Defiant Princess: A Reverse Harem High School Bully Romance (Boys of Oak Park Prep Book 2)

by Callie Rose

  Adena had already been almost untouchable.

  With the Princes scrambling to deal with the repercussions of their spilled secrets, who would be left to stop her?

  Chapter 25

  The aftermath of Adena’s stunt wasn’t fiery and explosive. It wasn’t like watching a grenade go off. It was more like watching poison spread. Inch by inch, slow moving and deadly.

  One thing did happen fast though.

  The school staff and administrators worked like lightning to gather up and destroy every piece of paper Adena and her minions had released into the quad. They may be slow-moving on some things, but having the dirty laundry of one of their biggest donors, not to mention, several other prestigious members of the community, aired on school grounds lit a fire under their asses.

  By the time the Princes and I left Craydon Hall, the cleanup was already well underway.

  Not that it mattered.

  Like I’d told Cole, once you put something out in the world, you can’t take it back. Dean Levy might round up every last sheet of paper he could get his hands on, but I was sure there were pages already stashed away in backpacks or documented on cell phones. It was out. And there was no taking it back.

  Adena stood in the middle of the quad with Preston beside her, a group of followers surrounding them. Her triumphant gaze tracked us as we walked across campus, though I thought I saw anger flare in her eyes when she noticed me walking between Cole and Elijah. I was sure she’d expected them to blame me, especially since the notebook had been put back in my bag. She’d probably hoped to take down all five of us at once, to send the Princes after me like bloodhounds bent on revenge while she and Preston stepped in to fill the power vacuum they’d left behind.

  But none of the Princes even looked her way.

  They would deal with her later, but until that moment came, none of us had anything to say to her.

  When we reached Clarendon Hall, Finn led us around the outside to the back, where several large trash bins were enclosed by a cement wall. He tugged a silver lighter from his pocket and handed it to me.

  “You wanna do it, Legs?”

  I took the offered lighter without hesitation, flipping it open and striking the flame. I held it up to the small black notebook, and the scent of burning paper and leather filled the air as the pages caught. I held it by a bottom corner as all five of us watched the flames flicker, and when they started to work their way downward, eating away at the little book, I tossed it into one of the bins and let it burn.

  There was no taking it back. I couldn’t undo what’d been done.

  But at least the source was gone.

  We stood in silence, watching for a few more minutes, then Elijah tugged his phone out of his jacket pocket. “Fuck. I have seventeen missed calls from my parents.”

  Finn’s face was grim as he checked his cell. “Yup. Goddamn it.”

  “What can I do?”

  I asked the question knowing there was no answer. There was nothing I could do to fix this. But Finn’s worried brown eyes warmed a little as he glanced over at me. “Nothing right now. We’ve gotta do some damage control first. Then we’ll deal with Adena and Preston. And that, you can help with.”

  The Princes headed up to their dorms, and I walked slowly back to mine. I wasn’t sure what they would face when they went home to their families, but having seen how Jacqueline handled everything last year, I was sure it wouldn’t be good.

  Anxious energy flooded my body, an impulse to spring into action. I wanted to do something now. But all I could do was wait.

  From my dorm room, I caught sight of the Princes walking across the quad toward the student lot an hour later. Several other students were out on the quad, and I noticed the way heads turned to watch them pass.

  Campus was already clearing out for the winter break, and when I checked my phone, I had a bunch of missed texts from Leah and some from Maggie. I texted them both back and told Leah to come over before she left Oak Park to go home.

  Her eyes were wide when I met her downstairs in the common room of Prentice Hall.

  “Did you see—”

  “Yeah.”

  “Did you do—”

  “No.”

  She shook her head. “Damn, girl. I thought for sure that was you.”

  “It almost was.”

  Her brow furrowed, and I explained about the notebook and my original revenge plan. When I finished speaking, she let out a breath.

  “Holy fuck. That is… intense. I guess I’m not surprised that’s how it went down. This has Adena’s stink all over it. What the hell are they going to do?”

  My stomach twisted, the helpless feeling of inaction making me shift uncomfortably. “I don’t know yet. They all left to go home already.”

  She grimaced. “Yikes. I’m glad as hell I’m not any of them right now.” Then she glanced at me. “What are you doing for the break? You just going to stick around here?”

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  “You could come back home with me,” she offered, and even as my chest warmed at her words, my mind recoiled. I didn’t think I could handle doing regular holiday things, putting on a show for her family and acting like everything was fine.

  “Thanks. But I’ll be okay here. Text me though?”

  “You know it.”

  She pulled me into a quick hug, and I hugged her back. It was the first time we’d done that since our reconciliation, and she gave me an extra squeeze before she let go.

  Maggie and Dan came downstairs a bit later on their way out, and once they left, I headed back up to my little apartment.

  The next few days were torturous. I had never known time could move so fucking slow. I got occasional short, cryptic text messages from the Princes, but it wasn’t enough to give me a full picture of what was going on. What they were facing.

  When my phone rang on Tuesday, I practically threw myself across the room to answer it, swiping across the screen without checking the caller ID.

  “Hello?”

