Ruin Me: A High School Bully Romance (Trinity Prep Book 1)

by Mae Doyle

  “You’re not going anywhere, Abigail. Now, tell me the truth. Did you hear what we were talking about?”

  Even though I’m usually pretty fast on my feet, I can’t think up any lie that’s going to get me out of this one. “I mean, I heard that you and Quinn are siblings,” I tell her, “but that’s it.”

  She narrows her eyes at me and I can tell that she doesn’t believe a word I’m saying. “Bullshit. You heard it all, I know that you did. Her voice is getting louder and louder as she starts to panic.” Spinning away from me, she turns to Mr. Stanfield. “What the hell are we going to do with her now? She knows everything!”

  “I don’t know about that…” For the first time since I stepped foot in his class, Mr. Stanfield seems unsure of himself. He glances from Madeline’s face to mind, and I get the impression that he’s trying to think of a way that he can talk her down off of the ledge without it coming back to bite him in the ass.

  Good freaking luck.

  As for me? I’m barely able to think. In the past few minutes I’ve learned that not only is my ex-best friend related to my bully, but she’s the bad guy.

  Or girl. Whatever.

  “I really didn’t hear anything. I just want to go.” Even to me, my voice sounds whiney, and I know that there’s no way that Madeline is going to just let me go. Not after she found me hiding and listening in. Not when she thinks that I’m going to hurt her somehow.

  “Fat chance.” She reaches out and grabs me by my right wrist. When I suck in a breath of pain, she turns to look at me, surprise in her eyes.

  “Oh, I forgot! How silly of me. This is your bad wrist, isn’t it?” Her eyes are dark, and before I can try to stop her, she twists her hand to the side, taking my wrist with it. It’s bending back in a way that it probably shouldn’t, and I feel the bones inside rub against each other.

  “Stop!” I scream, falling to my knees. Tears spring to my eyes and start to stream down my face, but I don’t even try to wipe them away. I have to keep her from breaking my wrist, and the only way that I think I can do that is to twist my body and move with her.

  “Why wouldn’t you leave?” She’s screaming now, bending over me so that I can’t move. “Why wouldn’t you just fucking leave, Abigail? None of this had to happen! You did it all to yourself!” Twisting her wrist, she brings me closer to the floor.

  I might as well stretch out on it. There’s no way that she’s going to let me up.

  “I thought that we were friends,” I manage, trying to appeal to her. If I can only make her remember what it was like when the two of us were on the same team then maybe – just maybe – she’ll let me up.

  It doesn’t work.

  She shakes her head, closing her eyes as she does. When she opens them again, I shiver under her gaze. “We could never be friends, not really. Not when you were trying so hard to take something from my brother. Don’t you understand? This isn’t about you, Abigail. You’re just collateral damage. Our lives have been planned out for us from the beginning.”

  That’s the same thing that Quinn told me one time. “You don’t have to do what your parents tell you, Madeline. You can have your own life.”

  Her fingers relax on my wrist, and for just a moment I think that she’s going to let me up, but she twists again, causing a shooting pain that makes me cry out. Even if she were to let go of my wrist right now, I don’t think that I’d be able to use it again.

  Not for a long damn time.

  “That’s not the way it works. That’s not the agreement that we all had. Our lives are better than yours, Abigail, just because we matter, and you don’t. When you met with daddy that one time he told you that if he saw you in his office again that you’d be kicked out. Don’t you understand? That was your chance.”

  “Mr. Britton is your dad?” This makes no sense. “But Quinn’s last name…”

  She sighs, cutting me off, before dropping my wrist. I immediately grab it and cradle it to my chest, trying to think through the throbbing pain. “He’s my step-brother, you dumbass. But mom still made sure that we’d both be taken care of.”

  “You bought your way in here.” I don’t know what to do to make her let me go, but I have a feeling that if I can keep talking then I’ll have a much better chance of walking out of here.

