Ruthless Bishop: Dark New Adult High School Bully Romance (Sinners and Saints Book 3)

by Veronica Eden

  “Thank you. This surprise is amazing,” Thea says once we’re comfortably entwined and burrowed in the blankets to keep out the biting chill. She traces my jaw. “I love you.”

  “You make me fall in love with you over and over.” Cradling her face in my hands, I hover my lips over hers. “The world doesn’t matter. Only us. Right here. Only this.”

  “Only us,” Thea repeats, her eyes hooded.

  I slant my mouth over hers. She plays with the hair at the nape of my neck as we fall into the pile of blankets, kissing like the world could end and we still wouldn’t stop, wouldn’t part from each other.

  My hands slide into her coat to get at the curves of her body. She arches against me and a faint moan fills the back of the SUV. I take her mouth again, a rough sound catching in my throat.

  This is my favorite place now. Right here, with her in my arms.

  Layer by layer, our clothes come off as our bodies tangle together. We close the door to engulf ourselves in a cocoon of our own making. The chill from outside is forgotten as we heat up the back of the car.

  “I want you,” Thea begs as I kiss a trail from her breasts down her stomach, settling between her legs.

  “Soon, baby.” I stroke her hips and place feather-light kisses over her thighs, then her folds, teasing her until she shakes. I give her a long lick with my tongue where she needs me, enjoying the broken sound that flies past her lips. “First, let me worship you.”

  Gripping her thighs, I bury my face between her legs, licking and sucking until Thea is crying out, rolling her hips to ride my face. The sounds she makes while she comes have me grinning against her pussy, my face a mess as I flick my tongue against her clit.

  “Love making you fall apart like that,” I rasp, shooting a cocksure look up the length of her body.

  “Please, please, I need you now.” Thea tugs on my shoulders, half sitting up to capture my lips in a kiss, moaning into my mouth when she tastes herself on my lips.

  Without breaking the kiss, I roll us over, grinding my cock against her. Fuck, her body feels incredible and I can’t wait to drive into her. I fumble around for my pants to get the condom, finally forced to stop kissing her to tear the packet and roll it on. She makes me so wild every time, I’m close to the edge before I’m inside her.

  Thea sits up on her knees with a spark of determination in her eye that’s so sexy. The look in her blue-green gaze has my groin tightening with a coil of heat. Before I can go to her, she straddles my lap, bracing her hands on my shoulders and sinks down on my cock.

  We both release a groan, leaning into each other for a moment. Nothing can touch us. It’s me and her, the way I want it to always be. My hands find her hips, squeezing as she starts riding me at a slow pace.

  “God, you’re incredible.” I kiss anywhere I can reach—her neck, her chest, between her breasts as they brush against my jaw. “My beautiful sunshine.”

  Thea winds her arms around my neck and drops her forehead against mine, meeting my gaze as we move together, making love in the back of my car beneath the moon.

  My breath grows shallow and I sink a hand into her hair when the pleasure becomes too much to withstand, gritting my teeth to hold on for her a little longer.

  “Thea,” I whisper, tensing.

  “Yes. Let go with me.” She tips her head back with a moan and I feel her squeezing my cock, driving me over the edge.

  We’re both left panting by our orgasms. I stroke her hair and pull the blankets around us, keeping her in my lap.

  If I could freeze time, I’d pick this moment to stay in forever. Right where I belong.

  Twenty-Nine

  Connor

  Weeks of planning brought me here, sitting shotgun in one of Devlin’s dad’s cars—one of the lower end luxury models to blend in—parked near Harold Coleman’s house.

  Tonight, I’m breaking into my English teacher’s house for a group of mysterious hackers obsessed with crows and skulls.

  He lives on a quiet street on the outskirts of the town center, with only a handful of other houses on the block. Most are decorated for the holidays, lit up and festive. His is the only one that’s not decked out, except for a sad little lawn sign that says happy holidays with a snowflake on it.

