Kings of Quarantine: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep Book 1)

by Caroline Peckham

  I pushed myself to my feet with a snarl of rage, pacing away from her as I threw my gloves into the corner of the room.

  “He filmed you without your permission?” I growled. “And he distributed it? He can be prosecuted for that, he could go to juvie, he could-”

  “He didn’t distribute it,” she said, looking up at me from her spot on the floor like she was surprised to see how angry I was. “He just cut some of the audio around and played it on loudspeaker to make it sound like I’d known about my dad and the Hades Virus. I guess he’d tricked me into saying certain things he could use for that. No one else has a copy as far as I know.”

  “So he didn’t actually video you?” I asked, finding some relief in that at least.

  She bit her bottom lip like she didn’t want to say the next part, but I pinned her in my stare until she was forced to speak.

  “He did. He just didn’t share the video publicly.” That blush was lighting her up from the inside out and my pulse tumbled over itself as I looked at her. “But he played it for me and Kyan to watch at The Temple-”

  I damn near shouted at that admission but I held my tone down a notch. Just. “If he showed someone else a sex tape that you didn’t give permission to-”

  “I told him to play it,” she admitted, shaking her head as she looked down at her gloves again. “He was clearly going to anyway and I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of begging him not to. Besides, at this point it seems like one of the less awful things they’ve done to me. And Blake’s on that tape too, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want it getting out into the world any more than I do.” She shrugged and that motion alone was enough to make me see red. I ground my jaw and moved to open the door for her.

  “Why don’t you go shower?” I said abruptly. “I’ve just remembered something I should be doing.” Like tracking down Blake Bowman, confiscating his phone, deleting that tape and then smashing the fucking thing for good measure. Maybe smashing his face a bit too. I bet he wouldn’t find it so easy to trick girls into screwing him if his pretty face was all messed up.

  Tatum got to her feet and walked towards me with a frown. “I thought we were going to talk about-”

  We both looked up as she was interrupted by Headmaster Brown’s voice coming over the tannoy. “Students and staff, this is an urgent message from your headmaster. We have had a confirmed case of Hades Virus amongst the kitchen staff-”

  Tatum inhaled sharply at his words and my heart leapt. In amongst all of this lockdown bullshit and the news stories about cases spreading rapidly around the world, I hadn’t even considered it making its way up here. Not to the bubble of boredom, stuck in the middle of nowhere boarding school for the elite. But with that one simple sentence, everything suddenly changed. It was no longer this thing that was happening to other people, but a monster which had made it to our door.

  “The staff member in question has been taken to a hospital for treatment and as a precaution, every staff member who came into contact with her has been sent away from the school. Their housing and work areas have been closed and will be thoroughly sanitised. But as a further precaution, we have been advised to isolate every member of this school where you are at this moment in time for forty eight hours starting now.” Tatum’s hand found mine and I gripped her tightly as she stared up at me in horror, begging me to make this news a lie with her eyes. But in all honestly, the reality of this situation was bad. Really fucking bad. Bad enough to make me consider grabbing a bag and running the fuck away from here for a moment before I realised that I couldn’t do that without abandoning her to the Night Keepers and every twisted plan they had for her. But the last I’d heard the death rate for people who caught this thing was around sixty percent. And those weren’t good odds at all.

  “To be clear,” Brown continued. “That means that you are to stay where you are for forty eight hours. We need all of you to text your location to the admin office so that guards in protective gear can deliver food rations for you and whoever is with you. During this time you need to pay careful attention to your temperature and if you feel you are displaying any signs of the virus then you need to report it immediately. The CDC has announced that symptoms will present within forty eight hours of contact with an infected source, so this should be long enough for us to ensure that we all remain safe. Anyone found to be flouting the forty eight hour isolation rule will be instantly expelled and delivered into the care of the local police who will enforce your isolation outside of the school. During this time, you are advised to remain six feet away from anyone else around you and avoid physical contact at all costs. I will keep you updated of any further information that comes to light during this time and I thank you in advance for your cooperation.”