  Madeline rolls her eyes. “Sure, if you call daily art lessons ‘buying our way’. Believe me, Abigail, we paid the price to be here, and now that we’re here, we’re not going to let anyone stand in our way. Apparently, my brother is too much of a wuss to do what needs to be done, but I’m not.”

  Reaching down, she grabs me by the hair, pulling me to my feet. “Have you ever heard of Javier Morgan?”

  Mr. Stanfield sucks in a breath, but Madeline doesn’t look at him. When I don’t answer, she gives me a little shake. “Well, have you?”

  I’m still clutching my wrist to my chest, trying to breathe through the pain. If I had thought that it hurt bad when I broke it the first time, well, I had no idea what kind of pain could come in the future. This is far worse. Every movement of my body sends jolts and stabbing pain shooting through my arm and wrist.

  I could easily pass out, if I weren’t so afraid of what Madeline would do to me.

  She’s waiting for an answer, and she’s not going to let me go until she gets one. I don’t want to respond to her question, but I nod.

  Of course, I’ve heard of him.

  Ever since I heard his name, I haven’t been able to think about anything else. I just honestly didn’t think that it would all come to this.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “Care to tell me where we’re going?” We’ve left a sputtering Mr. Stanfield behind, and although Madeline’s let go of my hair, she now has a tight grip on my upper arm and is pulling me along with her. I don’t think that I could get away from her if I tried.

  “I think you know.” She’s not wasting any breath, which makes me nervous, but the fact that she’s still talking to me makes me think that maybe I’ll make it out of here in one piece. I just don’t want to end up like poor Javier Morgan.

  “No, I’m not sure that I do.” Every step I take sends a jolt of pain through my wrist and I wince. We’ve cut through the quad, avoiding groups of students and the strange stares they give us. It isn’t until we reach the woods and start down a path that I start to get nervous.

  I have a feeling that I know where she’s taking me, and if I’m right…then this isn’t good.

  “Are we going to the clearing?” I’m afraid that we’re going to cut through there and then go to the swimming hole. I think hard, trying to remember if I’ve told her that I’m not a great swimmer, but I can’t remember.

  “Through the clearing.” Madeline pauses and looks back at me, like she’s trying to decide whether or not to tell me the whole truth. She must decide that I’m not worth it, because she shrugs and keeps walking.

  She’s taking me to the swimming hole and she’s going to drown me. I feel like I have a sudden clarity about what’s going to happen. My blood runs cold and I suddenly struggle to put one foot in front of the other.

  Why don’t I run? I stop walking behind her and she turns, measuring me with her stare. She’s always been able to read my mind, and her uncanny ability doesn’t fail her now.

  “If you run, I will catch you. I will kill you, right here in the woods, do you understand? I just want to go somewhere quiet where the two of us can talk. Is that too much for me to ask?”

  “No,” I whisper.

  “Good.” She grins at me, digging her fingers harder into my skin, and pulls me down the path.

  Even as we walk, I can’t believe that this is happening. I can’t believe that Mr. Stanfield would simply stand by and watch me be taken away by her. I can’t believe that my best friend has turned on me and that part of me is wishing that her brother would come and save me.

  It’s fucked up that I’m willing to look for Quinn for my salvation, but I feel like he’s the only one who
could stop her. The problem is that I don’t even know if he would.

  We walk into the clearing and pause as she looks around. It looks the exact same to me as it did the night of the party. I honestly can’t believe that that was just a few weeks ago. Back then, my biggest concern was losing a bet to Quinn. Now, it’s losing my life.

  “Beginning to wish that you had left Trinity Prep?” Madeline smirks at me as she talks and I have the sudden urge to hit her and wipe that stupid smile off of her face.

  I don’t want to give her the satisfaction of knowing that I want to be at home, or in my old high school, so I don’t answer her at first. Madeline shakes my arm as we enter the clearing and doesn’t even pause before continuing down the path to the swimming hole.

  I know what she’s planning. She’s going to drown me down there and there’s not a damn thing that I can do about it.

