She doesn’t get embarrassed, tug away or bury her face.

She gives a hard, bratty blink, a heavy eye roll following as her body begins to sag.

“Raven wasn’t kidding,” she pants. “There are literally no secrets between you guys.”

I shift my head, looking over my shoulder without moving.

Royce and Maddoc are standing there.

“I’ll admit.” Royce nods his head, crossing his arms as he looks from Maddoc to me. “Hide and seek was a shit idea with a kid.”

“Hide and go seek is for kids,” Victoria corrects him.

“Yeah, okay.” He scoffs, and starts walking away. “And chocolate syrup was made for ice cream!”

Chapter 21

Victoria

Chloe dashes by, grabs my arm and yanks me close with a wide smile and red cheeks.

I tear free from her. “What the hell?”

She grins. “If my dad asks, I was with you!”

“What—”

“Chloe!” is boomed in the empty hall, echoing across from one end to the next and she clamps her lips shut with a laugh, yanks her loud-ass heels from her feet and disappears into the bathroom the second Mr. Carpo steps around the corner looking full-on mob boss.

He skids to a stop. “Ms. Vega.”

“Mr. Carpo.”

“Did you see my daughter come this way?”

“Yeah, we were in the bathroom, but she left a few minutes ago,” I lie.

His eyes narrow, so I add, “I pissed off a Brayshaw, she was, you know, taking a minute to rub it in.”

He frowns, nods, and then the poor guy apologizes, and I have to fight back a laugh.

“She’s working on...”

“Manners?” I quirk. “Yeah, I noticed.”

He chuckles, running a hand down his face. “Well, I guess that’s a good thing. Lunch is in fifteen minutes, go back to class, all right?” He turns toward his office.

Suddenly Mac pokes his head out of a door down the hall, grinning when he sees me standing there, his hair a tangled mess on the top of his head, pink lipstick on his neck.

I cross my arms and he laughs as he saunters this way.

He nods his chin. “Vee.”

“Mac.”

Chloe comes out, hair back to perfect and wraps an arm through his.

She smiles. “Thanks.”

And off they go.

I make it back to class just a few minutes before the lunch bell rings.

“I’m starved.” Raven stands, waiting for me to pack up my things.

“That’s news to absolutely no one,” I tell her.

She laughs and we make our way from the room, finding Maddoc waiting just outside as always.

He pulls her into him, kissing her neck as we walk down the hall.

My steps slow as Amber plants herself right in front of Captain at the end of it, where he, Royce, and Mac stand waiting for the rest of us.

“Here we go.” Raven smirks, shaking her head, and I don’t miss Maddoc’s scoff at her side. “You’ve been on his arm, at his side, and in his bed for weeks. She’s testing your status.”

“Let her.”

Raven’s head jerks toward mine. “For real?”

We keep moving forward with slower steps than normal.

“She wants to get under my skin, fuck her.”

“She wants to fuck your man.” Raven side-eyes me.

“And won’t even get close.”

“How can you be sure?”

“You just called him mine, right?”

Maddoc shakes his head. “Stay out of it, Snow,” he warns with a kiss.

“Oh, I am.” She turns to me with a grin. “You want to let her think she can touch him and get away with it, that’s on you.”

“Then why are you laughing?”

She only smirks and looks ahead.

Chloe steps up right before we do, rolling her eyes at the pretty girl in booty shorts and a tank top.

We catch the tail end of the conversation, right as Amber slinks closer, allowing her hip to pop out as she says, “It’s going to be fun, but it would be better with you there.”

Captain’s eyes shift, meeting mine over Amber's head, and he lifts his arm, casually sliding it right past her, his forearm brushing her shoulder as he does she’s so close to him.

She must think he’s about to wrap her up, pull her in and accept her invite, because she leans into him.

The second she does, though, I’m shoved from behind, landing right into Captain’s large and waiting hands.

I’m pulled, spun and planted right in front of him. In the next second, his long fingers slip into the front pockets of my jeans, pushing my body into his.

I look to Maddoc finding a smirk on his lips.

Shithead.

“Sounds like a good time, Amber,” Captain finally replies. “Maybe we’ll be there.”

Amber is only inches from me, her mouth agape as she slowly shuffles backward, a forced, partial smile finding its way back to her lips.

She lifts her bag higher on her shoulder and nods. “Yeah, okay.”

My eyes fall to the purse she grips tight.

“New purse?”

Her glare is instant and on me, but she says nothing, spins on her heels and walks away.

Chloe and I laugh while the others look at us confused.

It lights a small flare in my chest.

How about that, an inside joke I’m on the other side of.

As the group makes their way into the cafeteria, Cap holds me back, and turns me in his arms to face him.

An unquenchable warmth stares back as his hands begin to trace my ribs, something I’ve noted he likes to do.

My shape, it’s one he likes.

His knuckles lift my chin, and he leans forward, planting his lips at the curve of it, then on the hollow of my throat, his dirty whispers moving to my ear.

“I thought of you last night,” he shares, his heated breath making my toes curl in my shoes.

“Before or after you left my bed?”

He squeezes my ass with his free hand, the one under my chin now teasing the skin of my neck and collarbone.

“Before, during, and after... long, long after, Beauty.”

I lick my lips and wait for more.

“You rolled over and whispered in my ear,” he tells me. “Do you remember that, or did my baby talk in her sleep for me again?”

His baby?

Oh god.

My chest falls to his, and he drops his shoulders to the wall behind him.

“Yeah, you talked in your sleep.” He nips at the skin beneath my ear, his other hand joining the one on my ass and pushing me against him. “You told me you wanted to roll me on my back, so you could climb on top and show me what I do to you. You said you’d ride me slow, drive me mad… that what you want, Beauty?”

I swallow, my eyes closing as he rubs against me, pressing his now hard cock into my hip.

“If you’d have woken me up, I would have given you what I promised,” I admit. “Gladly.”

“Oh you did...”

I tug my head back to look at him.

His eyes blaze, pupils dilated beyond belief. “I went to my bed, locked my door, and laid flat on my back. I closed my eyes, and there you were.”

He thought of me...