Cruel Betrayal: A Dark Bully Romance (The Kings of Crestmoore Academy, Book 2)

by Elle East

  “Don’t shut me out,” he said suddenly, and I looked at him in surprise. “I’m starting to fall—”

  He stopped himself. The tension was clearly visible on his face, like he had so much he wanted to share with me but was holding himself back for some reason. There was a chasm between us we couldn’t seem to cross to get to each other.

  “Listen,” he started again. “I was waiting for the right time to ask you this but… will you be my girlfriend?”

  I was taken aback. That was not what I thought he was going to say.

  I opened my mouth to answer. I wanted to say yes. Every part of me wanted to say yes because this was all I had wanted for so long, but…

  “I’m sorry, I can’t right now.”

  He looked crestfallen, and it broke my heart.

  I wanted to say yes, but I couldn’t. Something didn’t feel right. Why hadn’t he asked me before? It felt like he was only asking me now as a desperate attempt to keep me out of the Kings’ grasp. If he truly wanted me to be his girlfriend, he wouldn’t have waited until we were fighting to ask.

  “Is it them?” he asked bitterly, motioning to the three guys across the room sitting uncomfortably.

  “I—” I was about to deny it, but then I thought about it. Was it?

  I was telling the truth when I said I didn’t trust them and wouldn’t again. They may have saved my life—more than once—but that didn’t mean I was going to forget everything they’d done to me. But had they planted seeds of doubt in my head about Dean? Would things have felt this “off” if they hadn’t told me to question the trust I had for him?

  I suddenly became terrified I was falling back into their trap.

  “I wanted to talk to you about this for a while,” I started.

  I decided to just be honest and hopefully get some perspective—though I knew Dean was the last person in the world to be neutral on the subject.

  “The Kings told me I can’t trust you.”

  His eyes went wide.

  “And you believed them??” he asked in disbelief.

  “No, I’m not saying that. I don’t believe them, but I just wanted to talk about it. Things feel ‘off’ somehow. I don’t feel like I know much about you—for example, I just found out like a week ago you are kinda British.”

  He looked away suddenly, and I could tell he was pissed off.

  “You can trust me,” he stated firmly. “I would never hurt you.”

  He looked back at me, and his amber eyes were the color of fire. “They are just playing mind games with you, can’t you see that? They are trying to separate us so we’re weaker, so that we won’t get close to what they are hiding. They are trying to break us up.”

  “I understand,” I said. “I don’t believe them. I just wanted to tell you what they were saying about you.”

  After a tense moment, Dean turned back to his coffee. I picked up my fork to finish my lunch, but I wasn’t hungry anymore. I swore I wouldn’t give the Kings any more power over me, but now they were messing up my relationship with Dean.

  I looked over to where they were sitting. The rest of the students in the dining hall had gone back to their conversations, but they kept sneaking glances at the disgraced Royalty and giggling. The Kings looked truly humiliated. Good. That was only a taste of their payback.

  Chapter 24

  Even though Dean was firmly against it, I let the Kings start walking me to my classes. Dean tried to be with me as much as possible so I was never alone with them. All of us hanging out together was the most awkward situation in the entire world.

  When we would get a brief moment alone, Dean and I discussed how we should proceed, but we were drawing a blank. We were at an impasse and neither of us knew what the next steps of our investigation should be.

  Like the Kings, Dean wanted me to leave Crestmoore. He said the situation had gotten out of hand, and it wasn’t safe for me anymore. I refused to even discuss it. There was no way I was leaving, and he eventually gave up.

  The next couple of weeks were uneventful, and I was grateful for the break. There was no chance for anyone to try anything to me again because I always had at least two large bodyguards protecting me at all times.

  Our weird little group walked the halls together, and I saw the looks other students gave us. They wondered how I had managed to get not one, not two, not three, but four, the four hottest guys in school, to hang out with me. If the situation had been different, I would have felt proud.

  I had slowly convinced Dean that having the Kings around us was actually an advantage, but he still hated it. His lip would curl whenever they came around. They didn’t like having him around either, and the four of them often had glaring matches. I would just roll my eyes and continue on to class, and they’d quickly catch up.

  We were coming close to the end of March. The weather outside was still like winter, but we’d get the occasional semi-warm day which told us spring was coming. I was in chemistry class doing a lab with Cecily and Ava.

  Dean was taking the morning off because he had another bad headache. Archer and Grayson had walked me to class. When we’d walked in, they’d gone to the back of the room while I took my seat at the front. I saw Ava and Cecily eyeing the three of us, but that wasn’t unusual. Most people gave us weird looks wherever we went. I had to admit that we were a weird sight.

  “Pass me that beaker,” I said to Ava and reached out my hand.

  She passed it then mumbled, “Right back to your old ways, huh?”

  “What?” I asked, genuinely confused.

  She straightened up and looked me right in the eye. “The Kings. You’re right back to hanging out with them again, after everything they did to you last year. How many times are you going to get burnt before you learn?”

  I was surprised, but quickly said, “I know.”

