CURSED BUT FOUND

Chapter 3 ~ Cinderella On A Broadway

{Violet’s POV}

“I… I’m. Uhm, I… I’m really ap…” s**t! My brain, my mouth, my senses, my voice, everything was f*****g failing me! Just standing here staring into those warming Caribbean blue eyes of his was enough reason to remain dumb for the rest of my life and not even care!

Remember when I said Ashley and Daniel were the two most influential and feared Students in all of Wolfville? Well, scratch that, as I had been brutally wrong! There was one who ranked before them, one who everybody adored and respected, maybe because of his keen intelligence and brutal strength or maybe because of the blood coursing through his veins.

Liam Cornaro was that Overdog and I had just kissed him like I f*****g owned his lips. f**k me!

“Great! Violet. You just had to choose Liam of all the guys in this hallway!” I cursed under my breath before staggered my gaze back to him.

We stared at each other now, shock and a hint of fear on my face and total blankness on his.

“Is he mad that I kissed him?” I quizzed internally still maintaining eye contact. Of course, he was. I had kissed him in front of the entire f*****g school!

The silence about us had now grown cold and I knew everyone was dying to know what would happen next, and knowing that it most likely wouldn’t be in my favor, I resumed my attempt to apologize, else I’ll be damned.

“I… I’m really sorry for—“

I suddenly found myself on the ground with a bobbing sting on my face and a bleeding nose. I drove my glare around and realized I had been bashed by an unhappy fellow. Ashley— Of course.

Looks like someone was getting jelly.

At once my annoyance switched into a well-bred smile, knowing that my actions had stung her, and It immediately dawned on me why. I had kissed her ex-lover and tasted the same savor she had once relished, and this ruffled up her emotions.

“You, Imbecile!” She bawled, pacing hurriedly towards me. Great! Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse than they already were.

She tied her fist on the straps of my dress and hauled me up to my feet with her wolf’s strength, nearly slacking the straps. b***h, I just got those.

“You… How dare you!” She swung another fist towards my face as I settled on my feet and I squeezed my eyes shut in my grim anticipation, but the punch never got to me.

“Stop.” Said an impossibly deep voice and I promptly threw open my eyes to see Liam’s fingers wrapped tightly around Ashley’s raging fist. They were glaring at each other but Liam’s glare made hers seem more like a happy smile, and she submitted almost immediately.

She settled back her arm and turned her gaze from him in defeat and I was baffled by her strict compliance. I had never seen Ashley being humbled by anyone, but at the same time, I wasn’t too surprised. I mean, it is Liam we’re talking about here.

What totally claimed my surprise however was when Liam strolled over to my side and took my hand into a tender grip. Out of staggering shock, I immediately drove my eyes up to his eyes but he wasn’t looking at me. He was looking elsewhere as if plotting out his next move, but before I could get another chance to be lost in the comeliness of his facial features, he tugged my hand gently and led me onwards.

Uh! Okay, he’s taking me away now.

Together we swam through the sea of mystified gazes, his fingers confidently tied around mine as I carefully trailed behind him. The persons in our way didn’t need to be told before they cleared a path— a really wide one, and I couldn’t help but marvel at the unbroken power emanating from this godly sketch of a man.

Proceedingly, bodies were lining the sides of the hallway in perfect synchrony and the reverence was breathtaking. Even Time seemed to adore Liam as it slowed down its pace, allowing him to tread more majestically with his graceful semblance.

That moment was the safest I had ever felt in my entire doleful living as no one dared to utter a single word or stop us, and as much as I fought back the feeling, I felt like Cinderella on the Capital Theaters Broadway.

Soon, we were out of the Hallway Of Bemusement and as we strolled away, I suddenly dissolved in my thoughts. Everything was happening so fast that it didn’t make much sense.

First, I had kissed Liam without prior warning and he had let me. Next, he had stopped Ashely from smacking the s**t out of me. And now, he was stealing me away from further humiliation. What the f**k is really going on?

We sauntered in silence through some other halls and corners and I waited anxiously for him to say something about the tumultuous kiss I had prompted without warning. But he didn’t utter a noun and this made me very uneasy.

Maybe he was too shocked to talk— No, not likely. Or maybe he was taking me away to yell at me… but it still didn’t seem that way to me. I suddenly didn’t know what to think anymore and my growing headache was enough reason for me to give up speculating. I’ld just have to keep calm and follow him. Hopefully, the outcome of this trek wouldn’t be as grim as I was expecting it to be.

As we continued our stroll, I couldn’t stop myself from sneaking occasional peeks at him, because, goddam he was hot! With the way his face was artfully molded, it would intimidate even the gods, let alone mere mortals, and I had to remind myself of my plight before I was able to claim back my concentration.

We passed by a few other students on the way who looked horribly mystified with our combo. “Liam and a rookie shifter?” I heard some of them mutter and I honestly couldn’t blame their disbelief.

Liam was a Bigwig who was always surrounded by his likes, and with an especial social status like his, it would definitely be a shocker to see him trailing the school grounds with a minor— like me.

