Rule No 1: No Strings Attached

er's

today. It wasn't like today was different from any other Tuesday. Except it was, because somewhere out there, Ace Hunters was walking around a

You're overthinking this. It's fake. It's a project. It's nothing.* I said i

ything else. I wasn't even really listening until the an

have not released the identity of the victim, but sources close to the

tape, wind messing up her hair, the s

ne source described the marks as too large, too deep to have come from a

r. I stood there a second too long, staring at the screen, my sweater forgo

door, three sharp

already dressed, hair curled, in a fitted top she

t for Harrison's class," I sai

me, grabbing my hairbrush off the dresser lik

't gone away since I'd heard the word *beast* come out of a reporter's mouth on live television. B

" I grabbed my bag off the chair.

ently, my dating life. We walked out together, the campus still gray with mor

on's lecture hall, Ali had already mov

constantly, but Summer, he is stupidly attractive. Like distractingly so." She kept talking, something about how he'd barely said six words to her yesterday and ho

t before the lecture started, my thoughts already drifting back to t

as long as it took for an a

fr

my hip like it had every right to be there. I didn't have to look to know who it

whole body going rig

ing mine, that easy, infuriating smirk already in place, and for on

nough that it was meant only for me, but not lo

heads had already turned. I y

cing around at the classmates who were ve

around the back of my chair like it belonged there. "We agreed it had t

m until I found him, three rows up, Taylor's head resting against his shoulder, her fingers laced t

text from yesterday. I

to my ear, and I startled, real

Hun

The whole class went still, and every eye that had been

or said, arms crossed, clearly done pretending he hadn't noticed Ace's hand resting agains

s breath. Half of them were smirking

yed locked on mine, hand drifting up to rest lightl

"that social conformity theory suggests individuals often alter their behavior to align with group norms, even when tho

sbelief. Dr. Harrison's jaw ticked, clearly annoyed th

turning back to the bo

g between me and Ace like we were the main event and the lecture was just background noise. Someone two rows back not-so-quietly said something about "since w

s marker down with a sigh, rubbed his temple, and told us he'd rather meet with a

ed packing up, still glancin

book into my bag. "Congratulations. You

d, stretching like none of thi

his class if you keep t

I caught the smell of cedar and something f

hat I hav

in his pockets, unbothered, like he hadn't just made an entire room of p

my own reaction to any of it, when Ali appear

just witne