“You know—the kind of guys who beat off to porn ten times a day and end up with death-grip problems when they finally get a real girl in their bed,” she said. She smiled smugly. “I bet Hunter is like that. By the time he’s twenty-two, he probably won’t even be able to get it up.”
Adam groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Never thought I’d be sitting around discussing my brother’s dick on a Sunday morning—or ever—but here we are.”
“Hey, nothing like incest chatter to shock you awake in the morning,” Trina said, grin widening. “Better than a double shot of espresso.”
“Ew, T!” I said, flicking a balled-up napkin toward her.
Adam fell silent, and I noticed his face had paled all of a sudden. His eyes blinked rapidly, staring into space, and his lips tightened into a thin line.
“Uh… are you okay?” Trina asked, leaning forward. “Did we say something wrong?”
He finally snapped out of his reverie and looked back at us. “No. Sorry. It’s just that something you said before made me think of something else, and now I might have an idea.”
“About incest?”
He rolled his eyes. “No! About our plan to get back at the Princes for what they’ve been doing to Laney,” he said. “It would only work against Hunter, though.”
“So what?” Trina said. “He’s the ringleader anyway, so screw him. He deserves it.”
Adam nodded slowly. “Never thought I’d say this about my own brother, but after all the shit he’s done lately, I have to agree. He deserves to be taken down a peg or two.” He looked pointedly at me. “But it’s up to you, Laney. You’re the one he’s hurting. How bad do you want revenge?”
I looked down at my lap as I mulled it over.
I would never tell my friends about this in a million years, because it was so irrational, but in spite of everything Hunter had done to me—directly or indirectly—I couldn’t shake the giddy feelings of attraction that swarmed me whenever I saw him or thought about him.
I knew it was bad, but try as I might, I couldn’t stop it. He seemed to hold a forbidden allure that I instantly fell captive to whenever he crossed my mind, which was disconcertingly often.
The worst part was how I felt whenever I recalled that night in my dorm, when he broke in and pinned me to my bed. He told me he could hurt me. Kill me.
I knew I was petrified at the time, almost out of my mind with fear, but when I relived the memory now, there was something else within that terror, lurking on the shadowy outer edges.
Something… thrilling.
The thought of Hunter pinning me down and taking complete control of me stole the breath from my lungs, and the memory of his whispered threats caused a pleasant stirring between my legs. It was shameful, disturbing, and utterly wrong.
I kept trying to tell myself that it was a natural reaction; my mind’s way of defending itself from the trauma of the memory by putting a different spin on it and changing it to a less-damaging narrative. But deep down, I knew it wasn’t true. The truth was that some sick part of me actually wanted Hunter in my bed again, holding me down in his powerful grasp, forcing me to submit to his authority.
He was poison, but I was addicted.
That made me hate myself more than I hated him.
I gritted my teeth and looked up at my friends. I needed to snap out of this state. Needed to push Hunter out of my mind before I succumbed to him and started to believe that I deserved the torment.
“I really want it,” I said. “I want to get back at him no matter what it takes.”
Adam nodded. “Okay.”
“So what’s the plan?” Trina asked.
He rubbed his chin. “It’s kinda related to what you said earlier about fake-dating the Princes.”
She playfully swatted him. “I was only joking about that.”
“I know. But it gave me a real idea,” he said. He looked over at me again, and his forehead creased. “Actually… never mind. On second thoughts, it’s probably not such a good idea.”
“Oh, come on!” Trina said. “You can’t say you have a plan and then refuse to tell us what it is!”
Adam sighed. “I know. I’m a dick. But I just realized Laney might not be up for it.”
“I’m up for anything,” I said. “You basically lit a fire under me with all the revenge talk, so c’mon—throw it at me.”
“I don’t know. I should’ve just kept my mouth shut,” he muttered, averting his eyes from mine.
“Why?”
“Because I’m not sure you’d be willing to take it this far, considering your past,” he said softly.
“Oh.”
He held up a palm. “I mean, you wouldn’t actually have to do anything. Only pretend to do stuff. But even then…” He trailed off midsentence, still looking profoundly uncomfortable.
I took a deep breath and lifted my chin high. “It’s okay. If there’s a chance it could work, I want to hear it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course she’s sure,” Trina interjected. “You know how strong she is. I bet she can pull off anything.”
I nodded at Adam. “Yeah, I’m sure. Just tell me.”
His shoulders finally relaxed, and all the tension drained from his expression. He gestured for us to lean closer to him. “All right,” he said, eyes glimmering with excitement. “Here’s the plan...”
17
Hunter
“How the fuck is she still here?”
Elijah’s upper lip curled in contempt, and I followed his gaze over to Laney.
She was walking across the quad with Trina, not paying a scrap of attention to the muttered insults from other students as they passed.
There was something different about her today.
Her dark tartan skirt appeared to be two inches shorter than usual, and she’d traded her usual opaque black stockings for a sheer pair. Also, even though the air outside was crisp, she wasn’t wearing her school blazer. Just the white long-sleeved collared shirt with a black cross tie. The shirt wasn’t too small for her, but it was still tight enough to accentuate the curve of her waist and hips. Not to mention those tits…
Jesus.
