I nodded slowly. I understood what they were saying, and they were right—I guess I was a virgin, if I went by their definition of the word. But I still lost my innocence that day. I was forced into an unfamiliar world, and my sense of safety, peace, and everything else I cherished as a child was gone.
I lost my friends, too. No one knew how to talk to me about what happened, so they eventually faded out of my life.
“Thanks for telling us,” Trina said, squeezing me again. “It must’ve been really hard for you to say, but I’m glad you feel like you can trust us.” She sighed and shook her head. “I know if I were you, I’d find it hard to trust anyone ever again. Especially with everything that’s going on at school now.”
I took another long sip of my drink. “I think I might quit,” I mumbled.
“What?”
“RFA,” I said. “I can’t go back there. I tried to be strong, I really did, but I can’t do it anymore.”
“Please don’t leave,” Adam said. “Don’t let them win. They don’t deserve the satisfaction of knowing they forced you out.”
“Exactly,” Trina said, nodding emphatically. “You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for, Laney. I mean, look at what you just told us. You’re a survivor. You’re amazing.”
“Thank you,” I said softly. “But I can’t face going back there and walking through those halls on Monday, knowing everyone hates me apart from you. The worst part is that I don’t even know why.”
Adam’s brows furrowed as I spoke. Then one hand flew to his mouth.
“What?” Trina said, brows wrinkling.
“I just remembered something,” he replied. “Laney, when we first met, I thought you looked familiar because you waitressed at that party Dad threw at our house. But that’s not it.”
“Where do you know me from, then?” I asked, puzzled.
“About two months ago, I went to borrow Hunter’s keys because my car was playing up, and I walked into his room and saw a photo of you.”
My skin tingled, and a heavy feeling settled in my stomach. “A photo?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I asked him what it was, and he said….” He paused and frowned, rubbing the back of his neck. “Fuck, I can barely remember it now. Something about meeting you at the party and thinking you were hot. So he got someone to track you down. An investigator from one of my dad’s companies, I think.”
Trina and I both gaped at him. “So he’s bullying me because I didn’t date him?” I asked, shaking my head. “I don’t get it. He never asked me out. He never even spoke to me again after that party at your house.”
“This is so weird,” Trina said, dark eyes widening.
Adam nodded. “I know. I have no idea what the fuck his problem is.”
“There must be something deeper to the whole thing,” Trina said, brows knitting. “There’s no way he’d blacklist Laney just because she didn’t date him or sleep with him. Especially seeing as he never even tried, like she just said.”
Adam nodded again. “Agreed.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I cut in. “I’m going to Headmaster Sanders on Monday and telling him I’m quitting. Then I’ll never have to see Hunter again or worry about his stupid motives for blacklisting me.”
They both turned their faces to me. “Don’t do that,” Adam said, eyes beseechingly wide. “You belong at RFA, even if those assholes don’t think so. I know it’s hard, but I really don’t want to see them push you out.”
“Me neither,” Trina said. “Besides, I think it will get better.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Really? After what happened tonight, you think it will get better for me?”
“Just hear me out,” she said, lifting her palms. “Most of the students at school fall in line and join in with the bullying because they’re scared they’ll be next if they defy the Princes’ orders. But that doesn’t mean they want to do it.”
“They certainly seemed to want it tonight,” I muttered, twisting my hands on the table.
“That’s not entirely true,” she said. “Remember that guy who apologized to you at the drinks table earlier? His name is Penn Bergman.”
“He was lying,” I replied with a sigh. “They were all saying sorry tonight to lull me into a false sense of security.”
She shook her head. “Penn meant it,” she said.
“How do you know that?”
“When Talia revealed that the envelope was filled with fake money, he was standing near us. Some people started laughing and acting like it was a genius prank, but I heard him muttering to one of his friends. He said ‘This is fucked up. What did she even do to those guys?’. He didn’t laugh or cheer, either.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. So I think there are people on your side. They’re just too scared to take a stand against the Princes.”
I sighed. “How does that help me?”
“Think about it. There are some really nasty people out there, like Talia and Jessica, and all of their minions, but on the flipside, there are people at RFA who are actually decent deep-down. They only go along with all the shit when the Princes are there to see it. But they don’t actively join in. They don’t laugh. They don’t bully you or mock you. They just stay quiet. Sure, it’s shitty that they don’t defend you, but we know why. They’re too scared of the blowback.” She paused for a deep breath. “Anyway, my point is: they won’t actually do anything to you. At worst, they’ll just ignore you.”
“That’s true,” Adam said, nodding slowly. “Think about today at school. You said your classes were mostly fine.”
I shrugged. “I guess so. The bullies are mostly sticking to nasty texts or insulting me in the halls. Oh, and yesterday someone came into Blair Hall and stuck a trash sign from a recycling can on my door. But everyone leaves me alone in class. Even the ones I don’t share with Trina.”
“Also, we had our first Model UN club meeting yesterday afternoon,” Trina said. “People weren’t actively nice to you there, but they weren’t mean either. Remember? They just accepted that you were there.”
“That’s true.”
