by Mae Doyle
Wicked Love
A Reverse Harem High School Bully Romance
Rogues of Taylor Prep 4
Mae Doyle
Contents
Title Page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Epilogue
This is a work of art/fiction. Names, places, businesses, characters, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, actual events, or places is purely coincidental. Any persons appearing on the cover image for this book are models and do not have any connection to the contents of this story.
All characters depicted in this work are unrelated consenting adults. This author assumes no responsibility for the use/misuse of this material.
© 2020 Mae Doyle
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Chapter 1
“Do you think that if we refuse to get out of bed today that we can all pretend that we don’t have classes in the morning?” I was stretched out in the middle of Jackie and Kaleb, the three of us eating a late brunch in my bed, ignoring the way time kept passing.
Kaleb yawned and leaned over to kiss my forehead before grabbing a slice of apple off of the tray I had on my lap. “I think that it’s worth a shot, but I’m not sure that it’s going to work. This break has been amazing, though, I will say that.”
We all fell silent then, and I knew what they were thinking, because I was thinking it, too. This break had been amazing except for the fact that we all missed Brett terribly. Him being around would have been the one thing to make our break even more incredible.
I knew that the last thing Brett would want would be for the three of us to mourn him so much that we couldn’t get on with our lives, but it was almost impossible for me. Everything we did – from snuggling in bed watching movies, to taking long walks in the woods – had a shadow case over it.
None of us could help it. We all missed Brett terribly and there wasn’t anything that we could do to bring him back. The forehead kisses from Kaleb were as much physical affection that I’d had from the boys since the funeral.
I wanted them, and I knew that they wanted me, but…it just felt wrong.
“Did you guys see your schedules? They were put on our doors sometime last night, and we need to make sure that we have classes together.” Jackie had never been a huge planner, but I had a pretty good feeling that I knew why he was suddenly so concerned about making sure that we all got as much facetime as possible during the last semester.
They didn’t want to leave me to be on my own against Amelia and the harpies.
“I did.” Leaning over, I grabbed it off of my bedside table and handed it to him. He scanned it quickly, then handed it to Kaleb.
“Looks like we all have homeroom together,” Jackie said, “and then economics. Kaleb will have to walk you to statistics and probably tutor you, but I’ll pick you up from there and take you to Spanish. You have a whole class of voice as well as full days on Tuesday and Thursday? That’s insane, Rosita.”
I grinned at him, finally feeling a little excitement about the upcoming semester. “Yeah, apparently Taylor Prep takes their singing very seriously in the second half of your senior year. I had no idea that I’d be singing all day. The only problem is that I’m going to be in there with Amelia the entire time, and I’m pretty sure that she still hates my guts.”
“You got that right,” Kaleb said, tossing my schedule to the floor. “I don’t even want to think about how terrible she’s going to be now that she’s had all break to think about Brett. She was bad enough before, but now that she’s convinced that you killed him, it’s going to be crazy.” He leaned over and kissed me on the cheek.
I hadn’t told them about the letter I’d gotten from Brett about him still being alive. It’s not that I didn’t want to share that joy with them, but honestly…I wasn’t sure that I believed it.
I didn’t want to put the two of them through hell if it wasn’t necessary, but it was time. I’d spend all of my free time during break trying to research the accident and look into his family, but I hadn’t found anything.
Brett was dead. Or, at least, that was the official statement.
“I have something that I need to tell you two.” I sat up, taking a deep breath. This wasn’t going to be easy, and I knew that I should have told them earlier, but…I couldn’t. I was the only one who knew about the letter. Well…me, Brett, and whoever send it to school. None of it made any sense. I just hoped that with their help, the three of us could figure it all out.
“Please tell me that you’re not going to try to get revenge on Kelly and Amelia for the way they treated you.” Jackie took my hand, lacing his fingers through mine, and squeezed. “We really don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Of course I am.” Every single night when I fell asleep, I thought about how I could hurt Amelia and Kelly. There was only one semester left at Taylor Prep, and I planned to make the most of it. “But that’s not what this is about. It’s about Brett.”
I felt both of my rogues stiffen next to me. Sure, we talked about him, but it was a sensitive topic, and one that we kinda avoided when we could. Nobody wants to talk about their dead boyfriend or dead best friend.
“Okay, Rose. What is it?” Kaleb snuggled closer to me, slowly stroking my arm. Every time one of them touched me, I felt a fire burning in my core. It took all of my concentration to pay attention to what I was saying and not get caught up in the way his fingers traced up and down my skin.
“Right at the end of last semester, I got a letter.” Twisting around, I picked up my journal from the bedside table and flipped it open. The letter was right in the middle where I could flip to it and read it whenever I want to. It had lost Brett’s smell, but that was okay. I still knew that it came from him.
Taking a deep breath, I lifted out the thin piece of paper and held it up for the boys to read.
