Ruthless Noble by Alley Ciz
CHAPTER 31
After an abrupt What in the actual fuck?-type ending to last night’s festivities, I am no closer to figuring out what happened now than I was when I finally fell asleep sometime around four in the morning.
Thanks to the lack of sleep, my eyes feel like sandpaper and my head pounds like I went on a bender even though I didn’t have a sip of alcohol.
Rolling over with a groan, I grab my pinging phone to shut off the incessant noise, only to smile at the messages filling the screen.
PRINCESS: The Momster is out running up Mitchell’s credit card bill, so I’m taking advantage and granting myself parole.
PRINCESS: Before our night went to shit…
PRINCESS: Oh god! I’m going to KILL Tessa because this is ALL her fault.
PRINCESS: Word of advice…DON’T let your best friend infect you with her diabolical ways. Though with Duke, I guess you should be more worried about that fuckboy infecting you with something more venereal.
I may be tired as a motherfucker, but the rambling nature of Savvy’s texting is so unlike her I can’t help but laugh.
PRINCESS: Anyway…I know we both said some things last night and never really got to discuss what they might mean.
PRINCESS: Jesus! *GIF of a girl banging her head against a desk* I sound like such a girl right now.
That one has me full-on belly laughing, and I’m thumbing a response even while those three dots blink with yet another message being composed on her end.
ME: I happen to like that you’re a girl. Your pussy is one of my favorite features on you.
PRINCESS: Oh I bet it is.
ME: Oh, Princess…you have NO idea. The way it squeezes my dick when you come is like it’s trying to squeeze the life out of it.
PRINCESS: Are you trying to get me to sext you right now?
ME: I wouldn’t be opposed to it.
If I needed proof of just how much I’m not, my aforementioned dick perks up further at the suggestion.
PRINCESS: Of course you wouldn’t. *eggplant emoji* *donut emoji*
ME: Oh yeah, baby. Talk dirty to me. *tongue emoji* *cat emoji* *peach emoji*
PRINCESS: I’m not engaging.
ME: What if I told you that despite your pussy being sweet, sweet heaven, it’s your mouth that’s my favorite part about you?
I tap my fingers on the back of my phone, grinning to myself like a crazy person. I know exactly where her mind will go, and I’m twitchy anticipating my next chance to throw her off balance.
PRINCESS: I find that hard to believe, seeing as how, despite your best efforts, I’ve YET to kneel for you.
The image of her on her knees has me palming my growing morning wood through the cotton of my boxer briefs. There’s no denying that is a visual I can’t wait to experience in real life.
ME: You don’t need to be on your knees to choke on my dick. I can be creative. But…no, that’s not why I have a thing for your mouth.
Could I have told her the reason in the same text? Sure, but baiting her is half the fun.
PRINCESS: No? Okay…I’ll bite. Why?
ME: *GIF of a man covering his junk* Mind the teeth, Princess.
PRINCESS: You’re an asshole.
See what I mean? She’s so fun when she’s feisty.
ME: *guilty GIF*
PRINCESS: God, you’re annoying, and I have places to be.
If she could see the way I’m grinning, she would probably smack me.
ME: You DO know YOU were the one who texted first, right?
I can’t help myself. It’s a sickness.
PRINCESS: A detail I’m severely regretting right now. But, anyway…the reason I did was to tell you I’ll be here most of the day if you wanna roll through.
The next message is a web attachment for a place called The Barracks, and any other smartass comment I was about to make dies before it can finish forming. This is the first time Savvy has invited me somewhere. Going to her brother’s yesterday doesn’t count.
No, this moment is monumental. It’s proof we really did turn a corner last night.
Scrolling back through the message thread, I see where she brought up the declarations we both made before the conversation took a turn. Not that I’m complaining.
The important thing to take from it is that she’s acknowledging it. That means more than most when it comes to people like Savvy. Even I’m not dumb enough not to realize that.
