APRILHonestly, I’d seen Ace angry more times than I could count because he used to always posed when we first started fucking, but I’d never seen him as angry as he looked right now. He turned to me first, as though he was trying to confirm that I’d learned the truth after accusing him of uploading the video. Little did he know that I’d known the trust h a while ago and that’s what made nursing him to health more bearable. I didn’t react or speak, so he turned his enraged gaze back to Brooke. In seconds, he was dashing across the room, wrapping a wrist around Brooke’s neck and choking her angrily against the wall. “How could be so thoughtless and heartless as to release such an incriminating video? especially when you knew it would affect her reputation, her position, and her scholarship?” he demanded to know as he tightened his grip around her neck. Despite the pain he was inflicting on her, Brooke looked unrepentant about what she’d done and I was just numb where I sat as I re
APRIL Shame enveloped me like a second skin as I heard the sound of Brooke slamming the main door shut angrily behind her. I would definitely never be able to show my face in front of her. There was no doubt in my mind about that. When I resumed school, I was definitely going to have a hard time rejoining the volunteering committee because she oversaw it. And god knows she hates me more than she cares about providing volunteers to the community so she’ll never let me successfully enroll. Sincerely, I deserved that punishment just as much as I deserved all the guilt and shame that was plummeting a hole in the pit of my stomach. “She’s gone now,” Ace finally managed to wipe the rage off his face, “I’m really sorry for the interruption and how things blew ov—”“I should be the one walking out of that door and not her. She should still be here, talking this through with you like mature adults instead of the way you treated her like an inferior being where you’re concerned,” I felt ang
ACEAs much as it seemed like an odd thing for me, I only wanted to do her bidding. The last time I’d felt this strongly for a girl, I ended up regretting every single second of it, and despite the warnings ringing in the back of my head, I still felt more than willing to give it another shot. After the way I’d opened up with April and she’d practically turned into a therapist, I was hopeful that things would be different this time if I just did some things the right way. And the first thing on that list was making things right by apologizing to Brooke, so I picked up my phone and dialed her number. “Ace?” she sounded awfully shocked when she picked up the phone, and I knew it was because I never called her and barely picked up her calls. “Yeah, uhm…. Tonight’s family dinner at my parent’s place and I wanted to ask if you’d be interested in joining us, there’s some important things we need to discuss,” I told her, trying my best to sound respectful even though I still detested her
APRIL Luckily, I still had the prize money from the Jaw Wars that I’d been planning to use to pay up my debt before Nick cleared it. So, I paid for a service apartment because it felt odd for me to return to Nick’s apartment after choosing his friend over him and fucking the said friend gladly. In the moment, I usually forgot it, but whenever I remembered that Nick felt pain whenever I was fucking someone else, I hated myself and felt like I could never face him. I’d been in the service apartment for two days now, and most of that time was silent in self reflection. I was forced to finally face the fact that I had certain feelings for Xander and Ace, the kind that surpassed basic hormonal attraction. One thing I knew for sure was that whatever I felt for them wasn’t nearly as strong as the love I had for Nick. That didn’t stop me from wondering all day what else I felt for them asides sexual compatibility. There was something that warmed my heart whenever I thought of them these
APRIL Just when I thought that my mother couldn’t be more cruel, she outdid herself. At this point, I was convinced that she just hated me and would probably kill me with her bare hands if her marriage with Xander’s father was broken off because of my involvement with his precious heir. Her last words rang in my head and I was stunned into silence as I tried to process the fact that my own mother wished me death and she meant it. “Get the fuck out of my sight, you disgust me,” she shoved me out of the way, clutching her purse and strutting out of the suite like she owned every where she stopped her feet. I trembled when she slammed the door shut, especially because it was so violently done that I thought it would disturb Xander’s rest. I refused to dwell on the degrading encounter I’d just had with my mom and decided to walk over to Xander’s bed instead.Upon coming closer and inspecting the machines connected to him, I realized that he was asleep, he was unconscious. Most likely
APRILBeing in his arms felt better than I remembered, and I wanted to stay lodged in between them forever. The way he just confessed that he could never bring himself to hate me made my heart swell and I wasn’t sure what to say. He felt like home as usual, so I just wrapped my arms around him too and we stayed in that comforting position for almost five minutes. “I doubt that my love for you has any bounds. I’m floored at how deeply I’m devoted to you and no matter what you do, my heart remains drawn to you alone,” he was tracing a line along my jaw and watching me lovingly. This was exactly why I didn’t deserve his love, because I always ended up hurting him even though he forgave me countless times without being asked to. “For what it’s worth, I’m truly sorry for all the pain I keep causing you. It’s not intentional and I wished I could reach into my head and flip a button to fix all the chaotic emotions I was battling, but that’s impossible,” I sighed, my heart growing heavier
