Here Lives a Corpse: A Dark Bully Academy Romance (Here Lies Book 1)

by C. L. Matthews

  “That’s where I stayed almost all of spring break... What if somehow that’s why I didn’t see Cass until right before he died?”

  “Did they say anything that made you believe they did it?”

  “They said that Emeralds are Student Gov and that the Student Gov is a front for Emerald business.”

  “Does that mean that all along, you were a part of something bigger—something more sinister?”

  “That, or what my brother said still holds true. Emeralds are only meant to be boys. Women aren’t allowed.”

  “Well, let’s just reverse decades of feminism,” she mocks, and I laugh because she’s right.

  “Whatever they’re up to, I need to know. Want to do something extra diabolical?” I ask, hoping she walks away. Something about putting Melissa in danger doesn’t sit well with me, no matter how I look at it.

  “Only if we can have some cool codenames.”

  “What are you?” I balk. “Five?”

  “Come on, Colt! Imagine the fun we’d have being all spy-like.”

  “Or dead. We could be dead.”

  She nods and then makes that oh shit, you’re right face.

  “How close are you and Bridger?” Though I’m asking for one reason, the deeper meaning has everything to do with how they came to the cabin disheveled.

  She blushes, her face pink and embarrassed. I want to be happy for her. For him, even... maybe. I don’t know. Hormones and emotions are confusing, and while I want to be happy for them, it hurts so damn much.

  “Seems like a bit,” I mutter. “Can you pry some secrets out of him?”

  She smiles, thinking about it. Probably how she could, and I cringe. “I can try.”

  Bridger is a tough nut to crack, but seeing him softer with her has me believing maybe I’m wrong.

  “I’ll try on the others,” I say. “Ten and Ross may be the easiest for me.”

  “What if we can’t figure it out?” she asks, a good and terrifying question.

  “Then we’re better off buried six-feet deep next to my brother.”

  Her face pales, and I want to take the words back, but I can’t.

  “Let’s go act like we didn’t just have a freaky conversation. Maybe we’ll even spot the guys.”

  “And make sure to loosen up,” Mel suggests. “You look like you’re on a warpath.”

  “I am,” I muse.

  “But they can’t know that. Just look normal.”

  “Have you seen me?”

  She makes a show out of looking me over from head to toe. “Yeah, I have. So, go be you.”

  “Thanks for the advice, ma’am. I’ll take it under advisement.”

  “Fuck off,” she sasses, giggling as we strut arm in arm into the madness.

  Music blares around us, and the walls flash with strobe lights and color projectors. The Crystallites don’t ever settle for second best. They definitely make sure to use every penny they can to make this place a grand scheme, but Last Friday Night by Katy Perry rings out. I cringe. Why can’t they have some I Prevail or Falling in Reverse? These teens are definitely a lost cause if this is their go-to.

  Mel nods over to the bar, and I let her drag me there. Being rich has its perks, such as hiring a real DJ, a bartender, and probably a drug dispensary.

  She tells him she wants three shots of Jack, and I flinch. The last time I had that, my brother died. Thinking of it makes me super uncomfortable now.

  I ask for whatever is on tap. Cheap beer is disgusting, but at least the glasses are huge and make me appear to be drinking.

  “Can you only fill it a little over halfway?”

  The barista looks at me as if I’m insane but nods and does it anyway. Mel shoots three shots of whiskey down and then hauls me with my already halfway gone beer to the tables.

  Setting down my drink, she pulls me closer.

  “Let’s dance?” she suggests while I scrunch my face in dismay. “Come on, it’s not that hard!”

  “When you have two left feet, it is!”

  “Live a little.”

  Doesn’t she mean die a little? Because that’s what’ll happen. Dying.

  I give in, and she pulls me to the dance floor. The song changes to some Bruno Mars song I don’t recall. Mel breaks out, dancing, acting as if I’m used to this kind of behavior. She’s not the best, but she has fun and puts her all into it.

  It’s loosening me up, and I shake my hips, and we’re just two teens having fun. After three songs, I’m dying. I’m still not used to this much exercise. When I go to tell her I’ll be back, she’s already waving me off.