It wasn’t difficult to convince Duke and Banks to take a field trip with me. All I had to do was point out that if Savvy was spending her Saturday at a cheerleading gym, it was most likely the one Tessa and Tinsley cheer for. It was like shooting fish in a barrel.
Despite what I saw when I clicked on the link Savvy sent for the place, The Barracks is much more impressive in person. Mind you, this is coming from a guy who has gone to some of the nicest private schools in the country. Hell, the arena at BA rivals that of some of the top collegiate programs, yet this gigantic warehouse-style building still manages to have the three of us whistling in appreciation as we approach.
The parking lot is packed with cars of all shapes and sizes. Still, it’s easy enough to spot the familiar matte black Camaro, would be even if it weren’t parked between a light purple and a candy pink Jeep.
“Holy shit,” Duke whisper-hisses when we step into a trophy-filled lobby.
Other people are milling about, but they are secondary compared to all the silver and gold megaphone-topped trophies in various heights and sizes featured on shelves adorning multiple walls.
“Can I help you?” asks the woman working the front desk.
Pulling my gaze off the plaque on one of the weird little glass-globed trophies—who knew there were world championships for cheerleading?—I close the distance and explain why we’re here.
The way she seemed to know precisely who Savvy is without her being one of the cheerleaders has me remembering how often I’ve heard her talk about attending Tessa’s practices. It’s probably why she never seemed all that bored when she would watch our hockey practices.
We follow the directions past a huge pro shop, pictures of current and past NJA teams and staff, and a few closed doors until we come to the set of stairs we were told would take us to the family viewing areas. We bypass the lower one filled with parents and smaller children and head directly for the one on the top floor.
I look around the smattering of parents also in this one, searching for Savvy. She’s easy to find; the silvery strands of her hair stand out under the gym’s bright lights in the messy bun they are tied in.
She’s über-casual in a pair of black leggings and a hooded sweatshirt. Her face is resting on her arms, which are folded on the ledge overlooking the gym below, but the way her lips are moving tells me she’s still carrying on a conversation with those sitting around her.
A bunch of their faces are familiar from my short stint at Carter’s yesterday—like the massive guy in the backward hat to Savvy’s right, Mason Nova—but it’s the U of J Athletics hoodies that make most of the others recognizable.
When she turns to backhand Travis McQueen on her other side, her eyes lock on mine, and that mouth of hers curls upward. She rises from her seat, mushing McQueen in the face and causing him to fall back in his seat dramatically, his back arching, arm splayed out wide, the other U of J athletes in the row behind them cheering and chortling.
“You came.” Her hands go into the front pouch of her sweatshirt as she stops a few inches from me.
Not liking the distance, I hook an arm behind her back and hoist her to me, her front plastered to mine. She wiggles, attempting to create some space, but can’t manage thanks to how I have her arms trapped by her sides with her hands still being in her pocket.
“I could get used to you being at my mercy, Princess.” I steal a quick kiss because I can, grinning when she lets out a growl.
“I hate you.”
My hold tightens as she struggles anew. “No you don’t.” I bring my free hand around to pinch her chin and lift that defiance-filled gaze to me. Fuck does her spark make my dick hard. “If I recall correctly…it’s actually the opposite.” I pull her lower lip down with my thumb, the urge to suck the soft flesh into my mouth strong.
“I don’t know…” She attempts to shrug. “This morning’s conversation might have me reevaluating that claim.”
Lifting her up, her feet kicking my shins as they flail in the air, I walk us over to a back corner of the room and cage her in against the wall. She’s glaring as I let her feet touch the ground, not that I care.
Gripping her throat, I tilt her chin and stretch my thumb up to staple her lips closed before she can argue.
“Now you see…” I keep my gaze trained on her mouth pillowed beneath my finger. “You distracted me earlier before I could tell you why this mouth”—I press against it—“is my favorite thing about you.”
Beneath my fingers, her throat moves with a swallow. Releasing her lips, I run my thumb along the lower one, groaning when the tip of her tongue connects with my skin as she licks her lips.
“This mouth”—I bend until my eyes are directly in her line of sight—“is my favorite because of the way you can use it to put people in their place, even if one of them is me.”
