Ruthless Heart Read online

  I stared at him with my jaw slack. “No,” was my automatic reply.

  “When she spilled her purse, I picked up her wallet, checked the ID out of habit, it’s her.”

  “She’s been in my face since Monday, acting all pissed off and angry,” I told him in bemusement. “Who the fuck is she?”

  “Send the name and the address of her dorm to Ash. He’s in class right now, he’ll find out everything you need to know.”

  “Hey, what’s up with you two? You look like you just got told you can’t be assholes anymore,” Quinn greeted us.

  “We found who the girl is,” Gray told her bluntly.

  Quinn lost her teasing smile and met my glare. “Before me? Ugh, coffee and strategy,” Quinn ordered.

  We’d just sat down when I’d looked up and she was standing there, staring at me. Looking so fucking innocent…I wanted to rip her head from her shoulders. When she saw all three of us, her eyes had widened, and then she was practically running out of the coffee shop. I’d been chasing her before she could get far, with no idea what I was going to say when I caught her.

  I couldn’t believe that the girl who drugged me in order for me to fail a drug test, and fucked me on top of that, was her. Sure, she was annoying from what I had met of her, and self-righteous, but she still didn’t seem to fit. I had recognised her derisive look on Monday when she caught the girl with my dick in her mouth. I thought she was merely uptight, I didn’t think it was because my dick had been in her a few days before.

  Some people needed to get laid to loosen up, and she seemed to tick all the boxes. I thought she was one of those people. She was an uptight, judgmental woman who needed to take the stick out of her ass.

  How well she’d played me.

  Gray was silent beside me as I walked away from the classroom I left her in. Wide green eyes flashed in my head, and I struggled between my need to go back and make her tell me what I needed to know or to keep walking away from her.

  I saw Gray pull his phone out, but I couldn’t hear what he said to whoever he called over the roaring in my ears. I’d been nice to her. Everywhere I turned since Friday, she was there. I had never seen her in my class before, and she just happened to need to sit beside me on Monday?

  Suddenly, every encounter with the snake felt contrived. I had helped her. No fucking wonder she looked scared to see me on Monday night, she must have thought I was coming for her. Fucking bitch.

  “You need to rein it in, brother,” Gray murmured beside me as he placed his shades on. “Put your shades on.”

  “I can see fine,” I snapped at him.

  “Yeah, and everyone can see you. Hide the rage and remember you’re injured, even though Coach let you practice yesterday.”

  “Fucking bullshit.”

  “I know, but let’s play the game.” His tight smile held warning, and I looked in the direction he flicked his eyes. The three Elises were heading my way.

  “I don’t have time for this,” I said as I turned my head from them and slipped my Ray-Bans on.

  “Let’s hear what more they found,” he said to me quietly. “Where the hell is Ash when you need him?” he grumbled as I watched him brace for the impending arrival of Elise and her clones as I thought about this morning.

  “Hey, baby,” Elise greeted me with a wide smile. “We’ve been digging.” She gestured half-heartedly to Two and Three beside her. Elise looked over my white T-shirt. “What happened?”

  Her fake smile was grating on my last nerve. “Nothing you need to be concerned about,” I snapped. “You got anything for me?” When I saw her eyes widen with excitement and her lips pout, I barely held my temper in check. “On the girl,” I stressed, cutting off whatever goddamn innuendo she was going to spout.

  “She’s no one,” Elise said. It was pissing me off she kept repeating herself. “She does English or creative writing or something, has absolutely no social life, parties now and again. I think she dates some guy in a band.”

  Gray had been watching Quinn walk towards us, but his eyes flicked to Elise and then me when Elise said Ava partied now and again. Well, something told me that information was shit.

  “What band?” I asked as Quinn met us and wordlessly handed me a black T-shirt. Ignoring three pairs of eyes basically eye fuck me in the middle of the campus, I tossed the ruined shirt in the trash before I put on the new one.

  “It’s some country thing. She promotes them or something,” Wendy spoke up. She was Three, but she was actually the more tolerable one.