  When rotating, I come face-to-face with Ten.

  “You ran away, Greenie.”

  “And you’re a dick,” I grunt.

  He grabs my shoulders, making sure to seem gentle, but the look in his eyes is anything but.

  “Dance with me.”

  It’s not a suggestion. He doesn’t give me an out. He’s expecting it, and I’m going to give in like I always do, especially now that I have a goal in mind.

  I let him turn me around, bringing our bodies flush. He lifts my arms, wrapping them around his neck as he starts dancing with me, reminding me what it feels like when our clothes are gone. I ache, my pussy throbbing with the acknowledgment. Hell, my whole body throbs, but that’s more to do with the exertion than the need cloying for attention.

  “Remember the last time you had your arms around me like this?” he breathes into my throat.

  My skin breaks out in goosebumps, chills making my nipples peak.

  “Can’t say I do,” I lie.

  How could I forget? It’s the night my brother was taken from me.

  “You grinded against me while Ross sandwiched you in. Then we nearly all fucked.”

  I hiss when he bites the shell of my ear. That night was both the best and worst of my life. They played me like a fiddle, and I fell for it. Then they band together, and my brother died while Ten fucked the innocence out of me.

  “Can you remember how good it was when my cock sank inside your little virgin cunt?”

  I turn to him, seeing heat in his eyes, but there’s more. There’s regret. Something I feel every day.

  “I remember you walking away,” I say, my voice a lot stronger than I feel.

  “You’re remembering it wrong then,” he bites back. “You’re the one who walked away.”

  “I did not!” I yell.

  The music decides then is a good time to go quiet. Everyone is now looking at me and Ten. When I peer around, the rest of the boys are watching in amusement. All but Bridger who’s nowhere in sight.

  Great.

  Ten grabs me by the waist and maneuvers me toward the stairs, away from everyone. Once he pushes me against the wall, my body shakes with both fear and awareness of the stiffness pressed against me.

  “When Cass died, you forgot our friendship, our pact. You left me,” he parrots.

  “Yet, who didn’t try to find me? Who didn’t come to his funeral?”

  “That’s not fair,” he complains and shakes his head. “You left.”

  “And you could have chased me. Showed up when they buried him! You didn’t. You picked them.” The words are practically spit from my mouth like a used piece of gum.

  “What would you have me do?” he challenges, cupping my jaw. “Pick you when you couldn’t even decide that you only wanted me?”

  That was low. Even for him.

  I push him away from me. “Don’t act like you didn’t get the best of it all. You fucked other chicks and still tried getting in my pants. Guess when the going got tough and you finally fucked me, it wasn’t enough for you.”

  His eyes darken, and he pushes me against the wall again. “I’ll never get enough, Colt. Fucking others isn’t fucking you. My cock aches for what we shared. I haven’t felt pleasure like I did when I sunk inside you. You’re in my fucking soul, baby girl, and, fuck, if that doesn’t drive me nuts.”

  “I’m not changing what I sai
d. You got to fuck me and have your pick of the desperate Arcadia mill. Don’t come at me acting like I chose anyone because it was all of you.”

  He shakes his head. Ever since Ten was younger, he never liked sharing. When we started messing around and I wanted his Pop Rocks or a lick of his spumoni ice cream, it nearly hurt him to share. That didn’t stop me from trying to be his friend and get what I could out of him.

  “I want you to want only me,” he demands.

  “Isn’t that a little unfair since you didn’t only want me?”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. I wanted you so badly I had to escape inside others to stop the urge from pushing myself. You’re all I thought about, and they took the edge off. They meant nothing.”

  “Well, to me, they ruined everything.”

  He grips my throat, rubbing circles over my pulse point. “Jealousy is hot on you, Greenie. My dick thinks so, too.”

  “Fuck you and your stupid dick,” I curse, wanting to slap him.

  He brings his lips to mine. “Isn’t that what you did? Fuck this stupid dick and enjoyed it? But it wasn’t enough, was it? You wanted all of theirs, too. You wanted us all to fuck and love it.”

  I whimper. My body aches with the truth of it, and my legs clench with desire. My heart hammers with a mixture of hatred and absolute lust.