  “Talia? How are you?”

  “Oh.” My heart rate slowed, and I sank down onto the couch. “Hey, grandpa. How are you?”

  “I believe I asked you first.” There was a chuckle in his voice, and one corner of my mouth lifted.

  “I’m okay. The end of the semester was a little rough, but I’m all right.”

  “Yes, I heard something about that. But you weren’t involved, right?”

  If Jacqueline had asked me that question, I would’ve hurled my phone across the room or tried to reach through the screen and strangle her. But Philip’s voice held concern for me, not the stiff, calculated concern for reputation that Jacqueline’s always had.

  “Not…. not really.”

  “Good.” His tone was brighter when he spoke next, and he sounded stronger than he had the last few times I’d spoken to him. Whatever regimen of drugs and lifestyle changes Doctor Garrett had recommended, it seemed to be working. “I was actually calling to invite you to come to our house for Christmas. I’ll understand if you don’t want to,” he added quickly. “But I would very much like to see you.”

  “And Jacqueline?”

  “Has agreed to be civil.” There was a hard edge to his voice, and a burst of pride flared in my chest. I knew he loved his wife, but it was about fucking time he stood up to her.

  “I’ll… I’ll think about it.”

  “Thank you, Talia.” He sounded pleased, as if even that was a victory.

  “Thank you, grandpa,” I said softly, picking at a loose thread on the couch cushion.

  “For what?”

  “For sending Erin. For bringing me back here.”

  There was a momentary pause, and then he asked, “Who is Erin?”

  I sat up straighter, abandoning the thread. “Erin Bennett. The lawyer.”

  His voice was halting when he spoke again, as if he wasn’t sure if he was the crazy one or I was. “I… don’t know any lawyer named Erin Bennett, Talia. What is
this about?”

  My brows drew together so tightly the muscles of my forehead ached. Had it not been Philip? I’d been positive he was the one who had sent Erin. It had made so much sense—sneaking around behind my grandmother’s back, trying to help me without being obvious about it. But his voice held genuine confusion, and now that he was putting his foot down with Jacqueline, I didn’t think he’d lie about it, especially if I’d already guessed the truth myself.

  But I obviously hadn’t.

  I’d been wrong.

  “Um… nothing, grandpa. I’ll tell you about it at Christmas.”

  “So you’ll come?” Hope bloomed in his voice.

  “Yeah.” I smiled slightly at his excitement, but I was still shaking my head, lost in thought.

  “That’s wonderful. Maybe come on the twenty-fourth? We can spend Christmas Eve together, and you can be here Christmas morning.”

  “Okay. Sounds good.”

  We chatted for a few more minutes about how he was feeling and how much he hated the new diet he was on, then hung up.

  I tossed the phone down on the couch beside me, staring out the window but not really seeing anything.

  What the fuck?

  I’d been so sure it was Philip, and now that I knew it wasn’t him, I couldn’t think of a single other person it might be.

  But someone had done it. Someone had paid a solid chunk of money to retain Erin’s services—the lawyer hadn’t just woken up one morning and decided to fly to Sand Valley, Idaho, on a whim.

  When the phone rang again, it startled me out of my thoughts. This time I did check the caller ID, and my heart jumped when I saw it was Finn.

  I swiped the screen quickly and put the phone to my ear. “Hey.”

  “Hey, Legs.”

  His voice sounded strange, oddly pinched and strained. He was usually the most fun-loving and laidback of the Princes, the first to find the humor in a situation. But he sounded like he hadn’t so much as smiled in days.

  “What’s up? Are you okay? What’s going on? What’s been happening?”

  He let out a soft chuckle at my barrage of questions, and the sound was like a balm. Finn was meant to be happy. Seeing him sad made it feel like there was something wrong with the whole world.

  “That’s a lot to answer, Legs. And none of the answers are short. What are you doing right now? Can you come over?”

  “What—to your house?”

  “Yeah. The other guys are here too. We need to figure out what to do about Adena.” Before I could say anything, he added quickly, “This isn’t just us hatching another revenge scheme, Tal. This is about defense. I don’t think Adena’s done trying to fuck with us, and we’re just trying to keep ourselves—and you—safe. Will you come?”

  At the moment, getting revenge on Adena didn’t sound at all like a bad thing. But the constant drive for revenge was what’d gotten us into this fucked up situation in the first place, and I appreciate that, even now, Finn was trying to prove to me that he’d changed. That things were different.

  “Yeah. I’ll come. Where do you live?”

  He rattled off the address of his parents’ house, and I darted into the kitchen to grab a pen before writing it down on the back of my hand. I didn’t know the area well enough to know where it was, but the GPS in my phone would guide me there.

  “Okay. I’ll head out right now.”

  “Good. We miss you, Legs.”

  A hint of the old, teasing Finn returned as he spoke, and I gripped the phone tighter, a rush of emotions and words I couldn’t quite say filling my chest.

  “See you soon.”

  I hung up the phone and shoved it in the back pocket of my jeans, then threw on a jacket and headed out the door. I hadn’t gotten many chances to drive my car since I’d bought it, but I was suddenly intensely glad I had it. I didn’t think I could stand waiting for an Uber to pick me up right now. My skin was already prickling with urgency.

