I’d betrayed myself. Betrayed the girl I used to be. All because some uber-hot asshole muttered a few sweet nothings in my ear and tricked me into feeling like I was actually ready for it.
As cold shame seeped through my insides, I walked Hunter over to the door and let him kiss me goodnight before he left. Then I went and looked out of my room’s biggest window.
When I saw his car turn out of the Blair Hall parking lot and head toward RFA’s main gates, I breathed a sigh of relief and raced over to my laptop. I logged on and opened a chat window with Adam and Trina.
Me: He’s gone. I have the phone.
Trina: About time. I was starting to think you were dead.
Me: Had some complications but I got there in the end. Is the essay done?
Adam: Finished it yesterday, but I might give it another quick proofread before I send it through. Can you get into his email accounts? And the Alton application portal?
I retrieved Hunter’s phone from the vent and unlocked it. After playing around with it for a couple of minutes, I responded to Adam.
Me: Yep. His regular email and student email are both auto-logged in, and when I go to the Alton app portal, it’s got all his details saved along with his recommendations, transcripts and SAT scores. It’s all synced up from his computer via his Google account.
Adam: I thought so. I’ll send the essay through to his student email as soon as I’ve finished double-checking it. You’re gonna LOVE it.
Highlights include: multiple paragraphs on how giving scholarships to low-income students is unfair because it’s their fault they’re poor/they don’t work hard enough, and another few describing how wealthy people deserve what they have because they’re clearly just better at life and work much harder.
I don’t think the admissions department at Alton will be very impressed…
Trina: Hahaha, wow…
Me: OMG lol. Can’t wait to read it.
At breakfast last Sunday, Adam told us that Hunter had finished every part of his early Alton application aside from the essay, so if we really wanted to mess with him, all we needed to do was submit the final application from his account on the online portal with our very own terribly-written essay attached to it.
As soon as Alton saw it, they would undoubtedly reject him, and according to Adam, that was the worst possible thing that could happen to Hunter. He’d been dreaming about attending the college since he was a kid.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t easily get into his phone or computer. They were both password-protected, and even though Adam lived with him and knew him better than most people, he still had no idea what those passwords were. That meant we had to devise a plan to get them without Hunter noticing.
The most logical plan would be for Adam to stick a wireless camera somewhere in Hunter’s room at home, but apparently that was a no-go, as their dad had the house swept for bugs twice a week, and Adam didn’t know exactly when it happened.
As a result, our little dorm operation was born. So that was the entire point of my rendezvous with Hunter tonight—getting his phone code via the button cam on the ceiling so we could use it to creep onto his accounts.
Having me flirt with him and kiss him was all part of the plan—something to convince him I was genuinely interested in him, so he wouldn’t realize too soon that it was all a ruse. After that, I was supposed to make my excuses and get him to leave.
Obviously, things didn’t go exactly like that, and I ended up going a little too far, influenced by a mixture of Hunter’s charm and my own rose-tinted attraction to him.
Thank god I managed to stop myself in time.
A possible snag in the plan suddenly occurred to me, and I sent another message to Adam.
Me: Wait… I just thought of something. What if H uses his computer when he gets home and checks his email there? He could see the stuff you send.
Adam: Trust me, he won’t. By the time he gets home, it’ll be 9:30, and the last thing he’s gonna do at 9:30 on a Friday night is check his student emails or college apps. He’ll either call the Princes and invite them over here to hang out, or he’ll go out somewhere.
Me: Probably the first option – he told me he’s going to stay at home in case I need to call him.
Adam: Wow, you must’ve done a really good job at the fake seduction stuff ;) Anyway, I’ll wait until he’s asleep/passed out later, and then I’ll grab the phone from you and sneak it back into his room.
Me: Okay. See you in a few hours.
While I waited for Adam to send the essay, I looked through the rest of Hunter’s phone. At first a sick sensation twisted my stomach, and my skin crawled with the urge to toss it away and never look at it again, because I knew it was wrong to go through other people’s private things.
But this was what I wanted. As well as sending through the fake application to Alton, I was meant to dig for any other dirt I could possibly find. Secrets that could hurt Hunter as much as he’d hurt me over the last month.
He deserved it, didn’t he?
I let my mind cycle through the bad memories from my time in Royal Falls so far; everything Hunter and his nasty pack of bullies had put me through, seemingly for no reason beyond me being a poor scholarship student.
Yes. He deserves this, I told myself, steeling my jaw.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much damning stuff on his phone in the end. Lots of nudes and sexts in his inbox from RFA girls, but no response from him to any of them.
I let out a snort of amusement at that. I couldn’t imagine being so hot and popular that practically everyone threw themselves at me, day in and day out, until I became so jaded that I didn’t even care when my inbox filled with sexy pictures and fawning messages from people who would do anything to be with me.
Must be nice.
