Brutal Blueblood

face with a trickle of blood oozing from the corner of his mouth, but he wasn’t missing any teeth or permanently fucked up in any other way. That was more than what most people who crossed Rhys could say.
“Okay, mate, back to the shore with you,” I said, hauling him off to the small tender to be ferried back to Ibiza Town. He didn’t protest, just cast me a sullen look every now and again, which didn’t bother me in the least. I’d spent most of my life getting my older brother, Felix, out of his own messes, after all. If sullen looks still had the power to wound me, I’d be dead a million times over.
The guy now deposited in the tender and the tender pilot pulling away, I took the stairs up to the main deck two at a time, eager to find Tanith and fix whatever had gone wrong. She would understand, once I told her it didn’t matter that we went to the same school. Once I explained it would be ideal, actually, perfect, because then we could see each other as much as we wanted. I could kiss her senseless every afternoon after classes, maybe even sneak her into my room . . .
But when I got to the deck, she was gone. So was Sera, though, and their other partner in crime, Aurora, and even though it made me want to howl at the moon, I also understood why she wouldn’t want to be on the deck any longer and why her friends would be with her. Sera was my friend, too, and I wanted her to be okay.
It didn’t matter anyway. Tanith could hide from me all she wanted here in Ibiza, but come the start of the fall semester at Pembroke, there’d be no place to hide.
I’d find her, apologize for not knowing who she was, and then we could finish what we started.
*     *     *
Except, four weeks later as summer ended and we all moved back into our rooms at Pembroke, Tanith was nowhere to be found. She wasn’t with Sera or Aurora; she wasn’t in the cafeteria or any classes or hiding in the library. It wasn’t until a week after school started, when my obsessive desperation had gnawed my pride down to nothing, that I broke down and asked Sera where Tanith was.
She wasn’t at Pembroke, and she wouldn’t be coming back until the end of the semester. I’d lost my chance, not only that night on the yacht, but for the first half of our senior year too.
And even worse? The fellowship I’d been wait-listed for?
It had gone to Tanith. She’d deprived me of herself and of the fellowship I’d wanted in one fell swoop, and I couldn’t decide if I were furious . . . or more fascinated by her than ever.

Chapter 3
Tanith
Beginning of Winter Break
Why had I said yes?
This felt like a mistake. But to be fair, it was really hard to say no to Serafina.
I’d spent the last semester doing the Everston Fellowship for digital journalism in LA. I’d had to do my classes remotely, which had been a challenge and the schedule had been grueling, but I was so happy I’d done it.
But now I was back at Pembroke Prep, and an offhand summer promise to spend the winter holidays with Sera was coming due.
I mean, why did she even care? Mom was working during the holidays and my sisters were each spending the holidays with boyfriends or friends, so it hadn’t made sense to go home. I still didn’t understand why I couldn’t just stay on campus. I could unpack, reacclimate. Relax, read. Big plans.
But, oh no. I was headed to New York with Sera and the wild bunch. Kill me now.
The one silver lining. I’d managed to wrangle myself an interview with Preston Media. Fresh off my fellowship, my name should be at the top of the heap. Elizabeth Preston was my idol. I would do anything to be able to learn from her.
Or, for once in your life, you can have a little fun. Kiss someone under the mistletoe.
I scanned my gaze around at the sea of gray and navy and woven across the dark oak of the school’s front foyer like a living tapestry. Who was I kidding? For that to happen, I might actually have to talk to someone voluntarily. The chances of that were nil.
As usual, Serafina didn’t do anything small. Nothing at all. Which was okay, I guess, if you liked that sort of ostentatious, wild-party thing. But wow, her Rolls-Royce limo had pulled up with a driver in uniform, and it was hard not to slide her a side eye. Sera was normally so down to earth. It was hard to remember she was of those van Dorens. The New York van Dorens who’d outlived, outmoneyed, and outsocieted so many of the original Four Hundred families in New York. Old Money with a capital O and a capital M.
A prickle of awareness made the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention like little saluting soldiers. Surreptitiously, I glanced around to see who was watching me, but I didn’t have to look far.
Instinctively, I knew. Knew whose gaze singed the tops of my shoulders under layers of fabric. Knew who made me want to clamp my legs together.
All it had taken was one swipe of his tongue on mine and the moment had been indelibly seared into my brain. I couldn’t count how often during the last several months I’d thought of last summer. The yacht, the kiss. The way one little groan had made me feel like I was a goddess. The way his erection had nudged at me, making me ready to beg.
And then, I’d learned the truth. I’d been the only one seeing him for who he really was. He had never seen me. Hell, he’d thought I was some random friend of Sera’s.
All that time I’d been pining after him, I’d been invisible.
Asshole.
I’d