Shattered Legacy : A Dark Bully Romance (Gravestone Elite Book 1)

by Caitlyn Dare

  “Spit it out, old man,” Cade jokes, “we have a party to get to.”

  Oh goodie, the after-party. I can hardly wait for that.

  “Ah yes, of course.” Phillip clears his throat. “Cade Kingsley, on behalf of Quinctus, please step forward and accept Miss Mia Thompson as your prosapia.”

  I blink, certain I must have misheard him.

  “Thompson?” Cade balks at the same time as Brook shrieks, “What the fuck?”

  “Mia.” The girl next to me jabs my ribs. “It’s you,” she whispers. “You need to go up there.”

  “W-what?” I croak, unable to process what’s happening.

  But then Phillip steps forward, commanding silence. “The calix has spoken,” he says more firmly this time, as if there’s no confusion, no mistake. “Mia Thompson is Cade’s prosapia.”

  Oh, fuck.

  1

  Bexley

  "Come on, it's a party," Alex whines. "Our first college party."

  "I'm not interested," I mutter, resting back on my bed and staring at the ceiling in the hope he gets the idea and fucks off to the party without me.

  "But it's a Cade Kingsley party."

  "And that's meant to persuade me? He's a prick," I say with complete honesty.

  Alex and I started classes at Gravestone University on Monday, and I can't help feeling like I've pissed Kingsley off, because every time I'm anywhere near him or his little crew they throw me some serious shade.

  I've never even spoken to the guy, so fuck knows what his issue is. All I do know is that he won't want me there.

  "Granted, but his parties are legendary. At least, so I’ve heard."

  "Still not making it sound appealing. I've got weed, and I've got vodka. I'm all set for the night."

  "You're a boring motherfucker, you know that, right?"

  I cringe at his words. I never used to hide like this. I used to be the life and soul of any party. But that was then. This is now, and things are different.

  "I don't care. I just want to go to college and then get out of this weird-ass town. I don't even know why I'm here." Of all the places my parents could have sent me after… after I fucked up and shamed them in our old town, they had to send me here. I know they wanted me out of the way, but it's just bizarre here.

  "You owe me one,” he smirks, “in case you've forgotten."

  "How'd you figure?" I ask the one and only person I've connected with since I was sent to Gravestone nine months ago.

  Despite my desire to keep my head down and just get through each day, Alex, the persistent fuck, won't leave me alone. He seems to think we're friends. I just wonder what's wrong with everyone else in this godforsaken town for him to want to hang out with me.

  "I went to Sterling Bay with you for that wedding."

  "Yeah, although I don't remember asking you to go." Although having Alex with me to face the mistakes of my past wasn’t exactly a bad thing. Not that I’ll ever tell him.

  "Maybe not, but I did anyway."

  "Jesus," I moan, scrubbing my hand down my face and across my rough jaw. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"

  "Not a chance, my friend. Not a chance."

  I push from the headboard and scoot across the bed. "It had better be a really fucking good party."

  "It will be. I've got no doubt."

  I pull my shirt over my head and drop it into the laundry basket before dragging on a clean, black v-neck t-shirt and shoving my feet into my sneakers.

  "If it's lame, I'm leaving," I warn Alex as I follow him out of my dorm room and toward the parking lot.

  We walk past my BMW, and I come to a stop at the passenger side of his gunmetal grey Porsche. The second the lock beeps, I pull the door open and drop down, the new car smell assaulting my senses almost immediately.

  "Where is it, anyway?" I ask as he backs out of his space and shoots down the road, leading us away from Gravestone U’s campus.

  "Just you wait and see."

  I sit in silence as Imagine Dragons blasts through his speakers, thankfully stopping us from having a conversation. The sun is beginning to set behind the trees, casting everything in an eerie orange hue. It's about right for this town.

  I always thought my hometown, Sterling Bay, was an odd place with all the money and privilege. I didn't appreciate just how normal it actually was until I was shipped here to live with my estranged uncle.

