Cruel Academy: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Princes of Ravenlake Academy Book 2)

by Nicole Fox

  Everyone is looking at Bumper and me in the middle of the room, and J.C. is trying to start a slow clap that no one else is joining in on.

  “Come on, guys. That was epic,” he says.

  Noah shakes his head. “It was pathetic. It almost makes me feel bad for him.”

  “For Bumper?” Haley sneers.

  “I said almost.” Noah looks at Bumper with disgust and sighs. “The guy gives me serious secondhand embarrassment.”

  The Hell Princes look nervous, as though they’ve only just realized they were brought here to fight Bumper’s battle and not for any actual Hell Prince business.

  “Well, boys,” I say, directing my comment to the bikers. “I’m going to give the police a call and let them know about an underground fighting location used by the Hell Princes, so if you want to save your lackluster leader, I’d suggest you scoop him up and fuck off. Otherwise, the police will be picking him up in about ten minutes.”

  J.C. barks out a laugh and tries to start another slow clap, but no one joins.

  Levi glares at him and then starts walking towards Bumper before he realizes no one else is following him. He spins around. “We have to get Bumper out of here.”

  “Do we?” one of the bikers asks. “Because I don’t think we have to do anything.”

  The other Hell Princes nod in agreement.

  Then, one by one, turn towards the exit and leave.

  I pull out my phone and wave it in Levi’s direction. “You’re free to wait with Bumper until the police arrive. I’m sure he’d appreciate that.”

  Levi chews on his lip for a nervous second before he huffs out a sigh and jogs after the rest of his friends.

  As soon as he is out of sight, I slip my phone back into my pocket.

  “I’m not going to call the police but let’s get out—”

  A slow clapping begins for a third time. J.C.’s jaw is clenched, his lips pursed tight in a kind of intense admiration.

  “Enough,” I groan, making my way to Haley and ignoring him. “Don’t be stupid.”

  The clapping grows as Noah joins in and then Haley, all of them fighting back laughter as they cheer for me.

  I roll my eyes and wrap an arm around Haley’s shoulders, steering her towards the door. “You all are ridiculous.”

  She nuzzles into my side and hugs my midsection. “And you, Caleb Wilson, are a really good guy.”

  48

  Haley

  Finn’s house is dark and cool, but I can feel Caleb’s warmth just behind me as he leads me into the entryway and closes the door behind us.

  Caleb drove J.C. and Noah home and then took me back to the park to get my car from where I’d left it before being kidnapped.

  The responsible thing would have been to go home, but I felt too worked up.

  Plus, there was so much on my mind that I didn’t think I’d ever get to sleep without talking to Caleb first.

  He suggested we reconvene at Finn’s house, and I agreed.

  “Are you all right, by the way?” Caleb pulls out two water bottles from the fridge and hands me one. “I can’t believe I haven’t already asked.”

  I give myself a quick physical appraisal. “Fine, I think. Just a few scrapes on my legs where John and I grappled.”

  I still can’t quite believe I won the fight.

  I knew I’d learned a lot from Caleb and become a lot stronger than I used to be, but John had existed as this kind of boogeyman in the back of my mind throughout it all.

  Even though I was training to one day fight him if necessary, I never actually thought it would happen.

  And I certainly never thought I’d actually win.

  If anything, I imagined I’d run away like I did with Levi and the other Hell Prince in the park. The idea that I could call John out and beat him in a hand-to-hand fight was impossible.

  And yet, I did it.

  I beat John.

  Caleb rounds the island and pats one of the barstools for me to sit. I jump up onto the high chair, my legs dangling underneath me. Caleb’s brown hair is dark in the dim light, and his brows furrow in concentration as he takes my leg in his hands and examines the surface-level scrapes along my shin.

  They stung earlier, but now they don’t hurt at all. Especially because Caleb’s hands are on my body, and I can’t seem to focus on anything else.