“I’ve alive?” Kaleb’s voice was strangled, and I turned to him to see the look of horror on his face. “Is this some fucked up joke? Where did you get this?”
Before I could answer him, Jackie snatched the note from my fingers. “It’s Brett’s handwriting. I’ve seen it too many times not to know that but…Rosita? How?”
Gently I took it back. Jackie’s hands were shaking, and I didn’t want him to accidentally rip the note. It was all that I had left from Brett. Next, I pulled out the picture of Brett and showed it to them.
They both looked horrified. It was like seeing your old friend come back from the dead. I understood exactly what they were feeling, which was probably why it was so hard for me to speak. I had to clear my throat a few times before I could finally talk.
“This was in an envelope on my desk at the end of last semester. Look at the date on the back of the photograph.” I turned it over and Kaleb gasped, reaching out to squeeze my hand, but finding Jackie’s instead. My eyes locked on my two rogues holding hands, but I had to focus.
I couldn’t think about all of us being together right now. We had
to get Brett back.
“Do you believe it? Do you think that he’s really alive?” The hope in Jackie’s voice was almost palpable, and I choked back a sob. I wanted him to be alive more than anything, and of course my rogues did, too. The four of us…we had something special.
We could handle anything together, and for Brett to be taken from us? It wasn’t fair.
“I think he might be. I did a ton of research over break when we weren’t together to see if I could find anything online that may help me prove it, but I couldn’t find a thing. Whoever has him did a really damn good job of covering it up. Everyone really wants us to believe that he’s dead, but I knew he wasn’t, and this proves it.”
“Brett’s alive.” Jackie took the picture from me and ran the tip of his finger over the image. “But why would they make it seem like he was dead? What’s the point of doing that? I just don’t see what they would think that they could benefit from that, you know?”
“I know.” I watched him trace the picture, and for just a moment, all three of us were silent. We could hear the sounds of other students moving back on campus, but we didn’t move.
If they were feeling what I was, then they probably didn’t want to move. I wanted to hide out here with the two of them and pretend that everything was okay, even when I knew that it wasn’t.
“If they – the council, or whoever – could convince everyone else that Rose was the cause for the accident and that Brett was really dead then they may think that they have a good enough reason to drive her from Taylor Prep,” Kaleb mused.
“But who’s really behind all of this?” I was frustrated. It was infuriating to feel so close to figuring out the truth but to be unable to really get to the bottom of it. “We know that his mom hated me because she thought that I knew she helped kill her first husband, but then at her house she seemed almost apologetic.”
“The problem is the council.” Jackie swung his legs off of my bed and stood up, stretching and tossing me the photo of Brett. I grabbed it and slipped it back into my journal so that I wouldn’t have to worry about it being damaged or lost. “The council has been after Rosita since day one when Brett’s mom went to them about her being at the school.”
“But we don’t know who’s on the council,” I said, slamming my journal shut. It was fine for the two of them to get excited about figuring this out, but without knowing who was on the council, nothing mattered. “Until we figure out who’s on council, we’ll never know who’s behind this. That means that they’ll never stop, and more importantly, we’ll never be able to find Brett.”
“Is it possible that the council took Brett?” Kaleb asked. “Does that even make sense? I mean, if his mom is on the council and she doesn’t know that he’s not dead then that seems pretty far-fetched.”
“You’re right, but think of this...” Even though I was still really nervous, I was also getting excited, and I jumped off of my bed next to Jackie. “Just because she didn’t know that he wasn’t dead at the funeral doesn’t mean that she doesn’t know now. There’s a very good chance that they hid it from her.”
“So you think that the note and photo are from her?” Kaleb frowned. “That doesn’t make a ton of sense, Rose.”
“Okay, but who else would they be from? Nobody else here really likes me except for you two and Harper and Maggie. I have a very good feeling that their parents wouldn’t be involved. Brett’s mom is the only one who really knew me and might want to help me alleviate some of the guilt that I feel.” Just talking it out felt good, although I’m not sure that we’re going to get anywhere.
“Say it is from his mom. Why? And how in the world did she get it here without anyone seeing her drop it off? I wonder if you have another friend here, Rosita, but you just don’t know it yet,” Jackie said, reaching out to pull me into a hug.
I leaned against him and sighed, enjoying the strength that he offers. All of my rogues are strong and caring, and I needed Jackie and Kaleb to support me so that we can find our missing one.
It was a wonderful thought that I might have another friend at Taylor Prep – someone who wanted to see me succeed and was willing to pass on information like this for me, but it was far-fetched. I didn’t believe it, but I didn’t want to tell Jackie that and upset him. Not when he still had tears in his eyes from looking at the picture of Brett.
“What’s the plan, then?” Kaleb slid off the bed and walked up to us, pulling us into a group hug. I snuggled into both of them, enjoying their warmth.
