God of Malice (Legacy of Gods #1) by Rina Kent

That definitely wasn’t on my mind.

“Thanks, Ces.” I rub her arm back, grateful to have her.

She’s a year older than Ava and me and the most serious out of all of us, but she’s also the most motherly. Probably why she chose to study psychology in the first place.

If I tell her about the other night, she’ll listen and won’t judge me.

But that means I’ll have to tell her why I was there in the first place, and that’s just not going to happen.

Not in this lifetime.

A small smile lifts her lips. “Let’s go save the poor soul from Ava.”

“How about you save me from my misery instead?” The cool tone takes us by surprise, and soon enough, the owner of said voice barges into the space between me and Cecily and wraps an arm around our shoulders.

Remington Astor, or just Remi—who’s about three years older than me—grins down on us with his all-encompassing charm. His brown eyes twinkle with mischief and pure trouble. He’s built like a Greek god and has an aristocratic nose that’s courtesy of ‘his lordship’ stature, as he likes to remind us. Small tidbit about Remi, he always talks about himself in third person and says things like, ‘my lordship did this’ and ‘my lordship did that.’

Someone else follows close behind him. My cousin, Creighton. Well, technically, Creigh is my second cousin since my dad and his are cousins. However, my brothers and I always called his dad Uncle Aiden.

He’s a year older than me and so extremely quiet that you barely hear his voice, but that shouldn’t be mistaken for shyness. This little shit simply doesn’t give a fuck about anyone.

Or anything.

His silence is merely a manifestation of his boredom. And somehow, that gets him all the attention on campus without him even trying. It’s been like that ever since our secondary school days.

That, and the fact that he does a lot of fighting.

And while his sharp features and piercing blue eyes have something to do with his popularity, it’s his ‘I don’t give a shit’ attitude that makes girls melt for him faster than cheese on pizza.

The more he ignores them, the more crushingly popular he becomes. Something that Remi doesn’t appreciate since Creigh’s stealing away his golden-boy status.

They’re both business majors—Creigh is second year, while Remi is fourth year. Needless to say, girls in the business school fall over themselves to get a sliver of their attention.

I’ve grown up with these guys all my life. Our parents have been friends since they were in school, and we’ve kept the legacy going.

When you’re children of parents who hold the personality of gods, you learn to stick together. To somehow keep up with the pressure of having such parents.

It’s part of the reason why we’re naturally close. In a way, Remi and Creigh are no different than Lan and Bran.

Okay, maybe just Bran. Lan is in a league of his own.

Cecily rolls her eyes at Remi’s dramatic tone. “And what misery might that be?”

“The fact that none of you girls asked me for a ride back to campus. I even had all your favorite songs saved for the road trip.”

“That’s because we could drive just fine,” Cecily says. “Besides, you left me on Read the last text I sent you.”

“Moi?” He releases me, retrieves his phone, and stops in his tracks. “No way in fuck… Creigh, you little shit. What did you do now? Did you crack my code?”

My cousin, who’s on the other side of me, shrugs but says nothing.

I crane my head and find Remi’s phone filled with pornographic pictures.

“Pig,” I say under my breath.

Cecily goes red, and if Ava were here, she’d call her a prude, because she is, in a way. Cecily just doesn’t do well with any talk that’s sexual in nature.

“You’re disgusting,” she tells Remi.

“No, Creigh is.” Remi grabs my cousin by the collar of his polo shirt. “He’s the one who hacked into my phone and put all of that in.”

Creigh’s expression remains poker-faced. “Proof?”

“I’ll beat the fuck out of your arse, you cheeky bastard.”

“You can try.”

“I can’t believe this!” Remi grumbles. “I adopt a weirdo under my lordship’s umbrella and he tries to sabotage not only my popularity status but also my noble name. I’m going to disown you, spawn! Don’t come running to me with your tail tucked between your legs when you can’t slip out of a crowd on your own.”

“I’ll survive.”

Creigh’s methodical, somewhat emotionless reply only riles Remi up more. “Don’t text my lordship when you’re bored.”

“You’re the one who does that.”

Remi narrows his eyes, then grins. “I won’t be covering up for you when your parents call. Try beating that one, spawn.”

Cecily interlinks her arm with Creigh. “Never mind him. We’ve got you.”

“Hey!! Don’t go stealing my adoptive son.” Remi pushes her away and inspects Creigh. “Did the female cougar do anything to you, spawn? Tell my lordship and I’ll take care of her.”

My cousin raises a brow. “I thought you were disowning me?”

“Nonsense. If I disown you, how will you survive?”