  “That’s why you didn’t choose. Is it the thought of me sinking in you while others do too, or are you a glutton and want us to fuck each other as well?”

  A moan escapes my mouth before I can stop it. A smirk tilts at his lips, and then he’s kissing me. It’s an undertaking, stealing everything, all while I’m suffocating with desire.

  He slips his tongue inside, and then he’s devouring each moan that tries to escape. He’s thrusting against me like he wants to be inside me, and that’s all that I can think about, him pushing inside me while I scream about how much I hate him.

  He breaks us apart and lowers to his knees. “Spread your fucking legs, Colt.”

  I peer down at him and widen my stance.

  “Wider.”

  It’s the cruelest command, and for some reason, that has me wetter. He’s such a prick, but he’s still that sweet boy who gave me his snacks even when he didn’t want to.

  He lifts my skirt, and then his head disappears underneath. His tongue swipes across my barely covered clit. “Still tasting like the devil’s fruit, Kid.”

  “Shut up,” I bark as he’s grabbing my thighs and pressing into me.

  My back bows against the wall, and he laps me up with every breath, his tongue laving, his teeth nipping, his grip on my thighs tightening. I’m moaning and arching into him as he feasts on me.

  “Fuck, Ten,” I moan, and he’s going faster, more aggressive, and then he’s biting my clit and its ring, and I’m done for.

  I thrust against his mouth two times before my mewls echo around us. He lets my thighs go and brings our mouths together. I can taste myself on him, and it’s such a magical experience. He’s not scared to eat me out and then kiss me.

  As soon as he starts undoing his pants, someone rounds the corner. When Ross is standing there, a wave of lust fills me, but his face is full of contempt.

  “Your etiquette is poor,” he mocks Ten. “She likes to be fingered when eaten. Maybe in the future, hit her g-spot, and she’ll actually scream. Don’t worry. Next time, I’ll show you how it’s done.”

  Ten scowls at him.

  Feeling like the moment is over, I lower my skirt, adjusting, then give Ten a brief kiss before walking past Ross and back to the party.

  They’re going to be the death of each other.

  And maybe then, they’ll tell me everything I need to know.

  Twenty-Six

  "Sounds like you were busy over there," Lux muses, interrupting my escape to the main room where all the party-goers seem to be. He's leaning against the wall in the hallway—not quite blocking everyone, yet making sure they know if they pass him, it's purely because he allows it.

  "Surprised you could hear me. You seem to ignore everything I say."

  "Regardless," he snubs, waving a hand. "I'm sure you've got loads of questions, Corpse. Become an Emerald, and we'll tell you everything."

  "Even about Cass?"

  He narrows his eyes on me, his face going through a barrage of emotions. The pinch between his eyebrows seems painful. When they soften and he settles on indifference, I already know my answer.

  "Get bent, Lux."

  "You keep saying that, and I'm going to take it as an invitation."

  Letting out a large sigh, I attempt to sidestep him. His hand clamps onto my wrist, his face still impassive as fuck, making me worry about his intentions. For one second, I feel at ease because he's Lux and he's never hurt me. Then it passes, remembering how he and the rest decided to use sex and orgasms to distract me from the truth.

  "Let me go," I growl, my voice harsher than I've ever heard. Lux isn't the end game. Ross and Ten are. They're the weakest links, the softer ones, the two who actually care about me. Lux is too much of a loose cannon. He'll ruin me. As dumb as I've been, I would let him, not realizing until far too late to find out what his intentions are.

  Instead of him listening to me and letting me go, his hold tightens. Lux's eyes glimmer with something akin to deviousness, and he pulls me closer to him, until we're nearly flush.

  "Why would I ever let you go, Corpse? Have you forgotten? You're mine."

  "You keep saying that," Jordan butts in, coming from somewhere in the mix of people, boxing me against Lux, his front to my back, "but she's ours."

  Lux scoffs. "You're new here, Walker. This one has been mine far before anyone else's. Isn't that right, Col?"

  Col. That fucking nickname. Swallowing the dryness, I shiver. Lux may not have taken my virginity, but he took a lot more.

