“Just say it,” Adam said softly. “It’s okay.”
Trina looked at her coffee cup. “I’m worried they’ll push you so far that you’ll end up doing something to hurt yourself,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. She looked up at me again, eyes glistening with emotion. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make it sound as if I want you to leave. Of course I don’t. I’m just worried about you.”
A lump appeared in my throat. “I get it. But where would I even go?” I asked. “I don’t want to go back to Silvercreek High. Things are bad at RFA, but I still have so many opportunities there. And the free ride through college via the Medusa Society, too. I can’t afford to give that up.”
“You wouldn’t have to go back to Silvercreek,” she said. “I bet we could find you a scholarship to another good prep school. I think Sanders would help out, too, considering how guilty he feels about what happened today.”
“Even if I got another scholarship to a different school, I wouldn’t have the free college offer,” I said, shaking my head.
“That’s true,” Adam said, scratching at his chin. “But what if we paid for it?”
“What?”
“What if we paid for it?” he repeated. “You know we’re both rich as fuck. We could convince our parents to set up a brand new college scholarship fund, just for you. Even if it has to come out of our trust funds, that’s okay. They’re definitely big enough, so it would barely even scratch the surface.”
I shook my head. “Thanks, but I can’t let you do that. It’s too much.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. It’s so nice of you to offer me something so huge,” I said softly. “But I can’t accept it.”
“Okay. But if things get worse, promise me you’ll think about it again?”
I nodded and squeezed his forearm. “I will.”
Trina’s eyebrows suddenly shot up. “Shit,” she muttered. “Don’t look to your left, Laney.”
Unfortunately for Trina, the absolute best way to make someone look to the left was to tell them not to do it. I snapped my gaze to the side, and my heart sank as I saw Hunter striding into Café Seven.
He spotted us and started heading over to our booth.
Trina jumped up and ran over to intercept him. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” she said, hands on her hips. “I told you to stay the hell away from her!”
Hunter looked past her and called out to me. “Laney, can you just—”
Trina shoved him in the chest, cutting him off. “What part of ‘stay the hell away from her’ do you not get?” she said.
Hunter let out a short sigh and focused his gaze on her. “Trina, I’m sorry, but this needs to be said. For once in your life, shut the fuck up.”
Trina’s mouth fell open, and she stared at him with wide-eyed disbelief.
Hunter seized the opportunity to talk to me again. “Laney, I really need you to listen to me,” he said.
I dropped my gaze. I could still see him, but I refused to meet his eyes or even look anywhere near his face.
His voice softened. “Can you at least look at me?”
I kept staring at the table next to him, jaw clenched. The places where his hands had touched me yesterday burned with a desperate need to feel him there again, but I knew I couldn’t act on those feelings.
He let out a sigh. “You said you trusted me yesterday. Now you won’t even look at me or listen to a single word I have to say.”
Adam stood up. “That’s not fair. Things were different yesterday,” he said icily.
Hunter ignored his brother and kept his focus on me. “Laney, I know how bad this looks. I know you think it was me, and I know you have a good reason for that. But I swear, it wasn’t me.”
“Bullshit,” Trina hissed, holding out her arm to stop him from coming any closer.
“Trina, for fuck’s sake,” he said, glaring at her. “I just need ten seconds, okay?”
She glowered at him and looked pointedly at her watch.
“I know I’ve done shitty things to you in the past, and you only told me about the video a few days ago, so it makes sense that you’d assume I did this,” Hunter said, looking over at me again. “But it wasn’t me. I swear. Someone is obviously trying to drive a wedge between us, and it’s working.”
“Okay, it’s been more than ten seconds. Feel free to fuck off now,” Trina said with a sneer.
Hunter ignored her and kept going. “You need to know that your secrets have always been safe with me, Laney. All of them,” he said. “I know you don’t believe that anymore, and I know I don’t even deserve for you to believe it after all the shit that’s gone down between us before these last few days. But it’s true. I wish you could trust me again and see that.”
A tear slid down my cheek. I briskly wiped it away, being careful to avoid moving my head. I still couldn’t bring myself to look at Hunter. If I did, I might start to believe him again.
That was more dangerous than anything.
“I’m not going to give up on you,” he went on. “I’m going to leave you alone now and give you some time to cool off. But I’ll never give up. When you’re ready to talk, I’ll be waiting.”
I finally looked up at him. When I met his eyes, I saw a flash of real pain behind them.
Don’t believe it, I told myself. He’s a fucking good actor. You know this. You can’t fall for it again.
“Leave,” Trina said, crossing her arms.
He nodded and lifted his palms. “Don’t worry. I’m out.” His gaze flickered between my eyes for a second longer. Then he dragged in a deep breath and turned away. “Bye, Laney.”
With that, he was gone.
3
Hunter
I stepped into the rain with gritted teeth, heading for the car. There was a horrible feeling inside me. Like someone had driven an ax into my chest and split my fucking heart in two. Every muscle in my body was tense, strung so tight that I was close to snapping. I felt like a drug addict coming down after a binge, unable to get more of his chosen drug.
