When Raven agrees to help sheltered Cassian complete his list of firsts in exchange for cash, it's strictly business-until their deal ignites an undeniable chemistry neither of them saw coming.
***
After making a deal to finish her last year at Bria...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
O N E M O N T H L A T E R
Raven's POV
I sat on the bleachers of the empty tennis court, staring down at the racket in my hands.
I glared at it before throwing it on the ground as my chest tightened.
I tried my best to hold it in, but my tears spilled.
A whole month of practice gone to shit.
I worked so hard.
Practiced day and night until my body ached.
And I still lost.
The memory of the crowd watching, of their pitying looks and muffled whispers, played on repeat in my mind.
"You okay?"
I wiped my eyes quickly before glaring at her.
"I told you to leave me alone."
Chloe ignored me as she sat next to me and handed me a juice box while she drank her own.
"It was your first match and we played against the winning champions from last season," she said. "I think you did awesome. You scored more than Natasha, and she's our captain."
"I needed to win," I told her. "That was the last time Stanford was recruiting."
She shrugged. "Who cares? It's not like you wanted to go to college anyway. You said you were only doing it to impress your brother."
I frowned as I opened my juice box and silently drank.
I did say that.
But it still sucked.
I worked hard.
Ryan has been scary for the past month.
He's not like the brother I had years ago.
He forces me to do shit now and he keeps our conversations to a minimum.
I had hoped that this was just one of our usual brother and sister fights that ended within a day, but he was actually serious this time.
This was my opportunity to make him proud and make us go back to the way things were.
I looked down at the crescent moon pendant pressed against my chest before feeling my heart ache.
My situation with Cassian was worse than how it was with Ryan.
He hadn't said a word to me since that day.
Every time I would try to get closer to him, his dumb body guards stepped in the way.
Sometimes I would catch him scaring at my necklace as he passed me in the hallway, but other times he would just completely ignore me.
