Page 93 of Fractured Fates

I don’t need that kind of control. I’ll let them use the Venus common room but I wouldn’t let these losers within one foot of my actual room.

“Kyle and Aysha are already using the spare bedroom,” Dan mutters.

“Can we use your room, Sum?” Lily asks, peering up at us, her cheeks all pink.

“No, you fucking can’t,” Summer says, throwing a piece of corn at Lily’s head. “Go back to your own place.”

Lily glances down at Dan and in the next moment he’s tossed her over his shoulder, squealing, and is hauling her out of the room.

“Why does he have to be so dramatic?” Summer says, although I bet she’d give her right arm for someone to do that to her. She hates that Lily’s captured the attention of the room for that millisecond.

“He’s pretty taken with her.”

“For now!” Summer places the bowl on a coffee table. “He was following Petra around like a lost puppy two weeks ago.”

I watch Dan slam the door behind him, winking at me as he does. He’s perfected the ‘I’m madly in love with you’ routine down to an art. For that one week of dating, he’ll make any girl believe she’s the love of his life. Until he dumps her and moves on to the next that is.

“You want to watch something else?” Summer says, grabbing my wrist and leading me to the spot on the sofa Dan and Lily have vacated. Her long nails pinch into my wrist and her expensive perfume tickles my nose (and not in the good way) as she pulls me down into the cushions with her and curls up against my side like I’m her damned boyfriend. I snag my arm away from her and lean forward, resting my forearms on my knees.

“The news,” I say as she flickers her fingers in the direction of the TV, the guide appearing on the screen.

“Are you kidding?” She giggles, leaning forward too and resting her head against my shoulder. Her hair smells worse than the perfume. All sweet like processed candy.

“No.” I swipe my hand in the direction of the screen and a news presenter sitting behind a desk fills the screen.

“How was practice?” Summer asks, stroking hair back behind my ear.

“Good.” I lean my head away from her in irritation, keeping my eyes locked on the screen.

She leans towards me, whispering in my ear, “They really should have made you captain.”

I ignore her. She rests her hand on my thigh, stroking it up my leg as she pretends to watch the report about a series of killings out near the borderlands. She sighs quietly as her hand strays closer to my groin and up to the waistband of my sweatpants. It’s all an act. I bet she finds the idea of holding my junk in her hand about as appealing as I do.

She dips her fingertips under the waistband and for a minute I think about letting her do it.

Why not? She could jerk me off. Maybe it would feel good.

I swallow. That sweet scent catches in my throat.

“Don’t,” I tell her.

“Want to go to my room?” she asks, leaning back into me.

“No,” I say firmly, gripping her wrist and returning her hand to her own lap.

“Fine!” she snaps, tossing her head in an irritated manner and stalking off.

I keep watching the news. Eyes locked on the screen like I’m engrossed. I want to know what’s happening out there. I need to know.

But the picture blurs and the words hum.

There’s only one thing on my mind tonight.

That damn pig girl.

28

Rhi