Page 84 of Crush

“You’re all alone. Even Aiko wants nothing to do with you.” Aurora laughs breathlessly in my face. “I don’t have to do anything to make you suffer. You’re saving me the trouble and doing it all yourself.”

Our eyes clash, mine unblinking. I say, “Do you want to find Savannah, or am I alone in that, too?”

My heel buckles, hitting the edge of the staircase leading down. Aurora doesn’t relent. Why would I expect her to? I’m goading her, asking to be hurt. Needing it.

My threshold with Thorne is crossing into my daily life, and I don’t know if I want to stop it.

“You fucking stalker,” she says. “What kind of person takes over someone else’s life so completely? You make her best friend suffer.” She points at her head, where her wig doesn’t quite blow with the wind the way her friends’ natural hair does. “You want her school, her stepsister, her boyfriend, then when you don’t get them all, you overdose in a pool like a whiny bitch, then expect to come back to Winthorpe like no one’s going to be disgusted with you.”

“Wrong. I’m fully aware of who hates me. Now move.” I try to shoulder her out of the way, but Belle swoops into position, her strong swimmer’s body refusing entry. My hands ball into fists. “Get out of my way. I don’t want any trouble.”

“Trouble follows you like an STD,” Delaney says, shadowing Aurora’s other side. “Go get homeschooled, bitch. No one wants you here.”

“Least of all, Thorne,” Aurora adds. “I heard he’s one of the key witnesses against you. Everyone has. God, you’re pathetic.”

I lower my head, hissing in my breaths. Begging myself not to lose it. Aurora’s lashing out, angry that I’ve avoided physical punishment when she didn’t. She misses her friend, too. One that Winthorpe seems to forget with each passing day. It’s obvious.

I still want to wrap my hands around her fucking throat.

“Let me pass,” I seethe.

“Sorry, no skanks allowed past this point,” Aurora chirps.

That’s it.

I grab her by the side of her head. Aurora screeches, her hands flying up to pull me off, but my grip is hard. Determined. Belle and Delaney cry out, lurching forward to help their friend, but they don’t have fury and misery on their side like I do.

Aurora’s wig tangles in her face, sliding sideways as I swing her by the front of her shirt until she’s at the edge of the stairs. Her arms cartwheel back. Too late, she straightens, but she’s already mid-topple.

I don’t have the joy of watching her go ass over feet down the stairs. She crashes right into the arms of someone waiting to catch her.

“Is there a problem here?”

Aurora twists her head to see who saved her, her hands flying to her wig to straighten it. It takes one second for Aurora to process who spoke. While sending a caustic glare his way, she fights off her savior, running up the stairs to the apparent comfort of her two minions.

The air becomes fresh. Cool. I can breathe.

“Ember? You okay?”

Jaxon watches Aurora scuttle away with amusement before coming to my side, taking the stairs two at a time before reaching the top.

“Yeah,” I answer, though I feel anything but. “Aurora was just…”

“Harassing and intimidating you to the point where you wanted to break her neck. Yeah, I got that.” He swats at the three girls. “Go on. Scat, ladies.”

“You have no authority over me, as a schoolboy or as a member.” Somehow, Aurora manages to look regal under the shadow of Jaxon’s six-foot-tall frame.

“Ah, but there’s where you’re mistaken.” Jaxon grins wide, showing off alarmingly white teeth. He glances down at me, elbowing my side. “Meet your new mentor through the challenges.”

“What?” Aurora balks. “You’re not a marquess. I specifically requested that Belle or Delaney be the ones in charge of her.”

“True. I am not.” Jaxon bounces on his heels with each syllable. “But I am a marquis, and the queen’s agreed that I can take over Thorne’s duty to Ember with unbiased intention.”

I snort, inching away. “Like the time you spiked my soda?”

“Ah, don’t act like you haven’t imbibed before.” One side of his mouth tilts up.

I glare at him. “That was a setup.” I spin to stare at all four of them, throwing out my arms. “Why isn’t anyone concerned that someone tried to kill me?”