We soon got to Liam’s destination and it turned out to be the School’s Athletes Dormitory— a private dorm reserved for the School’s Football team, which was like an exclusive villa for people like me.

“Oh my…” I muttered but stopped myself in time before Liam could hear me. I had been so busy digesting and relishing the fact that I had been rescued by the real Liam Cornaro that I hadn’t paid attention to where we were headed.

Liam greeted a few guys as we ambled in while I scrutinized the place with even more confusion. Why did he bring me here?

Liam’s homies bathed me with the quizzes in their gazes but not one of them let their queries out and I was silently thankful. But I had “thanked” too soon.

Suddenly, a girl joined in from the side and playfully wrapped herself around Liam’s strong frame, bringing us to a halt. She seemed familiar and I realized at once she was one of the cunts from Ashley’s cruel bunch. Ugh!

“Hey, handsome.” She greeted, driving her fingers slowly across Liam’s broad chest. Promptly, her eyes fell on me and I cursed my instincts because I was well familiar with the next plot line.

“And what do we have here?” She teasingly started, taking more interest in me as her realization grew. “Isn’t this the ne—“

“Curry.” Came that warming baritone once again. He had called her name and was grabbing hold of the hand the lassie had been driving to seize my hair. I knew this because my hair was a common item for their ridicule since it had an odd color— pure white. Yeah, I had snow for hair as I had been born that way, for which nobody in my family understood why.

“Don’t!” Liam continued. He was physically calm but his voice audibly communicated his stern and dread.

With this, I grew confused at once. I was basically a nobody so why was he treating me this way? Why did he care?

“You’re hurting me.” The Curry girl promptly said and Liam quickly loosened his grip on her arm.

“I’m sorry.” He said and the next second, we were trooping again, leaving the touchy girl behind. What was f*****g happening!

Finally, we stopped before a door, and instinctively, I looked up to read the tag ‘CAPTAIN’ boldly glued to the door.

Fucking hell! He brought me to his room!

I became ruffled at once as I was plagued with the thought of what this twist meant.

“Don’t be scared.” Liam mouthed as if reading my thoughts and I inched to face him.

“I brought you here to treat your wounds.” He said calmly. “The school Clinics are under Nostrum assessments and vetting, and you got quite a bruise from Ashley’s crazy outburst.” He paused while my cheeks were slowly beginning to heat up. Who knew he was this romantic! “So I couldn’t just leave you there.” He concluded and I swore I heard a hint of loving concern in his solid voice… or maybe it was just my stupid ears that were hoping to hear such. Either way, he was a darling and I fought the heavens to stop myself from blushing my cheeks out in front of him.

So that’s what this whole rove was about. I had even forgotten about my bruise while this hunk had been thinking about treating me the whole time. I must be stuck in some sort of psychic trance or haze because huh?

Successfully retaining my composure, I quietly followed him into his room but once again, my misfortune tied me with its vile fingers. Unknown to me, the bodice of my dress had knitted itself with a pointed hinge of Liam’s door frame. Hence, upon my entrance, the clothing piece covering my breast and my waistline was hauled off so that my upper body was left bare with my bra being the only saving piece. However, my lower body was still covered with the remaining dress piece, but this

I heard the ripping sound before a gush of chill breeze slapped my bare skin, and with my realization, I swiveled around for the winging pieces but before I could save the moment, Liam’s quick eyes met my body.

Surprisingly, he didn’t flinch but just stared, taking his time to observe me. As if suddenly satisfied, he took his customized Football team jacket from his bed and paced towards me, but he wasn’t in a rush. I couldn’t blame him, however. Being Liam Cornaro, he was probably used to seeing girls’ naked bodies, as every girl typically craved his attention. But I definitely wasn’t that desperate or stupid.

He got to me now and his eyes made a brief splay over my body before he handed me the Jacket which I instantly wrapped around my exposed skin. His savory scent exuding from the jacket entertained my nose while I battled with the awkwardness that now surrounded me.

He was still f*****g staring at me!

“I… uhm, th… thanks for the Jacket.” Talking was very difficult with him being this close. “I didn’t… I didn’t know my dress…”

“I understand. It’s fine.” He said warmly, obviously to save me from my momentary articulation disorder, but then I swear I saw a smile play briefly on his lips as he started to turn away… and this was question-worthy.

“Is anything the problem?” I asked, smiling too, and knowing that he would likely pretend or lie about the smile, I added, “I just saw you smiling.”

He smiled briefly again, this time in acceptance of my claim, but my God was he desperately stunning. I was sure I was one of the very few that had seen him smile, as he was always seen with a neutral expression playing on his face. Liam didn’t need a petty lip curve to look knockout dishy.

“It’s just…” He paused, as if trying to filter his words.

“Yeah?” I prompted, still clenching his jacket tightly around my chest and shoulders.

“It’s… it’s just that the remaining half of your dress has pooled to the ground.” He said, again with that gorgeous brief smile of his, and then a burst of the chill breeze slapped my nude thighs.

Oh, come on!