Ruin Me (5 page)

Forget everything you thought you knew about Piper Lynch.

This is the real me.

And I’m not going back.

I step out of the shower and wring the remaining water from my long hair. As I stand up, I wipe the condensation from the mirror and pause as my eyes notice something different on my pale, white skin. I lean in and see the mark forming on the left side of my neck, a red and bright purple love bruise where Lukas’ hand held me. My lips curl into a delicious smile. My first instinct is to grab make-up, just as I always did at home to conceal marks such as these, but I stop and stare at it instead.

I don’t have to hide it anymore.

I wrap my body in a towel and step out of the bathroom.

***

We arrive at Berlin Central Station with just over fifteen minutes to spare.

I drag my rolling suitcase behind me with my ticket and my copy of our itinerary clenched in my free hand. “Looks like our compartment has four seats inside,” I note.

“Oh, yeah?” Mandy asks, glancing up from her phone as we walk across the station towards our train.

I grin. “This means we might have two strangers to cozy up to for the entire six-hour trip.” I say it with a bit more excitement than I intended and Mandy regards me with a knowing glance.

“Strangers, eh?” she says. “And are these strangers tall, dark, and handsome?”

“They are in my head.”

“You waste no time, do you, Piper?” she laughs.

“I’m just eager to travel the world and meet new people, Mandy,” I say with a grin. “I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re implying.”

“I’m
implying
…” she moves her brown hair to one side of her neck as she fans herself off with her phone, “that this country might not be the only thing
in
heat
right now.”

I laugh and give her a quick shove as our train comes into view. “I told you not to pack a bunch of sweaters,” I tell her.

“I thought Europe was supposed to be dreary and cold.”

“I don’t think anywhere in the northern hemisphere is dreary and cold
in August
, Mandy.”

“Well, I’m starting a revolution then. Germans are known for that, right?”

I shake my head. “Not the good kind.”

She shrugs and goes back to scrolling through her phone. We wait patiently in line as other passengers board the train ahead of us. My eyes scan the people and buildings around me, taking in one last dose of Berlin before the train takes me someplace new. I fill my lungs with the air around me and listen to all the different voices and dialects. It’s oddly familiar but insanely different than the echoing halls of Belle Academy.

We step inside and I check our tickets one last time to verify the compartment number.

“It should be just down here,” I tell Mandy. My heart races with each step I take, knowing that every breath I take leads to a new experience. A new face. A new emotion. A new
life
. Everything around me wreaks of the unknown and all my senses buzz with excitement.

I grip the handle to the compartment and pull it open.

Oh, hell no.

Hell. No.

Chapter 6

Kai

“What the hell are you doing here?” she shouts at me. I’ve seen Angry Piper before, but I have never in my life seen her
this
pissed off. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bring me great pleasure watching her nostrils flare out like they are now.

She stands with her little fingers gripped on the compartment door handle. Her hair hangs down over her shoulders, clean and straight, blending in with her pitch black shirt. But I really notice her eyes first. Piper has never been known to wear makeup outside of her own natural shades, but right now, she wears thick, black eyeliner with smoky-gray lids. It’s a new look, and not a bad one for her either.

I stand up from my seat with enthusiasm. “You made this trip sound so
wonderful
we thought it’d be fun to tag along. Isn’t that right, Shawn?”

Her eyes dart downward at him in his seat, as if she never even noticed the second person in the room.

“Piper—
move
. Who is it?” Mandy Black squirms underneath Piper’s arm and spills into the small compartment. When she sees me and Shawn, her jaw drops with a precious smile. “Holy shit, guys. What’s up?”

“Don’t
what’s up
them, Mandy. They aren’t supposed to be here —” She turns back to me. “You aren’t supposed to be here.”

“It’s Europe Party Town, population
we
,” Shawn says. He blows a thick bubble with his pink bubblegum until it pops back against his face.

“It was all your dad’s idea,” I say.

“Excuse me?” she asks, her voice falling low.

“Well, after dinner the other night, he and I talked a little more about
his
concerns
for your safety…” She stares at me like an angry viper, eager to rip my eyes out. “And long story short, we decided to surprise you!”

“Surprise!” Shawn adds.

Mandy steps towards me and sits down in the seat across from Shawn. “Sounds good to me.”

“That’s the spirit, Mandy!” I raise a hand and she high fives me. When I look back at Piper, I notice she’s staring her friend down, but my girl Mandy gives zero fucks in return. “Come on in, Pipes. You’re blocking the corridor.”

She refuses to budge. “How did you know we’d be here?” she asks.

It’s an obvious solution, one that I know she’s clever enough to figure out herself, but I answer her anyway. “Your dad gave me your itinerary.” I bend over and grab it from my bag. It’s a series of xeroxed pages stapled together haphazardly — because fuck her cutesy organization system. I drift towards her. “I know exactly where you’ll be every day for the next five days. Shawn and I have already booked the adjacent rooms in all your hotels, so we can have sleepovers.” I smile a little wider, baring my teeth as I stare down at her.

She’s fuming.
Really
fuming. I feel my cock twitch in triumph, but the game isn’t over yet.

