Page 45 of Fractured Fates

“I’m meeting Spencer here. So scram, okay?” From the corner of my eye, I see her step out of her shorts and underwear. “Okay?”

I peek her way, she’s completely naked, not even attempting to shield her body. In fact, she stands face on, her hand resting on her hip, her long blonde hair loose around her shoulders.

It’s obvious why she’s popular. The girl is stunningly beautiful. And it’s obvious why someone like Spencer would be meeting her here in the showers.

“Get out, little piggy, now!” she snaps.

And suddenly shame floods through me. Shame and something I don’t think I’ve ever felt before, self-loathing.

I grab my bundle of clothes and flee, hearing the shower roar into life as I swing back the dressing room door and walk straight into a very solid wall.

Spencer.

He’s topless, his chest gleaming with sweat under the changing room lights, and his scent deeply masculine.

He grabs my arm to stop me tumbling and for a moment we stare open-mouthed into each other’s eyes. And god what is wrong with me, because all those flutterings in my stomach start up all over again.

“I …” I begin.

But I don’t finish because he slams me out of his way without saying a word.

I stumble through the door, trying to block Summer’s purrs of delight from my ears as Spencer joins her in the shower. I hurry out of the gymnasium and down the path. It’s dark and empty and after several paces, my heart is racing so erratically, I stop and lean against the cool trunk of a tree, trying to catch my breath.

What is wrong with me? I hate them both. Really, really hate them. So why is my head spinning with thoughts of the two of them? Together, underneath the showers, kissing, and caressing and …

Why does that make me want to vomit? Why does that have the blood in my veins heating?

What is wrong with me?

“Everything if you ask me.”

I jolt and open my eyes. I need to stop closing them, because every time I do some fucker creeps up on me. This time I find Stone passing me on the path.

“Professor Stone,” he corrects.

“Get out of my head!” I yell.

“You think I want to be swimming down there in the gutter with all your dirty little thoughts and secrets? You really are a bratty little pervert, Blackwaters.”

My cheeks burn so hotly I’m surprised they don’t catch fire.

“You’re the pervert!”

“No, in this case, it’s most certainly you.” He sneers at me and keeps walking.

And oh god do I want to send a bolt of magic hurtling straight at his head.

“Don’t even think about it, Blackwaters. Not if you treasure all your limbs.”

I stamp my foot and scream into the night’s air.

I hate it here. I really do.

* * *

It’s onlythe idea of Pip waiting for me in my dorm that persuades me to return to my room. Otherwise, I’d be out of here. Fuck this college. Fuck the authorities. Fuck Marcus Lowsky and the Wolves of Night.

When I stumble through the door, probably looking a physical and emotional wreck, I find Winnie and Pip engaged in a Mexican standoff. Winnie sits on her bed in one corner of the room, Pip in the other.