Page 33 of Trapped With You

“I should really get going.” I stood up and smoothed my hands over my cheerleading skirt. “If you text me tomorrow morning when you get to school, we can walk to English Lit together.”

“I got a better idea: I’ll pick you up for school starting tomorrow.”

“My, my. Someone is eager to be myfriend.”

I could tell ‘friend’ was beginning to grate him, and I was willing to bet Cade was just as hell-bent on attaching the wordboyin front of it.

“Would you rather Peter pick you up instead of me?”

I adored his jealous tone.

Peter was a sleazy little shit. He was caught a few days ago peeping into the girls’ locker room after cheerleading practice. He ran away when the girls shrieked. A few minutes later, when I exited the locker room after changing…I found Cade roughing him up in the dark hallway.

Biting the inside of my cheek, I stepped between his legs. “I don’t want anyone but you to pick me up, Cade.”

He reclined, his arms spanning out like wings along the back of the bench. The expression on his face as he peered up at me with half-lidded eyes could only be described as arrogance and pure, molten heat. “Is that so, princess?”

Cade looked every bit the son of a notorious kingpin.

A dark prince holding the keys of a kingdom filled with bloodshed, riches, and rousing temptation.

One taste of his presence and I was lured into his world.

There was no escaping for me.

I never wanted to leave.

The nicknameprincepinflitted into my mind. He called me princess. It was only fitting for me to address him with a word that described him as a young ruler of a corrupted empire.

“Mhm. Only you, princepin.” I ran the tip of my nail down the front lapel of his leather jacket suggestively. In just a matter of weeks, I’d be paintingProperty of Ximenaon the back of it. Mark my words. “You know what’s funny? You accuse me of not being sly, but you aren’t either. What’s your excuse for hurting Peter?”

His chin jutted stubbornly. “You know why.”

“Say it like it is, Cade,” I threw his own words back at him.

“He stared at you, without your consent,” he said through gritted teeth. “I…I wanted to gouge his eyes out. It was the first time in my life that I felt the urge to do something like that.”

Oh, my. I liked how protective he was of me already and how he wasn’t afraid of teaching stupid fuckers who behaved badly with his…girl.

I lowered my head until our eyes met.

A strong gust of wind blew the strands of my hair into his face.

He caught them in his fist and yanked me even closer.

I gasped under my breath.

“How does that make you feel, Ella?” he rasped with a dark edge. “That I had those thoughts.”

“Like I see right through you too, Cade.”

An understanding passed between us. This was going to happen. Him and me. Two people at the mercy of a conspiring universe who wanted us in each other’s orbits.

Who were we to deny fate?

“Seven a.m. tomorrow.” His gaze ran over me like he was committing every detail to memory. “Be ready for me.”

The double entendre of that statement filled me with verve.