I still have five days to finish this.

Belle Academy Female #13. Piper Lynch.

It’s your turn.

***

The city of Berlin drifts away on the horizon behind us and soon, the window frames the lush and green German countryside for us. Piper sits in the seat across from me in the compartment with her head down and her itinerary in her hands. I catch the occasional angry glance in my direction, but it never lasts more than a second — not nearly long enough for me to flash her a cocky smile or a wink as I’d like to.

Shawn sits beside me with a big grin on his face as he and Mandy chat casually with each other. When I pitched this trip to him, he immediately agreed to it — knowing full well that it could end with him losing our bet. Coming on this trip meant I would be preoccupied with Piper while he kept Mandy Black company. He’s had a thing for Mandy for as long as I’ve known him. I thought sleeping with her as part of our bet would have torn our friendship a new one, but he couldn’t care less as long as I filled his head full of information about how she likes it. (
Rough
, in case you’re wondering. She likes it rough.)

“Mandy, how about you and me go check out the bar car?” Shawn says as he stands up and stretches his legs.

“Sure,” Mandy says. She gets up and I notice Piper shooting her a glare, but Mandy counters with a passive shrug.

“Drinking age is eighteen in Germany, right?” Shawn muses. He passes me a not-so-subtle wink as the two of them slide the door closed, leaving Piper and me alone with each other at last.

I look across the compartment at her. She’s ignoring me, of course. Her smoky eyes hang low, studying the printed map lying on her thighs. She’s got the entire trip marked out on it. A red line begins in Berlin and travels south to Italy, then back north to France and… England? I crane my neck and get a better angle to confirm it.

“You know, Piper,” I begin, clearing my throat. “I don’t think dear old Daddy will appreciate you straying off your itinerary—”

She grips the paper with sharp nails and slams the clear plastic cover down. “Go away, Kai,” she snaps as she pulls a German fashion magazine from her bag and whips it open to pretend to read it.

Fuck.

If I intend on sealing the deal during this trip, I’m going to have to warm her up a bit. She’s already pissed off with me, so I’ll have to be stealthy about it.

“Hey, Pipes,” I say.

“What?” she grits through her teeth.

“Has anyone ever told you how pretty you look when you’re angry?” I ask.

“All the time.” She doesn’t even glance up from her magazine.

“I figured, but I thought I’d say it just in case…” I keep my eyes on her, hoping to catch the sudden sight of chinking armor, but she’s giving me nothing to work with. “Looking forward to Harvard next week?” I ask.

“No.”

“No?” I raise my eyebrow, genuinely surprised by her response. “I thought you lived for that kind of thing.”

“You’re wrong.”

“Okay then…” She still won’t look up. I’m hit with disappointment as I long for one of our long-winded verbal sparing matches. I hate Monosyllabic Piper. “I have one more question,” I say, feeling the dull sting of desperation, “and I want you to be honest with me. How many times have you thought about me naked?”

And just like that, she finally looks up at me. “Seriously?”

“Fifty? Sixty?” I grin. “You’re thinking about me right now, aren’t you?”

“No,” she answers.

“Sure you are. It’s simple psychology. I tell you not to think about green elephants and suddenly, you’re thinking about green elephants. Now,
Piper
, I know it’s difficult for you, but
please
… don’t think about me naked right now.” I lock our eyes and give her a devious smile.

It’s the ultimate Hail Mary pass of getting inside Piper Lynch’s white cotton panties. I’d relied on subtle gestures and kind words up until now, but maybe a more straightforward approach is necessary to thin the ice.

She keeps her eyes trained on me and lets the magazine fall to Mandy’s empty seat on her left. “All right, Kai,” she hums between her lips. “I
am
thinking about you naked right now.” She closes her eyes and my briefs feel a little tighter. “I’m imagining your strong chest. Your thick, manly arms. Your chiseled, washboard abs…” I bite my inner cheek as I watch the sultry movement of her red lips. “All the way down to your—” her faces falls and her eyes flutter open — “Oh.”

I sit back.
“Oh?”

“It’s a little
small
.”

“I can assure you that my dick has received the most generous of accolades,” I argue, playing off her reaction. “It’s like reading reviews for that new
Mad Max
movie.”

“It’s underwhelming and tries too hard?”

I flinch at the quickness of her wit, stunningly mesmerized by her all over again. It’s a side of her I’ve never seen before. The Sexy and Playful Piper Lynch. “You bite your tongue,” I say.

“I’m just passing on what I’ve heard, Kai,” she says. “Apparently, your size isn’t as impressive as your fan club leads you to believe.”

“Who told you this?” I inquire. “I want names.”

She smirks. “Fat chance.”

“Was it Mandy? Judy Stamper? Delilah Monroe?” (Belle Academy Females #22 and #17, respectively.)

“Your mother.”

My jaw drops. “I am speechless… and slightly confused.”

“Good.” She snatches the magazine back off the seat next to her. “Maybe I can finally get some peace and quiet in here.”

Piper
fucking
Lynch. Where has this side of you been all my life? My heart races like never before. “I would be happy to clear up any confusion in this area for you, if you’d like,” I say, poking her a little further.