  The announcement cut off and I was left standing beside Tatum Rivers as she clung to my hand and looked up at me like I might have some magical way to make this whole thing okay.

  “What do we do?” she asked, biting down on her bottom lip.

  “Simple,” I said, as I took in the fear that was dancing in her eyes. She needed me to help her banish that fear and I was willing to give it a shot. “We hang out here for two days having a slumber party. We don’t have any pillows for a pillow fight but I’m sure we can find a few secrets to swap while we do our mani pedis.”

  Tatum laughed and I smirked at her for a long moment before releasing her hand. “Six feet back, remember?” I teased, but I meant it too. I needed to put a bit of distance between us anyway. Sharing this vendetta against Saint Memphis was making me think about her as more than just another student and I couldn’t let those boundaries blur too much. Especially as she just so happened to have pretty much every quality I tended to look for in a woman. Total badass, smart mouth, long blonde hair and a body…that I refused to look at. I was still her teacher. And she was still too young for me. Six years might not have been much in any other circumstance, but in this particular one it might as well have been fifty.

  I could go to prison for doing any one of the things my body wanted to do with hers. And with the kind of money people like the ones who ran this school had, I might damn well rot away in there for the rest of my life.

  Tatum nodded like she was a good little girl and backed away from me until we were following protocol and keeping six feet apart. It seemed pretty pointless now though. We’d just spent over an hour rolling around on the mats together so I was gonna guess that if either of us had it we’d already passed it on.

  “C’mon,” I said, “Let’s see who else we’re stuck with for the next two days.”

  Pearl Devickers and her little squad of stalkers had been using the gym equipment before we’d headed to the sparring room and I could only hope on all that was holy that they’d fucked off before now. Tolerating them during class was bad enough, let alone being stuck with them for two entire days.

  Just be gone you pantie dropping perverts.

  I was willing to guess that Pearl had a thing for fucking the staff because she seemed to believe that her money would get me hard eventually. But I’d honestly rather cut my dick off than put it into any of the entitled bitches who attended this place.

  “I’ll go check the pool,” Tatum announced as I headed towards the gym.

  My gaze caught on her ass as she went and I cursed my eyes for looking. Okay, so maybe I’d rather cut my dick off than put it into ninety nine point nine percent of the bitches at this school.

  Fuck.

  I pushed the door to the gym open and looked around at the darkened space with a frown. My gaze caught on the clock and I raised an eyebrow as I saw that it was gone eight. We’d been sparring for much longer than I’d realised and the student access to this building had ended. The staff were allowed solo use of it after eight, but it didn’t look like anyone had taken that opportunity up. Most of them were too lazy to keep fit in their spare time anyway so I wasn’t all that surprised.

  “Hello?” I called, giving it a moment before accepting that no on
e was in here.

  I headed back out into the corridor and pushed open the door to the pool just as Tatum pulled it from the other side and we almost crashed into each other.

  She stumbled back and I caught her waist as she grabbed my biceps.

  My lips parted, but for a moment I didn’t say anything and neither did she.

  “Sorry,” I said just as she blurted, “Thank you.”

  She smirked at me and I pushed my tongue into my cheek.

  “I didn’t find anyone in the gym,” I said.

  “There’s no one here, either,” she added.

  “So…we’re alone in here?” I asked, realising that I was still holding her up and I quickly let go. “For two days?”

  “Unless you want to get arrested,” she teased, her hands slipping from my arms slowly, her fingertips skimming along my flesh. I shouldn’t have liked the way that felt. And I didn’t. I refused to.

  “Not again,” I joked and she looked at me like she wanted to know whether or not I meant that. I didn’t. I’d gotten into a bit of trouble with the cops in my teenage years, but I couldn’t afford to get a criminal record or I wouldn’t have been able to take this job. And ever since Saint’s family ruined mine, revenge had been pretty much all I’d worked for.