  My car was one of only a few left in the lot, and I typed in the address Finn had given me as I walked across the empty asphalt toward it. According to the map app, it would take me almost an hour to get there, which felt interminably long.

  I pulled out of the student lot and swung left, adjusting my rearview mirror as I did. The route to Finn’s house was mostly along a coastal road, which I would’ve loved if my stomach hadn’t been clenched so tight with nerves.

  Still, I rolled down my window and tried to let the ocean air and the view of the sea relax me as I drove up the winding road, music blaring softly from the speakers.

  It would all be okay. I had survived what the Princes had thrown at me; they would survive this. And we’d make sure Adena didn’t do anything else. Whatever else she had planned, we’d stop it.

  I cruised up a hill, pressing the gas a little harder as I glanced at the clock on the dash.

  Less than half an hour, and I’d be there.

  As I hit the peak of the rolling hill and picked up speed on the other side, I shifted my foot to the brake to slow my descent, but the pedal felt… squishy. The resistance that was usually there had disappeared.

  And the car didn’t slow.

  I pressed the brake harder, slamming my foot against the useless pedal as adrenaline flashed through me like a bomb exploding.

  Another bend in the road loomed, and I stomped on the brake over and over as my hands scrabbled to control the wheel, to control the turn.

  But I was going too fast.

  The curve was too sharp.

  I hit the turn at full speed. The tires on the right side of the car lifted off the ground as momentum hurled the vehicle outward, and I yanked on the steering wheel, fear and panic overriding every other thought.

  The car rolled.

  The world spun.

  I thought I screamed—or maybe that was just the sound of metal bending against its will.

  No. No!

  This isn’t the ending I choreographed.

  This isn’t what I wanted.

  I wanted peace.

  Even as I hurtled through space, trapped inside a metal box, my chaotic mind tried to undo what was happening, to rewrite the ending.

  To build a better one.

  A happier one.

  Instead, it ended with fire and fury—with sharp, brutal motions and a sudden, violent stop.

  To Be Continued…

  Truths uncovered. Alliances shifted. Nothing will ever the the same.

  The final book in the Boys of Oak Park Prep series is coming soon.

  Broken Empire will release this summer!

  Pre-order:

  Amazon

  And keep reading for a sneak preview of chapter one…

  Broken Empire Sneak Peek

  Chapter 1

  FINN

  “Okay. I’ll head out right now.”

  “Good.” I grinned. “We miss you, Legs.”

  There was a hiccup of silence on the other end of the line, then, “See you soon.”

  There was something in Tal’s voice as she spoke—or, hell, maybe it was in the little pause before she spoke—that made a stupid sort of hope swell in my chest. Like there’d been more she’d wanted to say, but she hadn’t let herself.

  That was fine. I could wait. I’d wait for fucking ever to win back her trust, and I wouldn’t push her to say anything before she was ready. If she ever decided to trust me again, I didn’t want it to be a halfway deal, something forced and incomplete, with a bunch of doubts clinging to the edges of that trust. I wanted her to feel sure of it from the tips of her gorgeous brown hair right down to the bottoms of her crazy ballerina feet.

  I wouldn’t settle for anything less.

  My grin widened for a second as I tapped the end call button with my thumb, staring down at the screen.

  Considering what a shit-show the past couple days had been, I shouldn’t be feeling hopeful about much of anything right now. All of our parents were pissed as fuck, and out of the four of us guys, I’d had things the ea
siest. Elijah looked like hell, I wasn’t sure Mason had slept once in the past two days, and Cole? Well, he wasn’t talking about it at all. I honestly didn’t know what things were like at his house right now, but judging by his silence and the look on his face, they weren’t good.

  After we’d left Oak Park on the last day of school, we’d all sort of split up to deal with our own private catastrophes. This was the first time we’d managed to get together since Adena had spread the contents of Talia’s little black book all over campus.

  And that was the reason we were all together.

  Adena.

  She wasn’t done yet. All four of us agreed on that.

  We just didn’t know what else was coming, what else she had planned—whether she’d be flying by the seat of her pants now, waiting to see what we did and reacting to that, or whether she had something else up her sleeve.

  But we had a few weeks before school started back up, and I sure as fuck wanted to walk back through those doors prepared.

  “She coming?” Mason asked, poking his head in from the balcony where we’d all gathered.

  “Yup.” I slipped my phone back in my pocket and turned toward him.

  “Good.” He jerked his head back toward the balcony, his face grim. “Come on.”

  There was a lot of shit you could say about Mason, but one thing the guy could never be accused of was half-assing anything. Or of leaving anyone he cared about behind. We’d been friends since before I could walk, and I knew what his mom’s death had done to him—how bad it’d messed him up. That’s how he’d managed to talk us all into the fucked up shit we’d pulled on Talia.

  But now that things were different, now that they were changing, I could already see his drive and determination, his single-minded focus, shifting to something else. This time, instead of tearing Tal down, it was about taking care of her.

  Fuck yeah. I can get on board with that.