Page 13 of Disobedient Pawn

* * *

Myles

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look more pathetic and a girl less interested in you,” Liam said as he wandered over, cigarette in hand.

“I think I’m in love,” I said, smiling wide at my friend.

Liam screwed up his face. “Um…pretty sure she just told you to fuck off without saying fuck off.”

“I know. Wasn’t it great?” I looked at Liam and then at the smoke he was inhaling. “I thought ya quit. If Coach sees ya, he’ll kick ya off the team, and Nash will have your ass and not in the fun way that Theo taps you.” I smirked as Liam rolled his eyes.

“Are you going to tell Coach or Nash?”

Liam put it out before pulling a metal cigarette holder from his pocket and tucking the rest of it inside. One of the school guards wandered along the path, looking like an FBI agent with wraparound sunglasses and dressed in all black. I knew they carried two guns on them, and there were over a dozen on the property at a time.

Liam and I nodded at the guy, and he carried on, his head on a swivel as he took in the surrounding forest that led down to the water.

“They still creep me out,” I said when the guy was out of earshot.

“He’s just a guard,” Liam yawned, making me yawn as I remembered I had only gotten a few hours of sleep.

“Don’t be fuckin doin’ that, man. It’s contagious.” The main door to the school opened, and Dean Henry waved to get my attention. “Well shit, she actually went to the dean.”

“Good luck, man.” Liam quickly escaped in the other direction while I felt like I was walking the plank. Dean Henry was the one person, other than my family, that could make my life a living hell. At least when it came to my studies. Unlike my Da, he was always around and watched everything we did. I swear there were cameras where there weren’t supposed to be because the man knew everything that went on. Dean Henry had also been given free rein to do whatever he saw fit to keep us in line, and although I’d never heard of him beating a student, there were other things he could and would do.

I didn’t think it was fair, but it was what it was. I’d been tempted to take his car for a joyride but Ilanded my ass in prison a few times before coming to the US and my father warned me to be smart and keep myself out of trouble. Since my father would beat my ass into a pulp if I stole the dean’s car, I decided not to push that self-destruct button. Almost everyone here had a record. Some because they liked being a dick, but most due to family obligations. The fun of having a crime family as your blood.

There were a couple that didn’t have a record, like Ivy. She was too scared of her own shadow to have any fun, but considering her dad was Sheriff Morrison—who was a total fucking asswipe and worked for our parents—it was safer for his kid to be here too. She was a smaller target than the rest of us but could still be used—another pawn in the larger game.

“Dean, how can I help ya,” I asked as he held the door open for me to walk inside.

“Follow me,” was all he said, his voice as curt and direct as always. My father thought this man had the best sense of humor. I thought it had run away from his uptight arse a long time ago.

I walked behind him like the good little beaten dog I was—technically, what we all were except Nash. He managed to get away with more than anyone else. The new girl, who I was really tempted to call Snowflake, sat in one of the leather chairs facing the dean’s desk, her back straight as a board. Fuck I wanted to loosen her up. See what she was like when she let that unique hair down.

I sat down into the chair beside her, and even though she didn’t turn her head, her amazing silver eyes flicked my way. They were such a faint color that the light, for just a moment, made them seem hauntingly translucent.

Dean Henry closed the door and walked around his massive desk. I had all sorts of fantasies about that desk, and none included the dean. I mean, I guess he could watch.

“Myles, I understand from Ren that Mr. Willis has introduced peer tutoring into the curriculum of your calculus class and that Ren is to tutor you.”

Ren. I ran her name through my head, loving how it sounded, and had the urge to groan it in her ear. “Aye, that’s true.”

“I also understand that due to the large stack of failed tests, quizzes, and assignments, she has no interest in helping you,” he said, and I looked over at Ren, who just stared straight ahead.

“Aye, that is also true.”

“Well then. I’ve made a decision.” Ren sat a little straighter, the corner of her mouth curling up as if she’d already won. “I’m not going to interfere in Mr. Willis’s decision to use the students to help one another. Maybe this will finally incentivize those of you treating school as a joke to pass your classes.” I smiled wide at the sound of Ren sharply inhaling. Glancing her way, she looked like she was gearing up for round two of the classroom blow-up. “But I’m going to make some changes.”

“Um…okay, what changes?” I wasn’t sure I would like wherever this was going.

“To begin, you must pass the class with at least a seventy-five percent average, or you will no longer be allowed on the swim and lacrosse teams.”

“What?” My mouth dropped open—no one screwed with either Coach Stevens or Coach Bates, they were scary when pissed.

“I’m sure you heard me just fine. I will notify your coaches so they are aware that they could be losing you after the Christmas holiday.”

Dean Henry folded his hands on the desk, his eyes going back and forth calmly between myself and Ren. Everything sexy about her outburst was now a fucking pain in my ass. It was all fun and games until the dean started fucking with the only things that kept me sane.