  “You know any more about them?” Gray asked as I straightened the T-shirt.

  “Main band guy is Wade…something. Think he’s her boyfriend.”

  “Wade?” Gray asked as I let out a low chuckle. The Wade in my phone from Friday? There really were no coincidences.

  “Anything else?” Quinn asked the three of them with no effort to hide her dislike. They had all slept with Ash on the same night after all.

  “No,” Elise answered with a saccharine sweet smile.

  “Then fuck off,” Quinn told her, mirroring her fake smile before she turned her back on them.

  Elise’s glare at Quinn’s back was full of hate, and when she saw I had seen her, she paled. “So…baby…later?”

  “No.”

  The three of us walked away from them as Quinn muttered inaudibly beside me.

  “What did she say?” Quinn asked when we were far enough away.

  “Nothing,” Gray answered. “But…Ash pulled her records, he’ll meet us at the house. Seems she’s a scholarship student,” he added with a sly look.

  I looked at him in surprise. “Is that right? What kind?” I asked as we headed towards the house. “I just love how fragile those things are, don’t you, Queeny?”

  Gray smirked as Quinn laughed while we walked along the tree-canopied paths. Scholarships were few and far between for this college. They had strict rules, firm guidelines, and a stern no fuck-ups policy.

  She’d talk. She’d tell me everything I needed to know, or she was gone. She was a conniving bitch, but when it came down to it, what was more important to her? Her loyalty to whoever gave her the drug or the scholarship that she worked hard for?

  I would bet money it was the latter, and that…that I could use.

  Ash came into my room with a spring in his step until he saw Quinn, his good mood vanishing as their eyes clashed. “We just letting anyone in now?” he muttered as he took a place on my bed, our previous conversation obviously forgotten.

  Gray was sitting on the couch with Quinn. Their heads had been bent over her phone as they researched the infamous Wade. I looked between the three of them and suppressed my sigh. I had more important things to worry about than his hurt feelings and his ex.

  “What’d you get?” I asked him instead.

  “More than I ever need to know about her,” Ash replied dryly. Pulling out his laptop, he flipped it open and turned it towards me. Her high school records were in front of me as well as her information and academic record from freshman year too.

  “Nice,” I complimented him as I looked through it all. “Ava Bryant, nineteen, from Knoxville, single child, parents divorced, lives with mom...” I trailed off as I read more about her boring life. “Fuck, she’s dull. Good grades,” I mused.

  “She’s in Professor Leitch’s class, and he does not like her,” Ash told me as he kicked off his shoes. “I sat beside her on Monday, and he was ripping into her when I arrived and held her back when class was over.”

  “Which is why she was late for the class I have with her.” I looked back at her record thoughtfully.

  “Yeah, the speed she was trying to leave Leitch, she probably gets to the next class before you would from Macroeconomics.” Ash gestured to the laptop. “She’s been in all of our classes either this year or last, we just haven’t noticed her. He was on her again this morning. Seriously, I actually felt sorry for her; the guy’s brutal, more so to her.”

  Quinn snorted as sh
e sat listening. When three pairs of eyes looked at her, she shrugged with casual indifference.

  “I still don’t know how she ended up being fucked in my bed.”

  “Charming,” Quinn deadpanned as she leaned back on the couch. “Is she in any of my classes?”

  Scanning the records quickly, I shook my head in answer. “No.” I flicked through her admin record, roommate was Mia Davis, same town, same school, same dorm here. “Roommate’s her best friend?”

  Ash nodded as he reached forward. “Yeah, to be fair, that struck me as curious, but they don’t seem to have pulled any strings. Friend is a music major, and she’s in two of my computer science classes.”

  “She’s a music major with a side helping of geek?” Gray asked curiously. “How does that work?”

  “Means they both have brains if not money,” Quinn spoke from the couch. “Is the friend on a scholarship too?”

  Recognising Quinn’s angle, I checked and shook my head. “No, she’s paying her way.”

  “Can’t use that then,” Quinn thought out loud.

  “Use it?” Ash questioned her before he looked at me. I returned his stare and saw his sudden understanding in his grin. “Nice.”

