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All heads turned in the direction of the door, and as the unwelcome intruder stepped inside, I straightened from the wall, my spine stiffening.
Zac Fletcher, Professor Kingston’s teacher’s assistant and irritating thorn in my side, strode into our space like he belonged, doing a quick sweep of all who resided inside before his expression showed just how unimpressed he was by us.
Arrogant asshole.
“Please, do come in,” I finally said, not about to let him take the upper hand in my vicinity.
Zac’s sharp blue eyes zeroed in on me from behind his glasses, and the contempt swirling there had my adrenaline spiking.“I don’t remember asking for your permission, nor would I, since this isn’t a designated space for students.”
“Oh?” I took a step closer to the couches where my friends were suddenly sitting silent as church mouses.Typical.“And who are you? The campus police? I hate to break it to you, but you’re about four years too late if you’re here to toss us out.”
“East,” JT—West’s boyfriend and perpetual conscience these days—hissed, like that could stop whatever was about to come out of my mouth. I guess I couldn’t blame him. I’d be a good little boy too if my mom was the dean…
No, that was a lie. That would just make me more rebellious.
But he was boring like that.
“What did you do?” JT continued, like Zac showing up here was somehow my fault.
“What didIdo?” I arched a brow at little Mary Sunshine. “What didyoudo? Still running off to tell Mommy everything we talk about? Everything we might be planning?”
JT aimed his one and only “angry” expression my way before turning back to West, who was shaking his head.
“Come on, you know he doesn’t do that,” West said.
“Do I?”
“Since you brought it up, I, for one, would be interested in hearing these ‘plans’ of yours.” Zac cocked his head.
When I opened my mouth to respond, I heard Travis’s low warning of “Don’t do it, man,” and let out a sigh instead.
“Is there a reason you’ve decided to grace us with your presence, or are you here hoping to score an invite to our next party?” I mimicked the way Zac stood, hands casually in his pockets, shoulders back and confident. Like nothing and no one in this room fazed him. “Because I have to say, as much as I’d enjoy watching the mess you’d turn into after a few tequilas, I’d rather not have such a stick in the mud in our VIP.”
“While it’s shocking your ego fits through these doors, it explains how you’re constantly surrounded by this entourage of yours.” Zac nodded toward my friends. “You pay them. No one could put up with you otherwise.”
A couple of those so-called friends snorted and began to chuckle, and without looking I would’ve put money on it being the two interlopers in the room—JT and Caleb.
I raised a middle finger in their direction while still engaged in a stare-off with Zac.“Considering you work for pennies in your thankless position, I’m assuming that means you’re here to get on my payroll.”
Zac took a step toward me, narrowing his eyes slightly, and I didn’t give him the satisfaction of moving an inch. “If the choice was to spend a lifetime of luxury with you as my only companion or to live on the streets barefoot in winter with frostbite stealing my appendages one by one, I’d beg the bitter wind to please,pleasetake another.”
The room went dead silent except for West’s “Ohshit.”
“So the only reason I’m here,” he continued, “is because Professor Rathborne wants to have words with you about yourlast paper. You can follow me now or deal with the repercussions of turning in an assignment detailing the many ways he made the wrong life choices.”
“Sounds to me like he’s grateful for my assessment and would like a few tips.”
Zac reached for the door and pulled it wide. “Now, James.”
A chorus of “oohs” sounded behind me, and I rolled my eyes but reluctantly started toward the door.
“I’ve told you during our previous encounters,Zacharius, that I prefer East,” I said.
“And I’d prefer not to be the one who has to babysit your ass, but we can’t always get what we want, can we?”
I shot my friends an amused but annoyed look. Before I walked out the door, West hissed, “East, seriously? You got this guy again?”
I’d long since had issues with Zac Fletcher, especially during my time in Professor Kingston’s class. He’d had it out for me since we met, always holding the threat of keeping me from graduation over my head, and the guys were only too aware of how contentious things had gotten.