It wasn’t the worst day of my life, for obvious reasons, but it still ranked pretty damn highly. Just this morning, I was buzzing with excitement, ready to walk into school with my arm slung around Laney. Ready to crush my lips on hers in front of everyone so they knew she was mine and mine alone.
Now the day had taken the worst possible turn, and I was stuck out here in the car, listening to the rain pounding on the windshield while Laney cried in a dingy coffee shop.
She wouldn’t even look at me when I entered the place a minute ago, but I could still see her. Her eyes were filled with so much sadness. The rest of her, too. It radiated off her, pouring all through the room and wrapping around me in dark tendrils, gripping my heart in a cold vise.
I wished she would jump up and hit me, kick me, slice into me with her words. Anything that would mean she was at least acknowledging me. But she didn’t. She just sat there looking utterly defeated, refusing to meet my gaze. I wasn’t sure if she’d even taken in any of what I had to say.
I knew I shouldn’t have followed her and her friends into town after I saw them leaving campus—Trina had made it very clear to me earlier that I needed to give Laney time and space to process the horror of what happened in the auditorium—but I couldn’t stay away. Not without letting her know that it wasn’t me behind the whole thing.
It was obvious why she thought it was me, and I couldn’t blame her for that. She trusted me enough to tell me about the sickening video from her past, and within two days the whole school had seen it. If I were her, I’d think it was me too.
But it wasn’t.
There was a time in my life when I may have considered sinking that low to get back at her, but that ended on Sunday. Now I knew the truth about her, and I would never hurt her like that. Never.
Besides, if I actually was some sort of fucking sociopath who wanted to paint her as the school slut for some reason, I could’ve just sneaked a c
amera into her dorm room last night and filmed her when we went for round three. But I didn’t, and I had no desire to do such a thing, because I cared about her.
I sucked down a ragged breath, and my shoulders hunched as a cold sense of powerlessness flooded through me. One of the worst parts about all of this was that Laney was suffering, and I couldn’t even comfort her because she thought I caused that suffering. It fucking killed me. My fingers ached with the need to stroke her hair and pull her close to me, but a thick, silent wall had gone up between us as soon as she turned to look at me in the auditorium and decided I was guilty.
Trina wasn’t helping, either. She steadfastly refused to let me within five feet of Laney, like a big yapping guard dog. It was the same way she used to be with Lindsay if she ever got wind of someone bothering her. I knew she thought she was just being a good friend, but holy fuck, it was irritating as all hell. I just wanted a few minutes alone with Laney to explain that I didn’t do this shit today.
She had to know I would never hurt her like that.
In the end, though, I guess I had to acknowledge that it was still partially my fault, because I put her on that fucking blacklist all those weeks ago. Someone was defying my orders and refusing to stop tormenting her now, and while they were responsible for today’s vile display in the auditorium, I was responsible for making them hate Laney in the first place. It never would have happened if I didn’t try my best to wreck her life and turn everyone against her.
Yup. My fault.
I closed my eyes and dragged in a deep breath. A thousand little things about Laney ran through my head in an instant. Her smile, her eyes, her laugh. Her floral scent, her soft curves, her plump pink lips. The way she wrinkled her brow in chem class when she calculated formulas, and the way she bit her lip in concentration when she rowed out on the lake. Everything about her was fucking amazing. A brilliant mixture of sweetness, light, and quiet strength.
The thought that I may have diminished that light in her had my chest aching. I’d never wished to turn back time as much as I did now. The things I did to her in the not-so-distant past. The way I treated her. Every mistake I made. All of it was unforgivable, and the guilt and shame threatened to eat me alive.
We may have made up the other day and tried to move past it, but it didn’t matter, because it was all coming back to bite me in the ass now.
Hard.
I fucking failed her. Dismally. I told her I would end the bullying, but it had ramped up instead, completely crushing her.
I opened my eyes, put my hands on the steering wheel and held tight, knuckles turning white. “Shit,” I muttered, still breathing deeply as I tried to get a hold of the whirlwind of thoughts and emotions in my mind.
In the past, I would’ve smashed my hands against the dashboard or whatever other surface I could find until my hands bled. But not now. Not since that talk with Laney on Sunday.
She made me want to do better. Be better. Part of that involved taking control of my anger so I didn’t wind up like my father, because I never wanted to scare anyone the way he scared me and my siblings when we were kids.
Especially Laney.
I knew after the first time we slept together that I was ruined for any other girls, but I didn’t care. I only wanted her, and now that I was sitting here without her, there was a gaping hole in my heart. It was agonizing. I couldn’t stop picturing the defeat on her face in that coffee shop and wondering if this was it for us. If she was going to leave Royal Falls over this morning’s horrendous humiliation, never to return.
Not so long ago, all I wanted was to see her gone from this town forever. Now the thought of her leaving filled me with cold dread. I never expected to feel something like that when it came to her, but it was a real fear.
I shook my head and let out a deep, shuddering breath. The thought of losing her might scare the shit out of me, but if she chose to leave, I would have to support her decision and accept it in the end.