  “The little bitch will talk or...she’ll walk, her choice,” I grumbled as I went back to reading about her.

  “Gimme my laptop,” he told me, and I handed it over. With a few clicks, he was handing it back to me. “See what I see?”

  Her Facebook page was in front of me, and on it was a photo. Grainy at best, it looked like it had been taken a few years ago. Ava was standing with a trophy. I didn’t give a fuck what it was a trophy for, what I noticed was what she was wearing: an Alabama Lions jersey. I looked up at Ash, and he nodded grimly.

  “There’s your why,” he said as his eyes narrowed in anger.

  “Now I just need the who else,” I said, passing the laptop to Quinn and Gray so they could see also.

  “Son of a bitch,” Gray cursed as he looked closer.

  “I see it now,” Quinn said quietly.

  “What?” I asked as I stood, stretching.

  “The attraction, she’s pretty.” She studied the photo more. “I didn’t see it today ’cause all I saw was her fleeing, but I see why you would pick her.”

  “He didn’t pick her,” Gray said as he closed the laptop. “She picked him.” Gray’s knee was jittering again, and I knew he needed to let off steam.

  “I need more,” I told Ash. “I need to know what she does when she’s not in class. She may be scholarship for the full ticket, but what else does she do?”

  “Yeah, I have feelers out.”

  “I can work on this,” Quinn said as she stood. “There won’t be a thing I don’t know about her by tomorrow,” she promised as she picked up her bag. “I’ll be in touch.”

  When she had left, the three of us looked at each other. “So she’s definitely back in?” Ash asked, his eyes on the floor before he lay back on my bed.

  “She was never really out,” I answered with a quick look to Gray, who sat quietly. “We’ve known her forever. Quinn could bury each and every one of us in this room in a heartbeat, and you know it.”

  Ash huffed in derision as he stared at the ceiling. “So she’s here in case she blackmails us?”

  “Shut the fuck up, and don’t be an idiot,” Gray bit out as he stood. “Quinn’s like family.”

  “And are you forgetting the other thing we’re doing?” I asked Ash. “For Quinn?”

  “That’s different.”

  “How?” Gray and I asked at the same time.

  “Because Quinn getting used and hurt is not the same thing as Quinn eating fucking dinner with us again.” Ash rose off the bed. “She shouldn’t get a free pass.”

  “She hasn’t!” Gray said with more sting than I think he realised. “You’ve ignored her for almost two fucking years, we’ve kept her out for you. But fuck, you’ve fucked more women than she has men, you’ve proven you’re over her, she gets it. We all get it. Stop being a whiny bitch.” Gray shoved his hands deep into his front pockets of his jeans. “Move the fuck on.”

  Ash and he stared at each other for a long time, and I sat between them, waiting for either the punch to be thrown or the acceptance. I hadn’t been in the middle of this shit at any time, and I sure as hell wasn’t starting now.

  “Whatever,” Ash eventually shrugged. “We done?” he asked as he looked at me.

  “Yeah.”

  With a curt nod, he headed to the door.

  “Where you going?” I asked him as he pulled the door open.

  “To get laid.” The door closed firmly behind him, and I turned to my brother.

  “Went well,” I commented as I crossed the room to the bathroom.

  “He’s been a pussy for too long.”

  “She did cheat on him,” I reminded Gray as I dropped my shirt in the hamper before I came back into the room.

  “Yeah, well, he’s over it.” Gray chewed the inside of his cheek as he stared out my window.

  “I don’t think he is.” I gave my brother a sceptical look as I pulled off my jeans.

  “He is,” Gray insisted as he sat back down on the couch. “He just doesn’t like that she cheated first.”

  “First?” I queried as I pulled on my shorts.

  Gray’s eyes flicked to mine before he looked away again. “They were hardly perfect.” His tone was slightly defensive, and I considered my next words carefully.

  “Tell me again why you told her to break up with him?”

  Gray stood and met my gaze. “One of them had to, it wasn’t healthy for any of us.”