  Every brush of his fingertips sends an electric pulse zinging through my body. My heart flutters in my chest.

  I fold my hands together in my lap to keep myself from grabbing his face and kissing him.

  He might want me to. I mean, he did invite me back to Finn’s house rather than send me home, and he showed up to rescue me and defended my honor.

  But we haven’t talked about how I betrayed him.

  How I told his friends about his secrets even after swearing I wouldn’t.

  That isn’t something that can just be forgotten. We have to talk about it, but I’m not sure how to bring it up.

  Caleb lowers my leg gently and leans against the side of the island. “You were right.”

  “Yeah, just some scrapes. I don’t even need to bandage them.”

  “No.” Caleb shakes his head. “I’m not talking about that. I mean … you were right about my friends … about everything.”

  I guess that is one way to bring up a difficult topic. Facing it head-on, who would have thought?

  I’m so startled by the sudden change of conversation that I don’t say anything. I just stare at Caleb, trying to find the words.

  In the meantime, he keeps going.

  “I was mad at you for blackmailing me, but if I’d just told the people in my life the truth, none of it would have mattered. I put myself in that position, and I only blamed you because I was embarrassed.” Caleb curses under his breath. “Just like fucking Bumper.”

  “No!” Finally, the words come to me, and I reach out and grab Caleb’s hands, pulling him closer to me. “Don’t say that.”

  “It’s true,” he whispers. “You were right about me. About everything. I’m a violent coward. I’m scared to let people get close to me, so I fight and then plaster a smile on my face so they can’t see anything is wrong. Just like Bumper being left alone in that auditorium, I’m alone because I lied to my friends and then was so angry at you for seeing the real me that I pushed you away, too. I ruined everyth—”

  Before he can even finish the ridiculous sentence, I slide off my chair, grab his face, and pull his lips down to mine.

  Caleb tastes like heaven, and his lips are warm and commanding. Even though I took him by surprise with the kiss, he recovers quickly and wraps his hand around my side, gripping my waist.

  Relief explodes inside of my chest. The kiss feels like my first breath of fresh air in weeks.

  Like stepping into the sunshine after too long spent in the cold.

  I’d resigned myself to the possibility that Caleb would never forgive me. That our relationship (or whatever it was) would never progress beyond secret hookups and training sessions.

  The thought devastated me, but I’d managed to hold myself together and continue on.

  But now I know the truth—I was heartbroken.

  Until this very moment, my heart had been broken, and I’d been carrying on as though nothing was wrong.

  I’d been pushing through the pain without even realizing it.

  And now, suddenly, tears are flowing down my cheeks.

  Caleb brushes his thumb across my face and freezes. He pulls back. “Haley? What is it?”

  “Nothing, nothing.” I laugh at myself and wipe at my face. “I’m happy.”

  Caleb lowers his face, his brown eyes peering into mine. “You’re crying over me?”

  “I guess so.” I laugh again and shake my head, trying to clear the lust out of my thoughts long enough to get this out. Because Caleb needs to hear it. “You’re violent, Caleb. There’s no denying that.”

  “This isn’t going how I thought it would.” He tries to pull his
hand away, but I catch it and press it to my skin.

  I grab his other hand and do the same until he is hugging me against him.

  Until our bodies are flush, and I’m looking up into his face.

  There is a fine layer of stubble across his chin, but his lips are just as full and pouty as ever. The sun has painted freckles across his nose and light streaks through his hair. I reach up and run my fingers through the silky brown locks.

  “You’re violent, but you use it to help people. You take care of your friends and your mom and … me. John only ever used violence to take care of himself. He used it to hurt people for his own amusement. You aren’t anything like him.”

  Caleb tilts his face into my hand, pressing his cheek against my palm. “I don’t know. I got a lot of amusement out of knocking him out tonight.”

  I smile. “I think we all did. Even the Hell Princes.”

  “They really thought I was going to call the cops, and they didn’t even stay to help him.”

  “He isn’t worth helping.”

