Hate Me: A Dark Reverse Harem Bully Romance (Weissmore Academy Book 2)

by Nora Cobb

  I trained hard, honing my body to the best shape possible.

  Mainly because when I did party, I did it hard and it took me a hell of a long time to recover. Working out was a way for me to get away, to forget who I was for a little while and pretend that I didn’t have the fucking weight of the world on my shoulders. My father hated it, which made me want to do it more just to spite him.

  My mother didn’t care what I did as long as I didn’t embarrass the family name and ruin our royal bloodline. She held onto the fact that we were direct descendants of the queen herself like a lifeline and now it was going to pay off with Anna and her will. I hadn’t lied. I was the only one out of the three kings that was a true sovereign, or at least the closest anyone was going to get unless Anna suddenly married the son of the queen.

  I doubted that was going to happen.

  No, I had come into play at the fucking right time. I really did want to help Anna, but I also had my own family’s future on the back burner, waiting until the right moment that I would cross that off my list as well.

  It was only going to be a matter of time. I just had to wait it out.

  “What the fuck, Royce?”

  I grinned to myself, taking my time before I faced him. Gee, that hadn’t taken long at all.

  Finally turning around, I found Arthur in the doorway of the gym, his arms crossed over his chest. “What?” I asked, grabbing a towel so that I could wipe the sweat off my face and arms. “Am I holding you up from something?”

  “What are you doing with Anna?”

  Ah, there it was. I knew it wouldn’t be long before lover boy found out that I had moved into his grounds. “Did you ask her?”

  “Stop playing fucking games with me, Royce,” Arthur growled, baring his teeth like he was some sort of alpha male. “I want to know what the hell you are doing with her.”

  I smiled smugly, knowing that every question I evaded pushed the dagger just a bit tighter in Arthur’s gut. “At this moment I haven’t done anything but given her what you couldn’t.”

  “What I wasn’t willing to give her,” Arthur replied, stalking into the gym. I kept my stance casual, but inside I wanted to tear him limb from limb until he understood that I was the only sovereign in the room.

  In this whole fucking academy.

  “I had my reasons,” he stated, coming within a few feet of where I was standing. I could easily attack him from here, the first flying punch catching him off guard and giving me the advantage. Arthur was solid muscle from his time on the polo field, but I was agile as hell and could dance circles around him. “None of them that she will ever understand.”

  I laughed harshly, shoving my hands in the pockets of my warm-up pants so that I wouldn’t wrap them around his neck. “No, she wouldn’t. Do you know what that will said? It said she can only marry a true sovereign. Last time I looked, Art, you were nowhere near being one.”

  “Neither are you.”

  “I’m a hell of a lot closer than you are,” I shot back. “Hell, do they even let your fucking family in polite society any longer?”

  “I should deck you for that comment,” he seethed, his hands balling into fists at his sides. “My family didn’t steal their way into royalty.”

  “Neither did mine,” I laughed. “I think you got your history screwed up there, Art. You might need to pay more attention in class.”

  His eyes narrowed. “This isn’t a joke, Royce. This is our future; my family’s damn future, and that future lies with Anna.”

  I moved closer to him, cocking my head to the side. “And you think just because you stole her virginity that you can lay claim to her? The girl has a damn good mind. She knows what she has to do.”

  “She can’t choose with you in her damn ear filling her mind with this shit,” Arthur said in a deadly calm voice. “I’m telling you once and only once, Royce. Back the fuck up.”

  I rolled my neck, feeling the crack of my bones. “I’m not gonna. Despite what you try to do to my pauper, what brats you plant in her belly, she’s meant for me and me only.” I was the royalty she needed for her future and her father’s will had outlined it quite plainly.

  I hadn’t expected her to accept my hand the first time, but I wasn’t giving up. I would wear her down, show her what she could do with that money and who she could become because of it. Anna had no choice.

  And I wasn’t lying to myself either. That was her fucking money, not mine, and if she wanted to blow it all on shoes, I wasn’t gonna stop her. I had my own fucking money, unlike the man before me. Arthur was desperate and it was starting to show. “Besides,” I said, matching his voice with one of my own. “It’s Anna’s fucking choice and you tried to take it away from her the moment you laid eyes on her. I am going to be her choice in the end, not you, not Max.”

  I thought he was going to hit me, but Arthur thought better about it and backed off, pointing his finger in my direction. “We’ll see about that, fucker. Keep those eyes in the back of your head, because you are going to fucking need them.”

  I watched as Arthur exited the room, waiting until he was gone before I ran a hand through my hair. I wasn’t worried about Arthur. He had his chance with Anna and had screwed it up—well, with some help.