Savvy blinks. Then blinks again.
Her eyes flare wide enough for a full ring of white to be visible, and not gonna lie, I kind of love that I’ve surprised her.
A beat of silence passes, and then both her hands come up to cup the sides of my neck, and she’s pulling me in for a kiss. It’s sweet and so fueled by love I feel it in every beat of my heart. Fuck! Who the hell am I? Swear to god if you breathe a word of this to the guys, I’ll slice your throat with my hockey skate.
I’m not sure how long our impromptu make-out sesh lasts, but it’s long enough for her lips to be puffy and her breathing to be labored to the point that I pause to assess it. That only gets me an eye roll before she links her hand with mine and leads me over to where she was sitting when I arrived.
She taps Travis McQueen to move to the other side of Mason Nova and goes back to watching the cheerleaders below like she never stopped.
I settle in next to Savvy, one eye on her, another on the ladies dancing and flipping across the blue floor.
“Short Stack is really putting them through the wringer today.” I think it’s Travis that speaks, but I’m not versed enough in what these people sound like to know for sure.
“This is nothing.” Savvy’s head falls to lean on my shoulder as she turns. “Just wait until Kay and JT get to the stunting clinics after the Admirals’ practice.”
A voice booms from below, and the way Mason chuckles makes me suspect I’m not the only one who thinks it’s amusing that such a big sound can come from his tiny girlfriend.
It’s not much longer before the practice comes to an end and Tessa and Tinsley are joining us, both collapsing on the floor in front of us.
“I love my brother…” Tessa’s words come out choppy, all out of breath.
“But when he and Coach get together, it’s like it’s their mission to make sure we can’t walk the next day?” Tinsley completes her thought.
“Ding-ding-ding.” Tessa mimes ringing a bell then groans as she stretches out her legs.
“I have a question.” Duke leans forward, pushing his way in closer from the row behind me, and raises his hand like he’s in class.
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Savvy says dryly.
“You wound me, pudding pop—OUCH! The fuck, Noble?” Duke rubs at his arm, trying to rid himself of the pain I delivered with a well-placed punch.
The ladies ignore Duke, carrying on like he isn’t causing a dramatic scene.
Tessa weakly lifts a foot to nudge Savvy’s leg. “I thought they called you Princess or something.”
“I tried that,” Duke explains, and Tessa gives him a Go on hand roll. “Only Jasper is allowed to call her that.” He jerks a chin at me while Savvy gives him the hairy Shut up eyeball. Interesting.
“Something you’re not telling me…” I pause, letting my mouth hitch, then finish, “Princess?”
One of those uncommon blushes blooms, and she buries her face in her hands, muffling her answer. After a second prodding, she whips her head around, that fire back to blazing in her eyes as she grits her teeth and mutters, “That’s your name for me.”
Fuck, this girl knows just where to cut so it slices to the deepest part of me. I tried to break her, but it becomes clearer and clearer every day that I was the one meant to fall to his knees.
Feeling…something, I give her an out by asking Duke what he wanted to ask in the first place.
“I was curious”—he circles a finger in the air to include everyone seated with us—“is this like an athlete exchange program?”
“Is it your mission in life to be the most ridiculous person ever?” Tinsley huffs. With each week that passes, the once shy, skittish Little Miss Scholarship fades more in light of the support of her friendship growing stronger with Savvy.
“I seriously question how I can like you given your choice of best friend.” Shocker—Savvy is giving me shit.
“Guess it’s a good thing you love me then, huh?”
Oh, listen—another one of those growls.
“WHAT?!” Tessa’s ear-piercing screech has more than a few of us knuckling at our eardrums. “YOU DROPPED THE L-BOMB AND DIDN’T TELL ME?”
“Jesus, Tess.”
Knowing the pain of having a dramatic, over-the-top person chosen as your closest friend, I wrap an arm around Savvy and tuck her against my side. I delight in the way she snuggles in deeper as Tessa gets distracted from her love crusade by answering Duke about why a chunk of the U of J football team’s captains are at a cheerleading practice.
