Bow Down To Your King

Chapter 33

JULIA POV

Point Total: 8,325

I was skipping class. I didn't care about the consequences or the phone call from home that might wake me up from my midday nap.

I kicked off my shoes, flopped onto my bed, and made a mental note to ask Katie about her true intentions when she got back from her normal day, sans fucking strangers.

Nothing could have changed my mind except a knock at the door.

I tried to ignore it, really I did, but after the third time, I became more annoyed than I was tired to begin with. So, I swung my legs over the bed, summoned my best resting bitch face, and opened the door, only to see the person I least expected.

***

ZEKE POV

Point Total: Pathetically 0

Julia had skipped class, which didn't really matter since it was canceled twenty minutes after it was supposed to start. A heads-up from Angela would have been nice, but I wasn't one to go questioning a day off.

Especially when I had better places to be.

I walked down the hall, already planning my evening with Julia, when I realized that she might appreciate flowers.

Wildflowers, I decided, changing directions so I could cut some out of the university's garden. Julia seemed like the kind of girl to enjoy flowers, not laugh at the guy for getting them, as much as she might have wanted me to believe otherwise.

I rounded the corner, eager to snatch up a handful, and then meet Julia at her dorm, where she told me she would be napping for the next century.

And hey, I like naps.

I owed her some unconscious companionship after she slept on the concrete roof with me all night.

My neck ached at the thought.

The metal gate squeaked open as I pushed it forward and stepped inside.

Then, I saw them, two girls making out underneath the tree, moving on top of each other like there was no one else around.

From the gravel path, they were concealed from onlookers by the bushes, but not from other garden goers.

Including me. I got an eyeful of lesbian action.

I cleared my throat, realizing that it wasn't nearly as erotic as it used to be, and they jerked away.

"What do you want, perv?" the redhead barked at me, already grabbing the other, quiet girl's hand. They huddled together as if I was a threat to their existence.

I wasn't.

But they would never believe that.

Usually, I would have taken the hint and walked away, but I had to get the flowers. "I'm just going to be here for a second, then you can go back to groping each other," I said, holding my hands up in mock surrender.

The redhead frowned, "To what, take pictures of us?"

I laughed, "No, thanks."

I thought they'd be relieved by my disinterest, but they weren't. Instead, they stared at me, creepily, while I crossed the garden, back and forth, gathering the happiest, healthiest bouquet I could.

Finally, the mean lesbian scoffed, "Are you picking flowers?"

"Yes," I said, not bothering to look up from arranging the sparse collection I held in my hand.

"Why?"

"That's none of your business."

"Is it a points thing?" the quiet one asked, finding her voice when she saw my creative side.

"No."

"Are they for a girl?" the fire crotch asked, sniffing around the conclusion that I dreaded the most.

So, I lied, "Yeah, they're for your mom. I thought she deserved something pretty after last night."

There was a gasp, and I knew that I was overstaying my unwelcome. I snatched a few more stems and added them to my hand before heading to the gate, nearly satisfied with the color range.

Then, there was a snicker, and a suggestion that I didn't expect followed me out of the garden, "You should get Julia a vibrator while you're at it, lord knows she's never going to get off with a misogynist asshole like you."

I had half a mind to turn around and tell them that she already had, but that was what they wanted: gossip.

Nothing was ever private at St. Anne's and I wanted to keep her, untouched, unbothered, and mine, for as long as possible.

I continued walking toward Julia, damning everything that would dare stand in my way.

***

JULIA POV

Point Total: 10,625

I felt gross, and not I accidentally touched my bare feet onto the tile floor of a communal shower gross, but truly, unforgettably disgusting.

And it all started when Professor Anderson knocked on my door, asking all kinds of questions that I couldn't give her the answers to.

Then, as I came up with an excuse to shut the door in her face, her questions turned to accusations like, "Funny how the lesbians banded together shortly after you arrived on campus."

And, "Zeke certainly has taken a liking to you."

Suddenly, there was no room for excuses, or explanations, just threats. "I know it's you," she said, glaring at me, less than a foot away, "I know that you're the masked rival that has Zeke on the ropes. And I also know that you're the bait, distracting him from his game."

My grip tightened on the door, my only support with Katie across campus, "You're crazy."

"Maybe," her eyes flickered down the hall, checking for witnesses, "but you're going to let me in any way."

Like hell.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because if you don't, I'm going to tell Zeke everything."

"He won't believe you," I said, without hesitation.

She sighed as if she was bored by my denial, "He will when I show him my proof."

"What proof?" I asked, certain that she was lying, because she had to be.

Professor Anderson smirked, "You really should be careful trusting so many girls at once Julia, you know how they can be when just a little pressure is added."

Fuck.

"Let me in," she said, already moving toward me, giving me no choice but to step aside. The door shut quickly behind her, trapping me in my once-safe dorm room with a mad woman.

"What do you want?" I said, feeling smaller by the second.

She flipped through a few pages of Katie's open textbook, then set it back down on the desk where it belonged.

My stomach churned.

"I want a cut."

I frowned. "Of the money?"

"Fifty percent."

I laughed, she just wants money?

"It's fair considering the enormity of your secret. Imagine if Zeke found out, just a week away from the cut-off. Picture the damage he could do."

Our eyes locked, and there it was, the heart-wrenching scene of Zeke fucking every girl on campus; what I had always known about him had become a nightmare, haunting me in broad daylight.

"Fine," I snapped. "But you say nothing."

Her smile stretched across her face, causing my stomach to sink. "There's one more thing."