Courts and Cabals by G.S. D'Moore (best e reader for academics txt) 📕

Instinctually, I gave a drain in my path a wide berth as I headed for Lilith’s dorm.

I blew past the other senior on floor monitor duties, and waved an annoyed hand in his direction when he protested. I climbed the stairs two at a time, and sprinted down to her room. It felt like a lifetime ago that she’d invited me here to repay me for those quiz answers. I hammered on the closed door until someone came to answer it.

“For fuck’s sake . . .” Dani opened it. “No, not gonna happen,” the dwarf tried to close the door, but I shoved my foot in the opening. That didn’t stop her from painfully slamming me with the heavy wood.

“Fuck, Dani, come on,” I growled, pushing uselessly against the handle. “Let me in. I need to talk to her,” I pleaded, because I knew there was no way I’d overpower the small woman.

The door swung open and I nearly toppled into the room as my momentum pushed me forward. “She’s not here lover boy,” Dani walked away, wearing nothing but booty shorts and a sports bra.

“Do you ever wear clothes?” I snapped, unable to help myself because of my throbbing foot.

“Do you ever stop barging into my room like some love-drunk puppy?” she snapped back, and we stared each other down.

The dwarf was as infuriating as she was cute, and I either wanted to fight her or fuck her. Unfortunately, neither of those things was going to happen, and if they did, they wouldn’t work out for feeble old me. If I was going to be in Lilith’s life, I was going to have to get through a year of a love-hate relationship with this other woman.

Dani broke the stare-down first with a sigh, and pointed to Lilith’s bed. “You must be packing some serious firepower down there,” she pointed at my crotch. “I’ve roomed with Lilith for two years, and she’s never worked this hard to get a guy,” she looked me up and down. “I know you two have never done it,” she made humping motions. “Do you want me to take you for a spin and put in a good word with her?”

I looked at her dumbfounded, and thought she was joking until she started to pull her sports bra off. “No!” I shouted. Me from three days ago was kicking present-me in the ass, across the time-space continuum, for turning down guaranteed sex with a hottie.

“Geez, let a girl down easy will ya,” the dwarf didn’t look too hurt by my rejection.

“It’s not that,” I sighed and rubbed my eyes. “Sorry, you just caught me by surprise. I’ve kind of got a lot of shit going down right now.”

“I’ve heard,” it was hard to get a single iota of compassion from her. “Rain check?” she raised an eyebrow. “You know what they say; once you go little, I own that pickle.”

Despite my approaching execution, I couldn’t help but laugh. “I don’t know what my contract stipulates, but we’ll see.”

“Was that so hard?” she walked over and slapped my ass hard enough it was going to leave a mark through my jeans. “Lilith is in the student center. Apparently, all the sexual gratification from Friday night hookups, mixed with the sexual tension of other teenagers who didn’t get laid, is her equivalent of a morning espresso.”

“Thanks,” I started to leave, but then stopped. “Dani, I’ll hold you to that raincheck,” I gave her my award-winning smile.

“Good lad. I’ll try not to break you,” I heard her laugh echo down the stairwell as I ran.

The monitor gave me a hard time, but I yelled at him to fuck off. I’d pay for it later, but it was better to be in detention than dead.

The student center was directly under the dining hall. Like the acropolis it was modeled after, the dining hall sat on top of a hill. The architects had hollowed out the rest of the hill, and stuck a space for the students to hang out. There was a small movie theater, pool tables, several ping-pong setups, large TVs, and plenty of seating. There was also a patio where clubs met, people hacky sacked, and the chefs from the dining hall sometimes came to cook treats between meals.

On a Saturday morning, near the end of breakfast – which reminded me I hadn’t had anything to eat since Joe’s pizza – it was pretty packed. People greeted me as I entered, and several commented on how Aveena hadn’t beat my ass yet. I waved them off and looked for Lilith. She was easy to find. A gathering of men encircled her. All were the school elite: jocks, shifters, or top tier mages vying for her affection. It was a smorgasbord for her, and she was drinking it down like an iced cappuccino.

Usually, I wouldn’t associate with these people, mostly because they could yank me limb from limb if I pissed them off. Today, I didn’t give a shit. I shouldered through the crowd until I was standing in front of her.

“Lilith, we need to talk.”

She looked up at me and smiled. There was a collective intake of breath from the gathered men, and mutual erections that they embarrassingly tried to hide. “Gentlemen, if you’ll excuse me for a second. Mr. Dupree and I have some business to discuss,” she rose to her feet, and they parted like the Red Sea as she took me by the hand and sashayed away.

She led me to one of the small rooms used for study groups, and closed the door behind us; which sent a small thrill through me. “I saw that you went to Aveena. I assume your attempts to make peace failed?”

“It was worth a try,” I admitted.

“And I expected you to take it, Cam. You’re innovative and smart, and I didn’t expect you