Wicked Hearts - A Dark Stepbrother Bully Romance (Wicked Hearts At War Book 1)

by Mallory Fox

  Not that Flick is stupid or anything.

  Also, Sully and the board are the only ones who knew they existed. If Sully is working for Seth of course he could have shared those videos with him. It could also be whoever sent them in the first place but I doubt it. The hacker was blackmailing the company, there would be no reason to leak them.

  We continue to walk through campus, empty now being so late on a Friday night. Seth still trying to convince me to accept a lift and me telling him where to go. It’s only when we get to the front gates, and flashes up on flashes of light blind the hell out of me, I realize just how screwed I am.

  Earlier it was one or two reporters… now there are so many I can’t see a way out. As soon as they spy me, with Seth of all people, they clamor forward, calling my name, asking questions I don’t know how to answer.

  Pearl, how long have you been dating Levi Baudelaire?

  Is it true you falsified evidence surrounding your father’s will?

  Would you like to make a statement?

  “Shit, this is crazy,” Seth says. “Come on, let’s get to the car.”

  He grabs my hand and I let him. Bracing myself as he pulls me through the sea of flashing lights and camera lenses, ignoring the questions and speculation around us.

  As soon as we bundle into his car, Seth drives out of the car park like there’s a fire up his tailpipe, nearly mowing over a couple of reporters in the road.

  “You didn’t have to rescue me.”

  “What were you going to do? Walk home with them following you?”

  “I would have called a cab.”

  Seth shakes his head as he drives, giving me a look between keeping his eyes on the road.

  “Suicide,” he mutters under his breath.

  This enrages me, so much that I grip the leather seats hard, digging my nails in as we career about the corners. I hope they leave a mark.

  All my life someone has tried to take everything I have away from me. At no point have I ever backed down. Seth comes back and fucks everything in just the space of a couple of months. I shoot him a look, taking in his mussed-up hair, a week’s worth of stubble over his perfect square jaw, and his intense blue eyes that now appear slightly darker underneath. He looks like he hasn’t been sleeping either. But even in his less than divine moments, Seth is still gorgeous.

  “Go fuck yourself Seth, this is all your fault.”

  His eyebrows are drawn tight as he drives, he glances at me and then turns back to the road. “It wasn’t me who released the videos.”

  “Like hell it wasn’t,” I hiss in my seat. I’m so tired of people lying to me.

  “What would I have to gain?”

  “Well, let’s see. Maybe after you’ve sued me, you’d like to destroy the only thing I have left.”

  “Which is?”

  “My reputation,” I sneer at him, even though my words sound hollow in my ears.

  Seth snorts at me. “You’re the only one interested in destroying reputations.”

  I huff at him and glare out the window. We’re almost at the lake house. A few reporters are outside the house gates when we arrive. Seth pulls into the driveway so fast that they have to jump out of the way. When the gates open, he parks up as near the house as possible.

  He turns to me as I’m unbuckling the seatbelt. “I’m just taking back what’s mine.”

  “You didn’t have to take me to court.”

  “Oh, you’d have given me half your billions regardless then?” I wouldn’t have, but that doesn’t mean he’s right.

  “I thought you were a nice guy.” I say, as I open the car door and get out.

  “I was never a nice guy Pearl.”

  I scowl and slam the door. Before the gate closes, Seth reverses out of the driveway and races off.

  As usual, I have the house all to myself for the weekend. Gabby is away with her husband on some mini-moon and as Flick and Seth no longer live here…

  I’m able to relax in peace.

  Well, as much as I can do with a horde of reporters baying at my door.

  Chapter 17

  Pearl

  I know something’s off when everyone seems to be gathered in front of the student notice board in the quad when I walk into college. We haven’t had any exams yet, so it can’t be academic scores.

  Since I decided to wear armor today, I’m dressed all in black.

  Seth’s signature black.

  Black, ripped jeans, a black blouse and boots. But it’s not enough to protect me when everyone turns to look my way. Up on the board, stills from all of the videos are printed out and pinned to the cork, carefully positioned to under the academic subject headers and beneath the locked glass. Someone went to great lengths to get the key from the admin department and put them there.

  Of all the things that’s happened, this is the most tame.

  Still, if anyone missed the videos online this will certainly fill them in.

  At lunch, I head back to the porter’s lodge to collect a parcel from Levi. The favors he’s collecting seem to be mounting up but I can’t do any of this alone. I also don’t know who to trust. Inside the parcel is a miniature surveillance camera, some illegal software the type used by the military, and the contact address of a local lawyer.

  I send Levi a quick thank you text. He responds with more shit to pile on my plate.

  I was surprised when you wanted my help Ma Cherie.

  I just hope you’re ready when I come to collect.

  It gets dark fast and once classes are over and I’ve made a complaint about the photos, I make my way back from the faculty office, taking the route along the industrial kitchens where the lights are brighter.

  I don’t notice until it’s too late Fletcher and Hugo, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, stepping out of the shadows to flank me.

  Fletcher, the one I like the least, grabs me by the arm.

  “Davis wants to talk to you.”

