43

Adrianna
I glance at my clock, noticing it’s just turned ten.
Archer insists I head over to his apartment at ten on the dot each night. It’s irritating as hell and I still have work to do on a torture assignment, but I’ve got a free period in the morning. There’s no doubt that the sex with Archer is good.
For two weeks, I’ve slept in his bed every single night. After the first time we had sex, I went straight to Nurse Jasper and asked her to give me the contraceptive pill, as clearly I’m the only responsible one in this relationship.
Archer doesn’t take unwanted pregnancy seriously for a man who’s fucking a student. There’s no way in hell I want to be the kid that gets knocked up the last year of the academy by her fucking gym coach.
I won’t lie and say I don’t enjoy our time together. He’s a fucking God in bed, but it’s time I set my plan in motion. It’s time I get some payback for him forcing me to give up my virginity to him.
He’ll wish he never got into bed with me. As always, I’m wearing no panties, as per his request, as I grab an overnight bag and sling it over my shoulder, creeping out into the corridor.
“Where are you going, Vasquez?” Anita asks, making me jump.
I swallow hard and turn to face her. “It’s none of your business.”
Her eyes narrow as she moves toward me. “You are going to see Coach, aren’t you?”
Heat prickles over my skin at the prospect that one of my enemies knows I’m sleeping with Archer. “No chance in hell. Why do you say that?”
“The two of you went at it a couple of weeks ago.” Her lips twist into a smirk. “The walls aren’t made of soundproof material, you know.” She pokes her finger into my shoulder. “You shouldn’t act like you’re above being a slut and then secretly sneak around with him. It’s dishonest.”
“I don’t know what you think you heard, Anita, but it wasn’t me and Coach.”
“Please, Archer,” she mimics in a begging voice. “Don’t tell me that there’s another Archer here I don’t know of. I know what I heard.”
“What do you want?” I ask, getting fed up with being threatened by everyone around me.
She taps her chin. “I want you to let me have him.”
I arch a brow. “Let you have him?”
“Yeah, leave Coach alone.”
“Believe me, I’ve tried, but he won’t leave me alone.” I run a hand through my hair. “Do you think I want this?”
“Who the hell wouldn’t? He’s gorgeous.”
I roll my eyes at Anita’s pathetic argument why I’d want to sleep with Coach. “He’s a cocky bastard who blackmailed me into sleeping with him.”
“Then you won’t mind stopping.”
I clench my jaw. “He won’t let me, because he’s blackmailing me.”
“Well, so am I, so get out of being his this year.”
“What do you have on me?”
“You’re sleeping with Coach.”
“And where exactly is your proof?”
Anita frowns. “What do you mean?”
“It’s your word against mine. No proof, which means you can’t blackmail me.” I shake my head at how dumb she is. “Now if you would excuse me-”
She yanks my hair as I try to move around her and so I grab her wrist and bend it at an unnatural angle, cracking the bones. Anita screams at the top of her lungs, and then swings at me with her right hand, landing a punch over my right eye.
I retaliate and grab her other wrist, twisting it until I hear a crack and then forcing her face first against the wall. “You’re an idiot to take me on in combat.”
She growls and tries to kick me, but I grab her ankle and twist it, which puts her off balance and she falls, screaming as she breaks it with her injured wrists.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Professor Davidson’s voice echoes down the hall.
I turn to face her. “Anita wouldn’t get out of my way and yanked my hair, so I retaliated,” I say simply.
Professor Davidson shakes her head as she looks at my eye, which is no doubt already bruising. “You can get that looked at at the infirmary.”
I nod and turn around, leaving her to sort out Anita, who’s clearly an idiot for challenging me. Archer is going to get angry when I don’t turn up on time, so to avoid him banging down my dorm room door, I grab my cell phone and text him.
Me: Had a fight with Anita. Been sent to the infirmary.
I slip my cell phone back into my pocket and continue walking toward the infirmary. Not that I need to get my eye looked at. It’s just a bruise. Professor Davidson is probably the weakest of the professors.
My cell phone dings and I check it.
Archer: I’ll come and see you.
I swallow hard, as I don’t want him to come to the infirmary.
Me: Not much point. I will be out soon.
I text him, but deep down I know he’ll probably come, regardless. Nurse Jasper’s waiting by the entrance when arrive, her eyes narrow. “I hear you caused quite a few injuries to your fellow pupil.”
“As I told Professor Davidson, Anita started it, and I wouldn’t roll over and take it.”
She narrows her eyes before nodding. “Fine, let me look at that eye before Anita arrives.”
Nurse leads me into a room and gets a flashlight. “Try to keep your eye open. I need to check for any damage.”
I laugh. “I can tell you that there’s no damage. Anita hits like a pussy.”
She makes a tutting sound before checking my eye and then nodding. “Fine, ice it for twenty minutes and then you can go.” She nods to a bucket of ice on the counter. “Unfortunately, your classmate won’t be so lucky from what I gather.” And then she walks out.
I grab some ice and wrap it in cloth, wincing as I place it against my bruised face.
Within five minutes Archer walks into the infirmary, and straight into my room. “I hear you got yourself into a bit of trouble.” He approaches me and stops within a foot, brushing a hand across the bruised skin around my eye.
“You should see Anita.”
He winces. “I’d rather not. I heard you broke a few of her bones.”
I shrug. “She started it.”
“Come on, I’ve been told to escort you back to your dorm room since Elaine says you don’t need to stay.”
I swallow hard. “Okay.”
“We both know you’re not going back to that dorm room.”
Archer places a hand on my back and steers me out of the infirmary and towards the courtyard. My heart pounds erratically, as all I want is to break free from the constraints of this stupid agreement. Anita may well tell my friends, and I don’t know how to explain why I’d slept with a man I professed to hate.