The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 82

It’s just too damn much, and I’m weak with wanting him, being the only one putting up any barriers here.

“Luca,” I sigh, letting myself lean into him just a little bit, looking up at him with wide eyes as one of his arms slips around my back. “What if it’s not a dream? What if it’s real?”

“You know I kept thinking all night?” he murmurs, ignoring my words and tightening his arms around me until I’m pressed warmly to his chest, my head bending back on my neck so that I can look up at him.

Despite myself, my hands unclench, one pressing flat against the soft cotton of his hoodie, the other finding its way to a spot on his waist, my fingers curling into the fabric there. And I can’t help it, I give in. “What were you thinking about all night, Luca?” I breathe, my voice lower than it usually is.

“About how to get you away from your god damn cousins,” he murmurs, smirking down at me, his hand brushing again over my cap like it did this afternoon after I’d entered the doors to the academy, though this time his palm drifts down the back of my neck, making me shiver. “How to like, get you to come see my room – get you alone for ten fucking seconds –“

“Luca,” I say, laughing a little and shaking my head, “and what the hell were you going to do if you did?”

“I don’t know,” he says, grinning and laughing at the ridiculousness of it himself. “I have no idea, Ari – I just can’t stop thinking about you – wanting to touch you, it’s absolutely insane –“

I exhale, guilt roiling through me –

Because, I mean, I’m tortured by the impossibility of our connection too – but at least I know what’s going on.

“Luca,” I murmur, shaking my head and dropping my eyes, pulling away a little. “This is –“

“No!” he protests, his hands tightening, pulling me back. “God, Ari, if I only get you in this weird dream, at least let me try to figure this out –“

And then he dips his head, bringing his face so close to mine I can feel his breath against my skin – clearly intent on –

“No!” I shriek, shoving him hard and ducking out of his arms, stumbling away.

“Ari!” he shouts, frustrated and stepping towards me. “What the hell is going on!?”

“You stay right there!” I shout back, pointing a finger at him and continuing to step backwards as he advances.

“No!”

“Do it!” I snap, but then I bang into a tree and curse, lifting a hand to the back of my head where it smacked into the trunk. “God damn it, that hurt –“

“See!?” Luca protests, closing the distance and coming close enough that there’s barely any space between us again, pressing a hand against the tree and leaning over me. “This place – it’s weird. Like, why can I feel this tree – why did it hurt you!? And if you really are a figment of my subconscious, why the hell won’t you do what I want you to do!?”

“Because I’m real, Luca!” I shout, my head aching a little bit adding to my frustration and making me blurt out the truth. “This is all real! This is actually me – Ari! I’m not part of your subconscious – I’m in this dream too!”

Luca freezes for a second and then he laughs at me, taking a step back and crossing his arms. “Yeah, right.”

“I’m serious,” I growl, still rubbing at my head and glaring back at the tree, which I’d swear wasn’t there earlier. “It’s a subconscious state for both of us. So, I don’t think you should…do what you were going to do…”

I blush furiously, unable to even say the word kiss.

He smirks at me, shaking his head.

“Because!” I continue, glaring up at him. “It would be exactly the same as if you did it in real life!”

“All shit my subconscious would say,” Luca says with a smug shrug, “if it was trying to convince me not to kiss a boy because I’m straight.”

And then he leans in, and I press myself back against the tree with a deep inhale of breath.