  “N-No,” I mumble, trying to argue my point but failing miserably. Lux makes me flustered, ever since we met, and he continues to unravel me like a broken thread, fraying away, strand by strand.

  “You see, Walker, I took her first orgasm. Wrenched it from her pale little body while she screamed for more.”

  Jordan pushes into me further, his hard erection at my back. What is it with these guys? Do they all share? Most guys would have a pissing match to distinguish who can have who, but these five... they seem to poke the beast inside each other, but want to defile me as a whole.

  “Is that so?” Jordan asks, his voice carrying a tone of intrigue.

  My body rubs against Lux from Jordan’s movement, and he lets out a low hiss.

  “Yup, she bit me so hard I bled.”

  My face ignites at that, warming to the point of feverish. My body shakes a little with shame, and I look away. Lux grips my chin, raising it so we’re eye-to-eye. His eyes are hot, dissecting while undressing me at the same time.

  “Hottest moment of my life. Left a scar, and seeing the red on her lips when she was done? Pretty sure that was my number one spank bank image for weeks.”

  He tells Jordan all of this while looking directly into my eyes. There’s so much intention in his gaze, and it withers a shiver out of me.

  “She’s wiggling like she wants a rematch, DeLeon.”

  “Bet she’d cream all over if you watched us too.”

  I close my eyes, and Lux bites my cheek, forcing me to yelp and push away.

  “Whatcha say, Corpse? Ready for me to fuck some life into you?”

  “Never,” I grumble.

  He smirks, his dimple coming through with the gesture, making him all the more undeniable. “Never is far too long, Colt. My cock thinks we should renegotiate.”

  “You should stop talking to your dick, Lux. Pretty sure it’s unhealthy.”

  He full-on laughs, amusement lighting his features. “Fine. If I kiss you and you moan, you have to let me make you come.”

  “If you kiss me and I don’t, you have to walk away and end this bullshit.”

  “I feel like I’m losing this g
ame,” Jordan pipes in. “How about if both of you moan, I not only watch, I touch?”

  “Fuck off, Walker,” Lux hisses, his voice wary. Is he worried? Does he not want Jordan involved?

  “Shut up and kiss me,” I growl, wanting to end the standoff they’re having and get this over with.

  Lux takes no time to grip my face, closing the distance between our mouths. Swallowing back a moan that already wants to seep from my lips, I struggle to keep my heart beating at a safe rate. While one of his hands continues to hold my jaw, his other falls off.

  It isn’t until I feel it under my skirt that I squirm. He cups my sex possessively, rocking into me. Can he feel how wet I am? It’s not only from Ten being between my legs five minutes ago. Being around all of these guys has me desperate for a taste.

  When his fingers part my pussy, I lose my battle and moan. His teasing doesn’t stop there, though. He rubs his finger up and down my slit, avoiding the one place that’s begging for attention.

  Right before we break apart, I feel Jordan reaching around me, and until I hear the groan from Lux, I don’t realize what has just happened.

  “Looks like you both lost,” Jordan muses when our lips part. He chuckles when I scoff.

  “He cheated.”

  Lux bites my bottom lip, sucking it inside his mouth. “There are no rules when fucking you is on the line, Corpse.”

  “Don’t worry, princess. He lost, too. You’re both mine.”

  “Shit,” I breathe, realizing I’m about to have a threesome with two guys I definitely hate more than I like, all while I’m supposed to be worming information out of Ten and Ross. Not that they’re forthcoming when I’m not fucking around with them.

  How have I not seen them pass?

  Are they still in the stairway?

  What the hell are they doing?

  Lux twists me into Jordan’s arms, and then Jordan’s tugging me to a room I’ve never been inside of before. When the door opens, shock hits me square in the chest.

  “W-Why does this look like it’s Cassidy’s room?” I choke on my words.

  Cass had two rooms? He shared his one with me at this tower, just a few floors higher. Before, it struck that me he never hooked up with anyone. Thank God. But maybe this room was his to do just that? It looks almost identical to the one he has at home. The walls are a medium gray, a tint too light for dark and a shade too dark for light. Posters of his favorite bands line the walls, along with a couple posters of his favorite celebrities.