Page 15 of Revenge

Blake nipped at my inner thigh. “If there’s anything you need. A friendly word. A hug. A pleasuring by the fireplace. We’re here.”

My throat went dry, and I stared down at Blake and Henry’s crotches. Each man sported a huge erection. I swallowed hard. It was one thing to sit like a queen while the three of them pleasured me, but nothing had changed between us. I hadn’t forgotten their betrayal, and I still resented them for trying to get between me and Sergei with their dirty tricks.

“W-what do you want from me?” I asked.

Edward squeezed my shoulder. “We’ll take care of ourselves,” he murmured. “Don’t worry about us.”

Henry helped me to my feet and held me steady while I slipped on my loafers. “Will you be alright going up the stairs?”

“Y-yes.” I stuffed my tights in my pocket and backed toward the door. “Good night.”

I hurried out of the room, down the hallway and up the stairs. That had been unbelievable. Now that they thought they’d persuaded me back into their inner circle, I needed to form a plan. The first of the triumvirate I wanted to destroy was Henry, but to do that, I needed to rid myself of the biggest obstacle: Charlotte.

Chapter 6

On Monday morning, I sat at the head table between Blake and Edward. Even though Henry’s fingers had taken me to ecstasy and back, I still couldn’t act like things were perfect between us. To make my deception real, I had to appear to hold on to a little resentment. Only a liar would forgive being abducted for nine days, framed for kidnapping, and the subsequent seven days I’d spent in the basement. As I was buttering my toast, Charlotte stepped into the dining room. She locked gazing with me and turned around, taking Patricia with her.

I narrowed my eyes. Someone as desperate as Charlotte would probably scheme something to match that ghastly goodbye gauntlet to get me out of the way. I had to strike before she could, and to do that, I would need more information on her.

Rita walked into the dining room, took one look at me, and jerked her head away. The tightening of her lips said it all. I was playing with gunpowder and the fall-out would be explosive. I lowered my gaze to my plate of scrambled eggs and smoked salmon and tried not to think about her warning. Even if I wanted to walk away, Rudolph still held the threat of military school over my head, and Jackie had sent a text, asking when I would be able to install all the cameras.

“Problems with Yelverton?” asked Edward.

“We’re fine,” I replied. “She didn’t know we were all friends again.”

He stared after her, lips pressed together. Rita settled herself at a table full of the scholarship students who had approached her last term with their theories that I’d been murdered by Henry. I was glad she was able to connect with them, but the hard look in Edward’s eyes lined my stomach with dread. Was he so desperate to screw up people’s lives that he was looking to rekindle a fresh round of bullying?

“If you act against her, we’re finished.”

“Of course,” he said a little too smoothly. “Although it seems that you might be drifting apart.”

“What do you expect her to do?” I picked up a slice of toast from the silver rack. “Sit around waiting for me to spare her a crumb of time between my three boyfriends?”

“I like the sound of that,” murmured Blake. “Maybe you can see us tonight and finish what you started last night?”

I patted him on the knee. “Tempting… If only I hadn’t missed so much prep and classwork from getting expelled.”

Henry made a choking sound and turned his head away. I clamped my lips together to stop them from curling with disdain. He wasn’t fooling anyone with that fake display of guilt.

Blake took a large bite of his toast and continued wolfing it down until he muttered something about going to classes early. Then he left. I narrowed my eyes at Edward, who was still staring at the table of scholarship students. What the hell was he planning? He might be thinking of cornering Rita to ask about my motives. But she had told me not to tell her my plans, and I had respected her request and kept our conversations away from the triumvirate.

My first class of the day was Creative Writing. Alice lowered herself into the seat next to mine and hissed, “What do you think you’re doing with that wanker?”

“Edward?” I asked.

“Yes. And the other two. They’re trouble.”

I shrugged. “You saw what happened to me last term when I left. Befriending them is the only way I can survive here.”

Alice had the decency to glance away. “T-that wasn’t me.” She swallowed. “I mean… I knew they would form lines and watch you leave, but I didn’t think things would go out of control.”

A furnace of resentment burned in my stomach, and I had to reach down and pull my satchel on the table to give myself time to smooth out my expression. Breathing hard to stop my hands from shaking, I asked, “What did you expect from the other students?”

Her tongue darted out to lick her lips. “Like I said, I didn’t organize it. That was Charlotte. She’s still paying off her debts to Carbuncle for all the work he did behind the scenes.”

I was about to ask what she meant when Mr. Weatherford strolled into the room and told everyone to turn to a page in our textbooks and dissect a poem. I tried to focus on my work, but my thoughts kept rocking back to Charlotte. I owed that bitch for the gauntlet. Mr. Carbuncle, too. My hands balled into fists. If there was a way I could prove he was taking cash from students, I would expose him first.

Alice was the key to getting to Charlotte, and I had to be careful not to scare her away. I turned to her and whispered, “Sergei’s playing in a concert hall in Sussex. He sent me two tickets. Do you want to come with me?”