APRIL I swallowed and hoped that would push all those unpleasant emotions back down the hatch. Besides, I had no right to be upset about his marriage, I couldn’t be with him because I also teddy belong with Nick.“I could just lie and say that I don’t care what he does and who he does it with, but I hate lying to you, so I’ll tell you exactly how I feel,” I sat up straighter to face him. “There’s a part of me that’s hurt that he’s getting married to someone else, but I know it’s for the best, and you’re more than enough for me,” I smiled at him and he just traced a finger along my cheek and sighed. “You’ll always be perfectly enough for me,” he leaned in and pulled me into a hug and we ended up remaining cuddled tightly on the couch for the rest of the movie. As the credits started rolling, I pulled away from him and stood to my full height, stretching tiredly. He got up, picked me off my feet easily with a smile and started to walk us towards the room. “I think I’m a little tips
ACEDriving through the city was a literal nightmare. There were countless billboards carrying the poster of mine and Brooke’s sham of a wedding and I was fucking sick of coming across them. Because of how obnoxious and annoying it was to see them everywhere, I got a personal driver and got extremely tinted windows for the backseat of the car he’d be driving so I wouldn’t have to tolerate the gruesome sight of the wedding billboards. However, that didn’t help me escape from the countless pop up ads on every single social media platform about the wedding. To worsen things, Brooke, my parents, random people, and countless gossip blogs were constantly tagging me in posts about the wedding that I didn’t give a shit about. It was driving me so fucking crazy. My parents and Brooke’s mom were meeting at the house almost every damn minute of the week to prepare for the wedding, and it started to feel like I was drowning and screaming for help but all the passersby were just waving at me
APRIL Natalie was on her third chocolate sundae when we dove back into the sore topic of my disappearance. “You turned me into a crazy talker ex,” she scooped some of the coconut shavings on my plate as she spoke, “I had to go on a date with Steve from the student council to help me get a hold on your files so that I could get your guardian’s address.” She made the same disgusted face that I had on after that revelation. “What? Creepy Steve?” I had to confirm for sure. “Which other Steve is there on the damn student council? It was the worst date I’ve ever been on and nothing on earth will make me recount it to anyone,” she glared at me like she was plotting against me for being the reason she experienced that. “I’m so sorry, Natty,” I gasped, “I really am, ugh… that must’ve been… I .. I’m just… I’m really sorry.” “Oh you will be sorry when I’m done eating at least twelve sundaes that you’re paying for,” she pointed her little bear shaped spoon at me which made the threat even
APRIL “Who’s that?” Ace leaned in and whispered to me.I remained frozen in time, watching her wave at me with a smile as she approached us. While I knew that I couldn’t avoid her forever, I’d expected our next meet up to be filled with hostility instead of the sweet smile I was being given. If I’d known that she’d welcome me so sweetly, I’d have gone in search of her the second I returned to the country. “April! It’s you!” she leapt into my arms, chuckling and tightening her hold around me, “I thought my eyes were fooling me.” A warmth spread over my heart and I found myself smiling as I wrapped my hands around her, happily returning the hug and welcoming the familiar feeling of belonging I always felt with her. “I’ve missed you terribly,” I confessed, refusing to let go off her after what must’ve been minutes or hugging each other. “Uhm, akward third party here,” Ace cleared his throat loudly, reminding us of his presence. Reluctantly, we pulled away from the hug, but I drap
APRIL “You must’ve been unremarkable, because I remember the people I fuck, and nothing comes to mind when I look at you,” Ace’s voice was steely and cold. I turned around, and from the way one of the blonde girls shielded her face shamefully, I could tell that she was the one that’d been tapping about a threesome with Ace. And clearly, she’d made it all up.“Now fuck off before I make sure you never get into any college in the world,” he spat angrily and the girls immediately scrambled to their feet and ran out. Once the door was shut behind them, his angry demeanor dropped and he was suddenly a ray of sunshine, grinning as he made his way over to me with open arms. “I can handle these mean trolls just fine, Ace. You didn’t have to swoop in on my behalf,” I half-frowned at him. That didn’t stop me from also opening my arms to receive him, I couldn’t say no to hugging him even though I was a bit upset by how he and the other guys kept treating me like a defenseless damsel in dis