  From the second I stepped foot in Gravestone, it was obvious I wasn't welcome. It almost felt like everyone already knew who I was, despite the fact that I'd never met any of them before in my life—including my uncle, Marcus.

  The whole thing was crazy, but I know I only have myself to blame.

  Senior year, my life was spiraling and I lost control. I thought I had it all. I thought I was untouchable. Sadly, I learned the hard way just how much of a lie that was.

  With one bad decision, I lost everything.

  I let out a sigh which Alex hears over Yungblud playing through the sound system, and he turns it down.

  "You wanna talk about it?"

  "When have I ever wanted to talk about it?"

  I've been in Gravestone almost a year, and not once have I said a word about how I found myself here. I have no idea what Alex thinks about the whole thing. He knows where I came from, but that's about it. He must know I did something bad, seeing as my whole reason for attending James Jagger’s wedding with Uncle Marcus a few months ago was so I could apologize to Remi Tanner, my childhood best friend.

  My heart twists as I think about her. When we were kids, Remi was my everything. My best friend, the girl I thought I was destined to spend the rest of my life with. Our fathers had the money and the power, and we'd have made the perfect couple as we took the reins from our parents and their places in Sterling Bay. But much like everything else in my life, I took her for granted and fucked it all up.

  I'd never met anyone else like her. Anyone who's been able to see past the mask I pull on and accept me for who I really am.

  But just like my parents, I pushed her too hard as well.

  I don't blame her. How I treated Remi after her life imploded was unforgivable. But this time away has taught me a lot of things. It’s allowed me to see all of my mistakes, and I knew as soon as I overheard Uncle Marcus talking about James' wedding that I needed to be there to at least try to put things right.

  I guess I should have been prepared for her to turn her back on me and refuse to hear anything I had to say. It's the least I deserved.

  It still fucking stung, though.

  My nails dig into the denim covering my thighs as my mouth waters for some alcohol, or something stronger. I shake my head. I promised myself I was done with all that shit. Vowed I was going to put the drugs, the excessive drinking, and the need to lose myself in anything or anyone I could get my hands on, behind me.

  I've been offered the chance at a new life here, I need to grab onto it with both hands, not completely fuck it up like my old life. But I’m not going to lie, it isn’t easy. This town freaks me the fuck out.

  "What the hell is this place?" I ask as Alex pulls up to a set of massive black wrought iron gates lined with gold spears.

  "This…" he says, gesturing to the vast space before us as the gates begin to open. There's a wide road disappearing over a hill in the distance, with nothing to see but trees and the ominous shadows they create with the low sun burning through them. "This is Cade Kingsley's domain."

  "His parents’ place?" I ask as he slowly moves forward.

  "One of them, but his parents don’t live here. He and the rest of the Electi do."

  The Electi?

  I roll my eyes. Because of course Kingsley and his merry band of fucking idiots need a weird nickname to exert their power over everyone.

  "Why am I not surprised,” I groan. The King of Gravestone couldn't live on campus or in a normal kind of house. "What's the deal with them, anyway? It's like they own the place," I mutter, although I'm not sure if it's
to Alex or just myself.

  Sure, I've heard all the rumors about this town. Apparently, there are some weird rules and rituals some of the families live by, but mostly, I think it's all bullshit. This is the twenty-first century; no one lives like that anymore. It's just school gossip, kids trying to make their lives sound more exciting than they really are.

  Yes, Cade Kingsley's family and a handful of others are insanely wealthy, but part of some weird cult?

  Unlikely.

  The car continues forward for a few minutes. I stare out the windshield, squinting, trying to see a building, anything other than darkness.

  "Are you sure this is a good idea?" I ask, my eyes locking on billowing smoke rising through the trees on the horizon.

  "Yes, it's time to embark on college life, Bex. Stop being a fucking pussy."

  "I'm not, I'm—"

  He glances over at me, his hazel eyes narrowing on me. "Being a pussy? Everyone who is anyone is going to be here tonight. Cade probably won't even know you're here."

