That was a mistake.
I went down to the kitchen to grab a yogurt to settle my nervous stomach and almost had heart failure when a girl stepped out in front of me.
“Who are you?” she asked rudely.
“Uh, Katya,” I answered as I eyed her warily. I really didn’t want to deal with this type of shit right now. She was a pretty blond in a tight bandage dress. Her hair had that sexy messy look, and she had obviously found time to touch up her makeup.
“I didn’t see you at the party last night. Where did Maverik find you?” she asked suspiciously as she ran her pretty green eyes over my much more conservative clothing.
I just stared at her. If this was the girl Kingston was talking about, then I see why he was having trouble. I wasn’t sure I wanted her to know that I lived here.
“New York,” I said casually. It was true - we had first met in New York.
“What?” she said angrily. “Are you staying here?” I winced when her voice rose to an uncomfortably high pitch.
Kingston made things even worse when he strolled into the kitchen and immediately slung his arm around me. “What’s up, hot stuff?”
“Are you kidding me?” Melanie screeched. “You’re kicking me out for her?”
Kingston shrugged with one shoulder. “I like her better.”
“You bitch!” she yelled as she charged toward me.
I braced for impact, but she never reached me. Maverik appeared out of nowhere to block her advance, and Melanie stopped in her tracks. She still looked like she wanted to kill me, but she wasn’t willing to cross Maverik.
I was pretty baffled that her rage was 100% directed at me. Shouldn’t she be mad at Kingston? He used her, tossed her aside, then made it look like he was parading another girl in front of her.
“Dude, I’ve told you a million times not to stick your dick in crazy,” Maverik said smoothly before eyeing Melanie. “I called security. They’ll be here in a minute to escort you out.”
Melanie pouted. “Aww, Mav, you know that wasn’t necessary.”
Her simper faded when she realized she wasn’t fooling anyone. “You better watch yourself, bitch,” she hissed at me before stomping out of the house.
I looked incredulously at Kingston. “You’re the one that was an asshole to her, but I’m the one she wants to kill?”
I wasn’t any stranger to competitive females in the dance world, but that girl was seriously deranged. Why would she give a shit about a guy that had just treated her like Kingston had? She should have kicked him in the balls and then walked out of the house with dignity.
Kingston looked embarrassed. “Yeah, sorry. I’ll be more careful about bringing girls like that around you.”
I blinked. He still wasn’t sorry about anything he had done? He was sorry that I saw it?
“Maybe you should stay away from them altogether,” Maverik suggested with an exasperated look at his brother.
Kingston shrugged. “You ready to go?”
I was surprised to see that both guys were cleaned up and looking good in dress pants, collared shirts, and ties. I was afraid they would show up half-naked and still drowning in alcohol.
Maverik ran his eyes over me, but he didn’t say anything. I hated that he was so difficult to read. What was he thinking behind those gray eyes? He, once again, had stepped between me and potential danger. He could have just watched as Melanie clobbered me - that probably would have been more entertaining.
Kingston was uncharacteristically quiet as I followed them to the garage to take in yet another obscene display of wealth. There were eight luxury cars parked in a garage that looked more like a showroom. Maverik led the way over to a Porsche and beckoned for me to get in.
The school was only a ten-minute drive away, and neither of the guys were in the mood to chat, which was fine with me. I watched miles of perfectly landscaped lawns and gated homes pass by until we pulled up to the school. I was used to being the scholarship kid in a school full of rich kids, but this neighborhood made them look poor in comparison. I must have been getting jaded already, because I wasn’t shocked by the sprawling campus full of regal buildings.
When Maverik parked the car, I reached for the handle, but he locked the doors.
“Katya, before we go in, we need to talk.”
I raised an eyebrow and waited. What came out of his mouth next was not something I expected.
“No one here wants to be your friend,” he said bluntly. “They might act friendly to your face, but they’re laughing behind your back and trying to use you to get to us.”
“Glad to hear you have such a high opinion of me,” I said sarcastically. “Are we done here?”
“For now,” he said cryptically. “Just remember what I said.”
How could I forget?
Maverik unlocked the doors for me before getting out and slamming the door behind him. Kingston leaned up against the car and watched me as I debated whether I was supposed to follow behind Maverik as he stalked away, and whether I cared what he wanted.
“Meet you on the ice,” Kingston yelled to his back.
Maverik waved a hand over his head but kept walking.
“So you’re the one that’s stuck with me?” I asked Kingston. I was over Maverik’s attitude, and I hated the way he got under my skin so easily.
He shrugged. “You’re kind of hot, so at least I can appreciate the view when I have to be around you.”
I gave him an irritated look. “Fantastic,” I said drily.
“Have you ever considered getting a boob job?” Kingston asked. “I
