Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 167204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 557(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 167204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 557(@300wpm)
I shake my head, breaking his gaze and walking again, but with less urgency this time. “I can’t help you with that. I don’t know anything about the Blue Bloods. As far as I know, it’s just a campus urban legend.”
“Bullshit,” he says, falling back into step beside me. “I know Killian’s one of them.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I insist with a shrug I hope looks sincere.
For a split second, I think he’s giving up because he stops walking next to me.
But before I can feel too relieved or get too far away, he says, “Kyle hasn’t given up on you. He wants you even more now that he knows the Blue Bloods do, too.”
I stop walking. I hate having to turn back, but he knows he has my interest now, so he stays where he is. He sips the coffee I bought for Ryan and tucks his free hand into his pocket, waiting for me to come back.
Goddammit.
I sigh with annoyance, but I stalk right back over to him. “What are you talking about?”
“I haven’t shared everything I know, so Kyle doesn’t know you’ve shacked up with Killian—yet. But he does know Blue Bloods are swarming to keep you safe, and they’re not well-known for their chivalrous practices. He’s cooked up this idea that they’ve set their sights on you because he picked you. They wanted to defile his virgin before he could. He thinks you’re their equivalent of a club whore.” He pauses to consider. “Society sweetheart?”
I grimace. “Ew. Why?”
Aiden shakes his head. “I think he just enjoys thinking about pretty virgins being defiled, whoever is doing the defiling. I don’t know. The guy’s fucked up and not in an interesting way, but that’s not the point. The point is, he made another plan to come for you. I know what it is and when it’s supposed to happen. But right now, I have no motive to tell you. I can be incentivized if you get me a meeting with the leader.”
“And you think that’s Hex.”
I say it to fuck with him, and I know I’ve hit my mark when his smug expression slips. “Is it Silvan? I had it narrowed down to the two of them, but I wasn’t sure which one it was. Silvan makes the most sense to me because of who his father is, but I’m not sure he’d want the responsibility. Hex would.”
He’s certainly done his homework.
“Why do you want to be a Blue Blood so bad anyway?” I ask.
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“My capacity for comprehension might surprise you,” I say lightly.
He looks at me like he’s not sure he wants to share, but I guess he decides to. “I come from kind of a fucked-up family situation. When I turned 18, I inherited all the money I’ll need to get where I’m going in life, but I’m on my own. And I’m doing fine, but… I won’t lie, I can feel there’s something missing.”
I swallow.
“And when you join the Blue Bloods, it’s like joining a family—but not a fucked-up one where you have to watch your back. Your brothers have your back, no matter what. At least, that’s my understanding. And I want to be part of that. Who wouldn’t?”
Damn. I expected his reasons to be more opportunistic and less relatable than that.
I sigh softly, then I say, “Well, if the Blue Bloods are real, I think blackmailing them into a meeting may not be the best way to get a seat at that particular table.”
He holds my gaze for a moment, then he says, “I’m a senior. I’ve spent three years waiting for them to tap me, Brynn, but I can’t wait any longer. You have to join in college. This is my last chance.”
Oh man.
Maybe it’s the soft-hearted sucker in me, but as much of an absolute asshole as he has been, that felt just vulnerable enough that I feel myself viewing him as a person instead of the murdery frat scum I’ve previously viewed him as.
“Why don’t you bring my purse back as a gesture of goodwill? Who knows? Maybe the hypothetical Blue Bloods will respond positively to their ‘Society Sweetheart’ getting her things back.”
He smirks faintly. “You think so?”
I shrug. “Couldn’t hurt.”
Chapter Eighteen
Brynn
“He played you.”
I look up, eyes wide, as Killian scoops veggie chili up on a Frito and pops it into his mouth. “No.”
He nods. “Yes,” he says when he finishes chewing. “He’s clearly not an idiot. He’s observant enough to gauge your reactions during the conversation and manipulative enough to pivot when he needed to. When the first tack he took didn’t get him the results he wanted, he switched courses. He probably figured you for a softie, so he appealed to that side of you instead. And it worked,” he says, gesturing to me.