I rolled my eyes and kept scrolling through Hunter’s texts. I thought I might find some messages about me, discussing what I’d allegedly done to deserve the blacklist, or at least some bullying-related stuff—where I was, what the next plan to hurt me was, how and when they were going to do it. But there was nothing. Hunter was obviously smart enough to delete any incriminating messages just in case anyone ever happened to gain access to his phone. Like me.
Oh well. The fake early application essay was our trump card, and we had that in the bag.
I was about to exit the texts when I saw that there was a message sitting in the draft folder. Curious, I clicked into it and read it with wide eyes.
It was a message to Lindsay Connery.
In it, Hunter talked about how much he missed her, and how so many things he saw every day reminded him of stuff they did as kids. He mentioned her star-gazing hobby and said he still went up to their rooftop garden sometimes to look at the night sky, because it made him feel like she was there again, sitting next to him with her little telescope and pointing out all the different constellations.
It ended with him saying how sorry he was for his last words to her, and how he wished it never happened. How it tortured him endlessly at night as he lay in bed, remembering everything he said and wishing he could go back in time, pluck those awful words right out of the air, and comfort her instead of hurting her.
A lump appeared in my throat as I read through it. Earlier, I thought Hunter might be a psychopathic monster with zero capacity for emotion or empathy, but it was clear from this message that he was more than capable of profound guilt and sadness. His sister’s death had obviously sheared a massive hole in his world, filling it with cold darkness, and he’d been suffering ever since.
I put the phone down, chest tightening.
As much as I wanted to destroy Hunter, I couldn’t help but feel as if I’d violated him by reading this message. Now the first seeds of doubt were sowing themselves in my mind.
Had Adam, Trina and I gone too far with our plan? Was it really worth hurting Hunter so much when he was clearly in pain already?
I closed my eyes and replayed the memories of what he’d done to
me, and then I decided I hadn’t gone too far at all.
In fact, maybe I hadn’t gone far enough. Hunter couldn’t hurt me just because he was hurt. That wasn’t fair.
Ten minutes later, Adam finally sent the essay to Hunter’s student email, and I downloaded it and attached it to his online application on the Alton portal. My finger hovered over the ‘submit’ button for three whole minutes, and then I took a deep breath and hit it.
An automated email appeared in Hunter’s inbox a moment later. Thank you for submitting your early application to Alton University.
I deleted the email along with the fake essay, and then I breathed a sigh of relief and stashed the phone in one of my desk drawers, not wanting to see it again unless I had to.
Adam finally showed up close to midnight.
“All done?” he asked as he stepped into my room.
I nodded as I handed Hunter’s phone to him. “I sent the application in two hours ago.”
“Nice. Are you sure Hunter didn’t suspect anything when he was here?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. He bought everything I said and did.”
“You must’ve showed him a really good time, then,” he said, raising an eyebrow.
My cheeks turned hot. “I just kissed him. It barely even lasted thirty seconds. But I made it seem real,” I replied in a small voice, stomach churning.
I hated lying to my friend, but I was too ashamed to tell the truth—that I was clearly sick and broken, and as a result I almost gave in to Hunter and let him take everything he wanted from me.
Adam laughed. “Your acting skills must be amazing.” He held up the phone. “Anyway, I’ll head back now and switch this with the decoy phone.”
“Okay. Make sure you don’t get caught.”
“I won’t.” He gave me a quick hug. “Good job tonight. Everything went perfectly.”
I forced a smile. “Thanks. It was a solid plan.”
He grinned and did a mock bow.
After he was gone, I went into the bathroom and turned the shower on, making sure the water was scalding hot. I felt like I needed to scrub the whole night off me, along with the feeling of Hunter’s lips and hands on my face and body.
I hoped the shower would wash away the burning desire I felt for him, too, but deep down, I knew no amount of soap or water could make that happen. It was already rooted in me, wrapping around my insides like a poison vine and pulsing in my mind like an endless drumbeat.
Despite everything Hunter had done to me, and everything I’d done to him in return, part of me still wanted him… and that scared the shit out of me.
19
Laney
Hunter didn’t show up to school on Monday morning.
I knew why. Alton had responded to his application already, firmly rejecting it. Adam told me all about it. Apparently Hunter was so mad when he read the email that he slammed a fist right through his computer monitor.
How very mature.
I finally spotted him in the afternoon, while I was getting some notes out of my locker between periods. He was standing at the other end of the hall by his own locker, hands curled into fists by his side as he talked to two of the other Princes.
When he saw me looking over at him, he stiffened. His face conveyed a multitude of raging emotions as he stared at me, and the shadow of a scowl crossing his face told me that he knew I had something to do with what happened to his application.
He strode over to me and slammed my locker shut. “It was you, wasn’t it?” he said coldly, dropping all pretenses of his sweet, tender act from the other night.
I pretended I had no idea what was going on and smiled at him. “Hey, cunt,” I said breezily.
His nostrils flared. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“I said hey, Hunt,” I replied. “I figured that could be a cute nickname for you. Short for Hunter.”