  Caleb’s mouth quirks up on one side, and his caramel-brown eyes turn dangerously molten. “But I am?”

  The way he is looking at me leaves me in danger of spontaneously combusting. I roll my hips forward until our lower bodies are molded together and sigh.

  “As far as I’m concerned, you’re worth everything.”

  This time, Caleb lowers his mouth to mine, and it is crushing. Like a physical blow, the power of his kiss knocks the wind out of me and makes my legs wobbly, but Caleb wraps his arm around my lower back and holds me to him firmly so I can feel his excitement against my thigh.

  I’m not entirely sure how it happens, but he gets his hands under my ass, and suddenly my legs are wrapped around his waist, and we are on the move.

  I don’t care where he is taking me—down the hall, to another dimension.

  So long as he doesn’t stop kissing me.

  A door opens and softness envelops me as Caleb lays me back on the softest bed I’ve ever felt in my life.

  Oddly, despite all the places we’ve had sex in Finn’s house, on a bed is not one of them. Something about having him on an actual mattress makes the whole thing feel more official.

  And I suppose it is more official.

  For the first time, Caleb and I don’t have any secrets—from each other or anyone else. We are perfectly ourselves and it makes everything so much better.

  Caleb stops kissing me only long enough to unbutton my shorts and slide them down my legs. While he does that, I grab the hem of his shirt and yank it clumsily over his head.

  Layer by layer, we strip down until there is nothing between us.

  I slide my hand down his chest, through the strip of hair at the base of his stomach, and lower still until he curses in my ear as I stroke him.

  “Fuck, Haley.” He bites my neck and growls. “How do you do it?”

  I stroke him again, relishing in the way his eyes roll back and his lips part on an exhale. “Do what?”

  Caleb reaches between us and yanks my hand away, pinning it roughly above my head. Then, he kisses a line from my neck downward, across my chest, eventually settling over my breast. His tongue swirls around my nipple before he sucks me into his mouth.

  I arch my back to give him more access, and I’ve nearly forgotten the question when he releases my hand and drags his own slowly down my arm, both tickling and tantalizing me.

  “Ruin me,” he whispers against my skin, his breath hot and heavy. “How do you ruin me every time?”

  I hope the question isn’t one he actually wants an answer to because I’m still trying to work out the details myself.

  I have no idea how I managed to end up rolling around in bed with Caleb Wilson, but as long as he is tasting every inch of my body, I don’t have any plans to jinx it.

  He grabs a condom from the bedside table and rolls it on, but before he can hook his leg back over my hips, I sit up and direct him down onto the bed. Caleb doesn’t resist.

  I smooth my hands down his chiseled chest, admiring the flat plane of his stomach, as I straddle him.

  Then, taking a firm hold of him, I position myself over him, press him gently to my center, and then slide down.

  It’s a slow, toe-curling descent. One that leaves us both breathless by the time our bodies are pressed together.

  But I lift myself up and do it again.

  And again.

  And again.

  “You feel so good,” I moan, propping myself up with my hands on his chest.

  Caleb grabs my waist and begins thrusting upward, meeting me halfway until we are both desperate and needy for release.

  When Caleb slips one of his hands to the front of my body, sliding it down between us to massage my center, my body spasms and lets go. It’s a flood I can’t contain, and I pulse around Caleb no more than once before he gives in to his release, as well.

  I turn liquid, collapsing onto Caleb’s chest in a puddle, and he strokes his hand down my back and holds me for a long time.

  Until our hearts slow to normal rhythms.

  Until the light coming through the window blinds is bright moonlight rather than the gray glow of dusk.

  Eventually, I kiss his chest and sit up.

  “I am sorry, you know.”

  “About that? God, please don’t be. I’d like for it to happen many, many more times.”

  The promise of more is stirring even though I’m entirely spent at the moment. “No, I mean, I’m sorry about telling J.C. about the fights. About bringing him to the school. I shouldn’t have.”