Unfortunately, our reprieve doesn’t last long, and Tessa starts to lob question after question at Savvy. When that doesn’t work, she tries her hand at me.
“If you two”—she Vs her fingers to point at both Savvy and me—“are making my heart all a-pitter-patter”—she flutters her hands over her heart—“by no longer denying your feelings…”
The emphasis and the pointed look she shares with Savvy makes me suspect this wasn’t a one-time discussion. Nope, I take it I may have been the topic of conversation more than once. You’re damn fucking right this pleases me to no end.
“What’s this supposed to mean for the Momster’s plans for your betrothal?”
“That bullshit is over.” Now it’s my voice that’s thundering off the rafters. I don’t care. Last night Savvy claimed me, and it’s time for me to do the same. “Savvy is mine.”
Tessa faints onto Tinsley like she’s swooning from my statement. Savvy mutters something about her reading too much, and I’m in the best mood I’ve been in in a while. Until…
“What about your dad’s threats?” Duke asks me, and when Savvy turns cunning eyes my way, it’s an effort not to slap him.
Dad is an issue I’m going to have to deal with eventually, and I will. For now, solidifying my relationship with Savvy seems the most prudent because, without it, the upcoming battle ahead would be pointless.
“Threats? What threats?” Gone is the sleepy, relaxed girl beside me; in her place is the badass who showed up to the BP football field last night.
I could lie, feign ignorance, but that’ll only piss her off. Instead, I hold nothing back. I give her all the details, starting with the agreement Dad and I made that I would be allowed to pursue hockey as long as I returned to work alongside him afterward to carry on his business.
Except for slightly similar coloring, I haven’t seen a considerable resemblance between Savvy and her brother, but when I get to the part about how Dad showed up at the dorm because somebody sent him pictures of the two of us, that sure as hell changes. That fierce-as-fuck full persona transformation must be a King trait.
“Someone…sent your dad pictures?” Each word is spoken slowly and with distinction. “Of you and me?” Savvy’s finger bounces between us.
I nod. “After the engagement announcement hit the papers.”
“Son of a bitch,” she curses and slides her gaze to Tessa, who’s doing her own nodding.
“Probably the same person,” Tessa says out loud, as if finishing the thread of a silent conversation. “It was the same week your Momster got sent hers.”
“Your parents were sent pictures too?” She nods. “Did yours?” I ask Duke, who shakes his head in the negative. This doesn’t make sense. Too much doesn’t add up. “And knowing we were…involved, your mom and Mitchell didn’t want to call an end to the engagement?”
Savvy lets out a derisive snort. “Yeah right. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if you told me this whole thing was Natalie’s idea to begin with.”
Possibly, but I have a feeling my dad played a part in its conception as well.
“She’ll do anything to be seen as the most important person. I have no clue why Mitchell married her, but I know she married him for his money and his political aspirations. To be the wife of the possible future vice president of the United States is the ultimate feather in her cap. This”—she bounces a finger between her and Duke—“is just her attempt to give her even more of a connection. What better way to be connected to POTUS than having her daughter married to his son?”
Here’s what I still don’t get. Savvy has always been adamant that the engagement was nothing more than a joke to her. Hell, she even went as far as to make sure I knew she and Duke were only playing along and none of it was real. We made major strides last night, but we’ll never fully be able to move forward until I understand all the reasons why.
“What would happen if you called off the engagement?”
“You mean besides her calling the cops with bogus kidnapping claims?”
I wondered what all that was about last night, but things happened too fast for us to get any details. After Savvy left with the cops, we didn’t stick around to hang. With the hostile greeting I’d received from Carter when we showed up, I figured it was probably best for my self-preservation not to be around him without his sister around.
But to call the police and claim your son kidnapped your daughter when it’s obvious to anyone with half a brain how close they are…who does that?
Savvy lets out a humorless chuckle when she catches sight of the expression contorting my face. “I have no idea what set her off, but last night was her way of proving to me that she’s not making idle threats. I’m the puppet, and she’s my puppeteer.”