  “Oh you have got to be joking.” But they’re not, and pretty soon I’m standing in one of the preparation areas in one of the kitchen labs. The room is filled with rows of stainless steel cooking tables and equipment. Davis, leaning against one of them, arms folded, takes me in. The look on his face isn’t pretty.

  “Whore. Do you know how stupid you’ve made me look?”

  “Charming Davis, really,” I say dryly. Fletcher still has his hand wrapped around my upper arm. The way his fingers are digging in, it’s going to leave a bruise.

  “You had me going, you really did. Pretending you’re a virgin when you’ve had the entire football team in every hole possible.”

  “News flash Gladstone, the videos are fake. And I never said I was a virgin.”

  “Leave us, watch the door,” he barks, as he comes closer and one of the two stooges standing over me, Hugo, disappears out into the yard, closing the steel door behind them.

  Davis, so close now I can smell his aftershave, grabs my chin in his hand, yanking my face up to look at him.

  “I was going to marry you. Now I can’t even look at you.”

  Why do I always seem to attract the psychos?

  “Are you right in the head? I was never going to marry you,” I snarl.

  I’m not expecting Davis to lean down and kiss me, crushing his lips onto mine.

  Get off me! I want to say, but the words come out muffled. I push against him but he has me braced against one of the steel tables.

  So I bite his lip until I taste copper and he pulls away.

  “You fucking bitch!” I’m not ready for Fletcher, punching me in the gut, hard. I double over, gasping, unable to breathe, almost falling to the floor. But Davis is too quick and grabs me by the hair, lifting me up, shoving me so I’m bent over, slamming my face down onto the cold surface of the table.

  “The cunt bit me. Here hold her down while I take these off.”

  Someone tugs at my jeans but I kick back, going into feral mode, I scream and claw and do whatever else I can do to get free.
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  “She’s gone crazy.”

  Fletcher yanks my arms, holding them above my head on the other side. I struggle but he’s too strong.

  Davis finally manages to get my jeans part way down over my ass, taking my panties at the same time. The coolness of the kitchen air sends shivers up my spine.

  “Don’t you fucking dare do this,” I growl, as something hot and wet spills down my cheeks. Tears.

  Davis leans over, his chest on my back and breath in my face, pressing his crotch up against me. “Don’t tease me Pearl, this is what girls like you do. You tease and tease, when you need to learn to take.”

  “And you need to learn to back the fuck off.”

  “Who the fuck…” A sound of someone hitting, breaking bone.

  It’s a beautiful sound.

  Davis squeals like a girl, there’s a scuffle a few more blows, and then... silence.

  No-one is holding me down anymore so I crumple to the ground, trying to breath.

  “Are you alright? Pearl look at me.”

  No. I want to shut my eyes and the world out. But I can’t. I open my eyes and Seth is there. He offers me a hand.

  Not taking it, I get to my feet, re-buttoning my jeans and wiping my eyes.

  “How did you know?” My voice comes out sounding small.

  “Hugo came and found me. I was in the library.”

  I look over to the Hugo who standing by the door to the kitchens, eyes averted, looking anywhere but at me.

  I nod and walk past them both, out into the cold, frigid air. I know Seth is speaking the truth. There’s no way he’d be deviant enough to set this all up, and for what? To get me trust him again? Or to scare the shit out of me.

  Well, he’s failed on both accounts.

  If it’s even true.

  No, Davis did this all by himself. I let it slide the first time, blaming myself even though I knew I’d been drugged. Davis is bad news. How many girls has he done this to before and got away with it?

  That boy will rue the day he ever touched me.

  Chapter 18

  Pearl

  Every breath feels like an effort, and every part of me aches as I walk away from the kitchen yard. I’m wary that Davis could be lurking outside, just waiting to pounce on me again, but I needn’t have worried. Seth falls in step beside me almost as soon I leave the yard and walks me all the way to my car.

  He hands me my bag as I get to the door. I must have left it in the kitchen so I’m at least grateful I don’t have to walk all the way back just to get it.

  “Pearl, you need to press charges.”

  “Don’t tell me what to do,” I murmur as I open the passenger side door to put my bag on the seat.

  “At least me take you to the hospital.”

  A laugh rips though my chest. “I don’t need your help Seth, I can take care of myself.”

  “It didn’t look like that to me.”

  I slam the passenger door and glare at him. “Do you want a medal? Is that it? Not enough gold on your chest from your military education that you need a few more.”

  “Pearl…”

  “Just fuck off Seth, I don’t need you. I don’t need anyone.”

  He looks at me with sad eyes.

  I glare at him. “Why are you like this?”

  “Like what?”

  I walk around and yank open the driver side door with more force than needed. A Mercedes isn’t meant to be treated that way and the whole thing swings open and then slams shut again, jamming my finger in the seal. “Mother fucker!”

  “Pearl are you okay? Let me see.” Seth is at my side like a shot, examining my bruised finger with such tenderness I feel like I’m imagining it. “It’s not broken, but you won’t be writing any assignments for a while.”

  I glare at him and he smirks, he actually smirks. “Hey,” he holds his hands up. “You can’t blame this one on me.”

  “You’re such a dick.”

  “A dick that will willingly drive you to the hospital and then back home.”

