Brutal Blueblood

been hoping to avoid him for a little bit longer at least.
Because you’re a chickenshit.
I was totally a chickenshit, but also, I wanted my bearings before getting caught up in him.
My gaze tracked and searched until I saw them. The Hellfire Club. The cool kids—boys only, of course.
They were the ones having a great time. Usually, I was busy studying while everyone else was having fun. Us scholarship students didn’t get any breaks. Pembroke Prep was expensive. So, I didn’t want to screw up. My scholarship depended on keeping my grades up and staying out of trouble. Which meant, apart from that one night in Ibiza, no parties, no boys, no fun.
Certainly, no boys like Owen Montgomery who would almost certainly ruin my soul.
I didn’t give a damn about him.
“Oh my God, Tanith, there you are. Why are you all doom and gloom?”
I dragged my gaze from Owen’s long, lean, dark-haired frame and told myself he wasn’t as cute as I remembered. Because these were the lies we told ourselves to help us remember to stay away from assholes.
“I’m not doom and gloom. I’m just having a breath of fresh air before we head out.”
“Are you so excited?” Sera grabbed my arm and squeezed. She wasn’t usually effusive or particularly demonstrative, but she loved nothing more than commanding her court and fixing problems. And I was the problem du jour.
“Nice ride.”
She rolled her eyes. “Ostentatious is the word you’re looking for. My father is ridiculous. But ridiculous parental unit or not, I’m really glad you’re here. No friend of mine spends the holidays in the dorms.” She wrapped an arm around me.
“Thank you for inviting me, but I would have been fine.”
Sera shook her head, her dark, springy curls giving a little light bounce. Sera had changed for the long drive and she was in winter white, which gleamed against her dark brown skin. Her long white peacoat was lined with matching fur. Only she could look that good in all white.
All around us, the boys snuck surreptitious glances at her. That was what happened around Serafina. Most guys almost always took a second look to admire her beauty. Girls too. She oozed van Doren power and coolness.
“Okay, Tanith, promise me you’ll chill. This is supposed to be fun. All work and no play make Tanith a very exhausted girl. And you’ve been gone all semester. Now is the time for fun. Please tell me you at least understand the concept of fun.”
“I’m fun,” I muttered, only half insulted. “I know what fun is. It usually involves a book.”
She laughed. “Now, listen, I love books as much as the next person, but we have to deviate sometimes and turn to other pursuits for fun.”
I lifted a brow. I knew the van Doren library was extensive because of Sera. She might have been gorgeous, but she wasn’t an airhead. The van Doren library had been one of her projects, giving under resourced youths access to her family’s library. It came complete with researchers to help them work for the best scholarships at the best schools in the country.
“Okay, I got you. I swear, I’m trying to have fun.”
“Ugh, this isn’t meant to make you feel bad. I just want to make sure you know you’re welcome. And I missed you.”
I wanted to bite my tongue out. Here Sera was showing feelings and I was distracted. I gave her my full attention. “I’m sorry. I’m trying, honestly. I just . . . I feel a little out of place.”
“Is this the part where I remind you that you feel out of place because of you and not because anyone’s making you feel that way?”
“Yeah, probably. It’s a good reminder.” It was hard when you knew you didn’t belong.
She laughed. “Look, there are boys here. And you’re already getting some attention.”
I pursed my lips. “Not interested.” I refused to repeat the Owen debacle.
She tracked over to where I had been looking and rolled her eyes hard. “Montgomery wouldn’t know hot ass if it stripped down in front of him. He’s a robot. The Ice King. Now that you’re back, we’re going to get you a hot sexy boyfriend who’s not a robot.”
I’d broken down and told the girls what happened with Owen when I’d told them I wasn’t returning for the semester. Sera had been ready to murder him. “I’d settle for one who realized we’ve been at the same school for three years.”
“He’s such an ass.”
“That he is.”
She laughed. “Come on, you’re not a stick in the mud. I’ve seen you have fun. Like that one time we Christmas wrapped Constantine in his dorm room. That was fun.”
I laughed, thinking back to it. I’d been a first year then. Oof, we’d gotten in a lot of trouble. The Constantines had been pissed when they’d come to pick up their baby boy Keaton for winter break and he’d been wrapped into his room. That was when I’d re-adopted this path of the straight and narrow. Sera could get away with that kind of stuff. But I could not.
I shrugged. “You know I can’t be up to no good like that anymore.”
The stunning Aurora Lincoln-Ward came striding over with her hair spilling over her shoulders in dark, inky waves. “Are you two ready for some winter fun? I hear there’s ice-skating in our future.”
My stomach pitched. I’d been skating before. I wasn’t particularly good.
But we are trying to have fun.
I could handle a little ice-skating.
“Why do you look so pale, Tanith?”
I forced myself to smile and fake it because truth be told, this was supposed to be fun. And I was ruining it with my anxiety. Not taking full advantage of the opportunity to spend some time with my friends, to not think about school or the future aside from the one teensy internship interview I’d lined up. My mother always told me to grasp every opportunity that came my way with both hands.
Instead, I was sulking and afraid. And that wasn’t me.
I pasted on a fake