I just wanted her to be okay. To be happy. Even if she never spoke to me again, never wanted to see me again, that would have to be all right, as long as she was all right.
Then it finally hit me, all the feelings I had for her. The desperate need and adoration mixed with the acceptance and strength to let her go if that was what she wanted for herself…
It was love.
I fucking loved her.
And the way she looked at me yesterday… she felt the same way. That was why she was so broken when she thought I did this shit to her today. It wasn’t just from the betrayal and shock of seeing that horrible video posted up for everyone to see. It was from the way she felt safe enough to fall for me despite our fractured past, only to have the rug ripped out from under her almost immediately, leaving her feeling like she was all alone in loving me.
Those feelings didn’t just disappear overnight. Or ever. That meant she had to listen to me eventually. Had to realize I didn’t do this awful thing to her.
My eyes narrowed as my mind suddenly veered off on another track. Until now, I’d been so hell-bent on trying to talk to Laney to convince her that I wasn’t responsible for today’s mess that I hadn’t stopped to consider who was.
The aching pain inside me gave way to red-hot anger, fueling me with adrenaline as my mind raced through the possibilities.
Who the hell hated Laney? And why?
Right now, I had no idea. All I knew for sure was that someone was trying to get rid of her, and they wanted everyone to think it was me behind the effort. They were succeeding with that, too, which meant they were either fucking lucky or fucking smart. Perhaps both.
It had to be someone close to her. Someone who was able to find out about that old video, gain access to it, and wield it like a fucking weapon.
Someone Laney would never even consider.
I drew in a deep breath and clenched my jaw. I might not be able to take every ounce of her pain and make it my own like I wanted to, but I could still help her. I could pour half my efforts into making sure she was safe going forward and the other half into catching whoever the fuck was responsible for today’s shit, so that she’d never have to suffer like this again.
I straightened my shoulders and started the car. After pulling out of the parking bay, I floored it, and the roar of the engine combined with the adrenaline in my veins gave me a tiny high.
Whatever it took, I was going to get to the bottom of this sordid nightmare, and whoever it was who hurt Laney, they were going to wish they were never born when I was done with them.
Even if it fucking killed me, they were going to pay.
4
Laney
“Laney! Are you awake?”
I trudged over to my door and opened it, smothering a yawn. “Hi, Ms. Flores.”
Two large black messenger bags and a blue gift bag dangled from the guidance counselor’s right forearm, and one brown paper bag was clenched in her left hand. “Morning!” she said with a cheery smile. She held out the paper bag. “I brought you breakfast again. There’s a sandwich in there for lunch, too.”
“Thank you,” I said, opening the bag to find a large takeout coffee, a Saran-wrapped sandwich, and a plastic container filled with a heaping serve of muesli, yogurt and fruit salad. “You have no idea how much I appreciate this.”
“Oh, it’s nothing,” she said, waving her free hand with a casual air. “Just doing my job.”
I smiled. “Really, Ms. Flores. You’ve been such a lifesaver the last three days. I might’ve starved without you.”
She set the other bags down on the floor and sighed. “I just wish I didn’t have to bring you everything like this,” she said. “How are you feeling today, anyway?”
I shrugged. “Okay, I guess. I couldn’t sleep much last night, so I got up really early and started working on an assignment.”
“Do you think you’ll be ready to return to your regular classes on Monday?”
I swallowed hard. “I don’t know. I hope so.”
> “Me too.” Her lips curved in a faint smile.
“Any updates I should know about?” I asked.
She shook her head. “We still haven’t made much progress in identifying the student who posted that video in the assembly, but we’re working on it as hard as we can.”
I took a quick sip of the coffee. “I already told Sanders who did it,” I muttered.
“Hunter Connery,” Ms. Flores said with a knowing nod. “Unfortunately, we’re lacking any solid evidence there. And you know how important that is in dealing with these cases.”
“Yeah.”
She cocked her head slightly to the side. “Is there anything you can tell us that might help? I really should’ve asked you sooner.”
“Not really,” I said. “I already told Sanders everything I know, which is that Hunter was aware of the video. I don’t know how he got his hands on it, or anything like that.”
Ms. Flores sighed. “That’s our main issue. We don’t know either. We contacted the authorities to try and find out how the video got leaked, and they’re just as stumped as us. They said there’s no evidence that any of the sealed court files have been accessed lately,” she said. “Of course, most of it is backed up on their private online servers these days. I bet the right investigator or computer hacker could slither in and out without being seen.”
“Probably, yeah.” My eyes suddenly widened. “Oh! I just remembered something. I should’ve mentioned this to Sanders on Tuesday.”
“What is it?”
“A few weeks ago, when I was trying to figure out why Hunter blacklisted me, I was talking about it to Adam and Trina. Adam told me that he saw some photos in Hunter’s room a while ago. Photos of me. When he asked about them, Hunter said something about meeting me at a party and wanting to know more about me, but I left before he could ask me for my number. So he hired an investigator to find out who I was.”
“I see,” Ms. Flores said with a frown as I paused to take another quick sip of coffee.
Shattered Kingdom: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Royal Falls Elite Book 2) Page 3