  Winter break starts tomorrow. We picked tonight because Coleman would be stuck late at school with meetings to close out the first semester. Blair’s tailing him as our lookout, Devlin’s the getaway driver, and my job is breaking in to get the locket the Anonymous wannabes demanded before they give me the dirt on Coleman.

  “You’re sure about this? The time to back out is now.” Devlin rests his hand over the wheel. He’s a ride or die friend, no matter what I say he’s down to back me.

  I think about how pretty Thea was the other night at the dance in her gauzy pink dress, then later, even more beautiful beneath blinking Christmas lights in the back of my SUV. My heart squeezes.

  “No doubts, bro.” Devlin and Lucas both found their queens in Blair and Gemma. I’m doing this to make sure mine has her place of honor by my side. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect her. “I’m going in there.”

  Devlin gives me one of his sadistic grins. He’s living for this epic mischief making. This is bigger than any of our pranks.

  “What do you think you’ll find?” Devlin muses.

  I suppress a shudder. I haven’t wanted to think about it, braced for the most depraved shit my twisted imagination could think of.

  “The truth. Probably a sad as fuck, lonely life.”

  Devlin hums in agreement.

  I haven’t told Devlin and Blair everything. I glossed over the details about Thea, but explained how the hackers got into my system when I found something connecting Coleman to a creepy online persona. Devlin is the one who guessed Coleman has an interest in Thea going off my short fuse and his own observations.

  Blair’s been ready to cut off Coleman’s balls ever since, sitting in third period English like she’s prepared for battle.

  We’re waiting for her confirmation in the group chat on our phones before I go. Her criminal tendencies and pick-pocketing talents have come in handy planning out the logistics of tonight.

  “What’s the psychology behind a predator?” I ask.

  Devlin cocks his head in thought. He has a strong interest in psychology, always carrying a book with him.

  “It always comes down to power. But in this case, it’s like the victims aren’t people. They serve their purpose fulfilling a sexual desire. A predator is a hunter. They know to set themselves up for success by working on a victim who is vulnerable and already susceptible to being manipulated into doing whatever the predator wants,” he says after a minute. “It’s abusive.”

  The answer has my blood boiling. Thinking of Thea in that frame of mind, her window right across from mine.

  Damn it.

  Our phones ping at the same time. When I check, I shake my head.

  Blair: All this sneaking around brings back memories [smirk emoji]

  Devlin’s answer pops up in the conversation.

  Devlin: [smirking devil emoji] you just wait until we get home, little thief.

  “Can you two not flirt in the group chat? You’re nauseating with your lovey-dovey sap shit.”

  Devlin just smirks while Blair sends a selfie of her leather-glove covered middle finger in front of her face to our group text. A minute later, she hits us up again.

  Blair: Ok, meeting started. Timer begins now.

  With the go ahead, I tug a beanie on and put up the hood on my black hoodie.

  “Gloves,” Devlin says, handing them over.

  “Thanks, man. For everything.”

  “You’re family. We go to war for family.”

  “You big fuckin’ sap. Love you, bro.”

  “Shut up. Go be a badass.”

  Saluting him with a crooked grin, I get out of the car and act like I belong here.

  The house is quaint, with blue shingles and a porch. It
pisses me off how easily Coleman gets to blend in when he’s a fucking creep preying on young girls. Who knows how many? The thought turns my stomach. I’m here for a locket, so I can only guess Thea isn’t the only honey pot he’s tried dipping his claws in.

  Gritting my teeth, I check if anyone’s around before I slip toward the back door to pick the lock.

  Blair let me borrow her kit of picks and drilled me until I could pick Coleman’s brand of lock with my eyes closed. It comes in handy that Dev’s girl has a history of criminal tendencies. I kneel at the back door and get started, carefully working it until the knob gives way.

  “Gotcha.” Tucking away the tools, I step inside, leaving the lights off and illuminating the way with my phone.