“You’re nobody’s puppet, Princess.” My hands curl into fists thinking of that vile woman messing with what’s mine.
Savvy’s resigned sigh kills me. “Maybe not.” She shrugs, but there’s a defeated slope to her shoulders. “Still doesn’t change the fact that I’m stuck playing her games until I find the evidence she claims to have against my brother.”
“Carter?”
Fuck, this woman is her own brand of nasty. She’s not threatening Savvy directly. No, because that wouldn’t work. Instead, she’s preying on my girl’s innate sense of loyalty. If I didn’t find what she was doing to her own daughter by threatening her own son deplorable, I’d be impressed by her ingenuity.
Savvy goes into more detail about Natalie’s threats and her attempts at finding anything she could be hiding, only to yield nothing.
She threads her fingers with mine, but her expression grows more haunted the longer she speaks.
At one point, I have to reach over and rub my hand up and down her back in an attempt to calm her down when her breathing turns erratic. She’s working herself into a panic over having to continue to hide our relationship now that we’ve steered into something more official, but things are different now.
For starters, we’re not pushing each other away or denying our feelings anymore. And for real, shoot me now, because now I’m the one who sounds like a girl.
We also both know all the players involved, making it possible to come up with a proper game plan.
“I’ll talk to my dad about putting an end to the engagement.” Duke’s offer has Savvy’s jaw dropping. It shouldn’t. The way he readily agreed to play along with her ask should have been enough proof for her to see how loyal he can be to those he cares about.
“You will?” Savvy’s voice cracks at the end of the question.
“Yeah.” He reaches up and runs a hand through his hair before jerking his chin in my direction. “The only way to keep J’s dad from following through on his threats is if he believes it won’t hurt him with voters. What better way to accomplish that than coming from the governor himself?”
“You think it would work?”
Duke teeter-totters his hand in the air. “Fifty-fifty.”
Savvy doesn’t seem to like those odds, but even if it were a zero percent chance, I still wouldn’t give her up.
“Stop worrying.” I reach up and cup the side of her face, curling my fingers around to her nape. “So what if my dad cuts me off?” I swallow down the panic the thought inspires. “Let him. I don’t give a fuck.” Lies, but I’ll figure things out if that happens. Hockey is my endgame anyway. He can try, but he’ll fail if he tries to keep a college from recruiting me. “You’re mine, and I’m not giving you up now that you finally admitted it.”
Savvy folds forward, pressing her forehead to my shoulder. “Even when you’re saying sweet things, you still manage to let your inner asshole shine through.”
I chuckle and crush her to me, going as far as pulling her from her seat and into my lap. “Really feeling the love, Princess.” Her arms wrap around me in response. I’ll take it.
“Not to break up this kinkfest you two have going on—” Duke interrupts.
“Kinkfest?” Tessa asks with a giggle.
“Yup.” My best friend preens like a peacock, only to have one of the U of J guys tug him back by the hood of his sweatshirt. “These two”—he shakes off the warning about watching himself and waves his hands at Savvy and me like a game show host presenting a grand prize—“love to trade barbs as foreplay.” He pretends to shield the side of his mouth and stage-whispers, “Kinky fuckers.”
The pop-pop-pop of more than one set of knuckles cracking at Duke’s constant flirting has him lowering the playboy charm a little bit and refocusing on Savvy. “You’re going to have to find a way into your stepdad’s safe. Chances are good that if Natalie has anything she’s hiding from you and you haven’t found it yet, it’s because it’s in there.”
Good point. I’ve seen how Natalie is with Mitchell; it’s like she’s an entirely different person. I’m sure if she asked him to store something in his safe, he would do it without issue.
“How do you know he has a safe?” Savvy asks.
“Guys like our dads always have a safe,” I confirm. “Now all you have to do is find it and get the combination.”
“Because that’s easy,” she grumbles.
“Well buckle up, buttercup.” Duke claps his hands together. “Time to come up with a plan.”