Prologue

PROLOGUE

GRAYSON

M y life is going along as usual until a beautiful brunette struts her way into my first lecture of the day, her heels clicking against the linoleum floor as she makes her way to the stairs.

All the professor can do is watch her and shake his head. I doubt he's pleased with the way she introduced herself to the class the moment she stepped into the room.

And now, she's heading my way, smiling and saying hi to everyone she passes.

Jade Harper. The new transfer isn't like the rest of the students in the room. Most of us look like we've rolled out of bed after spending a night cramming for a test, but she looks like she's stepping off the runway in a black pencil skirt and sleeveless blouse.

As she takes the seat beside me, I shift to the side, angling my back toward her.

She seems like the kind who's going to spend the class talking and trying to be friendly with everyone.

I don't have time to be friends. If I want to take over my father's company in the next ten years, I have to prove to him that I have what it takes to be a good journalist.

Jade, with her honey brown hair and stormy blue eyes, is nothing but a distraction.

The scent of lemon and vanilla wafts to me as she takes the seat next to me. "Hey."

I glance at her as the professor queues up the presentation. "Hey."

Her full lips press together in the hint of a smile, showing off the burgundy gloss she swiped over them. "Not a man of many words, are you?"

"Nope."

The little laugh she gives only irritates me more.

She'd be perfect for a news anchor. Maybe the weather girl. They're always doing that annoying little laugh.

Jade leans closer to me, tapping her pen on the edge of my desk. "How is the professor? I loved the ones at my old school, but when I looked up the student reviews on some of the ones here, they didn't seem so great."

"He's fine. Had him last year."

"Damn." She settles back in her seat, a smug smile twitching at the corner of her mouth. "That was a whole six words."

I grit my teeth together, not wanting to waste any more energy talking to her.

I'd be willing to bet that the only reason she's pursuing journalism is because she thinks it's a quick way to get herself on television.

Professor Mackintosh shuts the door and gestures to the screen. "All right, so, as we've been discussing, there is an internship up for grabs this year. LRH Global has sent over the details, and I will be forwarding them to all of you later."

Jade taps her pen on my desk. "LRH Global? As in, the biggest newspaper publisher in the country?"

My fingers tighten around my pencil as I nod.

She crosses one leg over the other as Professor Mackintosh flips to the next slide in the presentation.

He leans against his desk. "The person at the top of the class will be awarded the internship. Right now, Grayson Harris and Jade Harper are tied. The rest of you are lagging. This is the chance of a lifetime."

I don't hear the rest of the words coming out of his mouth, not after hearing that Jade's marks from her previous school are as good as mine.

My gaze cuts to Jade, and the more I look at her, the more confused I am.

There's no way I'm going to lose the competition to her. She's not cut out for journalism. She's so happy. I doubt that she's even seen the worst the world has to offer.

Not that I'm one to speak, but for years Dad has been telling me about the stories he chased while working toward his CEO position. He's made it clear that I have to follow in his footsteps, and that's what this internship will allow me to do.

I'm going to get it.

No matter the cost.

Paying Jade's roommate to go into her laptop and delete her class schedule was easy.

Getting the paper copy of the schedule stolen cost a little more, but for the bargain price of five hundred dollars, I might not have to deal with Jade for the rest of the week.

It's only been two weeks since she joined the class, and her grades are already soaring past mine.

She's not as empty-headed as I thought, which is going to make winning the internship all the more difficult.

Even though the sex is great, I'm not above a little sabotage.

By the time class is dismissed, Jade comes rushing down the hall, her hair a mess and the hickey I gave her last night barely hidden beneath the gold necklace she wears.

"You're awful." She stops in front of me, her arms crossed and her foot tapping on the floor. "Lizzy told me you were the one who wanted my schedules to disappear."

Smirking, I step closer to her, erasing the space between us. "What's the problem?"

"What the hell kind of game do you think you're playing, Grayson?"

I shrug, taking another step and forcing her to take one back. I keep advancing on her until her back is pressed between the wall and my body. "The game where I win."

Jade pokes her finger into my chest. "You want a war, then you've got it."

Chuckling, I dip my head closer to her, my lips hovering over hers. "Try me, Jade. You have no idea who you're messing with."

"I don't give a damn." She puts her hand on my chest, pushing me back a step. "It's time for the rich boy to learn a lesson."

Hurt flashes across her face for an instant, and I would swear it was never there to begin with if not for the way she pushes away from me and heads down the hall.

A war, huh?

I run out of the library, heading through the courtyard to the back of the sports center.

It's dark out, but the bright lights down on the football field provide enough light to see by. The crowd roars as the team scores another touchdown.

Looking around, I try to see my informant through the bodies that are milling around the area.

A small woman steps forward, her large glasses perched halfway down her nose. "Grayson Harris?"

I nod, pulling out my phone. "Do you mind if I record our conversation?"

She glances at the phone before nodding. "Sure."

"Thanks." I hit the record button, leaning against the brick wall in the shadows beside her. "So, you said you had evidence a professor was selling drugs on campus. Can you elaborate on that?"

Her hands twist together as she looks over her shoulder. "Well, I got a call about a week ago from my friend saying there was a massive party and I had to come."

I nod, trying to look as encouraging as possible.

This exposé on a professor selling drugs to students is what's going to cement my internship win. It's going to be the piece that Professor Mackintosh chooses as the winner. Nobody else has anything that even compares to the lead I have.