  The inside of Coleman’s house tells a much different story than the charming young teacher persona he puts on at school. My lip curls as I move through the dated kitchen to a living room with grime-stained walls. This place looks fine from the outside, but it’s a shithole. He must’ve got it real cheap because it looks like it was a crack den. Empty take out containers and instant dinner dishes sit around, making the place smell rank. They’re at least two days old.

  “Fucking gross,” I grumble, scanning the room.

  There are no signs of a partner or roommates. The place is sparsely furnished. Every inch of the house screams shut in bachelor.

  Coleman clearly spends a lot of time on his computer. It’s a setup like mine and the only corner of the room that seems frequently used. A serious system with big monitors, like a skeevy command base. I picture him sitting there typing that shit to Thea and ball my fists to control the wave of fury crashing over me. Blowing out a breath, I cross to the computer and tap a key.

  The display wakes up and I smirk. “Thanks for the easy access.”

  I plug in an encrypted drive and type in a keyboard shortcut to bring up a command prompt window, giving me admin control. With a few more keystrokes, his hard drive is downloading for me. While that’s running, I head into the other rooms to search for the necklace and hunt down anything else I can find.

  The house is a single floor bungalow, so there are only so many places for Coleman to hide his sinister corruption. I start with the bedroom, which makes me gag.

  Black silk sheets? Is he fucking kidding?

  As the creep factor climbs, so does my anger. I take pictures of everything to paint the image of Harold K. Coleman, perverted douchebag degenerate. The darkest monster I’ve ever met. Considering the secrets I know of the people in this town, that’s saying something.

  “Going to have to shower eighty goddamn times to get the vibe of this place off me.”

  The closet has nothing interesting, so I try the bureau, pulling drawers out and rifling through ratty pairs of sweatpants and stained graphic t-shirts. What a man-child.

  When I don’t find anything, I’m about to look under the bed, but the third drawer down on the left makes me pause. The grain on the bottom of the drawer is a shade off from the others. I shine the flashlight from my phone closer, furrowing my brow. I pull out the drawer on the right side to compare, putting my hands in both.

  “Shit.”

  The one on the left is slightly higher. It’s a fake bottom. I take out the stacks of clothes, taking care not to mess up the order so Coleman doesn’t suspect anything. There’s a tiny tab at the back. When I pull on it, I’m able to remove the false cover.

  My heart stops.

  A row of necklaces sits in the drawer on black velvet. All matching.

  At first I suck in a breath, thinking I’ve found the locket. But no, these aren’t silver. They’re gold plated. Cheap. Each heart pendant sits on a slip of paper with Coleman’s handwriting.

  Girl’s names.

  These are disgusting collars of ownership for every girl Coleman is manipulating. He probably sends them as gifts to make the girls feel special, when he’s got six other duplicates. If they feel doted on, he must have an easier time controlling them to do whatever he wants.

  Acidic bile rushes up my throat.

  “Jesus fucking christ.” My teeth clench hard enough to crack.

  It takes a long minute to control the powerful instinct to punch through the wall as hard as I can as an outlet for the rage.

  I snap several photos on my phone, documenting closeups of the name tags, each necklace, and the hidden compartment in the drawer. My phone vibrates with an incoming call, sending my heart into an awful adrenaline spike. It’s Thea.

  My chest goes tight and my attention drops to her necklace, second in the row. What a cruel twist of fate that she ended up vulnerable and pliant to fall into this monster’s trap. “I’m sorry, baby.”

  I grip my phone tight, rubbing my forehead with the back of my hand, and let her call go to voicemail. I can’t afford to get distracted when I need to be ready for Devlin and Blair’s signal while I search. If I answered, I don’t know if I’d be strong enough to keep this secret from her. As soon as I give the crow guys what they want, I’m telling Thea everything.

  And I’ll never let her near Coleman again. She’ll be safe.

  Once I know she’s protected, I’m coming for Coleman. The proof of his evil is here. If Landry won’t listen to me, I’ll go over his head. Whatever it takes to put Coleman away for his crimes.

  He won’t hurt anyone ever again.

