Page 127 of Filthy Little Pretties

“THERE YOU ARE,”CAROLINE HISSES, and I roll my eyes. “Why is there a crew boat in the pool, Grey? What the hell happened in here last night?”

“What didn’t happen?” Liam growls from the pool table he’s laid across. “I think hell might’ve frozen over with all the nos that became yeses.”

“Shut up,” she snaps.Ooo, Caroline is especially hateful of Liam today.

Her heels click against the floor as she walks back into the scene of last night’s debauchery. Our final crew party before the school year ends. It’s tradition, over hundreds of years. Every captain throws one. We don our very best—top hats and tails—and have the kind of night that can never be spoken of but is always fondly remembered.

The closer Caroline gets, the more the noise of her heels feels like tiny knives in my ears. “Make your feet stop.”

“You’ve destroyed the billiard room,” she says in a judgmental tone, looking around the floor that’s littered with empty bottles, cigarettes, and a pair of lacy red underwear.

Hmm, I don’t remember those. I’m definitely “not it.” My Cherry doesn’t wear any. As if she heard my thoughts, Donovan appears in the doorway, holding two lidded coffees.My girl.She saunters past Kai, doing a double take, and starts laughing.

“Looks like I left just in time last night.”

My eyes follow her line of sight to see he’s in a top hat, boxers, a red bra, and a fucking monocle. I motion to my chest as he looks at me. “That must belong to the owner of the mystery panties on the floor? Wanna share with the class?”

Kai tosses an empty beer can at me, but I dodge it, reaching out to grab my Cherry by her waist and haul her into my lap, taking one of the coffees as I do. “Love you. Missed you.”

She kisses the tip of my nose and snuggles into me.

“Jesus. You look like a perverse Monopoly character,” Caroline snarks at Kai and turns to leave, irritated by all of us, but Liam jumps off the table, stumbling toward her. I almost spit out my coffee watching the way she recoils back as he hovers over her.

She’s kept her distance since October, despite the hard time he always tries to give her.

“How come you didn’t bring me coffee?”

Here we go. He’s laying it on thick.

“Because I was hoping you’d choke on your own vomit.” Her finger presses against his chest to move him. “Byeee.”

His hand reaches up and circles her wrist, bringing it down by his hip, locked to her eyes. Oh fuck. We’re all captivated, silent observers of a crime in progress. The kind where you think you should say something but don’t want to interfere and then bam, someone’s murdered.

“Come on, Carebear…please,” he says it quietly, fixed on her eyes, running his fingers up her arm. “Grab me…some coffee.”

Is she blushing? What the fuck. I didn’t think demons could do that.

“I told you not to call me that anymore,” she answers, with zero venom, swallowing hard.

Donovan leans into my ear and whispers, “I feel like I’m watching some kind of mating ritual. The fucking tension…damn.”

I nod and try not to laugh, cutting my eyes to Kai, who raises his eyebrows, equally intrigued.

“You told me a lot of things last night, Carebear,” Liam whispers, still loud enough for us to hear.

Her eyes narrow, but before she says anything, Donovan butts in. “I didn’t see you at the party last night, Caroline…when were the two of you hanging out?”

Oh shit. My girl is throwing down. I watch Caroline’s face go blank—she’s searching for an answer.

“Before you got here.” Liam smirks, breaking the trance between the two of them. “Caroline helped me with some of the decorations. Right, Carebear?”

He points a finger at Donovan to be nice as Caroline nods, then turns and clicks those damn heels the whole way as she leaves.

“Are you ever going to be nice to her?” Liam asks Donovan.

“Maybe, but only when she deserves it.”

I laugh and kiss her neck, truly enjoying this moment, because I’m still a prick. I’ve got the girl of my dreams, friends who are like brothers, a legacy I get to decide, and an Olympic future. But this very moment is the best because these two girls, Donovan and Caroline, will probably only tolerate each other until the end of time. And if what I think happened last night, did—Caroline is going to have to grovel before Donovan green-lights her archenemy dating her best friend.

Fucking karma is a bitch, Liam. And she’s named Caroline Whitmore.

Wish you knew more about the Crew Party?