“I think that we need to see who may be on our side. One of you needs to reach out to Brett’s mom,” I tell them. “I would, but…I’m afraid. What if I’m wrong?”
“Then we’ll be here to pick up the pieces.” Jackie bent his head and kissed me. His lips were warm and soft on mine, and I relaxed into it. Kaleb had his arms around me and Jackie was kissing me…it was almost perfect.
When I finally pulled back, I grinned up at both of them. “Okay. Good. We’ll figure out who wants to help us. Which one of you is going to call his mom?”
Jackie and Kaleb lock eyes for a moment, then Kaleb nodded. “I’m the better choice, by far. No offence, Jackie, but this situation needs a gentle touch.”
“No offense taken. You guys want to grab some lunch and then you can do that before it gets too busy around here?” Jackie knew that I was worried about how students would treat me when they all got back, so I appreciated him wanting to make sure that I got something to eat and then wouldn’t be alone.
“Sounds good. Rose?” Kaleb reached out and stroked my cheek. “Do you think this is a good start?”
“Anything that brings Brett back to us is the right thing to do,” I tell them both. “Let’s make it happen.”
Chapter 2
Even though all I wanted to do was work with my rogues on finding out whether or not Brett was really still alive, I also needed to spend some time with my girls. Harper and Maggie stopped me on my way to breakfast Monday morning, linking their arms through mine.
I was deep in thought about Kaleb. He’d called Brett’s mom, like he’d promised that he would, but she had refused to speak to him. That was bizarre, especially since she knew how close the two of them were.
Dwelling on Kaleb’s conversation with Brett’s mom wasn’t the best way to spend the day, and I was almost a little relieved when my girls pulled me out of my thoughts.
“Rose! We missed you!” Harper’s voice rang out in the hall as we walked to the dining hall. I leaned my head on her shoulder for a moment, loving the feeling of having my two friends with me. If I was going to make it through the last semester of our senior year, I knew that I was going to need as much support as possible.
“How was break?” Maggie squeezed my arm. “We thought about you the entire time we were gone and I texted you a few times, but never heard back. Everything okay?”
I felt really guilty about not texting Maggie back, but honestly, the last thing I wanted to do was talk to anyone except Jackie and Kaleb. My mom had been heartbroken that I chose not to come home for break, but I told her that I had some things to wrap up for classes.
It wasn’t entirely the truth, but no parent will argue with the child saying that they need more time at school, and mine was no different. She let me stay, although she was a bit begrudging. It was the first time I’d celebrated Christmas without her, and not being there after dad died last year…I had to push the thought away or I was sure that I would just obsess over it.
“It was good,” I told her, even though that wasn’t the entire truth. As much as I longed to tell the two of them everything that had been going on, I knew that it wasn’t a good idea. If Brett really was alive and there were some people trying to hide that, then the fewer people who knew the truth, the better.
I didn’t want to accidentally put Brett at a real risk for being injured just because I wanted to talk to my friends.
Swallowing hard, I continued. “I really missed you two, though. I hated not seeing
you guys for so long, and honestly, I’m just ready to have the year over with, you know? I can’t believe that I’m going to be in class all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays with Amelia.”
“That sounds terrible,” Maggie agreed, pulling her schedule from her pocket as we walked. “Do the three of us have any classes together?” We paused in the hall to look.
“None.” Harper sighed and then tugged my arm again. “So, you know what that means. I know that you love spending time with the rogues, but you’re just going to have to make a little more time for the two of us, okay?”
“Breakfast, every morning?” I didn’t know if this is what they meant, but I wanted to make sure that I managed to keep my friends. Even though it would have been easily to only rely on Jackie and Kaleb, I knew full well that having more people on my side until this all blew over was a good thing. Although I got used to lazy breakfasts with my boys over break, I was willing to pass on them if that meant that I could keep my friends.
“That’s perfect.” Maggie grinned at me and then nodded at Harper. “See? I told you that she wouldn’t disappear just because she snagged some of the hottest guys at school.”
“Eww.” The voice came from behind us, but I didn’t even have to turn around to know who was talking. “That’s my cousin you’re talking about, you know that? He’s not hot, he’s just slightly brain damaged if he thinks that slumming it with Rose is a good idea.”
The three of us kept walking, but Amelia passed us and got in front of us, holding out her hand to stop us in the hall. “Listen, Rose, I told you before break that you need to lay off of my cousin and off of Brett, but it doesn’t seem like that happened. I really don’t want my cousin to die, you know? It’s just that people around you tend to all drop dead.”
“Why don’t you drop dead, Amelia?” Harper asked, steeping forward.
“Oh, fuck off, Harper. You’re almost as bad as she is, but you’re so ugly that nobody at school would fuck you unless you had a bag on your head. Even then, they’d be able to tell that it was you thanks to your uneven tits.” Amelia rolled her eyes and turned back to me while Harper’s face flamed.