  “How much is it going to take, Maddy, before you give them up? They are nothing but trouble for you,” Ava continued, and I saw Cecily nod.

  She was trying to keep her voice down so no one would overhear, but I could still feel the intensity behind her words. When Cecily looked at me, I could tell she felt the exact same way as Ava. I was touched. I had no idea they cared about me this much anymore.

  “I know, believe me, guys, I know. But it’s not that simple. I—” But then I realized there was nothing I could say. Like last year, I couldn’t tell them my true motives. I couldn’t tell them the real reasons for why I was hanging out with three guys who had tortured and betrayed me so badly.

  “Like I know they saved your life and all, but that doesn’t get rid of all the bad stuff they did to you last year,” Cecily added in a whisper.

  “I know, but it’s not like that. I… can’t tell you why though,” I finished lamely.

  I could see the concern on their faces—but also the judgement. They were judging me. I felt a wave of loneliness wash over me. I wanted so badly to be able to tell them why, but I couldn’t. I realized what they were saying was probably how everyone else felt. The whole school thought I was an idiot. Maybe they weren’t wrong.

  I had no clue who I could trust and who I couldn’t. And it was making me feel like I was going crazy.

  Just because the Kings and I were hanging out again, did not mean I liked them or that I was going to pretend we were friends. I tried to say as little as possible to whichever of them was walking with me. With Archer and Grayson, it was hard to stay silent—especially Grayson. They would both try to talk to me, but Grayson in particular would tease and irritate me until he provoked a reaction. Because of all that, I preferred walking with Brett. With him it was shockingly easy to stay quiet.

  Until one day when we were walking back from class. Brett and I had the same class, so we left together and started down the hall. Dean’s class was in a different wing, so he wasn’t with us.

  We walked in silence. His large frame moving quietly next to me. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable, but there was a lot of tension between us in general.
<
br />   I suddenly realized that despite the fact I hated him, he had still payed for my mom’s cancer treatments, and I never properly thanked him.

  “Hey,” I started, and he looked kind of surprised I was talking all of a sudden after weeks of silence. “It doesn’t change anything, but I don’t think I ever thanked you for paying for my mother’s treatments—even if my stepdad stole the money and used it to buy drugs. That was kind of you, so thanks.”

  I didn’t like thanking him, it went against my instincts, but in this case he deserved it.

  “Don’t mention it,” he said.

  There was another thing on my mind. I figured I had nothing to lose, so I just asked.

  “Do you actually like Victoria?”

  He snorted. “Does anyone?”

  Then he turned to me. “But if you ever tell anyone I said that, I’ll deny it.”

  “She seems to like you,” I pried.

  He had always been quiet, but when we were younger, I was able to get him talking—and I guess it was still true because he continued.

  “She wants Archer. I’m her second choice if Archer’s parents don’t force him to marry her.”

  I thought that over for a second.

  Since he was in a talkative mood, I asked more.

  “Why did she hate Jenny so much?”

  “Because they were cousins.”

  “What?!” I shrieked, and Brett winced. “Why would she hate her own family?”

  He just shook his head, and I could tell I wasn’t going to get anymore out of him.

  I was getting so frustrated with the Kings and their cryptic sentences. They would give me crumbs and then walk away when I asked for more, meanwhile telling me they weren’t the enemy and that I could trust them.

  “You guys keep saying you’re on my side. That everything you did was for my own good, and that you’re not the real enemy, but you can’t tell me why. You all keep saying I don’t understand, but then why won’t you explain it? How can I understand when you’re keeping me in the dark?”

  “Because we could get kicked out of the Royalty and the Crown Society.”

  I groaned in frustration. “What’s so great about those damn things?”

  “It’s safer for you if we are in them.”

  “Why??”

  I was beyond frustrated. The three of them were speaking in riddles. They were half-explaining things then stopping, and it was driving me crazy.

  Brett went silent. I knew him, and I knew I wasn’t going to get anything else out of him at the moment.

  I finally said, “You don’t trust me.”

  It wasn’t a question, more of a statement.

  “Do you trust me?” he shot back.

  “No, of course not,” I answered.

  He just gave me a look with his piercing hazel eyes that said everything.

  “We especially don’t trust your boyfriend,” he said.

  “He’s not my boyfriend.”

  “Could have fooled me,” he said bitterly.

  Was Brett… jealous? No way. He couldn’t be.

  Chapter 25

  I immediately made an excuse and ditched Brett. With my new crumb of information, I ran off in search of Grayson. If there was one weak spot when it came to the Kings’ secrets, I knew it was going to be him. The most chatty one.

  I found him outside in the courtyard talking to a couple of girls. I didn’t hesitate; I marched right up to them.

  “I need to talk to you,” I said to Grayson.

  The two girls gave me dirty looks, but I just told them to piss off and leave us alone. Their eyes opened wide in surprise, then they turned to Grayson to see what he would do. I was sure they expected him to defend them, but his eyes lit up in arousal and narrowed in on me. He was keenly interested in what I had to say.

  “You heard the lady,” he said. “Piss off, girls.”

