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“Archer?” she says, her voice soft as a whisper. “Levi, Zane? What are you doing here?”
There’s a flicker of hope in her eyes, and I grin to myself, eager to quash that look.
“We know your secret,” I tell her, leaning into her space.
Lyric’s breath starts coming in quick pants, cheeks flushing, eyes filling with tears. “You… you know?” she asks, voice wobbly.
“Yeah, we know that you’re a scholarship kid,” Zane says from my right. “We knew you couldn’t afford to come here without help.”
“See, the thing is,” I drawl, bending a little so I’m at eye level with her, “you screwed us over, pretty fucking badly.”
“I never meant…”
“I never meant,” I mock her words back at her. “Bullshit. You went straight to the police. Don’t try to play innocent. So unless you want us to destroy your future like you tried to do to us, you might want to consider listening.”
Lyric crosses her arms, swallowing and going quiet. I take her in, looking her over. She looks ragged, tired, and disheveled, like she hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in a while. Her clothes are frumpy, ratty jeans, a holey sweater, her hair is frizzy, and her eyes are hidden behind large, wire-rimmed glasses. She looks curvier than I remember, grown up into a woman, but I know that beneath the façade is a snake.
“What do you want, Archer?” she asks, a plaintive note in her voice.
“Simple. We want you to pay for all the bullshit you put us through. You do whatever we want, whenever we want and we don’t get your scholarship revoked.”
“You can’t do that!” Lyric bursts out, hands squeezing into fists at her sides. “You don’t have the power to get my scholarship taken away.”
“Maybe not directly, but there’s plenty we can do to ruin your life in the meantime,” I warn her.
Lyric breathes hard in and out. “Don’t,” she says, a note of warning in her voice. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”
“I’ll do whatever the fuck I want,” I tell her. “If you don’t like it, that’s too bad.”
“I don’t remember you being this big of an asshole,” Lyric mumbles. “You were never like this.”
“Yeah, well, military school changes a man,” I inform her. “All my soft edges were filed away by that place.”
Lyric winces and glances at Zane and Levi, who give her the same cold look that I’m wearing.
“So I’m supposed to be your slave?” she asks, pulling the sweater around herself more tightly.
“Now you’re getting the picture,” I say, my tone mock-encouraging. “We tell you we want you to get us beer at three am, you ask us where to bring it. We tell you to write our essays, you ask when it needs to be done. We say jump and you ask how high. Got it, peaches?”
Lyric looks at me, disgust in her eyes. Once upon a time, I might have crumpled under that, but not anymore. Not after everything I’d been through.
Lyric shakes her head. “No. I’m not giving in to the demands of a bitter, jaded asshole.”
I laugh, high and cruel. “You think you can just tell me no, sweetheart?” I ask, raising a brow. Lyric glances back up at Zane and Levi, who are both standing with me, arms crossed. None of us is in the mood to give her an ounce of sympathy.
“Newsflash,” I say, bringing her attention back to me. “You want to challenge me, go right ahead. I’ve got the money and the time to make your life a living hell.”
Lyric’s fists tighten as I step further into her personal space.
“What do you say, peaches?” I ask, bending closer so our faces are nearly touching, my lips hovering just over hers. “Are you going to be a good girl for me, or does Daddy need to get rough?”
Her eyes are wide, fear almost palpable as it courses through her. There’s something else there too, a hint of something more as her eyes flick to my mouth.
Then she turns her gaze back up at me and pushes me away. “Fuck you,” she growls out, storming off. “Don’t ever talk to me again, Archer Hudson!”
I watch her go, a mix of anger and satisfaction surging through me. I know I’ve gotten under her skin. Now, it’s time to put the plan into motion.
“Do you think she’ll give in?” Levi asks, stepping forward with me to watch her go.