Her face was slightly different, too. She usually didn’t seem to bother with much makeup, but today she’d applied a swipe of dark red to her lush lips.
I’d never liked the caked-on makeup look on girls, but I’d always been a sucker for a little bit of red lipstick. On Laney, it was even sexier than I could’ve imagined, contrasting perfectly with her pale skin and making every red-blooded male within ten feet of her wonder what it would be like to have her mouth wrapped around their cock.
She’d never looked so fucking hot.
No, not just hot… beautiful. The mere sight of her made me feel like someone had sucked all the oxygen out of the air.
I turned back to Elijah. “Huh?”
I’d already forgotten whatever the hell it was he asked before.
“I said, how the fuck is she still here?” he said, jerking a thumb in Laney’s direction. “I thought they would’ve kicked her out by now.”
I looked over at her again. She’d just stopped to talk to Trina by the fountain, twirling a loose strand of hair around one finger. A smile lit up her face, and heat instantly flooded me. “She must’ve talked her way out of it,” I said, eyes narrowing.
Elijah grunted. “Guess she’s smarter than she looks.”
I finally tore my gaze away from Laney and nodded curtly at my friend, lips pressed into a thin line.
A bunch of girls were flocking around us now, vying for our attention. Flipping their hair, laughing in a high, exaggerated manner, ‘accidentally’ pulling their skirts up to reveal more leg or a hint of their panties… the usual.
They all wanted to date or hook up with a Prince to earn bragging rights and popularity, and afternoons in the quad were a prime time for them to take a shot at it, because we always hung out here then. Today was no different, with the exce
ption of Chris.
I’d barely seen him since his party at the lake the other week. He answered texts and calls, but he was hardly ever around in person, always claiming to be ‘busy’ with assignments or some other shit. Not surprising, given the little dust-up we had in the woods during the party. He was probably worried he was going to lose his spot in our group if we actually saw each other in person, so he’d taken to avoiding me until it all blew over.
He thought I was pissed that night because he defied my orders and tried to hook up with Laney, but I knew there was something else behind my fury. I couldn’t tell what it was at first, and it annoyed the shit out of me that I couldn’t identify my own emotions. Then realization hit me like a fucking truck.
It was jealousy.
I was jealous of Chris getting close to Laney. Sweet-talking her. Touching her. Trying to steal a kiss from her. It filled me with uncontrollable rage; at him, at her, at myself.
Mostly myself.
The girl was everything I despised, but she just so happened to be gorgeous as well, and I was only human. My body forcefully reacted every time she was near, making my dick ache with the need to sink inside her and my fingers tingle with the need to touch her. Claim her. Possess her.
I hated her, but I wanted her. She was a thorn stuck deep in my side, haunting me endlessly, filling me with guilt and self-loathing.
I’d tried to get rid of her so that she’d stop fucking me up so badly, but she survived and came back every time, stronger than ever. No matter what I did, she kept clinging to her new life here at RFA; clinging to the chance to become one of us, as miniscule as it was.
I had no idea what it would take to make her leave now. As much as I hated her, I had to admit that Elijah was right about her—she was smarter than I initially figured, and she was damn resilient too. I might’ve won a few battles by humiliating her and getting her into trouble, but she was winning the war.
“She’s coming over here. Want me to tell her to fuck off?” Elijah asked, elbowing me in the side.
I glanced to the right, assuming he meant that Talia was heading over to flirt with me yet again. My brows shot up when I realized he was still referring to Laney. She was sauntering toward us, mesmerizing eyes trained on me.
There was a shifting sensation near my heart; a strange pang that made my chest tighten.
Laney stepped right up to me, lips slightly parted. “Hey, Hunter. Can we talk?”
“Get lost, Virgin,” a little blonde sophomore said with a sneer. Her friends cackled alongside her.
Laney ignored them, keeping her gaze level on my face. “Well?”
The other Princes stepped forward, but I held up a palm and stopped them from going any farther. “It’s fine. She can stay,” I said.
Laney’s cheeks turned slightly pink. “I was hoping we could talk in private,” she murmured.
I turned and snapped a finger at the girls flocking around me. “Leave.”
They scurried away, and my friends followed them. I turned back to Laney, jaw clenched. “What do you want?” I asked.
She shifted her weight, biting at her bottom lip. “Well, first off… I wanted to apologize for the other day,” she said. “I shouldn’t have blamed you for the boat thing. It turned out to be an accident.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. There was a log sticking up in the lake. It pierced my scull when I went over it.”
My brows pulled together in a small frown. I knew for a fact that a junior girl from the rowing club had gouged the hole in Laney’s boat after the coaches were done checking them over, because she texted me proof afterwards—a photo of herself doing it, along with another one of her tits.
Curious as to why Laney was suddenly trying to get on my good side with this faux apology, I tilted my head to the side. “What’s the second thing?” I asked. “Got something you want to admit to me, maybe?”
“What?”
“You said ‘first off’ earlier. Meaning there’s more. So what is it?”
“Oh. Right.” She took a little step forward, and the subtle vanilla scent of her perfume wafted over to me, instantly driving me wild. I wanted to tear her clothes off, fill my head with the sweet smell of her, press my lips over every inch of her soft skin.