“And what about rowing club? Or astronomy club?” Adam asked, leaning forward with his hands knitted together. “You went to those this week, didn’t you?”
I nodded.
“So how did they go?” he asked.
“Astronomy club was okay. No one spoke to me, but they still let me participate.”
“What about rowing club?”
“Same thing, I guess. Most of them acted like I wasn’t there. Coach Reilly made a couple of them show me the shells and help me try them out on the water, and they didn’t seem thrilled, but they weren’t nasty about it. They were just a little curt in the way they spoke and explained things.”
“See?” Trina said, voice tinged with enthusiasm. “This is what I mean. Most of the kids at RFA will be okay with you as long as the Princes aren’t around. They might not go out of their way to be friendly and invite you to their parties, but they won’t hurt you, either.”
“I guess. But that doesn’t change the fact that there are others who are going out of their way to bully me.”
“Well, I hate to sound like a giant cliché and tell you to just ignore the bullies, but… if you do, they’ll probably get bored of playing with you and stop doing it so much.”
“You don’t know that.” I sighed and slowly shook my head. “You told me that when someone is blacklisted, the bullies don’t stop until the person is gone.”
“Yes, but that’s different. In those cases, the Princes always told everyone why they were blacklisted. You’re different. Hunter refuses to say why you’re on the list, and a lot of people think it’s bullshit. Like Penn.”
“Exactly,” Adam cut in. “Please stay, Laney. Please. Don’t let them win.”
Trina nodded vehemently. “You’re better than them. We’ve only known you for five days and we can already tell that. So prove it to everyone else.”
I gnawe
d at the inside of my cheek and frowned. “How?”
“Show up on Monday, and then keep showing up every other day. Act like all of the assholes are totally invisible. Like they don’t affect you at all. Even if they do.”
A flush of adrenaline went through my system, and I took a deep breath. Then I nodded. “All right. I’ll try,” I said, voice barely above a whisper.
I wanted to believe my new friends. Wanted to believe that I could make it through the rest of senior year without letting the bullies break me. But deep down, I knew I was already breaking.
I wouldn’t last much longer.
7
Hunter
A series of text alerts on my phone snapped me out of my slumber. As I opened my eyes, the memory of the dream I’d been having drained away like water in a sinkhole. I tried to scoop some of it up and figure out why I was drenched in sweat, but most of it had already vanished.
All I could picture was a hazy image of the new girl. Laney Collins. Her and blood. Blood everywhere.
Then it was gone.
With a tired groan, I pressed a palm against my forehead, already feeling the first pangs of a hangover. Then I rolled over and checked my phone. It was after one in the afternoon. I’d managed to sleep for twelve straight hours.
Fuck. This kept happening to me lately. I found it harder and harder to get out of bed with each day that passed, whether I was hungover or not.
Yawning loudly, I read through my messages. The first one was some pointless shit from one of the guys about some girl he was screwing. Apparently she wouldn’t leave his room after staying there last night.
The second message was more interesting. Elijah had spotted Laney, Adam, and Trina hanging out near the lake at RFA with a blanket and a picnic basket. He’d attached some photos.
I smirked at the sight. Fucking losers, hanging around school on the weekend. Elijah only went in because he figured she’d be there, and he wanted to be the first to track her activity today.
I had all of the Princes on Laney Duty now, studying her routines and following her movements like she was a tagged shark in the wild. Part of it was to make sure she didn’t do anything to my brother, and the rest was for my own personal satisfaction. I liked the idea of showing her the photos one day and watching her face contort with fear as she realized her private moments were never really private. Someone had always been following her, watching her, knowing her.
Oh, I knew things about her, all right…
Wicked things. Evil, nasty things. They drifted into my mind like dark specters, making my guts roil.
I grimaced and got up, straightening my spine as I recalled last night’s party. I didn’t organize the lottery hoax at Laney’s expense—that was Talia and her gang—but I enjoyed the victory all the same.
Until I made it to the center of the stage, that is.
Something weird happened to me when I saw Laney standing there, shoulders hunched and face pink with shame. It all started to feel wrong. Totally fucking wrong. I couldn’t find any amusement in the scene unfolding before me; just a sick sense of dread.
The look of horror and despair in her teary green eyes haunted me all night. It didn’t make any sense, because I wanted it. I wanted her to experience nothing but pain and humiliation for the things she’d done. I wanted her to be scared of her own shadow as long as she was in my town. I wanted her to be put firmly in her place and learn the consequences of crossing me.
But when I caught sight of the stark shock and confusion in her eyes, I had doubts for the very first time. Just for a second.
I had no idea why, because I knew what she was. She was a liar, a fucking evil little liar, and a psychopath to boot. She didn’t feel remorse, shame, or grief. She wasn’t capable of it, and the tears and terror on her face were just an act to evoke sympathy in the few people she’d drawn into her twisted web.
All I had to do was remind myself of that. Then the hatred would return, stoking that terrible rage inside me, like an animal made of teeth and fire.
And yet the memory of Laney’s expression still bothered me every time it flashed in my mind.