  No, I was worried about what Anna might or might not do. She wasn’t one of us. She didn’t thrive on money or power, so if she decided to take the easy way out and walk away from that will, there was nothing she would miss.

  While I didn’t need her money, I sure as hell could use her connections.

  But I would be lying if I didn’t want her for myself.

  No, want was not strong enough. I craved her, and damn if I was going to let this pass by and not have a taste of my future bride. I had to be careful for I truly wanted to help Anna out. She had shown toughness I never thought she would have; the true makings of an empress, and I was going to open that piece of her up so she could fuck the rest of this academy and show them what I knew was hidden there.

  I just had to get her to trust me.

  **

  It didn’t take long for the next king to find me. I was lounging in the senior hall commons area, surrounded by others that wanted to be like me. My cunning grin was plastered on my face, a beer in my hand when Max walked in, his hands shoved into his pants pockets. Someone passed him a beer and he took it, making his way over to me like I knew he would.

  I didn’t know what to think of Maximillian Karling sometimes. Sure, we had partied together, shared women together, and gone on some wild vacations together, but he was the wild card that I still hadn’t figured out.

  His family on the other hand, that was easy to figure out. Everyone, and I mean everyone, knew about the Karling clan. The German monarchy was a strong one, but not the Karling family. They were the whispers in every party, the ones that you walked on the opposite of the road if you saw them because of the wicked scandals attached to their name.

  They were poison, in both the business and political sense.

  Just now the other students that had been fawning over me were looking at him warily, some even moving away when he joined me on the sofa. “Always one to clear a room,” I joked, lifting up my beer.

  “It’s a gift,” he answered, no smile on his face. “I hear you’ve found a new plaything.”

  “I’m just helping her,” I answered evenly before taking a swig of my beer. “What’s it to you?”

  “She was supposed to be shared.”

  My grin was quick. “Yeah, but polo boy fucking screwed that shit all up, didn’t he?”

  Max frowned, still not touching his beer. “There’s still two of us.”

  I let out a laugh. “You are wanting a piece of the pauper?”

  Something passed over Max’s expression before he looked away. “That was the fucking plan, Royce.”

  I leaned in closer, so only Max could hear my words. “What do you want with her, Max? You think that it will bring your family back to their rightful place in royalty
?”

  He was on me so quick that I didn’t have time to block his first blow, his fist colliding with my chin. An explosion of pain shot through my jaw, but I fired back, landing a punch to his cheek as we rolled onto the floor, cheers and gasps going up around us. “Take that shit back,” he growled as he locked me into a hold.

  “Never,” I wheezed, clearing my mind so I could figure out a way out of his hold. “It’s the fucking truth and you know it, Max.”

  He rolled over and I found my out, pushing against him with my feet for leverage and breaking the hold. Max didn’t come back at me, instead pushing himself off the floor. “You’re a fucking asshole, Royce.”

  “Never planned to be anything but,” I shot back, making a good show of straightening my shirt. “The problem is, Max, I can change, and you can’t. You can pretend all you want, but deep down you will always be a Karling.”

  His expression grew hard, but he turned on his heel and walked out of the room, pushing another senior that was walking in. I kept my lazy grin as I bowed before the rest of those gathered. “I hope you enjoyed the show, ladies and gentlemen. Good night.”

  There were some cheers as I exited the room, my grin disappearing the moment I rounded the corner. Fucking Max. He couldn’t live up to the fact that his family and his future were shit. How he had even gotten into the academy was still a mystery.

  It wasn’t like his old man had connections like that anymore.

  My bad mood followed me all the way to my car, where I wrenched open the door and climbed in, starting the engine. Damn, my jaw ached. Max could carry a right hook when he thought about it.

  I leaned my head back on the headrest, staring up at the academy that had been my life for nearly four years. I was going to miss this place when I was gone, when I was forced back into the life that my father had laid out for me.

  I threw the car in reverse and peeled out of the parking spot, pointing it to the road that would take me home. There was a moment that I thought about calling Anna and seeing if I could get her to come with, to give us both a night away from the academy, but I decided against it. It was too soon. We were not there yet, and I had other plans to set in motion before we were.

  One thing was definite. My relationship with both Arthur and Max was never gonna be the same. Arthur was nothing but a desperate, jealous bastard that was seeing with his cock first.

  Max was a ticking time bomb and his motive; I still wasn’t sure what he was trying to accomplish. Maybe he was trying to bring glory back to his family’s name, but it was gonna take more than just marrying an empress to do so.

  Fucking pauper. She was the catalyst to us all and hell, she was going to be the death of me before this was all over.