  “Six feet back, remember, sir,” Tatum said as she started backing up and I rolled my eyes at her, though I really should have been the one to remember that.

  “I wouldn’t want you any closer than six feet anyway, Rivers.”

  Her smile slipped a little as I used my teacher tone and I ignored the twinge in my gut that said I felt bad about that before turning away from her.

  “We might as well grab showers and get out of these sweaty clothes,” I said as I headed for the men’s locker rooms. “And into some clean ones,” I added hastily, glancing over my shoulder at her.

  Tatum’s expression tightened at the mention of clean clothes like there was some issue with that, but she didn’t say anything about it before heading off into the women’s locker room.

  On my way, I quickly sent admin a text to let them know that we were out here, wondering how long it would take them to organise supplies and deliver some food to us.

  I made quick work of showering and pulled on a fresh pair of grey shorts and a black tank. My hair was wet, but I didn’t have anything to style it with so I just tucked it behind my ears and left it at that.

  I headed to locker twelve in the corner of the room and pressed my thumb to the lock on it to open the door. I often stayed late here to work out after my training sessions with students so I had a healthy supply of snacks stashed.

  I grabbed my gym bag and tossed in the protein bars, nuts, seeds, dried apricots, protein shake mix, raisins, rice cakes and a jar of peanut butter I kept there.

  Dammit, this is a boring fucking bag of food to offer her.

  I normally just took the punishment of my healthy eating habits without complaint during the week so that I could focus on my workout goals and then I just had cheat days on the weekend to help keep my sanity. But right now, I was looking at the most boring fucker of a feast I’d ever seen and taking it to a girl whose eating habits were already being ruined by those douchebags who claimed they owned her.

  She was getting two days of freedom from those assholes and I wanted to offer her better than sugar free peanut butter on rice cakes.

  My gaze fell on the bottle of Jack Daniels Kyan had turned up here with the night of the initiation party. He’d barely had a mouthful of it and had stumbled out of here without it after I’d kicked his ass around the boxing ring enough times to satisfy his demons. I’d tossed it in here with the vague intention to throw it out, but maybe we could make use of it now.

  Not that I was about to offer a student alcohol.

  I shook my head to dismiss the idea, closed the locker and took a step away from it. Then I remembered the fact that I was going to be stuck here with Tatum Rivers for two whole days on our own and we’d have to figure out how to make the time pass somehow. And it would sure go a lot quicker with a shot or two to help it speed by. I turned back to the locker, yanked it open and tossed the bottle of Jack into the bag. I didn’t drink as often as I used to anyway. I deserved a night off from being a teacher.

  The corridors were dark and I glanced out the front of the building towards the sky which was falling into shadow.

  It was already closing in on nine so all I had to do was make it through a few hours with her and we could go to sleep. And with our plans for the Night Keepers to occupy us, that should be easy enough.

  “Tatum?” I called out, wondering where she’d be.

  She didn’t reply, but the blue night lighting in the pool room caught my eye through the frosted glass doors so I decided to try there first.

  As I pushed the door open, Tatum’s voice caught my attention and I looked up to see her sitting on the far side of the pool with her feet in the water. She was wearing a red skater dress with a halter neck and a plunging neckline and the effect of it paired with the spill of her honey blonde hair made my breath catch.

  “I don’t know what you want me to do about it, if I try and sneak back and get caught, they’ll ship me off to juvie – though maybe that’s a better option at this point,” she growled and it didn’t take a genius to guess who she was on the phone to. I strode around the pool towards her and she didn’t seem to notice me coming as she spoke again. “No, I’m not alone, I’m here with-”

  I snatched the phone out of her hand and glanced at the caller ID to see King of the Fuckwits displayed on the screen.

  “Who is this?” I barked even though I already knew.

  “Saint Memphis. Is that you, coach?”

  “Bingo. Are you hassling Miss Rivers into leaving the safety of her designated quarantine area?” I asked in a dark tone.

