The Pretty Face of Betrayal

Book 2 - I'm excited to see what you think of this one. Thank you so much for sticking with this journey. This is part of a series and if you haven't read the first one, The Pretty Face of Revenge you need to.

This book deals more with them struggling to make it through a troubled world. You will also find out the secret Preston is keeping from Ava.

Ava

Libraries have always held a certain charm, and this one is no exception. I stride past the row of stacks, breathing in the earthy aroma. It was built as a duplicate of the Bodleian Library, which they had at Oxford University on Earth.

I’ve spent a lot of time with Preston lately, and I need a solid study session with my group. Preston... I can’t get enough of him, but I need to push my thoughts of him aside and focus. I walk through the glass doors into the private room reserved for study groups. When I see Janette sitting in my seat, I stop abruptly.

Natasha looks up, smiling from ear to ear. The other four people at the table have their heads down.

“Hey,” I greet them hesitantly, then put my backpack on the table, and pull out my binder.

Natasha smirks. “Hi, Ava. Don’t worry about getting settled. We’ve decided we don’t want you in this group anymore.”

“What? Why?” I ask.

“When you decided to date an Elite, you made your choice,” Natasha says flatly. “We don’t allow Euros in this group.”

“I’m not a Euro.” I raise my hand, showing the dollar sign tattoo on it.

“No, you’re just fucking one,” she says, and I gasp at her vulgarity. It’s not even true; Preston and I haven’t had sex, but that’s not the point. The corner of her lips turns up. “We’ve voted, and you’re out.”

Her motivation is obvious, but there’s no way the rest went along with this. Natasha has the second-highest marks, and she has always been jealous of me. I know she’s been waiting for any excuse to gain a competitive edge. My eyes focus on Seth. I consider him one of my best friends. He must have defended me.

“Did you agree to this?” I ask Seth.

“We—”

“Natasha, stop talking. I’m asking Seth,” I say aggressively and by the way he won’t even look at me, I have my answer, but I want him to say it out loud. “Answer the question, Seth.”

He doodles on the page in front of him. “I voted yes,” he says quietly, and there’s a crushing pain in my chest.

“Whatever,” I say, only because I can’t think of anything better.

“I’m sorry, Ava.” Chad’s shoulders slouch. “This year determines if we get into the surgical program. We can’t afford any distractions.”

“And by distractions, he means someone who’s whoring themselves out to an Elite.” Natasha smiles, not even trying to hide how much she’s enjoying this. I’m seconds from lunging across the table and wiping that smug grin off her face. She smirks. “Does he pay you in food tokens before or after you fuck him?”

My jaw drops and I’m seeing red. I look around the room for someone to defend me, but they remain quiet.

It is none of their business who I date. I do get how it could be a distraction, but I don’t deserve this. “Look at me,” I raise my voice, but their eyes remain down. “Fucking look at me.” I embrace my inner Preston exuding power. This time they comply. I could threaten them, because Preston will snap when he finds out. But this is about one of my best friends betraying me.

I slowly make eye contact with each of them, then focus on Seth. “How could you do this to me?”

He looks down and begins doodling again.

I rip his pencil out of his hand and snap it in two. “You’re such a coward.” I glare at him, then swipe my bag off the table and storm out.

-----

I walk into the lab room with my head down and bump into Seth. My heart drops, and I want to lash out at him, but I also don’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing how deep he cut me.

Preston waves and my stomach settles. I brush past Seth and head towards Preston.

“Hey,” Preston kisses me on the cheek. “You’re late.”

“Yeah, I got caught up with something.” That’s not a complete lie. I was busy crying in the bathroom, and I needed time for the puffiness to go down.

“Hi, Ava,” Jordan says, and I’m grateful. Word will have spread among Dollars that I was kicked out of the group. Talking to me is a show of support.

“Hi, Jordan.” I sigh, and Preston looks at me, but I give him a reassuring nod. “How was your day?”

“Exhausting. Kensington is as relentless as someone else I know.” He nudges my shoulder. I wish I could have gone to him for comfort, but he was off campus. “I spent all day working on these with him.” He pulls out a stack of cue cards from his bag, and I flip through them.

“You have never been hotter than right now,” I say quietly, and the corners of his lips turn up in a sexy grin.

“We are in public. Behave,” he whispers in my ear. “I even used different highlighters to distinguish between important and minor points.”

“If you keep talking like that, I will drop to my knees right here.” I wink and his eyes darken.