  Putting everything back the way I found it in the drawer is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Every part of my being screams at me to grab the necklaces, that it’s wrong to let Coleman keep these like he hasn’t been caught. With a rough sound, I turn my back on the bureau.

  A single nightstand sits beside the bed. I head there next.

  For a minute, I stare down at the dark wood, rubbing my fingers to gear up to continue the search. I force out a ragged breath and brace for the worst as I open the first drawer. My nose wrinkles at the tube of lotion mixed in with an inhaler and other odds and ends. There’s nothing else, so I go for the second drawer.

  At first glance, anyone could mistake it for a junk drawer.

  But amongst charm bracelets, a headband, two leather cuffs, and a picture keychain I find a silver locket. Trophies. Before I do anything, I pull up my phone camera and grab several shots of the drawer’s contents.

  My hand shakes as I take the locket, checking it.

  The initials CT are engraved on the silver heart.

  This is the one.

  My gaze flicks from the bed back to the drawer. He keeps them right next to where he sleeps. An uncomfortable shudder wracks my body.

  “I will end you, if it’s the last thing I ever do,” I growl, stuffing the locket in my pocket.

  I have what I came here for, but I want to keep going. As soon as I finish the bedroom, my phone buzzes, signaling my time is up. Opening the group chat confirms it.

  Blair: On the move. 15min ETA.

  A second later, Devlin revs the engine outside.

  “Damn it.” I cast a glance around the room I was checking.

  Connor: 2 mins [sweat smile emoji]

  Devlin: Now. Christ, only you would use emojis at a time like this.

  Gritting my teeth, I rush into the living room to check the download status. A relieved breath leaves me. It finished. I’ve got it all. Ejecting the thumb drive and closing out of everything, I put his computer to sleep the way I found it.

  Once I’m outside, I cut through the shadows and bushes, emerging on the street as if I was there all along. Moving quickly, I slide into the passenger seat of Devlin’s car. He doesn’t wait until my door is fully closed before pulling away, peeling down a side street and shifting gear.

  It’s not until we’re five minutes away that he speaks. “Did you find it?”

  “Yeah.” I stare out the window, fist covering my mouth. “I’ll show you when we meet up with Blair.”

  Devlin scoffs, shaking his head. “Knew he wasn’t right.”

  While he drives, I reach in the back and take out my tablet fr
om the backpack on the floor, plugging in the encrypted drive. I push off my hood and drag off the beanie as the thumb drive connects. My throat goes dry and scratchy once I get into Coleman’s files.

  It doesn’t take me long to find. She’s right there in a photo on his local drive, along with other girls. Each photo is labeled with a name. Thea, Charlotte, Jen, Alicia…

  My nostrils flare before I finish checking all the names. Some are tame, like Thea’s, but others are far less so. I almost throw the tablet out the window, but I control myself. Instead, I put the photos in a folder to separate them from the ones I can stomach, where the girls aren’t baring themselves to this disgusting asshole.

  With images like these, he could do anything with them. Start a porn site. Sell them. A sharp pain stabs in my gut as nausea rolls through me.

  Steeling myself, I sift through what’s left in the folder.

  In Charlotte’s photo, she’s wearing the same locket burning a hole in my pocket. She’s a pretty blond, around the age Thea was in her blog photos, maybe a little younger.

  In Thea’s photo, the metadata tells me it’s three years old, from when she was fifteen. She’s in her room, the colorful baking pun posters visible behind her. She’s not nude, but her outfit is revealing and the way she poses is suggestive. I shift uncomfortably in my seat, plagued with the skeeze feeling again.

  The thought of Coleman having this photo, and others like it, makes me want to scream and go fucking wild. If I was unleashed on him right now, I’d kill him. No mercy.

  It’s no wonder Thea started dressing in less form-fitting clothes after going through however long of dressing like this for an older man she didn’t know on the internet.

  In the same folder, there are saved transcripts from conversations. I can’t look at any at the moment, too wired by my anger to face more of Coleman’s depravity poisoning these young girls. Regulating my breath is difficult. Thankfully we’re almost to the abandoned quarry.