My brain was still foggy with sleep when I woke to the sound of notifications chiming away on my phone. My eyes blinked open. Sunlight poured through my bedroom window, bright and golden as though it was already late morning or afternoon. I couldn't believe that I'd actually slept in.

Ever since my freshman year of high school, I tried to maintain a routine of never staying in bed past 9:00 am, not even on weekends, since there were always essays to be written, exams to study for, extracurricular meetings and competitions to prep for, and sheet music to memorize for upcoming concerts.

I cringed inwardly as the events from the previous night plowed through my mind. Again. It was staggering to reflect on how simple and orderly my life had been mere months ago. School had been the center of my universe. Nat and Amari were still my ride-or-dies. My biggest worry had been maintaining my class standing so I could get into Stanford.

Now, the thought of focusing all my time and energy into tasks like analyzing the themes from Edith Wharton's "The Age of Innocence" and calculating absorbance with Beer Lambert's Law felt decidedly empty. Its significance waned even more when I compared it to my burning desire to strike back at Lily and uncover the truth behind Mr. Mazur's claims to innocence once and for all. Mr. Sinclair and my dad's possible involvement in the whole matter only served to fuel the fire that raged in me.

Granted, grades and college apps were still important to me, but I no longer saw them as the end-all and be-all of my existence. They had become more of a necessary evil in life, stepping stones to help get me from Ashton Wellesley to Stanford.

Beside me, a drowsy grunt and groan drew me from my reverie. The surface of the mattress shifted as Zac's hard, warm body rolled over towards mine. He slipped a muscled arm around my waist and snuggled closer.

"Is that your phone or mine, babygirl?" he mumbled from behind me. His breaths tickled the skin on my neck.

"I think it's mine," I murmured. I moved to reach for my phone on the end table beside my bed.

Zac yanked me back before I could reach it and wrapped his arms and legs around my body like a vice.

"Five more minutes," he insisted. "Just let me enjoy this for five more minutes. I'm not ready for you to switch into battle mode yet."

"Fine, you big baby. We can stay like this a little longer," I murmured with feigned exasperation. Secretly, though, my heart was brimming with warmth.

Zac pressed his lips to my temple as his hands started to explore. He caressed my breasts, teased my nipples, and nudged the firmness of his morning wood between the back of my thighs. I gasped lightly as the tip of his hardon pressed against the crotch of my underwear.

"You know," he suggested, "I wouldn't mind if we stayed here for more than a few minutes..."

I sighed in contentment as he continued to play with my body. His fingers plucked and rolled my nipples while his cock pushed and prodded against my core. A delicious heat simmered through me. Upon hearing my whimpers of approval, Zac proceeded to sprinkle a line of hot, lingering kisses along my neck and jaw.

I felt his mouth spread into a grin against my skin. "Tell me how you feel about me again."

I bit back a smile as I flipped over to face him. Shyly, I gazed into his amber eyes and whispered, "I love you, baby."

"Again," he prompted. "Say it again."

"I love you."

"One more time!"

I grunted in displeasure, partly in annoyance but mostly in embarrassment. "That's enough, you weirdo!"

I wasn't used to saying the L-word to anyone out loud or in my head and especially not multiple times to the same person in such an open manner.

Zac grinned sheepishly. "I don't think I'll never get sick of hearing it, though."

My lips twitched. "Good. Because I don't say this shit to just anyone."

"I know, babygirl." Zac's demeanor suddenly became serious. Uncertainty seeped into his expression as he stared down at me. "Sometimes, I have a hard time believing this is really happening between us. It feels too fucking good. Almost like a dream, you know?

My expression melted into a soft smile. "I promise this isn't a dream, Zac. But I know what you mean. There's been so much fucked up shit that has happened to us and our families in the past that it's hard to trust in something good when it actually happens."

"Yeah, exactly," he breathed out. "I don't ever wanna lose you, Cate. I feel like I can do anything with you by my side. I hope you feel the same about me. It's gonna be us against the fucking world."

I kissed him gently on the lips and echoed his words as though they were my own, "Us against the fucking world. From here on out."