  Caleb presses a finger to my lips. “Yes, you should have.”

  “But I promised you I wouldn’t, and—”

  “And I was drunk off my ass and about to do something stupid,” he finishes. “You took care of me when I couldn’t take care of myself, and I’m not mad at you. There’s nothing to forgive.”

  I stare down at him, admiring the beautiful slope of his nose and the hollows of his cheeks. I’m not sure I’ll ever get tired of staring at Caleb’s perfect face. “You’re kind of beautiful. Did you know that?”

  “Are you trying to woo me?”

  His mouth curls into a lazy smirk at the throwback to that joke from what seems like a lifetime ago.

  “I might be,” I say, biting back a grin.

  Caleb flips me onto my back and crawls over me. He licks his way across my stomach, giving attention to each of my breasts before he finally makes his way back to my mouth.

  “Well, if that’s the case, it is absolutely working.”

  I thought I was sated, but when it comes to Caleb, it seems as though my well is never entirely empty.

  It’s not empty when the headboard is banging against the wall as he moans my name.

  Or when he presses my palms flat to the wall and stands behind me, gripping my hips as he thrusts us both to another orgasm.

  When it comes to Caleb Wilson, I can never have enough.

  Epilogue Part 1

  Caleb

  One Month Later

  “Brunch was not part of the deal.”

  Haley looks devastating in a white summer dress with buttons down the front, a pair of brown leather boots, and my denim jacket tied around her waist.

  Looking like that, she could convince me to go to a thousand brunches with her.

  But that doesn’t mean I won’t complain about it.

  She plucks my menu out of my hands and rolls her eyes. “Why do guys think brunch is a girl thing? You can order black coffee, bacon, and eggs. As masculine as it gets. What is there to complain about?”

  I pick up the edge of the tablecloth and frown. “I think it’s all the lace. And the tea lights.”

  “Fine. Next week we can go to that converted firehouse. J.C. told me the waitresses slide down the fire pole from time to time. I’m sure you’d love it there.”

  I lean across the table and grab her chin, tipping her face to mine. “I’d much rather you slide down th
e fire pole.”

  Haley bites back a smile. “You’d rather I slide down another pole, I’m sure.”

  Suddenly, I’m not hungry anymore. My desire has switched very quickly from food to a buffet of a very different kind.

  “Stop giving me sex eyes at breakfast.”

  Haley has a warning in her eyes, but her cheeks are flushed. She is feeling it, too.

  J.C. and Noah have concluded that Haley and I are in the honeymoon period of our relationship, but it has been a month since all the shit went down with Bumper, and I still can’t keep my hands off her. It is becoming a problem.

  “When is your dad expecting us?”

  I sigh. “Well, that is one way to kill the mood.”

  “If that doesn’t work, I’d be happy to talk about my grandma. We promised your mom we’d visit her at the nursing home soon. I wonder how her neighbor’s toe fungus is doing?”

  “Diabolical,” I hiss, trying not to laugh. “I told my dad we’d get there around three. So we have two hours before we need to leave.”

  “Okay, but don’t forget we have to swing by my house first. I told your dad I’d bring him the next book in that series he likes, and I forgot to grab it this morning.”

  Haley and my dad have only met three times, but they are getting along swimmingly.

  Meanwhile, my own relationship with my dad is still a work-in-progress. Yes, we both apologized and agreed to work on it, but that doesn’t mean it has been easy. There’s still a lot of tension and, because we both have nasty tempers, arguments crop up now and again.

  The difference now is that we don’t cut each other out.

  Even when I’m mad, I take his calls. And even when we end a visit yelling at each other, he shows up to my games.

  It helps that Mom and I have moved into a smaller house. She finally gave up on maintaining her prior lifestyle and has accepted that we are a single-income household.

  Without a mansion-sized mortgage hanging over our heads, there is a lot more money for the necessities. I don’t have to fight, and she doesn’t have to bartend.