Page 9 of Such a Bad Girl (Hot Creeps #5)

HENRY

Ray Mayers laughed with his friends inside the bar. Outside, I shivered as the fall air wrapped its icy fingers around me.

Since the day Rebecca Benson had stormed into my life, I seemed to spend far too much of it out in the cold. Watching. Waiting.

What I needed was to be wrapped up inside her. Fuck all the games.

The moment Ray stepped outside, I grabbed him by the scruff of his coat and yanked him into the alley.

‘What the fuck, man?’ he shouted, fists flying. I narrowly avoided catching one on the chin before he realised who I was.

‘Professor? What’s going on?’ The kid looked at me like seeing a teacher in the real world was straight-up alien. ‘I need a favour.’

‘Yeah. I mean, if I can help.’ Ray shifted from one foot to the other, glancing over his shoulder. ‘You need a little pick-me-up?’

‘No. Wait, what? You’re peddling drugs?’

Ray shook his head. 'Nah, I just know a guy, you know. So what’s up?'

‘You’ve got to get me four invites to The Initiation.’

He gave an unconvincing laugh. ‘That’s an urban myth.’

‘I’ve been here longer than you have. Give me the benefit of the doubt.’

The way his shoulders dropped let me know he was caving.

‘Listen, even if it were true, what makes you think I can do anything about it?’ Ray shrugged.

‘If you want to pass this semester, you’ll find a way.’

Did I feel like a piece of shit extorting the kid? Sure. But compared to coming in one student's throat in the middle of class, what’s a little blackmail?

‘I’m acing your fucking class,’ Ray spat, his cheeks pinking with anger.

‘You were. You still can. Four invites. That’s all.’

His hand slid into the back of his hair as he shifted in discomfort. ‘Fuck, man. I’ll do what I can. But you should really hang out with people your own age. I know we say whatever goes... but having teachers watch us bang is a whole different ballpark.’

‘Well, Ray,’ I said with a grin. ‘No one needs to know except us. Do they?’

With a shake of his head, he backed out of the alley, throwing me a filthy glare over his shoulder.

Cold bricks bit into my shoulders as I leaned back against the wall, taking a steadying breath.

Rebecca Benson was going to be the death of me.

And from the way she’d twisted me around her finger with every whimper, I’d probably carve my own headstone with a smile.