Page 166 of Depraved Boys

A contented sigh escaped my lips. With Miss Claymore gone and Sebastian about to reconcile with me, my only outstanding issue was Bianca and her father. As soon as I returned from the hideout, I would hand her back her envelope and tell her I would never cover for her father.

I sank into the jeep’s leather seat. “Coming to the hideout with you is no guarantee of anything.”

He started the engine and reversed around the other cars. “I know, but hiding the truth from you has been torture.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me when Leopold suggested?”

“Mostly because I was ashamed of what I’d done. Miss Claymore always directed her anger at me, and I could handle that. It wasn’t until Leo told me you’d been poisoned that I truly believed she was behind the attacks.”

The jeep rolled down the driveway leading to the academy gates. Its headlamps lit up the woodland on both sides of the path.

I stared out of the window, wondering if Miss Claymore was lurking somewhere in the trees, waiting for her chance to snatch Sebastian. The thought sent a shiver down the back of my spine, and I made a mental note to complain to Mrs. Benazir about Bianca being able to get into my room.

“Stop blaming yourself about Miss Claymore,” I said. “She should have seen what you were doing and stopped you.”

Sebastian shook his head. “I was eager for someone else to feel the gut-wrenching pain of losing everything. It was the sickest thing I’ve ever done, and that includes driving Father’s Porsche off the side of a mountain.”

“I thought that had been an accident.”

He gave me an exasperated look. I rolled my eyes. What else was I supposed to think when he referred to the accident in the same breath as the pull-a-pig game?

“Why did you set out to break her heart?” I stared at his profile.

Sebastian had lost a little weight since we’d first met. I wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing because his features were now more chiseled, showcasing his high cheekbones and strong jaw.

He slowed down to take a sharp turn, and his face twisted into an expression of distaste. “I told the grief counselor about a girl at school I liked, and he guided me through the courtship.”

“Why?”

“Grandfather paid the man to come in three times a week, and he wouldn’t leave me alone,” Sebastian growled. “I was tired of talking to him about my feelings. It wasn’t bringing anyone back and just made me even more upset.”

“Okay.” I bit down on my lip. Maybe it was a guy thing, but talking through my feelings helped me get past them.

Sebastian let out a frustrated breath and said, “I wanted to feel in control. I wanted to distract the counselor from conversations about dead people. I wanted to see what would happen if I tried to seduce Miss Claymore.”

“Oh, my goodness.” I clapped my hand over my mouth. The words had slipped out of my mouth, and I wasn’t sure why. I’d already heard his account of how he had seduced her. His reasons for doing so really shouldn’t have been a surprise.

“I know.” He turned left and drove up the slope leading to the hideout.

The lights were on, meaning he had probably driven earlier in the day to start the fire and make the place comfortable. Hadn’t he told Miss Claymore the hideout had been built in her honor? It had touched her heart and melted the last of her reservations, and now the place had a similar effect on me.

“How do I know I’m not another challenge?” I asked.

“Willow,” he said in a tone that implied I was fishing for compliments.

My hands curled into fists. It was hard to go from being known as the dumpy mule only good for sticking her nose in books to being the girlfriend of two, potentially three of the best-looking boys in the school.

Anyone looking at my situation from the outside would call me a fool for falling for the kings, but the only experience I’d ever had with boys was Jerome from Computer Science, and that had ended with Ashley seducing him.

I huffed out a breath. This whole dating business was new to me, and I had no one to confide in — no one who wasn’t biased for or against the boys to help me think things through.

“I’m serious,” I said from between clenched teeth. “It happened to Corrine, Miss Claymore, and even Ashley. Maybe it’s my turn?”

“It isn’t.” Sebastian got out of the jeep, walked around its front, and opened my door.

Cold air swirled between us, making me cringe. “Why am I different?”

He crouched in front of the open door, the jeep’s inner light softening his eyes. “Because I’ve learned that toying with other people’s emotions is deadly. It twists people into knots they can never unravel. It’s worse than grief, worse than heartbreak, because it’s not a natural disaster or a fate.”