  The tears come hot and thick, I can’t help it.

  “Hey, hey…Come on now.” I let him take me in his arms and the feel of being wrapped up safe in his solid embrace makes it worse. Tears are falling heavily now and no amount of sobbing with stop it. I hate myself for crying. I hate myself even more for crying in front of Seth.

  “Why… why are you helping me? You hate me but you’re being nice. I don’t understand.”

  “We’re still friends.” Friends not family. That small statement tells me everything. Flick is my friend and Seth is dating Flick. She must have told him to be nice to me.

  “Are you dating Flick?’

  Seth stiffens but says nothing and I don’t press him for an answer. The scent of him is so overwhelmingly good I have to resist the urge to reach up and stick my nose in the crook of his neck, and maybe nibble him.

  If he is seeing my best friend, taking a bite out of him would be so inappropriate.

  But he was mine first.

  That thought, out of nowhere, makes me exhale softly.

  “Come on let’s get you to the hospital.” I pull back only to find he’s staring at me like I’m more than a friend.

  “I don’t want to go to the hospital. I just want to go home.”

  He doesn’t argue but he does take my keys.

  Seth drives us both to the lake house in record time. Reporters are still hanging around outside when we get there. I’m relieved to see there’s not many, maybe ten or less. After the sea of them that were following me around town this last week, only seeing ten is a blessing.

  “They must be getting bored.” Seth says, as he pulls the blinds down to the windows that face the street.

  I didn’t have the heart to argue with him about coming in.

  He just let himself in.

  I peel off my jacket, wincing, and then check myself out in the bathroom mirror. I’m more bruised and cut up than I thought. I have marks around my arm and face where they manhandled me, and a swollen bloody lip and bruised cheek bone from when Davis slammed my head into the steel table.

  When I exit the bathroom, having showered and changed into clean yoga clothes, Seth is waiting for me.

  “Come sit,” Seth commands, indicating to a breakfast bar stool as he pulls out the first aid kit out from under the kitchen sink.

  Typical Seth, still likes to order me around.

  “I don’t need fixing,” I croak. “I’m fine.”

  His eyes take me in, every part of me that’s bruised and bloodied, and his jaw twitches. “You don’t look fine.”

  My eyes narrow but I don’t disagree. I feel horrible.

  “Fine.” Is all I can think to say. I park myself on the stool while Seth gets to work, cleaning my wounds and applying an icepack to my bruised face.

  He’s so focused on his task that for once I get to study him without repercussions. Usually, he notices me watching or I can’t look because looking will mean allowing the feelings to creep back in. But now he’s with Flick, I can look at him and the feelings no longer matter. He belongs to her.

  I let my eyes roam over the contours of his nose, the dip of his cheek bones, and the square of his chin… and drink it all in. His face is a mask of concentration until he looks up at me and my breath catches as my heart thuds in my chest, and all at once I’m drowning in the depths of his deep blue orbs.

  There’s something indulgent about studying the face of someone.

  Especially if it’s someone you love.

  I don’t remember who kissed who, only that one minute I’m caught like a deer in headlights and the next I’m falling into his kiss. The way he takes my lips draws a deep ache from within my core. The world has disappeared and it’s just him and me… and this kiss.

  Next to go is my blouse and his shirt. He takes mine off gently, reverently almost, at first, running kisses down my neck and between my breasts. But the need to get closer to him, to kiss him all over, takes over. My nails s
crape his skin, digging in, peeling his shirt away from his adonis-like body so fast that it doesn’t take long before we’re both undressing each other like our lives depend on.

  Finally my sports bra comes off. A quick flick of the clasp and I’m ready, a feast laid out before him.

  “Fuck Pearl, why do you do this to me?” he almost groans it. He takes one breast in his mouth, teasing me with his tongue, flicking back and forth over one nipple, while his hand massages the other. I gasp, soft little moans as the warmth spreads from between my legs.

  In the lustful haze consuming me, I remember Flick and that I should tell Seth to stop. Although, I don’t want to.

  “Not here,” I say, panting.

  In response, he picks me up so my arms wrap around him, and carries me to his old room.

  He places me on the bed like I’m made of glass, all the while continuing to kiss me like wants to consume me. He runs his hands through my hair as he kisses me, pulling in all the right places, sending waves of pleasure all the way down to my toes.

  Even through our clothes, I can feel him straining.

  He’s rock hard. Hard for no one but me.

  I pull away, breathless. “We should stop?”

  “What? Why?”

  “You know why.”

  “No I don’t. Tell me.”

  Seth props himself up and runs his hand through his hair, looking at me. On his chest, above his heart is a jagged scar that looks like a star. I’m drawn to reach forward and touch it, trace it. How did he get such a scar?

  Is that how he nearly died?

  But I don’t want to say out loud why we can’t continue, so I say nothing and get up off his bed, leaving him sprawled there. When he doesn’t get up to stop me, I take that as my cue to exit.

  Five minutes later, as I lie in my room, I hear the front door slam and Seth’s car start up and race out of the driveway. I wait a further five minutes before breaking out his laptop that I took out of his bag when he left it in the sitting room.