Prince Charmings (BOOK ONE)

8

Although I would never admit it, study period was kind of great.

An hour with no teacher, trapped in the library to catch up on all the crap I'd been avoiding, was kind of everything. Though most of the guys used the time to practice laps or pitching, I was finally making some headway with my calculus prep. Which was why the last thing I expected was a thick stack of papers to come clattering down onto my notebook, seemingly out of nowhere. My head snapped up so fast the cord of my earphones drew taunt, wrenching the buds from my ears with a soft pop.

"Jesus Christ, a tap on the shoulder would've sufficed," I said, blushing when my voice came out much louder than intended in the silent study space.

A couple heads turned our way but quickly resumed their studying.

Ms. Jenning, the in-school librarian, scolded me with a tap to the 'SILENT SPACE. RESPECT THOSE AROUND YOU' sign strapped to her book cart.

My book dropping companion barely flinched, merely tugged out the chair across from me and fell gracefully onto it.

"My cousin Bella told me to give you this. Said to look for 'handsome yet brooding', and well, she got the brooding part down," they said.

"As someone who handles deli meat for a living I'm not sure I trust your judgment of what's attractive and what isn't," I said, alarming myself at how defensive my response came out.

"And as someone who spent a good chunk of time with their face to the pavement and ass in the air I don't think you have much high standing anyway," the guy smirked, posture loose as he slung a hand my way. "Spencer Fox. I, obviously, didn't get a chance to introduce myself during your Miranda rights nor at the deli where I'm sure if I had done so you would've attempted to slice my hand off."

"What makes you think I'm not on that same mindset now?" I said, eyeing his hand wearily.

"We're on school property, 'violence is not tolerated'," he said, still cocky, and gestured with his head towards the 'Zero Tolerance' sign plastered on the back wall.

"Beau Minders," I said, shaking his hand. The grip was firm, not as tight as that fateful day he acted as my full body restraint.

"I know. I also know your address and social security, both of which by the way have a lot of threes, but that's the perk of having cops in the family. I had to make sure Bella wasn't trying to pull a fast one on me when she told me to give the script to you."

"Officer Fox... that was your Mom?"

"Yeap," he said, popping the 'p' loud enough that Ms. Jenning resent us her death glare. "Taught me everything I know, though my grip is a lot looser than her's. You would've been passed out on the pavement had she gotten to you first."

"You training to be a cop?" I asked, and the question surprised us both.

Spencer shrugged. "Mom wants me to, not my kind of thing. I just had a free evening, wanted to see a bit of the town, and Mom convinced me that doing so in the back of the squad car was just the same as walking around. Lucky me the moment I decided to stretch my legs was the moment you decided to make an ass of yourself."

I winced in sympathy when Spencer rubbed the bridge of his nose, the area still swollen even though a good chunk of time had passed since my elbow crashed into it.

"Sorry, by the way,"

"Hey, you gotta act quick when breaking and entering. I got in the way of that, casualty of the job," he smirked, reclining back before stretching his arms out.

I reached out to thumb through the script, furrowing my brow when I reached the end even though the bottom of the page is marked 278 out of 300. Plastered across the last page in bold are the letters TBC.