His face flushes, and he reaches into his backpack and pulls out a piece of paper. “I got a ninety-five percent on my test.” He turns it over and the prof circled A+. “I’ve even started to enjoy studying.”

“I have never wanted you more than right now.” I bite my lip.

“Don’t fuck with me. I will kick everyone out of this room.” When he opens his mouth to shout, I cover it with my hand.

“Don’t you dare.” I point at him, and he catches my finger. “Let’s see what you learned.” I grab the cue card on the top and read it. “What is the purpose of this change?”

He adjusts his shirt and lifts his shoulders. “The purpose is to increase food for Dollars without having a negative impact on Euros.”

“Good.” I pull out the next cue card. “How do you plan to do that?”

“Nine point five percent of food isn’t picked, so it goes rotten each week. This plan allows Dollars to bring a container to pick extra food and bring it home. It won’t negatively impact Euros, and will significantly increase the amount of food for Dollars.”

“Ten percent is a big deal,” I say, stunned. I didn’t realize how big the scope of the farming project my sister, Megan, and Preston have planned.

“Not ten, nine point five,” he corrects me. “Kensington says precision in numbers is vital because it adds credibility. Details matter.” He pokes me in the side.

I had such a tough day, this is exactly what I needed. There are over thirty cards. He put a ton of time into this. “I’m so proud of you, baby.”

“This is just the start.” He smiles. “Megan says we can increase food production a lot over time. She says we can get it to twenty percent with better farming. It funnels more food to Dollars without having the political struggle of changing the Euro, Dollar food ratio.”

Jordan stops working and tilts his head to the side. “Won’t they make us pick longer instead of giving us extra food?”

“Four point eight percent of food on shelves isn’t sold. Grocery stores don’t want more food. They can’t sell it.”

“Families like to pick together. How many apples can you eat at one time?” I ask.

“That’s a great question.” He nudges me. “Kensington recommended I try compliments over confrontation.” He winks at me and I laugh at how adorable he is. “Megan investigated and found places that have achieved success with this method. Dollars self-regulate it, and markets pop up where they exchange food.”

“This is a really big deal. I’m impressed,” Jordan says, and my heart fills with pride.

“Thanks,” Preston says and grins at me. “How was your day? Did your study group like the snacks you got them?”

I could sugarcoat it, but Preston will find out from Chris through his study group, and I’d rather he hear it from me. I glance at Seth and he’s frozen in place, then I focus on Preston.

“Everyone in my study group voted to kick me out, including Seth. Natasha accused me of whoring myself out to an Elite for food tokens. All while, one of my best friends sat there and said nothing. I cried alone in the bathroom. When Delilah heard what happened, she came to find me. She explained that I shouldn’t worry about what others think and that I need to follow my heart.”

“What the fuck?” Preston steps towards Seth.

“You did that to her?” Jordan’s eyes go wide.

“I’m sorry, Ava. It went too far.” Seth lowers his head.

“Whatever.” I wave my hand in the air, dismissing him. I turn to Preston and grin. “Your stuff is way more important than what happened to me.”

“Ava.” Preston hugs and kisses the top of my head. “I’m not letting this go.”

“I know. Promise you won’t go full nuclear on them,” I say, and he nods hesitantly.

“What?” Seth huffs and glares at me. “You’re not going to protect us from him.”

“She couldn’t even if she wanted to,” Preston answers before I can. I like that he’s taking responsibility. “I’m not putting up with this shit. Besides, I’ve been looking for someone to make an example out of.”

“So you’re going to nominate us?” Seth snaps.

“Trust me, I’m going to fuck with each of you, but I would never use the Redemption against you.” Preston’s phone dings, and he looks down, then holds it up. The blood drains from Seth’s face. It’s a list of the five names. “My friends sent it even before I asked. They knew I wouldn’t let this go and so should you. When you fuck with Ava, you fuck with me.”

“What are you going to do?” Seth’s voice falters.

“I don’t know yet. I guess you’ll have to wait and see.” Preston smirks, then turns away dismissing him. “Baby, what do you want to do tonight? Should we stay in and watch a movie?”

“Can we go out? I need a distraction.”

“Of course, I have just the thing to cheer you up.”

Professor Anderson walks in, and we focus our attention on the front of the room. For the rest of the class, Preston and I concentrate on our lab, and the topic of Seth doesn’t come up again. But by the way Preston keeps looking at Seth, it’s clear that this is far from settled.