Page 38 of Cruel Hearts

Spitting the frost off my lips, I reared back, making her topple to the side. “And you’re a prick tease.”

As I righted myself, Elizabeth flipped me on my back and sat on my torso. All the air left my lungs in a single whoosh. No matter how much I punched and shoved at her shoulders, she wouldn’t budge.

“Get off me, you freak!” I scratched at her face, but she jerked out of reach.

Fuck. I could barely breathe with Elizabeth bouncing on me like I was her personal space hopper. The bitch also had the strength of unmedicated insanity on her side. It completely outweighed my measly self-preservation.

“You want to know why I despise you?” she snarled, spraying warm droplets of spittle on my face.

“Don’t care.” I rammed my fist in her gut, making her grunt.

“Sluts like you walk around my academy like you’re its queen.” She grabbed a handful of my hair and wrenched my head to the side.

Wincing, I scratched at her wrists, but it was like she could no longer feel pain. “What?”

“And you’re an attention seeker. When you enter the room, everybody stares.”

“That’s because you keep glaring at me, you stupid cow.”

Her blue eyes blazed with manic fury. “And you know the worst part?”

“It can’t be as bad as stealing money from the church,” I snarled.

The fingers of Elizabeth’s other hand tightened around my hair. Growling and glaring, she burned my bravado with the strength of her glower. This was no normal fight. I bucked and thrashed, trying to throw her off, but her muscular thighs tightened around my torso.

And then she crashed her lips onto mine.

All the blood drained from my face, and my soul tried to escape from my body. What. The. Bloody. Fuck?

I punched at her head, but she kept her lips locked in place. Her hate-filled stare bore into mine, and hot, angry breaths heaved from her nostrils. I tried jerking my head away, but the crazy bitch’s hands clamped my head into place.

Every instinct in my body told me to scream, to attract the attention of somebody, anybody who could rip this clingy limpet off my body. But I kept my jaws and lips and teeth clamped together in case she stuck her tongue into my mouth.

A futile effort—I know, but I kneed her between the legs. A breathy moan reverberated in the back of Elizabeth’s throat, making terror goose-pimple across my skin. She probably thought it was foreplay. My heart pounded against my ribcage with both fists, screaming at me to get us out from under Elizabeth’s maw.

With all the leverage I could muster, I rocked us to the left. Elizabeth’s eyes fluttered closed, and she let me roll her over. “Lilah.”

Jerking away, I left her lying on the frost with her lips puckered. Fuck, the girl was so deluded, she probably thought I was trying to take control of the kiss.

I scrambled to my feet and bolted toward the fence at top speed on my trembling legs.

“Lilah!”

Her voice squeezed a palpitation out of my heart. I picked up my pace, not daring a glance over my shoulder. The sight of her might turn me into a pillar of salt.

At the edge of the field, I hurdled over the fence and stumbled down the driveway. Cold wind howled in my ears and froze my sweat-drenched skin, but fear kept my limbs pumping at maximum capacity. The paddocks on my right and the hedges on my left blurred as I sprinted toward Mr. Burgh’s house.

I wasn’t ashamed to admit that I was freaked the fuck out by that encounter. Had this been a Wank night and a girl other than Elizabeth coming onto me, I might have given it a try. Goodness knew my luck with men was crap. But no way would I get anywhere close to that psychopath.

Behind me, something crashed on the ground. I yelped and glanced over my shoulder. It was just a branch that fell off a tree.

This was so messed up. If hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, what would she plan for me now that I had kneed her in the pussy and left her panting and wanting on the cold ground?

I passed the first metal posts surrounding the headmaster’s quarters. At the gates, I flung myself across the gravel courtyard and up the stone steps, not stopping until I opened the front door, stepped into the warm entrance hall, and slammed it shut.

“What was that?”

The surface of my skin tingled with the sudden change in temperature. I slumped on the tartan seat and gulped several mouthfuls of air.