  "I'm not scared of Cade fucking Kingsley," I mutter.

  "I never said you were."

  "I'd just rather stay off his radar." My shoulders lift in a dismissive shrug, and Alex chuckles.

  "From the way he's been looking at you this week, I'd say you're already firmly on it."

  Yeah, I was worried you might say that.

  I stretch my legs out and rub my hands on my thighs, the only thing I can do to expel the pent-up energy within me and the cravings I have to grab something to make my anxiety abate.

  Alex pulls off to the left and we find ourselves in what looks like a car showroom for the rich and famous.

  The parking lot at Sterling Prep used to be impressive, but it's nothing compared to the rides most of the kids from Gravestone U have. It's ridiculous and just proves that many of the families in this town have more money than sense.

  There are a few kids loitering around, giving us a clue—along with the smoke—as to where the party is.

  "Come on, then. I need a drink, and maybe a girl or two." Alex winks at me and takes off down a track between the trees.

  I jog to catch up with him, the scent of the bonfire burning in the distance filling my nose.

  After a couple of minutes, the trees part and a vast clearing emerges. There are kids everywhere, some sitting on fallen trees, others surrounding trucks that have somehow made it this far into the undergrowth, and in the distance is a vast lake, its waters inky black with the twinkling stars above reflecting in the stillness.

  "Here." When I look back to Alex, I find him holding a bottle of beer out for me. "Christan and Troy are over there," he says, nodding to a couple of the guys he introduced me to when I first started at Gravestone High. Much like Alex, I've kept them at arm's length, but unlike him, they've allowed me to do it.

  Troy doesn't notice our arrival—he's too busy with Maisie Godiva. He's got her thigh around his waist as he grinds into her, pressing her against the tree at her back. I watch them for a little longer than I probably should as his tongue pushes into her mouth and his hand disappears under her shirt.

  "Ignore him, he thinks he’s God’s gift to women. Ain't that right, Troy?" Christan shouts, but the only response he gets is Troy flipping him the bird over his shoulder.

  The song on the huge speakers someone has set up changes to The Weeknd, and I tip the bottle to my lips, looking out around at everyone, most of whom I don't recognize. I have no idea if they're all Gravestone students, but knowing Cade and his boys, I can't imagine they allow anyone here they don't want. Not that I can see them or their little posse who follows them around like lost sheep.

  I think back to my life in Sterling Prep. Captain of the football team and their star quarterback, I had one of the best throwing arms in the state. But I was no better than Cade Kingsley. I thought I was a god, that I ruled the school and everyone in it.

  How little did I know.

  One mistake, and I was thrown away like nothing more than a piece of trash.

  As the minutes tick by, more drinks emerge, and eventually, I start to feel a bit of a buzz in my veins as I sit with Alex, Christan, Troy—who's now unattached himself from Maisie— and a few other people I've been introduced to but can't recall their names.

  "I'm so fucking ready for four years of this," Troy announces, bringing his lighter up to the blunt hanging from his lips. "Booze, weed, and pussy, wet and ready for the taking."

  Alex shakes his head at him.

  "Told you," Christian says. "Fucking dog."

  With my own blunt between my thumb and forefinger, I push from the hard ground we're sitting on and gesture toward the trees. "Going for a piss."

  I stumble over some roots as I melt into the darkness, walking for longer than necessary. But the promise of a few minutes of peace is too much to deny. I want to party. I want to enjoy myself, but I'm not sure the majority of the people who are here are the people I want to do it with.

  They all want to be them. They want the chance to be invited into Kingsley’s inner circle, whereas I'm more than happy staying in the shadows and doing what I need to do until I can finally make my own decisions and embark on my own life, as far away from Sterling Bay and Gravestone as I can get.

  When I'm finally alone, I take a piss against a tree before taking another hit and continuing forward when something catches my eye. Walking out from the shadows, I find I'm at the other side of the lake. I must have walked farther than I expected.

