Cruel Elite: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Princes of Ravenlake Academy Book 3)

by Nicole Fox

  “You can’t shoot all of us,” Tank says. “There’s only so many bullets in that gun, and I’m guessing your aim isn’t perfect.”

  “Probably not,” Penny says with a shrug. “But I’m sure to take at least one of you down with me. Are you willing to wager it won’t be you?”

  Tank pauses, and Penny turns to the other Hell Princes.

  “What about the rest of you? Are you willing to risk your life for this revenge plot? If you are, I’m happy to oblige. If not, walk away. I won’t shoot you in the back.”

  The two guys holding Caleb let go one after the other and step back. The Hell Prince next to J.C. steps back, too.

  Tank looks at them like he’s going to rip them apart.

  “Fucking traitors,” he growls. “My little brother is sitting in jail because of these guys.”

  “We didn’t call the police on him,” Caleb says. “I knocked him out and left him.”

  “And I helped.” Haley raises her hand.

  Caleb winks at her.

  “Then who the fuck did call?” Tank asks. “I know it wasn’t any of my guys.”

  Looking around at the way “his guys” are backing away from this fight at the first sign of trouble, I’m not sure Tank’s guys are quite as loyal as he thinks they are.

  Whoever called the cops on Bumper, it wasn’t one of the Golden Boys. Tank’s got a rat in his ranks.

  “We didn’t do it,” Caleb repeats. “Just let it go.”

  “We can all walk away from this,” Penny says.

  Tank looks around at the gathering of people and then, finally, lets his eyes fall on me. When they do, I see something in them I recognize.

  Hurt.

  Betrayal.

  And, worst of all, the deep need for revenge.

  I’ve looked in the mirror and seen the same expression on my own face.

  For years, I held onto hurt I should have let go of, no matter that it was hurting me worse than anyone else. I can tell Tank is making the same mistake.

  His hand brushes along his waistband and there’s a flash of something just before he lunges towards me.

  Voices rise up, shouts of surprise and calls to action, a flurry of chaos.

  But then there’s the clear ring of a shot.

  And blood.

  40

  Penny

  The vibration of the gun moves up my arms and through my body, shaking in my bones.

  I can’t believe what just happened.

  I smell gunpowder, and I see blood pooling on the ground. But I can’t connect the violent scene with myself. With anything I’ve done.

  All I did is move my finger.

  Just one flex of some of my smallest muscles.

  And now Tank is lying on the ground, a pool of blood spreading around his middle.

  Warm hands settle over my arms, and I flinch, startled until I realize it’s Noah.

  All of my focus and attention shifts to him.

  To the open cuts along his cheek bone, his brow, and his lip.

  To the purple bruises that are already appearing along his square jaw.

  “Oh my God, are you okay?” I reach out for him, becoming more gentle when he flinches in pain. “I’m so sorry. Noah, oh my God, I’m so sorry.”

  I don’t realize I’ve dissolved into tears until Noah pulls the gun from my hand and pulls me into his chest.

  “It’s okay.”

  “This is my fault. I did this. It’s my fault that—you and Caleb and, oh my God.”

  “We’re fine,” Caleb says behind us. He’s holding onto Haley, and she’s running her fingers along the cuts on his face, shaking her head. He winks at her with his unswollen eye. “Just a few cuts and scrapes.”

  Noah turns back to the Hell Princes.

  With Tank losing blood and consciousness, it doesn’t take much encouragement to send them on their way. They grab their leader by the arms and drag him from the woods.

  None of us fully relax until we hear their car peel away on the gravel road.

  “This Spring Fling activity was not on my list,” J.C. says, standing up and dusting dirt and leaves from his pants. He applies pressure to a swollen lump on his forehead and winces. “Do these wounds make me look more or less fuckable?”

  Caleb rolls his eyes. “That implies you were fuckable before.”

  “Ladies love scars, not open wounds,” Haley says. “Maybe clean yourself a bit first before you try to bang anyone.”