  “Please,” I burst out. “Please, Madeline, don’t do this!” Even though the thought of begging her to let me go makes my stomach turn, it’s better than the alternative. It’s better than being dead. “I’ll go, okay? I’ll go, and I swear that I’ll never tell anyone about what goes on here. Seriously, I promise. Just let me go.”

  At first, she doesn’t even turn to look at me, and that makes me more afraid than anything. Instead, she sighs and shakes her head, yanking me down the path. The first and only other time I’ve been down this way, I fell, sliding on my ass for a good part of it.

  It’s steep, there’s no doubt.

  Madeline pauses at the top of the incline, obviously considering what she’s going to do. There’s no way that she can make it down the steep part of the path and pull me with her without one of us getting hurt.

  Not that she cares about me, but I have a sneaking suspicion that she doesn’t want me to accidentally take her down with me.

  She turns to me, her face blank. There’s no smile, no friendliness, nothing that would tell me that we were once so close. “You’re going to go down first, Abigail, and I’ll follow. Don’t do anything stupid, okay?”

  “Madeline,” I whisper, but before I can say anything else, my head snaps back as she slaps me. She leans forward, her eyes dark.

  “Don’t ever say my name with your little whore mouth,” she hisses. Instinctively, I cup my cheek, feeling the burning from the impact.

  Madeline was once my friend, but she’s gone. I threatened her way of life and her brother, and that was enough for her to completely lose it. I’ve never dealt with anyone like this before, and it’s honestly terrifying.

  “You can still let me go.” It’s a hail-mary, and I know it, but I’m willing to give it a shot.

  In response, she laughs, throwing her head back and laughing so loud that a bird takes off from the trees near us. “Are you fucking stupid? I can’t let you go now! Not when I’m so close to getting what I want! You have no idea what pressure I’m under, and then you just waltz in here like everything’s find and threaten to ruin it all. You are, by far, the stupidest bitch I’ve ever met, you know that?”

  The last thing I want is to hear how much she hates me, but just like with Quinn, I wonder if keeping her talking will save me. At the same time, I look over her head back to the clearing, wishing that someone would come for me.

  It’s unlikely that that person would be Quinn, but there’s always a chance that he may come through.

  And what? Save me?

  He’s much more likely to hold my head under the water while Madeline laughs.

  Fuck. If I’m looking to my bully to save me, then I really am fucked.

  “Okay, let’s go.” The words surprise both me and Madeline, but she doesn’t waste time standing around waiting to see if I’m going to change my mind.

  “Great. Go.” Reaching out, she shoves my shoulder, and I feel a bit of the dirt shift under my feet. If she’s pushed me too much harder then I would have fallen for sure.

  It’s the only thing that may save me.

  I grit my teeth and dig in my heels, knowing that by not moving she’s going to get pissed. If I don’t move then she’s going to push me again to get me on the path, and that’s when I’m going to have my only chance to get out of this mess.

  “Did you not fucking hear me? Move!” Madeline pushes me harder this time and my feet slip out from under me, just like I knew they would. Instead of falling on my ass, I twist my body and reach for her, planning to pull her down with me.

  My fingertips slide down her legs but I can’t get a grip. When I hit the ground, all of the air knocks out of me and I land on my wrist again, writing in pain.

  It doesn’t matter that I’m slowly sliding down the path.

  It doesn’t matter that she’s walking along behind me, biding her time.

  With my broken wrist I’m really no match for her. I never thought that she was particularly strong, but there’s an anger in her that I can’t hope to beat. I don’t want to keep begging, but I sure as hell don’t want to die.

  Crying out, I push off of the path with my left hand and try to lunge at her, but she sees me coming and is too fast. Her leg snaps out and she kicks me in the chin, throwing me back onto the dirt.

  “Why won’t you just give up?” Her voice echoes through the woods as she screams. If we weren’t so far from the quad, then I could hope that someone would hear me.

  But would they even come for me?

