The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy
Chapter 0493

Jesse's shoulder slump and he looks down at his bedspread, tracing his fingers across it.

Rafe, a little moody in turn, doesn't say anything and heads directly for his bed, opening his dresser and pulling out some pajamas.

"Where have you been!?" I bite out from my place in my nook when Jackson turns towards me. I snap my hands firmly to my waist, even if the effect of my rage is a bit ruined by the fact that I'm sitting cross-legged, and my pajamas are pink, and I have books and colored pens scattered all around me. "What, did you miss me?" Jackson asks, completely unperturbed, walking slowly across the room to me with his hands in his pockets, moving in a way that just...

Guh.

My breath all leaves me in a woosh and I just stare at him, shaking my head.

Jackson's face breaks into a broad grin as he feels absolutely all of my emotions coming over our bond with a rather embarrassing amount of clarity.

"I'll take that as a yes," he murmurs, his voice low, his eyes narrowing a little as he tilts his head and looks down at me in the bed.

"Not fair, McClintock," I growl, whipping a hand up to point at him. "You should -"

But before I can get any further Jackson's hand shoots out, whip fast, and grabs my wrist, hauling me up out of my blankets - scattering my books and pens everywhere - and up into his arms. I shriek in both protest and delight as I find myself suddenly high in the air, pressed to his chest, laughing down into his face.

He laughs too, smiling up at me, his arms wrapped low beneath my ass as my legs go around his waist.

"Seriously," I sigh, pouting and running my hands through his silky brown hair. "Why didn't you come to dinner? We talked about this."

"You said I didn't have to if I needed peace and quiet," he replies with a little shrug. "And I needed to study. Rafe and I have...kind of a big thing tomorrow."

"Really?" I ask, glancing over at Rafe, who is still moody as he finishes pulling his pajamas on and starts to stride for the bathroom. Because, I mean, apparently he was...not here doing homework tonight.

How big could it be?

"Hey," Jackson says, giving me a final squeeze and drawing my attention back to him as he lowers me to the floor. "You ready for bed?"

"Well, I was," I say with a sigh, turning and casting a hand out towards the wreckage of my bed. "Until someone came and destroyed my study space."

"Come on," Jacks says, giving me a warm pat on the booty. "I'm sorry. I'll help you clean it up."

Jackson does just that quite helpfully, even urging me to go wash up in the bathroom one last time while he finishes neatening the nook. When I come back and he goes to brush his teeth, a warm rush of delight runs through me when I see that Jackson has lined my pens and notebooks up on my desk just as I like them. My weird organizational methods are not something I ever laid out for Jacks, but which he clearly noticed anyway and took care to replicate them.

I sigh, flopping into my bed, delighted at how sweet and thoughtful Jackson can be.

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in," Jesse mutters across the room.

I frown, turning towards him. "What?"

"Can we all just go to bed?" Rafe grumbles from his own corner, now dark, where he's huddled down beneath the blankets.

I frown at him in turn, wondering what the hell is up with these two.

"Actually, no," Jackson says, striding out of the bathroom and surprising me by not climbing into our bed but instead sitting on the edge of it, resting his elbows on his knees and looking with interest at Rafe and Jesse. "What?" Rafe says, kind of angry, sitting up to glare at my mate. "Jackson, what are you talking about? We need to sleep, we're -"

"Before we sleep," Jackson cuts in smoothly, his voice deadly serious. "We need to talk about why you two," he points now between Jesse and Rafe, "can't see how creepy Alvez is with Ariel. And why Tony and I can." "What?" Rafe says, sitting up straight in his bed, his anger immediately washed away in his concern.

"Jackson," Jesse says, his head turned to the side like he's worried that Jacks has finally cracked or something. "What the hell are you talking about?"