Get a fucking grip, I commanded myself, gritting my teeth. “Spit it out, Laney,” I said, needing her to hurry up so I could finally get the hell away from her.
Her eyes widened, and I realized I’d just made a mistake. I never called her by her real name. Only some variant of the awful nicknames the other students made up for her after I stuck her on the blacklist. Virgin. Trash. Walmart.
Now she might think I was softening on her. Shit.
“I don’t have all fucking day,” I added with a sneer, hoping that would make it obvious that my feelings toward her hadn’t changed one bit.
She let out a short sigh. “Look… I think it’s become pretty clear that we don’t like each other.”
“No shit,” I said with a derisive snort. “Is that really what you came all the way over here to say?”
“No. The thing is, even though we don’t like each other, I’ve been thinking about that night at the party, and I can’t get it out of my head,” she said softly, lowering her gaze. “I know I’m probably off-base, but when we were in that clearing, and you made Chris leave, I thought—”
I closed the distance between us, towering over her with narrowed eyes. “You thought what?”
She gulped audibly. “It felt like there was something between us. Some sort of… tension.”
I opened my mouth to tell her it was pretty normal for two people who fucking hated each other to feel tension between them, but she lifted a palm, clearly anticipating that I’d say exactly that.
“I don’t mean an angry kind of tension,” she said. “I mean… as much as we can’t stand each other, it feels like there’s something else between us. I’ve felt it since we first met, and when we were together in the clearing that night, I felt it more than ever. Maybe I’m just being stupid and totally embarrassing myself right now, but…” She lowered her voice. “I thought you might feel it too.”
I smirked. “Oh, really?”
“Yes,” she said, voice barely above a whisper. Her breaths were coming quicker now, and she looked like she wanted to melt right into the ground from embarrassment.
“Why would you think that?”
She brought a hand to her face, slim fingers lingering near her red lips. “Because that night, when you were so close to me, it seemed like… maybe you wanted to kiss me,” she murmured.
She wasn’t wrong about that.
I crossed my arms, annoyed that I’d been so transparent that evening. I hated that she knew; hated that she thought it gave her the right to come and talk to me. “So what?” I finally said.
“So I want to know I’m not crazy. I want to know if you feel it too. This… this thing.” Laney tipped her chin upward, emerald eyes gazing right into mine. “Do you?”
I hesitated for a few seconds. “If you thought I wanted something to happen that night, it was only because we were so close,” I finally said, averting my gaze. “Normal physical reaction.”
She shook her head slowly. “I don’t think it’s just that.”
“What do you think it is, then?” I asked, wishing she’d get to the fucking point.
She cleared her throat. “I think whether we like it or not, there’s something between us, and there has been from the very start. And I think we could choose to ignore it and let things fester, like we’ve been doing for the last few weeks, or we could face it head-on.”
I frowned, wondering where the hell she was going with this and wishing she wasn’t right about the insane level of tension between us. “What did you have in mind?”
“A date. You and me.” Her chin was still lifted proudly high, but her eyes betrayed her nervousness.
What the fuck? Was she serious?
“A date?” I said,
a sarcastic tinge to my tone. “Like dinner and a movie? Maybe you’d like a corsage, too?”
She lowered her chin again. “No, I was thinking more like—” She stopped midsentence and let out a little groan. “Oh, god. I don’t know how to say it.”
A slow grin built on my lips. I liked this change in her. It was the first time I’d seen her look so weak. So pathetic. Even when I had her trapped beneath me on her bed the other night, she wasn’t as frightened as this. She fought me tooth and nail instead, like a wild animal, refusing to give in to me.
Now she was meek. Fragile. So scared she looked like she might pass out any second.
“Just say it,” I said, trailing a finger down her arm. I didn’t mean to reach out and touch her, but I couldn’t resist it. Not when she was like this.
She drew in a deep breath, arms quivering by her side. “I was thinking… maybe you could come to my dorm on Friday night. Or Saturday, if Friday doesn’t work for you.”
“Why would you want me in your dorm?”
“So we can hang out together. Alone. Like we did in the clearing that night.”
“Again, why?”
“It might be a good way for us to address all the tension and try to get it out of our systems,” she said. “Maybe then things won’t be so horrible and awkward between us. Maybe we could even be….”
She trailed off again, biting her bottom lip, and my brows shot up.
Wow.
It was so fucking obvious what she was up to now. She was trying to manipulate me into removing her from the blacklist, using her looks and charms—if you could call this nervous chatter and hinted offer of a one-night stand ‘charming’.
I saw right through her, and I couldn’t believe she was actually trying to pull off this shit. Especially with me. She really thought I’d go for it; lap it all up like I was some fucking hormonal chump who couldn’t resist a girl brazenly throwing herself at him.
Then again, she didn’t know what I knew about her. She didn’t know we could never be friends or fuck-buddies, let alone anything else, because of all the shit I had on her.
I was about to tell her to go fuck herself when I realized I could use her faux ‘crush’ on me to my advantage.
Savage Prince: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Royal Falls Elite Book 1) Page 21