  “No, sir,” he said, but I could smell the bullshit on his breath from here. “Me and the boys are just worried about her being alone up there.”

  “Well, she’s not. She’s with me. I’ll ensure she stays far away from anything and anyone, and if all goes well you can have a nice long chat about it over dinner in two days.”

  Saint hesitated for a long moment before releasing a sigh. “What will it take for you to bring her to us?” he asked with that I’ve-got-enough-money-to-buy-the-world tone of his.

  “A cure to the Hades Virus would be great,” I replied. “Failing that, we’ve got shit to do and you’re wasting battery life.”

  I cut the call and it felt so fucking good to shit on that asshole’s plans that I barked a laugh.

  Tatum gaped at me as she realised what I’d done, but a huge smile took over her face a moment later.

  “He’ll be losing the fucking plot right now,” she laughed and I grinned as I dropped down to take a seat beside her, letting my feet hang into the water like hers.

  Her phone started ringing again as the King of the Fuckwits called back and Tatum bit her lip nervously. I held the phone between us, looked right into her big blue eyes and switched the fucking thing off.

  A moan escaped her that I swear was actually sexual as her eyes lit with a wild energy.

  “Holy shit,” she breathed.

  “Yeah, I’m a real bad boy,” I teased her. “Hanging up on people and switching phones off like a fucking gang mobster with a death wish.”

  Her laughter rang out again and I found myself wanting to hear more of it.

  “Is that a sleepover bag?” she asked, her eyes falling on my gym bag.

  “Better…assuming you like post workout, high protein and healthy carb type snacks.” Which no one did, but it was better than going hungry.

  She smiled as I pushed the bag towards her and she started rummaging within it.

  “So what’s with the getup?” I asked her, my gaze sliding over the red dress again. “You off to prom or something, princess?”

  That blush lit up beneath her freckles and she tucked a lock of blonde hair behind her ear. “I
t’s actually one of Saint’s strange forms of torture,” she said and I frowned in confusion.

  “How?”

  “He…kinda took my suitcase hostage when they moved me in with them. And then he bought a bunch of clothes for me with weirdly accurate knowledge of my sizing and he picks out everything I wear.”

  “Everything?” I asked, wondering why he wanted her dressed up like this. Although as my gaze raked over the way the material clung to her, accentuating each and every inch of her body, let alone the fact that the colour suited her perfectly, the reason was pretty obvious.

  “He even buys my underwear. And it’s like, the best underwear I’ve ever owned, it’s like a second skin. Even the panties-”

  “It probably isn’t appropriate to discuss your panties with your teacher,” I reminded her as I tore my gaze away and looked out over the huge pool.

  The water here was considerably warmer than in a public pool. Rich little darlings couldn’t risk a chilly ass when they wanted a swim after all and the warmth of the water kissed my legs as I kicked them lazily.

  “Is it appropriate to drink with my teacher then?” she asked as she found the bottle of Jack. “Or are you planning on having a party for one and making me sit out in the corner?”

  I suppressed a smirk as I reached over and took the bottle from her before twisting the cap off and taking a long drink. I swallowed five times, sinking a quarter of the bottle as I felt her eyes on me.

  Ain’t no party like a lock in, right?

  “There is absolutely no way in hell that I’m giving you alcohol,” I said firmly, keeping my eyes on the far side of the pool and fighting off a laugh as she huffed irritably.

  I placed the bottle down beside her without a word and waited as I continued to look out over the water. Within two seconds, she’d snatched it and pressed the bottle to her lips.

  My heart leapt at the idea of what I’d just done. I was being really fucking reckless with this girl, but some part of me just didn’t care. I’d been stagnating here, losing hope of bringing my vengeance down on Saint Memphis like I’d worked so hard to do and she’d swept in to my life, called me an asshole, kicked my ass in the boxing ring and singlehandedly made it possible for me to do what I’d come here to do in the space of a few weeks.