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Even though I’m kicking and screaming, and flames are licking at the side of the boat, nobody notices or cares. The lake is vast, and there are plenty of bonfires on the beach, stereo systems blasting music, and screaming teenagers. I’m just a drop in a bucket.
Another small yacht has pulled up alongside the one we’re on, and the girls drag me over.
I’m once again manhandled up to the top deck and shoved into a chair, ropes wrapped around my wrists and ankles.
Harper is panting and looking from me to the other boat where Zack is still fighting with his fists.
“Keep her here until everyone else shows up,” Harper snaps at Becky, and I’m guessing she must have Pleb friends on the way, seeing as almost every Blueblood save Myron Talbot is here. “I’m done with this girl; this shit ends tonight.”
Harper storms over to me, and I spit at her. Her palm quickly comes up and cracks me across the face.
“What is wrong with you?!” I scream back, but like I said, I’m pretty sure she’s a sociopath or a psychopath or what the hell ever. Tonight, I beat her at her own game. She doesn’t like that. Not one bit.
“Break her fingers.” Harper snaps this order at her cronies, and then leans down to get in my face. “You will never, and I mean never play the harp again. How do you feel about that, you little bitch?”
“How do you feel about my boot up your ass?” Zayd says, appearing at the top of the ladder. He’s bleeding from the edge of his mouth, but he looks okay otherwise. He’s followed by Tristan, Creed, and Miranda.This belongs to NôvelDrama.Org: ©.
Harper sneers at them as Zayd unties me and pulls me up, dragging us to the opposite side of the boat, so Tristan and Creed can help create a human shield around me. The rest of the Bluebloods come up the ladder, creating a divide in the center of the yacht. Zack is the last one up, and he ends up trapped behind them on the opposite side.
There are flames dancing across the water.
How that happened, I have no idea. One minute, we were struggling on Harper’s boat, and the next, the lantern was being knocked over and kerosene was spilling everywhere. How it got on the actual surface of the lake, I don’t know.
My heart pounds as I clutch my hands to my chest like they’re precious gems. I almost lost my ability to make musiF with the harp … forever. That, and they … I can’t think about the almost rape. Not right now. The Idol girls crossed a line not once, not twice, but now three times. The boys are right: they really do want to kill me. The Infinity Club might very well be the death of me for real.
Tristan’s jaw is clenched tight, his hands white knuckled and curled into fists. He looks at Harper with a glare that would scare the shit out of me if I were on the other end. She seems unfazed as she turns her blue gaze on me, pausing briefly to make sure she’s still got a sizable entourage before she comes at me again.
“Whatever you’re thinking about doing right now,” Tristan says, his voice as smooth as pure cognac, “don’t.” He snaps that word off the end of his tongue, anger palpable in the chiseled lines of his handsome face. They saved me, I think, glancing from Tristan to Zayd’s bloody lip to Creed with his arm around Miranda. Poor Zack is still stuck on the opposite side of the boat, behind a wall of enemy Bluebloods.
“If you do this,” Harper begins, moving forward with her short brown hair
-courtesy of Windsor York-billowing in the wind. Don’t dish it if you Fan’t take it. Moving back a step, I end up bumping into Zayd. One of his arms goes around me, and I’m suddenly overwhelmed with emotion. It’s like with every breath, I waffle between being excited and being terrified. Please don’t touFh me; touFh me more; get away from me; kiss me until I see stars. “Then you’re giving up control of the school. You’re Plebs, all of you.”
Abigail Fanning and Valentina Pitt flank Harper as she moves toward us, the chair with the ropes still attached sitting between their group and ours. When I glance past Harper toward Zack, I can see that he’s bleeding from his fight.
“If you think we’ll fold that easy,” Creed drawls, glancing at me and making my entire body light up with feeling. He’s quivering, too, but he tries to keep it hidden as he tosses some of his angelic hair back from his face. Would this be an inappropriate moment to think about the hot tub? Yeah,
probably. “Then you clearly haven’t been paying attention. We’ll destroy you.”
Harper’s mouth is as sharp as a blade, and her eyes glimmer with rage and hate. She does not like losing-especially not to someone like me. To her credit, she’s managed to pull in most of the Bluebloods to her side. The rest, we won’t know about until we get to shore. What she does have is a trio of boys-Greg, John, and Ben-who will likely become her side’s version of the Idols.
“So you’ll break up the greatest collection of Bluebloods in the history of Burberry Prep for some commoner? We’re the future rulers of the world. People live and die based on the decisions our families make. Tristan, I’m your fianFee.” Harper starts to move forward, and then pauses as the ladder creaks, announcing the newest attendee to our little soiree.
Windsor York, my secret weapon and amazing new friend, appears with a smirk.
“Well, bloody hell.” He hauls himself over the edge and then stands up before brushing his palms down the front of his uniform. His hazel eyes take in the scene in one, fell swoop. “Looks like I’m a bit late to the party.”
Without hesitation, he moves over to stand in front of Zayd and offers me his hand. It’s impressive how the flames from the burning boat turn his red hair, crimson. Zayd pulls me back when I reach out for Windsor, and the prince cocks an e
yebrow before sighing.
…..