20. Roman

20

ROMAN

" I t's the only thing that makes sense."

I glared at Tristan, aka my former best friend, my fists clenching and unclenching at my sides.

"As much as I hate to agree with the head boy, he has a point." Aria shot Tristan a look of distaste that would've amused me if I wasn't so fucking pissed off with what he'd just proposed. "You don't want anyone outside of this room to find out about this situation. As far as I know, Knox and Elena don't have an open relationship. Me and Quinn are both straight, and it can't be you, Roman, because you're trying to keep your whatever you have going on with Quinn under the radar. So that leaves one person."

A hand slid over my clenched fist, and I turned to meet Quinn's gaze. Her mouth twisted. "I don't like it, either, but they're right."

Tristan cleared his throat. "Maybe if you'd been a bit more discreet with where you put your mouth, I wouldn't have to pretend I'd had an all-night fuck-fest with your girlfriend."

I growled under my breath, and he rolled his eyes. "So fucking possessive." He jabbed his finger at Knox, who was sprawled on the other sofa with Elena in his lap. "You too. Possessive as fuck. I don't get it."

"Maybe when you find someone who puts up with your arrogant self, you'll know what it's like to be protective of them," Aria spoke up.

"Aww, little scorpion. Life's too short for that. I know it upsets you to hear it, but I have no intention of following in the ways of my besties."

"Yeah, just keep spreading those STDs around, why don't you?"

"Will do." He did his usual thing of blowing her a kiss with his middle finger, which she returned. I slumped back on the sofa, rubbing my hand over my face. Tristan was right, the bastard. He was the only option. I'd marked Quinn up too obviously. Part of me fucking loved it—okay, all of me fucking loved it. What I did not love was the fact that everyone would think that Tristan was the one who'd done it.

"Fine. Fuck. If there's no other option," I muttered.

"You're lucky this is even an option. If I hadn't ended up getting so high last night, I would've had my own all-night fuck-fest with two girls at once."

Aria made a gagging sound, and Tristan smirked at her before turning serious.

"Okay, one obstacle down. We have two remaining. Quinn's parents and our mystery drink spiker. I think that between us, we could put enough pressure on the school to avoid you getting expelled, Ro, but it's a big risk with all the shit that's happened already. I'd recommend keeping this quiet, if you're planning on continuing it?"

"We are," I said instantly and then glanced at Quinn. Fuck. I hoped we were still on the same page.

"We are," she confirmed with a shy smile, and I had to kiss her. I gave my friends the middle finger as I did so because the fuckers started cheering and whistling. It ended up with Quinn laughing against my mouth, so I pulled her into me, seating her on my thighs and wrapping an arm around her waist, before pressing a kiss to one of the marks I'd left on her throat.

"Okay, then I think you need to be discreet. No more marks where other people can see them. Be careful in the communal showers," Tristan cautioned Quinn. "I'm happy to help. It's not like it's a hardship—I mean, have you seen you?—but I don't want other girls to think I'm not available. As far as everyone knows, this was a one-time thing. No cockblocking, please."

My girl rolled her eyes at him. "Believe me, I have no interest in people thinking I'm in a relationship with you, of all people."

"What's that supposed to mean?" His voice went high and indignant, and I snorted.

"I'm sure you can work it out. Back to the drink spiker. I think the only thing we can do is keep an eye out and watch for anyone acting weirdly around me or us. Like I said before, it's possible I wasn't even the target, or it was a spontaneous thing. Fuck knows."

The others were all in agreement, and with that, I swore everyone to secrecy, and we were done. Except for the one thing which I really fucking hated the thought of, but it was a necessary evil. Even though it made me want to stab my own eyeballs and possibly stab Tristan as well.

"Let's get this over with," I muttered when Quinn, Tristan, Knox, and I were assembled in the lower level of the crypts. Tristan glanced at me, his eyes sparkling with amusement, and I wanted to punch the smirk from his face.

"He's doing this for you and Quinn," Knox reminded me in an undertone, and I acknowledged his words with a jerky nod. Yeah, he was, but it didn't mean I had to like it.

"Bed," Tristan decided. Eyeing the sheets dubiously, he pulled a face. "On second thoughts, I don't wanna risk getting near anyone's bodily fluids. Ro, strip the bed. We'll dump this in the laundry room and have it decontaminated."

"Fuck you." I did as he said, though, Quinn helping me without a word, and surprise of all surprises, my boys made the bed up with clean bedding.

"Quinn, lie here," Tristan instructed, dropping all signs of his usual teasing, flirty persona. "We're gonna make it look like you just woke up. I'll lie here and take a selfie."

She arranged herself on the bed, Tristan keeping his hands to himself as he directed her to his liking. When he was satisfied, he climbed onto the bed, glancing back over at me. "I'm gonna put my arm around your girl now. Try to remember that, yeah, she's hot, but I'm not attracted to her, okay?"

"Just get it over with," I gritted out, shaking off Knox's hand on my arm. "I'm not gonna punch you or anything. I just don't like seeing Quinn with anyone else."

"I know. I'll make it quick. Quinn. You good?" She nodded, and he carefully brushed her hair away from her neck, exposing the marks I'd left on the side of her throat. He slid one arm beneath her shoulders and held out his phone, angling it so that both of their heads and the marks on Quinn's neck were visible on-screen. Holding his thumb over the shutter button, he grinned at the camera. Quinn blinked up at the screen, a soft smile curving over her lips, and something inside me twisted because that was a smile that Tristan had no business seeing, let alone anyone else, but once he posted it to our Hatherley Hall group chat, all the elite were going to see that smile. And even worse, they'd think Tristan was the one to put it on her face.

"All done, so you can drop that murderous look from your face," Tristan announced, and I wasted no time in sweeping Quinn off the bed and into my arms. I didn't fucking care what my friends thought of me—the only thing I was concerned with was having my girl back with me, where she belonged.

"Hey. Roman." Quinn's words were breathed into my throat. "Do you want to know how I found it so easy to smile when Tristan took that photo? It was because I was looking at the marks you left me. A reminder that last night really happened, that somehow, we've made it past all the bad things that happened between us. And…even though it's going to be hard, I know things are going to get better from here."

I raised my head from where I'd had it buried in her hair to find that Knox and Tristan had left us, giving us the privacy we needed. Meeting Quinn's gaze, I smiled. "Yeah, they are."