I should have known better than to take a shortcut through the east parking lot.
But I was running late for my chemistry midterm, my scholarship depended on maintaining a 4.0 GPA, and the main campus route would have added ten precious minutes to my commute. So there I was, speed-walking past the rows of expensive cars that belonged to Blackwood Academy's elite students, my beat-up backpack bouncing against my spine.
That's when I heard it the sickening crack of knuckles meeting flesh.
My feet stopped moving before my brain could catch up. Behind a black Range Rover, three guys had someone pinned against the concrete wall. The victim's face was already bleeding, his shirt torn. My stomach lurched.
I should have kept walking. Scholarship students like me didn't get involved in the messy lives of rich kids. We kept our heads down, aced our tests, and pretended not to notice the ugly things that happened in the shadows of this pristine private school.
But then one of the attackers laughed a cruel, taunting sound that made my blood boil and my mouth opened before I could stop it.
"Hey! Leave him alone!"
Three heads snapped toward me. The victim slumped to the ground, gasping.
Marcus Chen, captain of the lacrosse team and son of a real estate mogul, stepped forward with a smirk. "Well, well. Little scholarship girl wants to play hero?"
My heart hammered against my ribs. I clutched my phone tighter in my pocket, finger hovering over the emergency call button. "I'm calling campus security."
"No, you're not." Marcus's smile widened, but it didn't reach his eyes. "You're going to turn around and forget you saw anything. Unless you want your scholarship review to get… complicated."
The threat hung in the air like poison. Everyone knew Marcus's father sat on the school board. One word from him, and I could lose everything I'd worked for.
But before I could respond before I could make the cowardly choice I knew I should make a voice cut through the tension like a blade.
"Touch her, and I'll break every finger on your right hand."
The temperature seemed to drop ten degrees.
Kai Thornton emerged from behind another car, hands in his pockets, expression utterly calm. He looked like he'd just commented on the weather, not issued a threat of violence.
If Marcus Chen was trouble, Kai Thornton was catastrophe.
Every student at Blackwood knew his name and knew to stay away. The rumors about him ranged from expelled from three schools for fighting to connections with actual criminals. He showed up to class when he felt like it, barely spoke to anyone, and had eyes so dark they looked black in certain light. Girls whispered about how dangerously attractive he was. Guys gave him a wide berth.
I'd never been this close to him before. Close enough to see the silver ring through his eyebrow, the faded scar along his jawline, the way he moved with the fluid grace of someone who knew how to hurt people.
Marcus's confidence faltered for just a second. "This doesn't concern you, Thornton."
"She's my girlfriend." Kai's voice was flat, stating it like a fact. "That makes it my concern."
The world tilted sideways.
What?
Marcus looked between us, confusion flickering across his face. "Since when?"
"Since none of your damn business." Kai finally looked at me, and I felt the full weight of that dark gaze. "Right, baby?"
My mouth opened. Closed. Opened again.
Every survival instinct I had screamed at me to deny it, to explain the misunderstanding, to get as far away from Kai Thornton as possible.
But Marcus and his friends were still standing there, threatening my scholarship, my future, everything I'd sacrificed to attend this school. And Kai dangerous, mysterious Kai was offering me a way out.
So I made the worst decision of my life.
"Right," I heard myself say. "We've been keeping it quiet."
Kai's expression didn't change, but something flickered in his eyes. Satisfaction? Amusement? I couldn't tell.
Marcus stared at us for a long moment, then spat on the ground. "Whatever. Let's go." He jerked his head at his friends, and they followed him out of the parking lot, leaving their victim groaning against the wall.
I immediately rushed to help the injured student. "Are you okay? Should I call an ambulance?"
He shook his head, wiping blood from his mouth. "I'm fine. Just… thank you." He stumbled away before I could protest.
Then it was just me and Kai in the empty parking lot.
I turned to face him, my gratitude already forming on my lips. "Look, thank you for"
"You owe me." He stepped closer, and I instinctively backed up until my spine hit a car. He didn't touch me, but he was close enough that I could smell his cologne something expensive and dark. "That little stunt just made you mine."
"Excuse me?"
"You're my girlfriend now. Publicly. For as long as I say so." His eyes held mine, and there was nothing soft or kind in them. "You play along, smile pretty when I tell you to, and maybe I'll make sure Marcus and his friends forget you exist."
"I never agreed to"
"You agreed the second you backed up my lie." He pulled out his phone, and my blood ran cold when I saw what was on the screen.
A photograph. Of me and him standing close together in the parking lot, his body angled protectively toward mine. From the angle, it looked intimate. Romantic, even.
"I didn't take that," I whispered.
"No. But someone did. And by lunch period, it'll be all over school." He pocketed his phone. "So here's how this works, Aria Sullivan. You're going to be my perfect girlfriend. You'll sit with me at lunch. Come to my games. Let me drive you home. And in return, I'll keep you safe from people like Marcus."
"How do you know my name?"
His smile was cold. "I know everything about you. Scholarship student from Bridgeport. Dead parents. Living with your aunt who works two jobs. One mistake, and you lose everything." He leaned in, his voice dropping to barely above a whisper. "So don't make mistakes."