Archie wasrelievedto see me, and fuck if that didn’t move through me like a match striking.
By the time I reached them, the man had just finished asking something that made Archie’s shoulders tighten slightly beneath his sweater.
I stopped beside him. “Is there a problem here?”
The man turned toward me, surprise flashing briefly across his face before he smoothed it into a confident smile.
Hell.
I should’ve recognized the entitlement.
“Jackson.” His name tasted sour the second it formed, and whatever showed on my face didn’t seem to discourage him in the slightest.
Pretentious little shit.
“Professor Rothwell,” he said. “I didn’t realize you were here.”
For fuck’s sake…“My lecture hall is ten steps away. Let’s not play dumb.”
Jackson Randolph had been a fixture in faculty meetings before he’d even finished his freshman year. He wore a brand of confidence that had nothing to do with merit and everything to do with nepotism.
His acceptance into Wexley was inevitable.
I tolerated him only marginally more than his uncle—and if he was harassing my rabbit, he was about to find out exactly how thin that tolerance was.
“I was just talking to Quinn.”
Quinn.
As if Archie and Jackson were friends…
As if my rabbit and this overfunded example of nepotism had anything in common…
“I was just trying to understand how he managed to get the position.”
Jackson adjusted the cuff of his sleeve as he said it, thumb dragging along the edge of an expensive watch. The motion wassmooth and practiced—no doubt something he picked up from his asshat of an uncle.
“I applied. I interviewed. I got the position,” Archie said. “That’s usually how it works.”
“Surely you remember the process, Mr. Randolph.”
Jackson’s tongue pressed into his cheek. “I remember it just fine. I also remember it being competitive. That’s why I was curious how Archie landed it.”
“I imagine it might have been because I was better than you.”
Jackson blinked once, like he hadn’t expected that. His jaw tightened hard enough that the muscle jumped beneath his skin.
For the briefest second, something low and vicious settled in my chest.
My rabbit had teeth.
“I didn’t mean to imply you weren’t qualified for the position, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring up the fact that there were stronger candidates.”
Archie’s mouth opened.
My toes curled inside my shoes, pressure building. If I took another step forward, I wasn’t entirely convinced I’d stop at conversation.
I preferred my violence quiet, controlled, and thought through.