  **

  I drove home and took a shower before relaxing in my king-sized bed, alone. Normally I didn’t spend many nights alone, but ever since I had decided to get involved with my pauper, I hadn’t wanted to look at another woman.

  Shit, she was so far under my skin!

  Grabbing my phone, I hovered over her name, finally clicking on it.

  Hey, pauper.

  Those three little dots danced forever, and I had nearly given up when the text message dinged.

  This has to be Royce.

  Her response brought a true grin to my face. You’re damn right, it is.

  What do you want, Royce? It’s late and I’m tired.

  What did I want? I couldn’t tell her what I really wanted, not yet. I just—hell, I was lonely and hated to admit as much. You ready for more?

  More? What else is there?

  I chuckled. If she only knew what else I could give her.

  That’s a loaded question, pauper.

  Anna immediately sent back an eye-rolling face, bringing out another chuckle in me.

  Good night, Royce.

  Good night, pauper.

  I put my cell phone on the table and placed my hands behind my head, looking up at my ceiling. This was about to get interesting between us and I wasn’t one hundred percent sure I was ready for it.

  Chapter 7

  Anna

  A few days later, after successfully ducking all the kings and feeling as if my life was getting back to normal, I ended up seeing all the kings at different times of the day, all for good reason even if I didn’t really want to see them.

  It was the end of the senior season for many of the sports, namely rowing and polo, which meant the entire academy was asked to support and cheer on their outgoing senior class.

  First, the freshman class was invited to the lake to watch the last rowing event of the season, the weather starting to really turn chilly even in the sunshine. I didn’t want to go, but Johanna forced me to, stating that I needed to get out of the dorm and still live my life.

  We found a seat on the grassy area surrounding the lake, watching as the rowboats lined up next to each other on the glossy surface. “I wonder why they make us come to these,” I stated dryly. “It’s not like it gets any more exciting from the first few I’ve seen.”

  “Because it’s supposed to be fun,” Johanna reminded me, pointing toward the rowers. “Besides, look at all that eye candy.”

  I really didn’t want to. I had enough men issues in my life than to be ogling another one.

  But my traitorous eyes did so anyway, seeking out the dark head that I knew would be amongst the other rowers.

  Max.

  There he was, swinging his arms in wide circles to loosen up with the rest of his team. They were wearing short-sleeved shirts that molded to their chests like a second skin, showing off every ridge of their muscles.

  But those shorts, oh my God, they showed off everything.

  And I mean everything.

  “See?” Johanna said proudly, lowering her sunglasses to get a better look. “I mean, it’s like the best.”

  I couldn’t help but agree. These guys were fit, but Max had them beat by a mile and I was staring.

  The rowers climbed in the boat and I watched as they waited for the command, my eyes on Max the entire time. “What is Max’s deal again?” I found myself asking Johanna.

  “His bloodline was accused of attempting to steal its way into royalty,” she replied. “Or something like that. There was this huge scandal and everything. All I know is that I’ve been told to never associate yourself with a Karling. It’s like the kiss of death in so many ways.”

  I frowned. “That’s a bit ridiculous, don’t you think?”

  Johanna shrugged. “Maybe, but our world isn’t as accommodating as the rest of the world is for scandals and outed royalty. You should know. Look how many people immediately pushed you aside because you were an American.”

  “Yes, you are right,” I responded. “But surely you wouldn’t hold a grudge against his family forever, right?”

  Johanna glanced over at me. “Why do you care?”

  I didn’t know. I guess because I felt a kinship to Max. He was the only one who hadn’t tried to pull one over on me and I could relate to being the outcast in this academy.

  I didn’t have to answer her, however, because the horn sounded, and they were off. Max’s arms strained with effort as he pulled the oar through the water, the concentration on his face letting everyone know he had no intentions of having his team lose. Would he miss these days? I imagined so for once they graduated, then he would be thrust into a world that he had been prepping for all his life.

  It had to be like a dark cloud looming over him.

  Before I realized it, I was standing as they came to the finish line, cheering them on with the rest that were gathered to watch the race. “Come on!” I shouted, cupping my hands around my mouth to help my voice carry. “Row that oar!”

  The Weissmore boat edged out the other and everyone cheered, Johanna and I gave each other a high five as a result. I watched as Max pumped his fist in the air, accepting congratulations from his fellow rowers, and wondered if he would have the same elation in a few months, when he graduated.
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  Or would it be a sad time to know that he was no longer on top of the world?

  **

  The polo match made the knots in my stomach tighten and it had nothing to do with the match itself. After the trade of words between Arthur and me, I really didn’t want to see him.

  In fact, I didn’t even want him to see me either. It had nothing to do with Royce, really, just that Arthur and I were on shaky ground and the more I was away from him, the better.