  Movement at the water's edge startles me. Looking up, my breath catches when I find a girl sitting with water lapping at her feet. "Shit, I'm sorry. I was just…" I trail off, instantly forgetting my words when she turns her huge, dark eyes to me.

  "It's okay," she says softly. So softly, in fact, I have to get closer just to hear her properly over the rustling of the trees behind us. "I just needed—"

  "Some peace."

  "Yeah. It can get a bit overwhelming. You want to…" she gestures to the ground beside her, and before I know what I'm doing, I lower myself down.

  "You're in my economics class, right?" I ask her, recognizing her as the quiet girl who tries to hide at the back.

  "Uh… yeah."

  "Why do you sound so shocked that I would have noticed you?" The words spill out.

  "Habit, I guess. I often get overlooked."

  "I really doubt that…" I don’t only recognize her from class, I recognize her from high school.

  "Mia.” She smiles, and I swear it’s like being hit with lightning. “Mia Thompson."

  I want to say I remember her name, but I don’t. But I didn’t exactly embrace senior year at a new school.

  "Well, Mia. Mia Thompson.” A smirk plays on my lips. “I'm Bexley. Bexley Danforth."

  I hold my hand out to her, and I feel like an idiot for the move—that is, until she throws her head back and laughs. Then, everything I’ve been holding inside me for months—hell, for years—seems to settle. If only for a few seconds.

  2

  Mia

  He has nice eyes.

  That’s the first thing I notice about the guy who sits beside me at the edge of the lake. I vaguely recognize him from the couple of classes we’ve shared. Not that I’ve really been checked into life since the semester started.

  I came to Gravestone U thinking it would be my ticket to freedom, to break free from this town. But my life is no longer my own.

  I’m Cade Kingsley’s prosapia.

  I belong to him now, and come Monday, he and the Electi will start to sow the seeds that will mark the end of my freedom.

  If I survive until then.

  Brook Moore has already made it more than obvious I’m the enemy. Like everyone else at the Eligere two weeks ago, she is sworn to silence. No one talks of what happens at the ceremony outside of the verus bloodline. But it hasn’t stopped her letting me know how much she hates me.

  It’s one of the reasons I fled to the lake. At least down here I’m not forced to en
dure her death stares or cruel barbs.

  I snatch up the bottle of vodka I swiped off the counter before I left Cade’s house and take a long pull.

  “Whoa there,” Bexley says. “Things must be bad if you’re necking neat vodka.”

  “It was the first thing I grabbed.”

  It burns, but I swallow the urge to shudder.

  “Want to talk about it?”

  “I…” I let out a resigned sigh. “I really hate this place.”

  “Kingsley’s house? Seems pretty sweet to me.” He glances around.

  “Not the house… Gravestone.”

  “Want to know a secret?” He nudges my shoulder. “I’m not a big fan either.”

  “You moved here last year?” I can remember him starting Gravestone High last winter. We were in the same class, but he kept himself to himself, and I didn’t exactly put myself out there. “God, I miss high school,” I blurt out.

  “You do? Because it kind of sucked ass for me.”

  My eyes slide to Bexley’s, and his crinkle with amusement. “At least in high school all this is a distant dream.”

  “All this?”

  “Yeah… the big life decisions, responsibilities, the pressure… If I’d known what I know now…” I exhale a steady breath. “I would have done a lot of things differently.”

  “Oh yeah?” He plays along, but I can tell from his cloudy eyes that he doesn’t really understand.

  There’s a big commotion from somewhere behind us, and I freeze.

  “You okay?”

  “I just don’t want anyone to come down here.” Especially not Cade.

  He’s given me my space until now, but I know come Monday that will all change.

  Dread fills my chest, and I take another large gulp of vodka. “You want?” I thrust the bottle at Bexley.

  It’s a bad idea, sitting out here, getting drunk at the water’s edge, but there’s something thrilling about it too. Like I’m breaking all the rules as a giant F-you to Quinctus and their stupid traditions.