The girl swallows hard. "And, well, Jade Harper said to tell you she's going to win."

My knuckles turn white as I grip the phone, hitting the button to stop recording with my thumb. "Jade put you up to this?"

The girl nods and takes off into the night, leaving me standing there and putting all the pieces of the puzzle together.

I spent two weeks chasing down this lead. I spent another week trying to convince her that coming forward was the right thing to do and that I would protect my source.

The project I've been working on all semester is down the drain, and I don't have a backup.

I'm going to lose the internship.

Dad is never going to let me live this down.

If I ever want to be CEO, this is not the way to go about it.

After taking a deep breath, I spin and head back to the library, knowing that Jade is going to be waiting there to rub it in my face.

If I wasn't so angry, I might be able to admit that she's more underhanded than me — and smarter, too.

After weeks of going back and forth with each other, she finally won.

She thought ahead. While I was busy doing childish things like changing words in her papers and keeping her up all night so she couldn't focus, she was playing the long game.

There's something admirable in her dedication.

Jade is sitting at the desk I claimed as my own, her skirt climbing high up her thighs and that little crop top grazing the skin just beneath her breasts.

She smirks and crosses her arms, showcasing the low neckline of the shirt. "You look like you just got some bad news."

"You took it too far, Jade. That was my entire project for this semester, and now it's gone." My hands ball into fists at my side, and I can already feel the vein in the side of my neck pulsing.

Jade taps a finger to her lips. "You know, I don't think I know what you're talking about."

"I'm sure you do know, since my lead said you were the one who put her up to the entire thing!" I slam my hands down onto the desk on either side of her toned thighs.

The scent of her lemon and vanilla perfume is making it hard to think, and when her tongue darts out to lick her bottom lip, my cock strains against the front of my jeans.

Now isn't the time to want her. Not when she just screwed everything up for me.

And yet, when her thighs press closer together, I can't help but lean in and drag her bottom lip between my teeth.

"You're screwing with the wrong person, Jade. I can make your life miserable with a snap of my fingers."

Her breathy laugh is my undoing. "Is that supposed to intimidate me, Grayson? I eat boys like you for breakfast."

I skate my hand up the outside of her thigh, fingers disappearing just beneath the hem of her skirt. "You went too far this time."

Her fingers trail up the buttons of my shirt, flicking open a couple as her thighs part to accommodate my hips between them. She scoots to the edge of the table as I slide my fingers over a silky thong covering her already-soaked core.

"You've been sitting here, thinking about this moment, haven't you?" I ask, my voice raspy as I lean into her.

"Please, you're the last person in the world I would be thinking about."

I push the material to the side, fingers sliding along her slick folds. "Your wet pussy says otherwise, Jade. You've been sitting in here thinking that I was going to storm in here, pissed, and bend you over a table."

Her inner walls clench around me as I slide two fingers into her. She bites her bottom lip on a moan, her hips rocking forward.

With a press of my thumb against her clit, her back arches. "So responsive. You don't think I'm going to give you what you want after that little stunt you pulled, do you?"

"You don't like being called inadequate." She smirks, one hand sliding down the front of my slacks and dipping into my boxers.

My cock throbs as her hand wraps around it. "Based on the way you call out my name when you come, I know I'm anything but."

I slide my fingers deeper into her core, circling her clit with my thumb. She moans, rolling her hips and meeting every thrust I give her.

Her hand slides up and down my length in time with my thrusting fingers. She squeezes harder with each pass until I'm aching and desperate to be buried inside her.

Instead, I keep working my fingers faster in her tight core. When I press against the spot that drives her wild, her hips buck, her arousal coating my fingers.

The library is empty except for us, though anyone could walk in and see the way she's flushed and needy, one hand clawing at my shoulders while the other pumps my cock.

I move my fingers faster, plunging them deeper until she starts to shake.

Just before she comes, I pull out and collect my books, tucking them beneath one arm and leaving her panting on the table. "We're done."

Jade is nothing but a parasite who will do whatever it takes to be at the top.

I don't have time for that in my life. Not when I work hard to get everything I have.

The next morning, I can barely see straight when I walk into class. My head is pounding with the all-nighter I pulled to submit my final assignment before six this morning.

It was a rush to hunt down a new story — and steroid use on the lacrosse team isn't as good as teachers selling to students — but it might just be good enough to secure my spot in the internship.

Just as I slide into my seat in the lecture hall, Jade enters, heading straight for Professor Mackintosh.

She's probably promising him a blow job for the internship.

The thought is cruel, and I know it's something Jade would never do, but I spent most of last night stewing over what she did to me while I worked on a new project.

I might have been the one who started the little war between us, but I didn't think she would ever take it to that level.

And now that she has, I'm left hoping I get the internship.

It's the first step to showing my dad I deserve to take over the company.

Jade Harper isn't going to ruin that for me.

"All right." Professor Mackintosh claps his hands together. "I've spent most of the morning looking at your projects one final time. And after a review, I've decided that the internship will be awarded to Jade Harper."

The class claps and congratulates her as she takes a seat at the front of the class, a pretty pink blush staining her cheeks.

I stare at the back of her head, wishing that I could travel back to a time before she transferred.

The internship would've been mine if she had never shown up.

She's going to rue the day she ever walked into this class.