  The realization that I’m about to die hits me like a ton of bricks and I collapse on the ground, breathing hard. My face is planted in the dirt of the path, my chin aching to the point that I can’t even open my mouth. This is not how I ever thought that I would go.

  Not how I thought that my time at Trinity Prep would end.

  I’ve read before that, when you die, your hearing is one of the last things to go. That even when people are on their death beds, they can still hear their loved ones talking to them. It’s always sounded like a bunch of shit.

  But I swear that I hear footsteps coming down the path towards us. And even though I’m not dead, or dying yet, really, I can’t help but think that maybe someone is coming to save me.

  Really, though? There’s nobody at Trinity Prep who would put themselves on the line for me.

  I want to push off of the ground so that I can see past Madeline and look for my savior, but my right wrist is no longer working and my head aches so bad that opening my eyes feels like torture. The dirt in the path is cool and soft, and it feels much better to just rest my head.

  That’s why I don’t see what happens.

  I hear it, though.

  And the sounds that I hear are ones that I’m going to remember for a long time. I’m going to hear them in my nightmares.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  The sick smack of flesh hitting flesh is one that I’ve heard before, but recently I’ve been on the receiving end of it. Hearing someone else get hit is a refreshing change of pace, honestly.

  “What the fuck!” Madeline’s voice cuts through the silence of the woods and I force my head off of the ground, looking up to try to see what’s going on. All I can see from here are her feet, and she takes a step back towards me, obviously trying to get away from whoever is attacking her.

  Another smack and her ankle rolls, slipping on the loose dirt and the rocks, and I watch with horror and fascination from my place on the ground as she slides past me, screaming in pain.

  “Who told you that you could do this?” I know that voice. My blood runs cold when I hear it, but a warmth spreads from my core throughout my body. It’s Quinn, and the fact that he’s here when I’m about to be murdered by his sister scares the shit out of me.

  His feet are next in my line of view, running past me to reach Madeline. Twisting my body, I turn on the ground, not wanting the two of them to get out of my line of vision. I’m not sure what I’m expecting to see, but there’s no way that I want to miss it.

  He’s here.

  He’s really here.

  Even though I know his voice, I wasn’t
entirely sure that I believed it until I saw him. There’s something about the way he holds his body and how he runs, letting me see all of the muscles twisting and bunching under his tight shirt.

  He really is a god.

  I didn’t want to believe him. I’ve fought against it this whole semester, but the proof is right in front of me. When I needed him the most, when I needed Quinn to be with me, not against me, he finally came through.

  Screaming through the pain, I push myself up off of the ground and turn. I have to see what’s going on. I don’t think that Madeline could beat her brother right now, but if she does…

  If she does, then I’m next, and I want to see it coming.

  There’s a bend in the path below me and I watch as the two of them go around it. Madeline is back on her feet, grabbing trees and branches as she hobbles down the path. Quinn marches slowly towards her, taking his time. He’s hungry for justice and he knows that nothing can stop him.

  Using a low branch, I pull myself up and start after them. I have no idea how this is going to end. I hope that Quinn comes out on top, but then what about me?

  The view from around the curve in the path is incredible. Madeline had told me that there was a swimming hole down here, but she’d downplayed it a little. There’s nothing small about it. It’s a huge pond that opens up at the foot of the path. Large rocks surround it, which would make it hard to climb out, and the trees around the perimeter of the pond overhang it, some of their branches dangling in the water.

  It would be a beautiful place if I weren’t so damn afraid.

  Quinn has Madeline backed up to the water. She’s standing on a giant rock facing him, not paying attention to the deep swimming hole behind her. The water is so deep and so still that it looks black, and the thought of people willingly swimming in there makes me shiver.

  “I don’t know what you think you’re going to do, Quinn, but I swear to you, this isn’t going to end well for you or your little slut.” I’m not sure that she even knows that I’m here, but she’s spitting vitriol at him. He doesn’t move away from her. Instead, he takes a step closer.