Meanwhile, Andrew buries himself in his oatmeal and stays the hell out of this. Smart choice. Wish I could do the same.
“You guys can sit down,” I tell my cadre of boyfriends, and even though Windsor looks askance at Myron, like he’d quite willingly step between me and him if needed, he listens. For once.
All five boys sit around the high table and get comfortable. Creed has one boot up on the actual table itself which, you know, could be considered bad manners but that I find cute anyway. I tear my eyes away from them to stare at Lizzie Walton.
“I tried to make things fair. Even though I’ve been in love with Tristan Vanderbilt since first year, even though I’ve endured so much shit from him. I wanted to give him the privilege of making a fair and unbiased choice, but … you’re not as nice as you pretend to be, are you?”
She just stares at me from those amber eyes of hers, her face crestfallen, as splinted and sharp as broken glass.
“To tell you the truth, I only came here because of Tristan. I mean, I liked you Marnye, I wanted to be friends, but I don’t think I can. Not when you’ve got him.” She gestures in the direction of the high table and then sighs, reaching up to smooth her palms over her dark hair. “I can leave by Friday—”
I cut her off.
“Tomorrow,” I say, and my voice is deadly serious.
Lizzie pauses as Myron pushes off the wall to come stand beside her, taking her elbow in a possessive manner.
“I’m going with her. But I won’t leave my best friend exposed. Also, I’m tired of being kept on a leash. I know you have special little rules to live by to make yourself feel better, and Tristan might find them cute, but to be quite frank, I don’t give a fuck. You can thank me later—I left the queen bee and her bitch for you to squash.”
Myron drags Lizzie toward the door and then pauses, glancing back at us.
I have a feeling I know what he’s going to say before he says it.
“Don’t come after her. I’m serious as a heart attack. I will fuck you up.”
“I won’t,” I promise, and I mean that.
I don’t need to go after Lizzie.
I have Tristan, the only thing she’s ever wanted. There’s nothing more to be done. But frankly, I’d rather not see her ever again.
Myron steers her out the door, and I wonder if he’ll relentlessly pursue her the way she did Tristan, drive her up the wall with his crazy. I hate to say it, but … I almost hope so? Is that bad karma?
“I didn’t want you to hit her or anything and get punched,” Miranda starts, trying way too hard to explain herself. I stop her by giving her a kiss on the cheek, grabbing her hand and pulling her to the high table for breakfast.
It takes me a minute to fully realize what Myron just said.
“Wait. Where are Abigail and Valentina?”Abigail and Valentina do not come back to the academy after that day.
I don’t even have enough time to figure out what happened to them before Valentine’s Day rolls around. The boys do the rose thing like usual, but they also give me a necklace, one that I’m sure is obscenely expensive. I’d have turned it down if it didn’t come with its own story.
“It’s called the Idol’s Eye,” Creed tells me, and I notice that the center of the round necklace is a jewel that’s the same color as his eyes. It’s surrounded by small, clear diamonds and hanging on a delicate chain. “It’s been owned by presidents and princes, and it once disappeared for over three hundred years.”
“Bullshit,” I whisper, but you know me, I’m a history buff and I’m intrigued as hell. “He’s lying.” I look up and find Zack shaking his head.
“Not this time. The diamond is really that old. The last time it was ever in the public eye was in the eighties. It went missing after that. If you look it up online, it’s treated like an unsolvable mystery. The only thing that really happened is that the Infinity Club got ahold of it.”
“How did you guys get it?” I ask as Windsor takes the chain and unhooks it, carefully putting it around my neck and teasing my skin with his fingers as he hooks the clasp. He leans down to whisper against my ear.
“We won it in a bet, what else?” He stands up then as I finger the jewel and look between Zayd and Tristan. It’s been weeks since that horrible day in his apartment, when I found Lizzie in a blue bathrobe, and I swear, it’s like now that we’ve all been unlocked to each other, there’s an accelerant in the air.