He lifted my chin with his fingers, forcing me to look him in the eyes. His stare was cold and calculating. “Don’t bullshit me, Laney,” he said.
“About what?”
His eyes narrowed. “I know it was you.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“My Alton application,” he replied, lips curling in contempt.
I swallowed thickly. “I don’t—”
Before I could get anything else out, Hunter’s hands went to my shoulders, pushing me up against my locker. “I told you not to bullshit me,” he said. “So tell me the truth right fucking now. What did you do?”
For the millionth time, I found myself wishing his touch didn’t leave me feeling so breathless.
My hatred for him was still layered with that thick, stubborn veneer of attraction, but since my shameful missteps on Friday night, I’d promised myself I’d chip away at it with everything I had, reminding myself why I despised him so much until I finally saw past that incredible jawline, piercing eyes and mouthwateringly-muscular form.
He didn’t deserve my desire. He didn’t deserve it from anyone.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Did something happen to your application?” I asked, still feigning wide-eyed innocence.
“Yeah, you hacked into my account and sent it in with some bullshit essay that I didn’t write,” he said. “That’s what fucking happened. Now tell me how you did it.”
“I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said, slowly shaking my head. “I thought we were in a good place after Friday night. You even texted me on the weekend to ask if I was feeling better. I had no idea you still had some sort of problem with me.”
Hunter let go of my shoulders and took a step back, muscles cording in his neck. “You were never sick. You just wanted me gone so you could blow up my life.”
“And how exactly do you think I did that?” I asked, raising my brows.
He rubbed his clenched jaw. “I don’t know the details,” he muttered. “But I know you did something to my phone.”
“When would I have had a chance to do that?”
“The other night. When you made me leave the room to get the pizza.”
I let out a deep, theatrical sigh. “Hunter, you were only gone from the room for three or four minutes. Do you really think I managed to hack into your phone and figure out the Alton application stuff in that timeframe?”
He shook his head. “No. But it suddenly stopped working when I left it with you. I couldn’t get it to charge when I got home, either,” he said. “Then it magically turned on again the next morning, like nothing ever happened. I didn’t think anything of it until I heard from Alton, basically telling me to go fuck myself. Then I knew someone had fucked around with it.”
“Well, I’m sorry to hear that, but I don’t see what it has to do with me,” I said with a nonchalant shrug.
“You’re so full of shit. I know you did it,” he replied through gritted teeth, moving his face closer to mine. The tension between us was like a tattered rope, pulled taut and about to snap. “You cloned my phone or put some kind of bug on it.”
“I have no idea how to clone phones or put bugs on them. I’m not really a tech-minded person.” But your brother is, I silently added, sorely tempted to smirk.
“I have no idea how you did it either. But I’ll figure it out, and then I’ll fucking destroy you,” Hunter growled, upper lip curling. “You won’t get away with this shit.”
A few students were milling around the hall now, watching us from a distance and whispering behind their hands. I looked at them pointedly, and then I turned my face back to Hunter.
“Hypothetically speaking—if it was me, I think I would get away with it,” I said sweetly. I lowered my voice to a taunting whisper. “See, if you tell anyone what happened, then you also have to tell them that I got into your phone and email. And then you have to explain how that happened, which means you’ll have to admit you were in my room on Friday night. Then you’ll have to explain what you were doing there, along with everything we did together. You could lie
, I guess, but for all you know, I could’ve secretly filmed the whole thing just in case. Got myself some nice, dirty footage to prove it all.”
Hunter blanched. “You didn’t.”
“You don’t know that.” I smiled and cocked my head to the side. “Anyway, how do you think the school is going to react when they find out the mastermind of the blacklist has been hooking up with the girl he pitted them against for the last month? Do you think they’ll still respect you after that and keep doing your dirty work, or do you think they’ll finally see you for the pathetic hypocrite you are and take my side instead?”
His hands curled into fists at his side again, and his face turned even paler. I was right, and he knew it.
I’d finally outplayed him at his own game.
“You set me up,” he muttered. “That whole nervous act… all that shit you said… it was all a fucking lie.”
I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “Don’t act like you’re completely innocent in this.” I closed the few inches between us and jabbed him in the chest. “You didn’t come to see me on Friday with good intentions. You were trying to trick me into falling for you, so you could tell everyone about it and destroy me with my own feelings. We both know that’s true.”
He exhaled deeply. “I knew I was right about you,” he muttered. “From the very start. I knew you were fucking toxic.”
I smiled again. “I’m not toxic. I just don’t like being bullied, so I finally decided to do something about it,” I said, folding my arms. My smile grew wider. “Like I said the other night… I’m braver than you think.”
His lips flattened, and he brought his face right to mine again. “You think you’re so fucking smart, Laney,” he said. “But you’ll regret this. Believe me.”
He straightened up and stalked away.
As I watched him go, my feelings of triumph faded, and a sudden coldness hit at my core. This wasn’t just a battle of wits anymore.
It was an all-out war.
Savage Prince: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Royal Falls Elite Book 1) Page 24