  Their mood is surprisingly light. Maybe they’re used to this kind of thing.

  But I’m sure as hell not.

  I just shot someone!

  Noah grabs my arm and pulls me further away from the group. He grabs my face and looks into my eyes, his voice low and soft. “Are you okay?”

  “Are you?” I ask. “You were being attacked. I’m sorry I grabbed your gun and broke the back window of your car, but I had to get here to help, and I didn’t know where you’d be or where they were going to take you. And I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. I wanted to tell you about Tank’s plan earlier, but I got distracted and then—”

  Noah gingerly presses his lips to mine, quieting me, his thumb running down my damp cheek.

  Our foreheads touch, and he takes a few deep breaths.

  I follow his lead and do the same, feeling tension drain away with each exhale.

  “It’s okay,” he whispers, holding my hands in his, his fingers squeezing my knuckles. “Are you okay?”

  “You don’t even know the whole story yet. And I shot someone. Are you okay with that?”

  “You came back for me. That’s enough.”

  I take another deep breath. This one seems to get rid of the last bit of panic, but with the absence of adrenaline, the delayed fear starts to kick in.

  My chin wobbles and my chest tightens. Before I can help it, I’m in full-on tears, clinging to Noah with both arms.

  “I’m so sorry, Noah. They threatened Delanie, and I didn’t know what to do.”

  He smooths down my hair and whispers comforting words in my ear, but I barely hear them.

  I can’t hear him until I get it all out.

  Until I tell him everything and know he won’t change his mind later.

  “I stayed away from you this last week because I couldn’t look you in the eyes and lie to you, knowing what Tank had planned. But then I saw you today, and I was going to tell you the truth, but you kept talking, and then J.C. made his announcement, and…I forgot.” I press a palm to my forehead and shake my head. “I fucking forgot that a biker gang was coming to attack you. How self-absorbed am I?”

  Haley laughs behind us. “She said it, not me!”

  “Haley,” Noah warns, his tone biting. He squeezes me tighter. “It’s all okay, Penn.”

  His face already looks worse than it did two minutes ago, and I feel nauseous. “How can you say that? Look at your face!”

  “Ouch,” he says, chuckling softly. “That cuts deep.”

  “I meant… your face is perfect, except they hurt you.”

  Noah grows serious and grabs my shoulders. “I hurt you, Penny. So many times and for so long. I hurt you, and I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s okay, really. What I did is so much worse.”

  “Tank threatened our sister. I understand.”

  Our sister.

  I’ve never heard Noah refer to Delanie that way.

  It takes me by surprise, but in a nice way.

  “Our family dynamic is beyond fucked up. I mean, we have a sister.” He shakes his head and laughs. “But it sort of tracks, doesn’t it? We are a little bit fucked up, too.”

  “Especially you,” I say, touching a cut on his face.

  He winces and grabs my hand, pressing my palm to his lips for a kiss. His warm breath eases some of the cold from my fingers.

  “I know I don’t deserve you, and we both know the Universe has tried everything to keep us apart, but somehow, we come back to each other. No matter how much it hurts, we come back.
And that’s everything to me, Penny. You came back.”

  I stroke the skin at the back of his neck and run my thumb over his square jawline.

  I know this pain.

  Our entire relationship crumbled because Noah’s father’s left.

  Because he didn’t come back.

  But I will never treat Noah that way. Seeing him in danger today made me more certain than ever that I’ll do everything in my power to protect Noah, body and soul.

  I know he’ll do the same for me.

  “Of course, I did. I’ll always come back.”

  He tips his head down and kisses me, and the coppery taste of blood fills my mouth. “You’re bleeding.”

  “I know.”

  “Does it hurt?”

  His eyebrow arches. “That depends. Are you going to nurse me back to health?”

  “Yes.”

  Immediately, he groans and sags on his bones. “Then I’m in miserable, terrible, horrible pain. It may take many days of nonstop care before I’m well again. Lots of long nights.”

