Come on, Southside, you didn’t let him get just a little taste? ”

Laughs and jeers sounded, and Lisa’s shrill voice rose over the crowd. “She totally did!”

“Slut!” someone else yelled.

I sighed. This party sucked.

I managed to hold onto my emotionless mask, though my temper was starting to simmer.

There were a lot of eyes on me now, including those belonging to my ex-best friends.

A quick glance in their direction told me that they were watching this shit unfold with cold detachment—even sweet Noah just sat there without even a hint of a frown on his pretty face.

Chad went on, still talking way too loudly. “I mean, your tits are a bit small for my taste, but I’d still definitely take you for a ride.”

Then he reached for me, aiming one hand to grope the sliver of skin peeking between my high-waisted pants and the hem of my crop top, while grabbing my wrist with the other.

Without a second thought, I jerked the hand he’d grabbed upward and used my other to yank down hard on several of the fingers he’d wrapped around my wrist, breaking them instantly.

“Oh, fuck!” he shrieked, scrambling back a few steps and holding onto his broken fingers. “What the fuck, you psycho bitch!”

“You shouldn’t touch people without their permission, dickhead,” I said simply, shaking out the wrist he’d grabbed like it could rid me of the residual feeling of his slimy hand on me.

“You’re gonna pay for that, whore!” one of Chad’s girlfriends screeched at me.

I blew out a frustrated breath, turning back to where Mari was still sitting with the other tolerable scholarship students she’d been chatting up. They all looked at me like I’d grown another head.

“What?” I asked. “You guys saw him grab me. Can’t let him think he can do that—to me or any other girl.”

Chad was still yelling obscenities behind me somewhere while other partygoers whooped and shouted and talked over one another, the bloodlust infecting the crowd and cranking up the volume in the room.

Mari hopped to her feet, smoothing her dress and pasting on her business face before she stalked toward me. “Let’s get some air, shall we?” She looped her arm through mine and led me through the gauntlet of wary, appalled stares from my peers as we headed for the doors.

I went willingly—the night was a bust anyway. My mark was apparently rooted to his damn chair, never once wandering into the crowd where his pocket could be more easily picked.

Probably because I’d been thinking of him, my eyes collided with Bennett’s as I made my exit.

Harper had leaned into his space, her lips near his ear and her hand on his arm as she whispered something excitedly.

He didn’t respond to her. Instead, he just watched me as I walked toward the doors, dark fury radiating from those mossy green eyes.

Another time, Spencer. Just you wait.