Page 46 of Colton

“There’s nothing to spill!” She squeaks. “Is he incredibly attractive? Absolutely. But he is too out of my reach. Even if he wasn’t a priest, the age-gap would still be too large.”

“I see no problem with an age-gap,” I shrug.

“Of course you wouldn’t see it,” Grace snorts. “Lila, did you know that Ava has the hots for the Dean?”

“Oh, yeah. She isn’t very subtle about it.”

My jaw drops open. For a moment, I look between the two, unsure if they’re just messing with me, or if I’ve truly been that obvious. For the most part, Lila is rather clueless. If something doesn’t involve her, she doesn’t care. Gossip’s never been her forte, nor does she particularly have the need to know everything, unlike Grace and Sophia.

“Excuse me?”

Lila deadpans, shooting me a knowing look. “I saw you going into his office today. What were you doing there?”

Grace gasps, her hand flying to her mouth. She’s being overly dramatic — as always — and acting like not telling her about it is the greatest sin committed against humanity, and a personal hate crime against her.

“I was returning books to him!”

Lila narrows her eyes, skeptically glancing at me. “Uhuh, sure. That’s why you were in there for more than an hour?”

Grace hits my shoulder with her fist and I yelp. “You didn’t tell me about this! My God, did you fuck him?”

“What?! No!”

“Why not?” The girls ask in unison.

“Have you two lost your goddamn minds?” I straighten up, unfortunately, I’ve never been a good liar. Both can tell that there’s something I’m hiding, and I’m hiding it for a reason. I’m not ready to tell them just yet.

“No, but we know you, and we also know that you never look at men your age,” Lila says, and Grace nods.

“And you’ve been gushing about him for ages. It would be a missed opportunity not to try and get with him.”

“Weren’t you the one who told me I shouldn’t involve myself with him, or the five founding families?” I ask.

Grace sighs. “Yeah, but then I actually thought about it. Out of the five families, it’s better to be with Colton, than anyone else. So, it’s not that you have my blessing, exactly, it’s just that he’s the lesser evil.”

“Thanks, that’s really helpful,” I roll my eyes.

Her concern is appreciated, though not entirely needed here. If she were to find out just what kind of sleazy men I used to go out with, she’d think of Colton as a saint.

He’s the definition of perfection, in my eyes, at least.

“There’s something else I want to talk to you guys about,” I breathe out.

The girls notice the serious tone in my voice, and both look at me. They’re the people who will never, ever judge me. So, I tell them about how I’ve been selling my pictures online, and everything that followed — the insane amount of tips, and the fact that the account always vanishes after the purchase.

“Kenzo’s good with computers,” Grace says, and I remember that he’s in IT. “I can ask him to try tracking down the IP address. Are you sure you want to know, though?”

“I think it’s worse not knowing,” Lila interjects before I can respond. “Whoever it is, they’re developing an obsession with Avalon. If they know it’s her, it can become dangerous. If they don’t know it’s her, then it could potentially be worse.”

With a deep breath, I nod, agreeing with Lila. “Ask Kenzo, please.”

“I will,” Grace promises, squeezing my hand. “I’m seeing him tonight, anyway.”

“Oh? Why?” Lila asks.

Oh, boy.

17