  They walked away in a huff, shooting daggers at me with their eyes—but I didn’t care and barely noticed.

  “I like it when you’re forceful and claim what you want. Claim your man,” he joked, his smirk firmly on his lips and eyes sparkling.

  He growled and moved closer to me. His hard body brushed against mine for a brief second before I pushed it away.

  “You are not my man,” I said. “I want information.”

  His face immediately fell, and I could tell he was losing interest. He leaned back against the dark red bricks of the building and put his hands in his pockets.

  “Were Victoria and Jenny cousins?”

  His bored, hooded eyes popped open comically fast. Then they narrowed as he asked, “How did you know?”

  “So it’s true.”

  “Why are you asking? Who told you that?”

  “Brett.”

  He looked surprised, and a bit annoyed.

  “The guy says like one thing a year, and this is what he chooses to say?” He laughed while shaking his head.

  “Why did Victoria hate her so much?” I asked insistently.

  “Listen, let’s get you inside, you’re freezing,” he said as he noticed my chattering teeth and shivering body.

  It was still basically winter, and I was dressed only in my uniform when I had spotted him out here.

  He tried to take my arm to lead me inside, but I pulled it away.

  “No. Tell me why first. Enough games. If you truly want me to stop hating you, then you’ll start by being honest with me.”

  I could tell he was softening slightly.

  “I deserve to know, Grayson,” I added and watched his resolve crumble. “I deserve to know why.”

  “What does any family fight about?” he asked with a heavy sigh.

  I just looked at him blankly.

  “Money,” he said as if I was dumb.

  I scrunched up my brow in confusion.

  “The less people in line, the less stand between you and an inheritance.” He shrugged. “It’s just greed, Maddy. Good old-fashioned greed.”

  “Are you saying that Victoria killed Jenny so she would get Jenny’s inheritance? But Jenny was poor?”

  “She was, but her extended family was rich. That’s why Victoria wanted her gone.”

  “But surely Victoria is closer in line than Jenny to the Hampton’s fortune?” I asked.

  Jenny was a dirt-poor scholarship student, meanwhile Victoria Hampton came from one of the richest families in the United States. It didn’t make sense that Victoria would feel threatened by Jenny over inheritance, even if they were cousins.

  “Yeah, but we aren’t talking about the Hampton’s fortune. We are talking about another related family’s money.”

  “Whose?” I asked impatiently.

  He paused and seemed to be wrestling with something internally. Finally, he decided.

  He looked at me very seriously and said, “The Addington’s.”

  Chapter 26

  “What?” I asked in complete disbelief. “Victoria and I are related?”

  I felt like my world had just turned upside down. Grayson looked around and saw people staring at us.

  “Come on.” He grabbed my arm and forcefully lead me inside.

  The warm air that greeted us inside the building was a welcome relief, but I was too distracted to notice. Grayson dragged me through the halls. He seemed to be looking for something.

  Finally, he found it. He pushed me into an empty classroom and then locked the door behind us.

  He turned to me and said in a serious tone I hardly ever heard him use, “We know Victoria wants you dead.”

  I shook my head and mumbled, “This is insane.”

  “And we know she’s dangerous. We aren’t sure about everything that happened with Jenny, but we know Victoria did something. We don’t know if she hired someone or if she did it herself—or if she just bullied Jenny so badly that she took her own life. We aren’t sure because Victoria didn’t tell us—for obvious reasons.”

  He walked over to me and grabbed my arms. He looked so serious—
almost scared. Normally his tattooed fingers digging into my skin would have been painful, but I was so numb I barely felt it.

  “Maddy, we wanted you away from here so you’d be safer. We wanted you to leave. That’s why we tried to scare you away last semester.”

  “You bullied me like crazy,” I cut in.

  His jaw clenched like he was remembering some painful memory. There was pain in his dark eyes as he looked into mine intensely.

  “Yeah, we did, but we were always there to make sure it didn’t get out of control.”

  I flashed back to last year. Whenever I was getting bullied, it always seemed like they were around. I thought it was because they were the ones doing the bullying and so they wanted to see their handiwork in action.

  “We wanted you to leave, that was why we were so awful to you. We couldn’t let Victoria know we were on your side. She’s already suspicious of us and could jeopardize our position in the Crown Society. We need to stay members because otherwise we’d be working blind in trying to protect you.”

  I felt like I was spinning out of control. Was everything I thought I knew a lie?

  “We are risking everything to protect you. Our empires, our futures, everything—but I don’t give a shit about that.”

  He took a deep, shaky breath to regain control of himself.

  “Why don’t you just go to the police with what you know about Victoria?” I asked in a small voice.

  “We can’t take her down until we have proof. If we went to the police now, she wouldn’t be charged with anything. You’d be in just as much danger, and we would have lost our advantage.”

  “Why didn’t you warn me?” I asked.

  His mouth dropped open in indignant disbelief.

  “We did! We warned you countless times! We couldn’t tell you explicitly because if Victoria knew you knew then you’d be in ten times more danger. We had to make her think we were on her side. We had to make her think we were just tricking you the whole time.”