Wilder

Maybe this trip would change that.

Maybe my heart wasn’t pristine. Maybe it was stitched together. Maybe the seams were even a little frayed over the parts that refused to knit—the parts I had a feeling never would—but it was whole again. I was living.

And if I didn’t hurry, I was going to be late for seminar.

I glanced toward Paxton’s room and debated knocking on his door. Nope. He’s a big boy. There was zero chance in hell I was going to be his babysitter for the next nine months. I’d thought about it all night and came to the conclusion that the only way I was going to keep my sanity this year was to distance myself whenever possible.

But if he missed seminar, I’d be forced to fill him in.

His door opened, and I breathed a sigh of relief—until I realized that he wasn’t the one walking out of it. A beautiful brunette in bright white shorts emerged, pulling her hair down around her sunglasses to frame her face until she saw me standing outside my door.

Then she raised those glasses and stalked toward me.

“So you’re the one,” she sang sweetly, her eyes nowhere near matching the saccharine tone of her voice.

“The one, what?” I asked. It was too early to deal with this.

“The one who wormed her way into my harness yesterday.” Her eyes swept up and down my frame, her arched eyebrows making it fairly obvious that she found me lacking.

“Look, I don’t know who you are—”

“I’m Zoe.”

The girl from yesterday. “Well, hi, Zoe. I’m Leah, and despite what you may think, given that you came out of Paxton’s room, I’m only his tutor. I had zero desire to be a part of that insanity yesterday, so if you have an issue with what happened, you can take it up with your boyfriend.” The worst part of it all was that I didn’t even have a sense of pride that I’d gone through with the stunt—just a nauseating fear that I’d have to do something like that again.

Her mouth opened, but before she said anything else, the door between mine and Paxton’s opened and a tall, willowy blonde walked out with her arms full of books. Was she the girl I’d seen yesterday on Paxton’s balcony? She glanced between us and shook her head. “Don’t be a bitch, Zo. If Wilder had wanted you on that line, he would have taken you.”

Zoe’s eyes narrowed, but she simply turned on her heel and dismissed me, as if she’d realized I wasn’t worth talking to. I breathed a little easier with every step she took in the opposite direction, swaying her flawless figure.

A stab of irrational jealousy ripped through me. Of course that was the type of girl Paxton went for. He wasn’t the guy to settle for anything less than perfection.

“Thank you,” I said to the girl as she approached.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, offering me a kind smile as we walked toward the elevator. “You’re Leah, right? Wilder’s tutor?”

I nodded. “That’s me. How did you know?”

Her laugh was musical. “You’re kind of the talk of our little town right now. I’m Brooke, Penna’s sister.” She must have seen the confused look on my face, because she took mercy and explained. “She goes by Rebel.”

“Ahh, one of Paxton’s Renegades.”

“Yep, one of the Originals. Those guys are inseparable and inflicted with the same daredevil disease. Wilder’s a magnet for those kind of people.” The way her voice softened caught my attention.

“Oh, are you two…?”

She hit the button for the elevator. “No way. And he’s not with Zoe, either, no matter how badly she wishes. She’s full of shit and probably crawled out of Landon’s bed, so don’t let her get to you about Pax.”

“I don’t care who he dates,” I protested as the doors dinged open. “I just need him to keep his grades up.”

“Well, that makes a whole bunch of us,” she said as we took the elevator to deck eight. “I know it’s odd, the position he’s put you in with the suite. Weird, but you’re kind of his Obi Wan.”

“Are you seriously telling me I’m his only hope?” I asked, unable to stifle my grin.

“A girl after my own heart.” She laughed. “And yes. You were selected for him for a reason, not simply tossed into the tutor pool.”

“Weirdest thing ever,” I muttered as we walked through the doors onto the deck.

The auditorium, which had been the theater before the ship was remodeled for the program last year, was filling quickly. “There’s Penna. Did you want to sit with us?” Brooke asked.

Without Rachel, who’d been my security blanket these last couple of years, I’d have to make new friends or sit in my room alone the next three months until she got here. “Sure, thanks.”

“Oh, and Leah,” she said, gently stopping me with her hand on my arm, “maybe the question isn’t why it’s weird that you’re stuck with the Renegades, but why you’re the one he chose.”

She patted my arm and walked toward her sister, leaving me a bigger mass of confusion. Chose? He chose me? He was allowed the choice? None of the other tutors I’d met had been chosen, they’d all simply been assigned.

We took our seats next to another blonde, and I immediately recognized her as the girl I’d seen outside on Paxton’s balcony. “Nice to meet you, Firecracker.” Penna waved from the other side of her sister.