  “So…you did it for our friendship?”

  “Yeah.” Gray gave me a smile. “And because he’s stubborn. He has the Santo bullheadedness.”

  Slowly, I nodded as I regarded my brother. “Okay.”

  “You going for a run?”

  “Yeah, exercise for the ankle,” I said mockingly as I put my running shoes on.

  “Coach will skin you if he sees you. He already cast doubt on your injury when he let you practice yesterday.”

  “Coach can suck my dick.” I left my bedroom to the sound of my brother’s laughter. I didn’t give a fuck if Coach found out, he could hardly be pissed that I was damaging my ankle.

  A good run and a clear head, that’s what I needed before I planned my move against Ava. My lips curled in distaste as I left the house. Ava... Snake suited her better.

  The best way to deal with a snake…cut its head off.

  “So I heard a wild rumour this afternoon,” Mia said with no hello or anything as she burst into our apartment. I was making dinner and knew by the look on her face, she had heard about my sprint-a-thon across the quad.

  “The Loch Ness monster is actually a large eel?”

  “Huh?” She paused for a second before her hand tossed her hair over her shoulder. “No…amazingly enough.” Her look was sharp. “But it’s almost as mythically impossible as an imaginary sea monster. Did you...” Again she hesitated. “Did you...throw your coffee at Jett Santo?”

  “I did.”

  Mia’s mouth dropped open as she stared at me. I carried on stirring the sauce as she walked over to the couch, sinking down onto it slowly. “Why?”

  “He’s an asshole.”

  Mia’s eyes widened slightly, but she still looked confused. “You threw your coffee at him because he’s an asshole?”

  “Yes.”

  “Ava?”

  “Mia?” I countered as I put the pasta in the boiling water.

  “You can’t throw your coffee at people! Not him!”

  “Why? He isn’t God.”

  “He may as well be, here.”

  “Ugh, no. He’s an ass and a dick and a cock.”

  Mia looked at me in wonder before she started to giggle.

  “Why are you laughing?” I asked as I stopped stirring the pot to look at her.

  “You seem fixated on his anatomy,” she teased.
“I can’t believe you threw your coffee. I mean, you’re you...you would never waste caffeine.”

  “He deserved it. I’m just sorry I ordered a latte and not a filter.”

  “He would have been scalded!” Mia admonished me as she stood and made her way into our kitchen. “Lemme taste,” she murmured as she picked up a spoon.

  “Good?” I asked her as she dipped the spoon back into the pot.

  “Not sure, need another taste.” Her laugh was loud when I snatched the spoon off her.

  “Greedy! Supper will be ready in fifteen. You need a shower?” I asked her, returning to stirring my pots.

  “Yeah, it’s so cracking hot outside, thank goodness we got the AC fixed.” She headed to her room. “And because I’m not even complaining you’re feeding me carbs again,” she called over her shoulder, “I want all the details over dinner!”

  Her comment about carbs actually made me smile briefly because there were no details I wanted to share. Jett seemed incensed or insulted, I wasn’t sure which, that he slept with me. Half of what he had said to me made no sense. The other half seemed like a complete overreaction. I knew people had regrets over one-night stands. When the beer goggles came off, the truth could be sobering. Pun completely intended.

  That was fine, because I could handle rejection. I wasn’t fragile. I just didn’t like the guy, any guy, who pushed me against a wall with his hand around my throat. He did not get to touch me without my permission, and the next time he thought about putting a hand on me, I’d rip it off and shove it up his ass. Dick.

  As I stirred my pasta, I thought back to the afternoon. I had left the classroom and skipped my next class as I hid in the library from prying eyes. Even in the library, I couldn’t escape the whispers about the girl who’d thrown a drink over Jett Santo. There was so much speculation, but as I listened and hid, I realised everyone thought that girl was the one who mugged him. How was I to defend that?

  When I heard one girl say he could chase her any day, my head lifted from the book I was pretending to study to look at her, partly to welcome her to be in the position I had been earlier and then see if she still wanted to be chased and partly because he wasn’t that desirable…was he?