APRILToday would go down in history, a day I would never forget. Why? Because after today, I’d have officially moved in with the loves of my lives and I had no intention of ever living with anyone else but them from today onwards. While I was glad that we’d be moving in later that evening, what I didn’t understand was how the entire college also knew about it. Ever since the mating ritual, everyone in school had found a way to dig their noses into our business because they guys and I arrived at school together almost every single day. Each time we went on a date, there were pictures of it flying around school the next day. It was borderline creepy that there were always people trailing us. I wasn’t spared from mean comments from girls that saw me as the poster girl for whoring, and there was a surprisingly disturbing amount of girls that just kissed my ass and begged for tips on how to bad three men at once. All the gossip and educational blogs for Enigma were carrying one new
APRIL We stood before the altar, hand in hand. Xenia, the officiating sorceress, was behind the altar, chanting something under her breath as she sprinkled a purple bubbling liquid all over the altar. I sucked in a sharp breath, finally experiencing the burst of excitement that the guys had been radiating for days. Now that it was about to happen, it felt like the most destined occurrence in history, nothing had ever felt as right as this decision to be mated with them. In realizing that, I figured out why I’d been a mess of nerves earlier. It’s because it hadn’t dawned on me that it was real, it had felt too good to be true. But now, as we were preparing to proceed with the ritual, it felt more real than anything ever had.“You’re fucking perfect, your ass looks like a peach in this dress,” Ace whispered to me and I blinked in shock, my cheeks turning red at how nasty he sounded. A sinful bout of heat washed over me and I poked him in the side with my elbow for toying with my e
APRILThe mating ritual was in a few hours, and I seemed to be the most antsy person about it. Xander, Ace, and Nick seemed to be feeling nothing but excitement. The same emotion they’d been rolling off in waves two days ago when they confirmed that they’d landed a sorceress for the ritual. Believe it or not, finding a sorceress to mate us officially was hectic.First off, their fathers had instructed every sorceress in the country not to attempt mating us or they’d rain hell on them. When I heard of that, I wondered bitterly why they hated our union so desperately when we were clearly in love with each other and having the best time of our lives. I mean, since their meeting with their fathers a few days ago, I learned the reason why they hated me so much, but I still didn’t understand it. Why were they so willing to hang on every word they’d been told by some messenger who conveyed a false prophecy? Why was that enough for them to plot my death without even giving our love a chan
NICKOur fathers were seated at a round table, passing a bottle of whiskey amongst themselves in a way that was habitual.From the first glance, I could tell that they’d been seated at that table more times than I could possibly guess. What had they been plotting at every unfortunate meeting? April’s demise? I hoped the fuck not. “You called us here to drink?” Ace spat rudely, breaking the tense silence in the room. Xander, on the other hand, just pulled out a chair and made himself disturbingly comfortable in it, throwing his feet on the table and proudly crossing his legs. I considered myself a hothead, but I was definitely the cooler friend of the three of us, especially when our parents were involved. But after the way they’d treated April, I had no plans to show them even a shred of respect. So, I followed Xander’s lead and made myself as comfortable as I could, enjoying the annoyed looks that spread over our fathers’ faces. “That’s no way to speak or behave in the presence
NICK“Do we have to go?” Xander groaned, pouting childishly as Ace drove into the gates of Enigma. April rolled her eyes at him, smiling, “for the millionth time, Xander Davenport, you have to attend the mandatory meeting your fathers set up.” “Frankly, I’d rather not,” Ace shrugged as he turned towards the finance lecture halls, “What I would love to do is drive my friends to the nearest pub and get shitfaced with tequila.” A swat over the head from April made Ace yelp and burst into laughter. “What? I’d rather do that than entertain the assholes that tried to kill you barely a week ago?” he was still laughing, but there wasn’t a shred of amusement attached to it, just suppressed rage. “I don’t want to fucking look at them,” he spat.“Neither do I,” Xander backed him up. “Nor I,” I tagged along. April pressed a palm over her forehead, sighing tiredly as she looked from one of us to the other, then repeated the motion. “We talked about this all morning, guys,” she shut her eye
BROOKE My ex-fiancé was in the premises.I forced myself to swallow the dumpling in my mouth and my stomach felt hollow and painfully tight as I slowly turned around to get visual confirmation of my suspicions. Indeed, it was him. And as though his presence wasn’t ruining my appetite enough, I spotted my replacement beaming right beside him. Seeing her hold his hand as they walked into the restaurant made me so fucking nauseous and I was on the verge of exploding into a pile of jealousy where I sat. Ace being at her side was already enraging enough, but the fact that she also had his best friends wrapped around her little deceitful finger somehow managed to make me feel even worse. Xander and Nick were walking behind her and Ace and they all looked dressed up for a date. It made me green with envy that she was able to whip up not just one, but all three of the most powerful heirs in the country. What was so special about a human tramp that made them so eager to kiss her feet? W