“Miss Riley?”

I turned to find Stewart in the doorway that I was pretty sure led into a massive kitchen. I wouldn’t know because I was not allowed such privileges as walking outside of my room. In his hand he had two things, one was an expensive looking leather satchel, and the other some keys.

“This is for you to take the golf cart to meet your friend,” he said, jingling the set. “Mistress approves of your friendship with Eddy, so she has no issue with this arrangement.”

I blinked at Stewart a couple of times. “How does Mistress know about Eddy?” I demanded, cringing at the fact that we sounded like house elves waiting to be gifted socks.

Stewart just gave me a don’t-be-so-dense look.

Eddy was lucky she was so awesome, because knowing Debitch approved of her, almost had me regretting our new found friendship.

“And the bag?”

He held it out to me, and with a sigh I stepped forward and relieved him of both items. “The bag has your identification, some cash for essentials, and a few other things that…” he cleared his throat. “Young ladies require.”

I snorted. “Catherine bought me tampons? Well, look at that, she’s almost a mother now.”

Stewart looked even more uncomfortable, if that was possible, and I couldn’t help reaching out and patting him on the arm again. “Thanks for putting up with me. I’ll see you this afternoon.”

“Straight home from school,” he warned as I rushed out the door.

I waved over my shoulder, too focused on my freedom to pay much heed to his words.

There was a cart already prepped and waiting for me, so I threw the bag to one side and slung myself into the driver’s seat. I’d never driven one of these, of course, golf was a rich person sport, but I figured it out quickly enough.

My heart started to beat faster as I took off, leaving the house behind me. By the time I reached the main gate, I was actually smiling. Parking the cart near it, I got out and grabbed my satchel.

A horn beeped, and I swung to find Eddy smoothly pulling up to the gates. My jaw dropped at the view I caught of her through the window. She looked so … proper. Her hair was slicked back in a demure bun. There was no cleavage or funky adornment to her uniform. I barely recognized her.

Until she opened her mouth...

“Come on, bitch, we’re gonna be late!”

My smile grew, and I rushed through the opening gates.

When I dropped into the seat, she eyed my outfit. “We’re legit gonna have to do something about that skirt. I can’t even see your ass.”

Her voice went falsely high, as she rolled her eyes at me. “I mean, how will you show the boys you’re available to them, if they can’t see your vag?”

I snorted. “I’m not available to them, so I’m giving the exact right impression.”

She winked at me. “That’s the way to approach it. Trust me. You’re new, and they’re going to be all over you. Fresh meat.”

She took off in a squeal of tires, and I let out a breathy sigh. This was my shit. Speed. The thrum of a powerful engine. Of course, my thoughts went immediately to my car, my butterfly, and when Eddy pulled out of the second gates and onto the main road, I wondered if we would cross near the crash site.

“Uh, so … what did those assholes do with my baby?”

Eddy shot me a sympathetic look. “Your car? I’m not totally sure, but I think Beck had it towed to a junkyard.”

“Beck…? As in Sebastian?”

She nodded. “Yeah, they call him Beck. Everyone does.”

Of course they did. Beck suited the bastard. I was gonna try my best to call him Sebastian from now on. I had no idea why I was even planning out his name in my head, because I was not talking to him at all, so I could just skip the name thing.

“What’s his middle name?”

What the fuck is wrong with me?

I couldn’t seem to help myself. Eddy shot me the sort of knowing look friends had been giving each other since the dawn of BFFS. “Don’t waste your time, girl. Sebastian Roman Beckett is off limits to all of us mere mortals. You don’t want to mess with any of that crew. They’re the elite of our world.”

Elite. That explained so much. “You’re their sister, though?”

She laughed, and it wasn’t a happy sound. “Trust me, the old school bastards who run our companies, don’t like ‘silly women’ to mess with their money. Mostly we’re afterthoughts that they can’t quite get rid of.”

We’d entered the small town, and I was surprised to see how nice everything looked. This wasn’t like a lot of villages I’d seen over the years. Everything was shiny and new, no run down slummy areas, at least not in the parts we traveled.

“School is just over there,” Eddy said, still driving fast through the nearly empty streets. “I’ll drop you near the office, because you can’t walk in heels for shit.”

I groaned, dropping my head back against the smooth leather of the seat. “I should have brought flats with me. Boots at least.”

“Unless you have a medical reason, you’re wearing heels. Refer back to my comment about your ‘availability to the dudes.’ ”

I waved my cast at her. “I’m broken.”

“Next time aim for your leg and you might have a shot.”

The worst part was she didn’t even sound like she was kidding.

I shut up then because the school was suddenly in view, and I was suddenly freaking the fuck out. “I am not designed for this,” I whispered, dread coiling in my chest.

It looked like those Ivy League colleges, the ones for the best of the best. Red brick buildings, immaculately designed with greenery trailing up and down intermittently, giving it an almost whimsical vibe. Buildings sprawled out as far as I could see, and I was wondering why the hell it was so huge. This town couldn’t sustain a school this size.

I must have muttered something like that, because Eddy replied, “They have a waitlist of over five thousand,” she said, slowing to enter the parking lot.

“What?”

“Yep.” She nodded, only half focusing on me. There were a lot of kids getting out of cars, and I guessed she was trying not to kill anyone. “People from all over the world want to send their kids here. We have a boarding facility in town for those who don’t live locally.”

She said we, like the school was owned by her… or her family.

For all I knew, it was.

Eddy continued to weave in and out of the massive lot, which was legitimately filled with the sort of cars I could only dream of owning. And of course, my absolute top dream car was there, with four rich fuckers standing beside it.

“Holding court, as always,” Eddy murmured lightly, but with undertones I wasn’t even going to try and unravel.

“You hit any of them?” I asked, and she actually shuddered.

“God no! Discounting the fact that I grew up with all of them, they never bring chicks into their inner circle, and I wouldn’t want to fall for someone when I’d always just be a screw in the back room.”

No chicks? “Are they gay?”

I was trying to get their story, but it was as confusing as everything else in this town.

Eddy laughed loudly. “Holy shit. Not even remotely; they go through women like you wouldn’t believe. But it’s always just fucking them, you know?”

Yeah, I knew the type very well.

Eddy flipped her brother off as they passed, and I really wished she hadn’t done that, because suddenly four sets of eyes were on me. Swallowing hard, I tried not to drool at how good they looked. Every tailored line of their suits were molded to their muscular frames, and somehow they looked less like students at school, and more like rich playboys, heading to work in some big business venture.

Lifting my eyes, I flinched at the darkly captivating gaze that caught me. Beck’s eyes were locked on me, the icy stare sending shivers down my spine. I turned away from him with a jerk, because he was making it hard to breathe. Jasper, who was at his side, caught my stare instead. He gave me a smirk and small salute, like we were old friends now. Only I didn’t trust anything about the look on his face.

There were two others there I didn’t recognize, but they had to be Evan and Dylan.

“You already know Jasper,” Eddy said, slowing even more. She shot me a sly grin. “Jasper Eugene Langham, since you seem to love middle names.” I tried not to blush, because I couldn’t quite make myself care as much about Jasper’s middle name.

“Eugene,” I said with a laugh.

She laughed too. “He hates it, and it’s totally not worth the stress to use it. Trust me.”

Advice I probably wouldn’t be taking.