The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Chapter 0380

"Can I ask you...maybe an unfair question?"

He smirks at me, and turns his head to the side, inviting it.

I grin, and nod towards the door, where Luca left. "If it were the other way around. And...you had a big night, and I left early and...you found me in his bed in the morning. Would you...do you think you would have reacted the same?"

Jackson's smirk just deepens. "Trick question, Clark. Because it never would have happened."

"What?" I ask, frowning in my confusion.

"If you think," he says slowly, lowering his head a little in a predatory way that makes my stomach tense, "I would have ever stayed at a bar without you? Let you go home alone to a cold bed? Or, worse yet, to a warm one?" He quirks and eyebrow and then slowly, he shakes his head.

The smile that bursts onto my face - it stretches so wide my cheeks hurt.

Jackson just gives me a grin before he drops his head again, returning to his thoughts. And I slip out the door, pushing it shut behind me just...completely filled with warmth at that answer, from my head to my toes.

I'm not surprised, at all, to find Rafe waiting for me, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, one foot propped against the wall behind him. I am a little surprised, though, when I step close and find him...drowsing. Almost completely asleep just...standing against the wall.

I burst out laughing, giving his shoulder a shove. He starts and looks around, gasping in a deep breath.

"Ari!" he scolds on the exhale, giving me a little shove right back. "Don't scare me like that."

"Don't fall asleep in the hall!"

"I'll do what I want. I'm going to be the King one day, after all. It's my palace, I sleep where I want."

I laugh again as my brother slings an arm around my shoulders and we start down the hall towards our family suite, my arm around his waist. "You sound like Jesse, talking like that."

"Yeah well, with as much gin and as little sleep as we've had tonight, we all sound a little more like Jesse."

I grin, and lean into my brother, grateful to have him here. "Thanks, Rafe. I think you...saved me in there."

"You were doing perfectly fine, little sister." Content belong to NôvelDráma. Org.

"Was I?" I ask, kind of surprised at the compliment, looking up at him.

"Oh, perfectly fine causing as much trouble as possible," he replies, blinking innocently down at me.

I scowl and elbow him in the ribs. He hisses, pretending it hurts more than it does, which just makes me laugh even though it's an old, stupid joke.

"Nah, you're all right," Rafe says, tightening his arm around me a little. "Luca is just... he can be dramatic, can't he? I mean, I do get why he's upset," Rafe gives me a significant look here, and I roll my eyes, done defending myself on that point. "But...yeah. He took it really far."

"What are we gonna do with him?" I murmur, shaking my head.

"Ah, see, the good part about this, little sister, is that it is your problem. Not mine." Rafe heaves a smug, contented sigh.Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.

"Fine," I say, equally smug, aloof. "I'm not helping you at all, then, when your mate shows up and causes a big fuss." I grin, pleased at my joking counterpoint.

But Rafe doesn't respond, and I look up at him, my face falling when I see that he's looking right ahead and not down at me at all. And his face is...sad, worried.

"Rafe, I -*

"Don't, Ari," he murmurs, glancing down at me just for a moment. "Just...I'm tired. Let's get me to bed."

"You got it, bro," I murmur, tugging him a little closer and leaning against him again as we walk, wondering... Well. Wondering what I said that upset him so much.

But when I say goodbye to my brother, and step into my room, and turn to see Daphne curled up in my bed with the duvet tucked prettily under my chin?

Well... think I have my answer.