Page 73 of River of Deceit

“Isn’t that what we did the other day?” I raise my eyebrows. “Pot, meet kettle.”

River grits his teeth. “Yeah, okay,” he says. It’s not like he can argue. “So now you know I’m fine, and you’ve gotten me kicked out of class. Things are going to get worse with Chaos before they get better, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to check in. It wouldn’t surprise me if they make us ditch our phones so there’s noevidenceof what they’re doing.”

I give his ass a small squeeze, and he flinches again. My cunt throbs.

Not the time, not the time.

“Are you getting close to Blaze and Asch?” I ask. “I know Asch is going to be your ‘big brother,’ whatever the fuck that means.”

He scoffs. “I have no idea, but I don’t think it’s going to be helpful. For whatever reason, he’s not too popular. He follows Blaze around like a puppy, though, and Blaze is one of the officers. So it shouldn’thurt, at least.”

“Like I said. He’s Blaze’s bitch.” I nuzzle his collar with my mouth. “If they’re mean to you, just let me know. I’ll set them straight.”

River rolls his eyes. “I can handle myself, Pandora.” He smiles, though there’s nothing humorous about it. “You made sure I had plenty of practice with that.”

“I’d be happy to help out.” I grin. “It would be hot, wouldn’t it? If we had Blaze tied down, and we took a knife to him. We could cut cute little designs onto him and make Asch lick him clean.”

“You are seriously disturbed, you know that?” River says. But I’m positive I see a flicker of interestin his expression.

I lean in to kiss him properly.

The lecture hall doors open, and students start filing out. I ignore them and press my lips to River’s.

River’s hands knead my ass cheeks, and he kisses me hard. He’s pulling away before I have the chance to really get into it, though, and he takes a step back. “Class,” he says, though I’m pleased to hear the roughness in his voice. “At least pretend you’re here to learn something, Pandora.”

“I went to class this morning!” I protest. “Biology 101. They even promised a dissection next semester, but if we have to dissect a frog I will riot.”

He arches a brow. “Really? You won’t dissect a frog, but you’d dissect a human body without batting an eye?”

“Frog didn’t do anything,” I point out. “Just an innocent little amphibian. Oh, did I tell you, Lilly and Thorn had tadpoles. Only a handful made it, but it was pretty exciting seeing the baby froglets growing.”

“How many of them did you bring with you?” River asks.

“None,” I say. “I figured one pet on campus is enough. Speaking of which! Papa finally got all the stuff shipped to me. Want to see my baby blood python?” I link my arm with River, and we start walking out of the building while I chatter about my pets. He at least pretends to be interested, and I appreciate that.

For a moment, it’s almost like old times.

If only he’d stop pretending he hates me.

That doesn’t matter, though. As long as he’s willing to go along with my plans, I have plenty of time to win him over.

15

ASCH

The dahlias are nearing the end of their bloom season, even inside the greenhouse. Blaze takes pictures of one of the blooms, moving around so he can get different angles of it.

“Maybe I can get a few seeds to send to Mom,” Blaze says. “She’d love this one.” He stops and shakes his head. “Flower mafia.”

I eye him. “Flower mafia?” I ask.

“It’s something Pandora said when I caught her skulking around here.” Blaze puts his phone away and leans in to smell the flower. “She didn’t believe me about the flower espionage from rival universities.”

“You didn’t tell me you caught her in here.” I frown at him. “When did this happen?”

I don’t know why I care, except that I’m not used to Blaze not telling me things.

“The other day when I came to check on the dahlias.” Blaze stands up straight and raises his eyebrows at me. “You had class, and I was bored.”