  I laugh and Noah smiles at me. A genuine, true blue, Noah Boone smile.

  It’s so big the cut in his lip splits a bit further and blood drips down his chin.

  Before I can reach up and wipe it away, he doubles over in a cough and grabs his rib with a grimace.

  I help Noah back over to where everyone else is standing.

  Haley is pushing Caleb’s shirt up so she can see the bruises forming on his midsection, and Noah is leaning on me more and more heavily with every passing second.

  He’s putting on a brave face, but I know he’s hurting.

  “What a raw deal,” J.C. grumbles. “Not a soul here to tend to and kiss my boo-boos.”

  Caleb puckers up and waves J.C. over. “I’ll do it.”

  “You joke because you have someone,” J.C. says bitterly. “You both do.”

  Noah pulls me closer against his chest and presses a kiss to my temple. “Is he right? Do I have you, Penn?”

  I nuzzle into him and nod. “Always.”

  Epilogue

  Noah

  Three Months Later

  The gymnasium is a sea of black caps and gowns. It’s impossible to tell anyone apart.

  Caleb texted everyone to meet under the score board, so I wade in that direction and hope for the best.

  People stop me along the way to say hello and reminisce.

  I try to look unapproachable—a look I had mastered for years—but going with Penny has ruined that part of my reputation.

  We are the “it” couple, according to Anika and Jennifer, and even though we are done with school and moving on with our lives, they are still trying to become part of the in-crowd.

  To what end, I can’t pretend to understand.

  Still, I do my best to be pleasant.

  To a point.

  Where’s Penny?

  She wanted to meet at my house, but I warned her away.

  Ever since Mom decided to sober up, she’s been waking up early in the mornings to make a full breakfast, and she would have had Penny at the table for an hour, filling her with pancakes and eggs and fruit.

  I barely got here on time as it was.

  I’m thrilled my mom likes my girlfriend—a sentence I never thought I’d say—but occasionally I catch them whispering to one another and looking in my direction.

  I’m not sure I like the women in my life joining ranks.

  Part of it is that I’m worried what my mom will do when we’re both gone.

  She’s newly sober. It’s only been a couple months.

  I took her car keys away from her one night when she was too drunk to walk to the garage, let alone drive, and she remembered it in the morning.

  It was the wakeup call she needed, she said, and she hasn’t had a drink since. She goes to meetings and has a sponsor, but Penny and I have been hanging around the house recently.

  I’m worried what my mom will do when the big house is quiet.

  Will she take me leaving the same way she took my dad leaving?

  I plan to come back and visit regularly, so I hope not.

  Still, the thought weighs on my mind.

  “You can’t frown on graduation day.”

  Penny is standing on the free throw line in her shapeless black gown, her golden hair tumbling down the front of it, mashed down on top by the cap.

  I’ve never seen anyone more beautiful.

  How could I ever think everyone looked the same in these gowns?

  “Noah can always find a reason to frown,” Caleb says, tossing his cab in the air.

  Haley snatches it out of the air and plunks it on his head. “You’re supposed to wait until the end of the ceremony to celebrate.”

  “Practice,” he says, taking it off his head and tossing it again.

  J.C. dribbles a pretend basketball and then makes a jump shot complete with fadeaway. “Forget throwing caps. The real celebration is happening at Finn’s house. He gave us the okay for a party tonight, right, Caleb?”

  Caleb gives him a thumbs up.

  “It’s going to be wild.”

  “Not as wild as the last party, I hope?” I ask, eyebrow raised.

  As if the memory itself is upsetting, Penny wraps her arms around my waist. I curl an arm around her shoulders and hold her close.

  It’s been three months, and I haven’t been to a party since Spring Fling. As far as I’m concerned, we can keep that streak going.

  “You aren’t looking to get beaten to a pulp?” J.C. laughs. “I still have a few lingering bruises.”