I pushed the troublesome thoughts aside and left my room, heading for the second-floor gym in the east wing of the house. I always liked to get a workout in before my shower and breakfast, even if I was hungover as fuck. Routines were important to me, and I didn’t like them to be disturbed. They functioned as a distraction; kept the demons at bay.
On my way down the hall, I heard a strange grunting sound coming from behind one of the doors, followed by a feminine moan. Curious, I stopped in my tracks. My father’s study lay behind that door, but he couldn’t be in there right now. He wasn’t meant to be home from his latest business trip until Monday.
A smirk played on my lips as I realized what the most likely explanation for the sound was. Some of the house staff were hooking up with each other. Probably thought they could get their rocks off even harder if they fucked in the boss’s office.
I threw open the door, hoping to catch them right in the middle of the act, just so I could see the hilarious look of shock and horror on their faces.
Instead, the only shock and horror in the room was my own.
My father had a leggy blonde girl bent over his desk. His belt was unbuckled, and he was roughly driving into her, moving the hardwood desk a fraction of an inch every time he thrust.
He held the girl’s hair in a tight fist, pulling it so hard her eyes were scrunched up with pain, and his other hand rained down slaps on her pert ass, making her squeal. The engraved silver signet ring he wore on that hand caught the afternoon light with every upward movement, shining a Tudor rose pattern onto the wall.
“Naughty little slut,” he grunted, hitting the girl’s ass harder. “You want it in here instead?”
“Yes, sir,” she gasped. “Put it in my ass!”
My silent shock finally melted into disgust and anger, and my eyes narrowed as my hands curled up by my side. “What the fuck?”
The girl screamed, and Dad’s eyes widened. He pulled out of her and hastily zipped himself back up, cursing under his breath. “Get dressed,” he muttered a few seconds later, leaning down and throwing the girl’s clothes at her.
As she hurriedly slipped into her underwear, I realized I knew her. Knew of her, anyway. When I was a sophomore at RFA, she was a senior. Brittany or Britney. Something like that. Pretty with a perfect hourglass figure.
She lifted her hair to zip up the back of her dress a second later, and I caught sight of a trashy-looking snake tattoo on the back of her neck. Small but obvious in contrast with her pale skin and blonde hair.
“Again: what the fuck?” I said, folding my arms.
Brittany silently slinked past me, carrying her shoes in one hand.
Dad held up a palm and cleared his throat. “I’m sorry you had to see that. I… I thought the door was locked.”
“You really think that’s the issue here?” I said incredulously. “That the door was unlocked?”
“Please, let’s go out in the hall to discuss this.”
Gladly. The room stank of sex.
I stepped out into the hallway and watched Brittany flee downstairs. Then I turned on Dad, lips flattening into a scowl. “What the hell are you even doing here?”
“I got back early,” he explained. “The deal went south, so we—”
I cut him off. “Mom’s only been away for what… four months? And you’re already cheating on her with a fucking twenty-year-old?” I said, eyes tightening. “You know I used to go to school with her, right?”
“I’m not proud of it, Hunter, but I’m a man. I have needs. Needs your mother is no longer fulfilling. Four months is a long time.”
I scoffed. “It’s 2019, Dad. That excuse doesn’t fly anymore. Women have needs too, but we don’t see Mom fucking everything that moves, do we?”
His nostrils flared. “Your mother is drugged up to her fucking eyeballs half the time,” he said, curling
his right hand into a fist. “If she wasn’t, then maybe she’d be in the fucking mood for once, and I wouldn’t have to resort to this shit!”
He punctuated his tirade by slamming his fist into the wall.
“Jesus,” I muttered, taking a step back.
He looked at the giant dent in the fleur-de-lis patterned wallpaper, and his shoulders slumped. “Shit,” he muttered. “I’m sorry, son. I… I overreacted.”
“No shit.”
“It’s just…” He paused and wiped the sweat from his face. “It’s just so frustrating. I don’t even know when she’s coming back.”
“Well, rehab takes time. If you really cared, you’d go and visit her instead of sinking balls-deep into some random skank with shitty tattoos,” I said, gritting my teeth.
“I know. I’m sorry. Please don’t tell her.”
I scoffed again. “I won’t. I’ll let you tell her instead. She deserves that much.”
With that, I turned on my heel and stalked toward the gym. My body was flooding with angry adrenaline, and all I wanted to do was punch stuff.
I headed right for the boxing bag and took my rage out on it. Harder, faster, more. After a while I forgot about my father and his infidelity, and an image of Laney in last night’s shimmering gown drifted into my mind instead. Talia was wrong about that dress—she looked fucking perfect.
My jaw ticked, and the temperature of the room seemed to increase by five degrees. It felt like Laney was right here with me, the heat from her skin seeping into mine as she held herself against me. Occupying my body the same way she occupied my mind.
I groaned as I found myself growing hard with need. Need for the one person on this planet I should never, ever want.
My hatred was starting to blend with my attraction to her, unbidden of course, and instead of picturing her on her knees bleeding and begging for mercy like I used to, I pictured her on her knees begging to suck my cock.
Savage Prince: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Royal Falls Elite Book 1) Page 11