Zac leaned over to kiss me hard and deep. Our tongues danced and wrestled inside our mouths. We scrambled to get as close as possible, clutching to one another with mounting need and hunger. His fingers glided under the cotton of my underwear and dipped into my slick folds. I gasped in pleasure once he found my clit. However, when he began tugging down my panties, this time, unlike last night, I was the one who stopped him.

"Not right now, baby," I moaned even as lust sang through my veins.

Zac propped himself up to stare down at me in disbelief. Desperation and desire vibrated hoarsely from his voice. "Really, Cate? I can feel how wet you are, and I'm pretty damn sure you can tell how hard you're making me right now!"

"Maybe later," I ground out with some effort. All I wanted to do was jump on my man until we were both relieved of our V-cards. "But..."

"But what?"

Again, with some effort, I pushed away from Zac. A hard gleam entered my eyes. "I think I know what I wanna do about Lily. I planned out everything after you fell asleep last night."

Zac eyed me warily and released a sigh of defeat. "Ah, there it is—battle mode on. I should've known this would happen before I got myself all worked up."

"Are you mad?"

"No," he replied in a sulky tone. "But my balls are kinda blue."

"I'm sorry, I just I need to get it out of my system before I can fully—"

"It's okay, Cate. You don't have to apologize. I know how your mind operates," Zac interjected grumpily, but he reached over to pull me back into his arms a slightly more platonic, non-sexual manner. "You won't be able to concentrate until we get this shit with Lily sorted out first. Let's get to it, then."

I smiled at him gratefully. "I love you, baby."

"What's that?" he demanded. "I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you over the sound of my crying boner."

"I love you, Zachary Mazur, and I can't wait to fuck your brains out," I said in a louder voice.

"That's more like it," he grumbled with a crooked smile. "So, tell me, what have you been scheming for that bitch?"

I didn't hesitate to dive right into my plan. "I want the money. From Bea's charity ball."

Zac stared at me blankly. "Uh..."

"I want to make it look like I stole it."

Zac looked deeply troubled. "The hell? I don't understand what you're trying to do, but that money is supposed to be for charity, Cate."

"Chill, baby," I assured him. "I'm not actually going to touch the fundraiser money. I plan to use some of my own savings as a decoy. But I'll definitely need to ask my sister to report that some of the funds from her event went missing."

"What if Bea refuses to help you? I certainly wouldn't do it if I was in her shoes. It's gonna make her and the Fellowship look bad if people find out that she can't keep track of donations."

"No one will blame Bea once they find out that the money was stolen," I contended with maybe just a touch of ego. "Anyway, I'm positive I can convince her to help us."

After the way my sister stood up for me the night before, I was pretty confident that she'd be willing to assist me in exacting revenge on the girl who ruined her charity ball with such a fucked up video.

Concern creased across Zac's forehead. "Okay, fine, let's assume that your sister agrees to lie for us. I still don't get it, though. How will pretending to steal money from charity help us take down Lily?"

"Because," I explained in measured tones, "we're gonna make sure everyone believe that Lily was the one who took the money. To set me up. I don't think it'll be hard to convince people that she'd pull a crazy stunt like this. By now, the whole school knows how much she hates my guts. I think the trickiest part will be working out the behind-the-scenes logistics. That's where your expertise as a hacker will come in handy. We'll need to set up a fake bank account for me and try to link Lily's—"

Zac didn't let me finish. He was shaking his head in protest. "Stop right there, Cate."

"What?" I demanded.

"I literally just got away with hacking into a highly secure computer system, and I'm still pissing my pants over how smoothly everything went. If we somehow manage to pull off yet another crime without getting caught, then I need to make sure you're fully aware that we'll be setting up Lily to get arrested if authorities end up believing she stole the Fellowship's money to frame you..."

"Oh, believe me, I know exactly what I'm trying to do," I said calmly.

A mixture of awe and horror passed across Zac's face. "Remind me to never piss you off. You can be one scary ass bitch when someone pushes you over the edge."