  “It’s been three months! That can’t be right. Let me see!” Haley reaches for J.C.’s robe, trying to unzip it, and Caleb pulls her back with a warning look at J.C.

  He holds up his hands innocently. “She was trying to undress me. I had no part in it.”

  “Bruises shouldn’t last that long,” Haley whispers to Caleb.

  He tells her J.C. is probably just exaggerating, which sounds right to me. Ever since I started dating Penny, I’ve noticed him being a bit more dramatic than he already was, like he’s trying to get attention.

  Usually, I’d call him out on it, but I actually feel bad for him. No one likes to feel like the fifth wheel.

  “It’s just going to be a chill affair,” J.C. says. “Nothing wild. Finn made me promise we wouldn’t destroy his house the way we destroyed that cabin at Spring Fling. He told me he won’t write another check like that.”

  “Finn paid for the damages?” I ask.

  “Do you think I had ten thousand dollars lying around?” J.C. exclaims. “And I couldn’t exactly ask my parents for the money, could I? They thought we went camping, and they were mad enough they had to take me to the dentist to get a veneer put in after Caleb broke my tooth.”

  “What? Me?” Caleb asks.

  J.C. shrugs. “I had to come up with a plausible story.”

  “You could have told them you fell, you asshole.”

  Caleb shoves him, and J.C. laughs.

  “My mom doesn’t like you, so she didn’t even question my story. She totally bought it.”

  I’m going to miss this.

  It’s the only thing I’m going to miss about Ravenlake, to be honest. The proximity to my friends, how easy it is for all of us to get together and hang out.

  That will be more difficult from here on out.

  Everyone is headed in different directions, and there’s no saying when we’ll all be in the same place at the same time anymore.

  We might grow apart.

  Penny nudges me. I think she might be telling me to stop frowning again, but when I look down her green eyes are wide, worried.

  She points to the side door of the gym.

  I immediately understand why she’s worried.

  It’s my dad.

  When I look up, he waves.

  We haven’t spoken since he left our house that day two long years ago.

  Even when I’ve gone to Penny’s house to pick her u
p, I stay outside.

  Our paths don’t cross, and that suits me just fine.

  But if my dad wants to come and try to clear the air, then I’ll hear him out. Life’s too short to hold grudges forever.

  I’ve learned that lesson ten times over.

  I kiss Penny’s temple and walk towards my dad, head held high.

  I forget how much he and I look alike. We have the same light brown hair and waves, and we’re built the same. I never realized that before because I was only sixteen when he left, but now that I’m almost nineteen, it’s easy to see the similarity in our proportions.

  It’s the only way we’re similar.

  “Noah,” he says with a nod of his head. “It’s good to see you.”

  “Dad. I’d say the same, but I don’t want to lie.”

  He bites his lower lip and nods. “I suppose I deserve that.”

  “I didn’t say it to hurt you. I said it because it’s the truth. My new motto these days is to be more honest about how I’m feeling.”

  “That’s a good motto,” he says, obviously nervous. He shifts from his heels to his toes, hands shoved in his pockets. “I came today because… well, it seems like this might be my last opportunity to apologize to you for everything. I don’t like the way we left things, and I don’t want you leaving town with this unsettled between us.”

  “Okay.”

  My dad looks at me, expectant. “Well?”

  “Well, what?” I ask.

  “Do you accept my apology?”

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t actually hear one. You said this might be your last opportunity to apologize, but you never actually apologized.”

  “Noah, be fair,” he says through gritted teeth.

  “Standing here and listening to anything you have to say is more than fair,” I say. “If you don’t recall, I found out about your affair and your child and that you were moving through my bedroom wall. You never even came and spoke to me. And I didn’t find out who you’d cheated with until Penny told me.”

  “And I’m sorry for that. It was a tough situation and—”

  I wave him away. “You don’t need to apologize. I’m not angry any more. I used to be, but I’m not anymore. I don’t need to hear your excuses or rationalizations. You made your choice, and now I’m making mine.”