The Big Boys' League: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Troubled Playthings Book 3)

by Tiffany Sala

  “Seriously,” Matt said, “you really haven’t done anything wrong. We’re allowed to hang out, it’s not like we’re even dating or anything. Is there something you’re not telling me?”

  I needed to tell someone. “I don’t want to talk about the details, but… things got a bit out of hand with us the other day. And now…”

  Matt parked and hit a switch on a little remote attached to the dash of his car. The garage we were now shut in filled with light that made me cover my eyes again initially. Matt waited until I could look at him again.

  “Do you want to date Axel, then? Is that the problem here?”

  “I don’t think I’m quite Stepford enough for him,” I said, and then realised that wasn’t really an answer. “I mean, no, I don’t. But…”

  “But things are more complicated than they used to be? Yeah, preaching to the guy who founded the religion here.” Matt turned away from me and opened his door, coming around to help me with mine while I was still struggling to make sense of the unfamiliar latches. He was such a gentleman… unlike fucking Axel.

  But why did I have to compare Matt to Axel? Why did I have to think about Axel at all right now?

  “You know what,” I said, “Axel might be out there right now waiting to punish me for being at your house at all, but I’d like to declare this an Axel-free zone until I get out of here.”

  “You know what,” Matt replied, “I’m fine with that.”

  He led me into the house and introduced me to a woman with sad hound eyes that lit up far too brightly when it sank in that I was a real female, in her house, there to spend time with her son and nobody else. I could tell Matt got the subtext too from the way he was shooting quick glances at me with his lips quivering. He got me out of there and we made it into a vast space full of beanbags and technology that seemed to be his guy lair, before we both burst out giggling.

  Matt dropped into a beanbag and gestured me to one next to him. “I hope you won’t think too badly of her. She… well, her love life hasn’t been the best. So she’s always hoping for better for me.”

  “Just you and her, then?” It felt a lot like being back at my own home. I didn’t know what substance Matt’s mother abused exactly, whether it was sustainable or not, but it was really something to find out that people with that much money could still be a mess.

  “Oh, my dad’s still with us.” Matt gestured to the walls around him, towards the huge TV. “He paid for all of this, pays to make sure we can keep it. Mum says he’s got a real ton of guilt but she won’t say why. Sort of feels like one of those deals where you’re better off not knowing, right?”

  “Is that the policy you’re going to take with your love life?” I couldn’t help asking. “What she doesn’t realise won’t break her heart?”

  Matt shot me the kind of grin that made it hard for me to believe he could ever have been friends with someone like Axel. But there I went again, dragging Axel into an otherwise perfectly good situation. “Possibly. It’s not going to do her any good to find out I’m only interested in a relationship with my computer at the moment.”

  I raised an eyebrow in his direction. “That’s wildly stereotypical.”

  “You’re right, it is. But most lives are pretty stereotypical when it comes down to it. I guess we want to be more, but it’s not always possible for everyone. And I think that’s okay.”

  I felt like he was trying to make some sort of point, so I didn’t reply. I let him flip on that gigantic TV his mother had paid for with her ruined life, and Matt broke the silence to throw out some binging suggestions I had a lot of opinions about.

  Matt drove me all the way home and waited after he’d dropped me off until I’d made it into the house, and then I was occupied for a while picking up after Dad, who had apparently gone to bed already—as had Sandy, based on the items she’d left scattered across the communal areas of our house like clues. I didn’t mind Sandy and I thought it was probably better for Dad to have a girlfriend than not, something to keep him a little bit grounded in the regular world, but it did bother me that the two of them were so happy to act like I didn’t have to go through the house and see the evidence of their affair. If I had wanted to hook up with some guy I would never have been so blatant about it at home, and I would have expected Dad to get rightfully pissy at me if I did.

  After that it was a hot drink in a mug Axel almost certainly hadn’t made contact with, and only then did I pull out my phone to check what the rest of the world had been up to that afternoon. My heart sank at an IM notification from Axel.

  I thought about ignoring it for the night. It didn’t seem like it would make it easier for me to sleep, though. I was just going to have to face whatever bullshit he had in store for me.

  I think a certain naughty girl is in need of a spanking.

  He’d sent that message only a few minutes ago, not long after I’d gotten back to the house. I didn’t think it had taken him all afternoon to come up with it. Had he just sent it at some arbitrary time when he thought I might be at home, maybe in bed… or was the timing carefully-crafted?

  I got up and went to the window looking out on the front of the house, but I couldn’t bring myself to move the curtains aside and reveal myself to anyone who might be lurking out there.

  After confirming all the doors into the house were locked, I forced myself to sit back down and compose a… well, composed reply. I’m not into that sort of thing, Axel.

  Could have fooled me after all you said to Matt.

  I hadn’t said much of anything to Matt, and I didn’t believe for one second Matt had blurted what I’d said to Axel…

  But I would never have believed previously that Matt would tamper with my school records. I hadn’t known about his connection to Axel, the leverage Axel had over him to make him do his bidding. And I’d learned all sorts of new things about Matt that day as well. It would be dangerous of me to assume I knew exactly what I would get from anyone but myself.

  I decided to focus on the detail I could actually do with more information about. I’m not sure why you’re trying to police my interactions with Matt as if you’re some jealous boyfriend or something.

  I’m going to put you over my knee… Apparently, Axel was giving me none of what I wanted.

  Stop.

  I’m going to get whatever I have to move out of the way so I can have access to your arse, and I’m going to spank you.

  I’m going to bed. Good night, hope you had a good afternoon with my dad.

  In front of an audience.

  That was a threat I couldn’t ignore. You are not.

  I’m going to get you at school and hold you down, and get those cute cheeks out for everyone who cares to look and lay down some hard smacks.

  As much as he wasn’t my first choice of partner, if it was just the two of us, maybe I could get into that sort of treatment. But the thought of being exposed to all the people who already thought I was handing out naked photos just made me sick. Axel, no. I am serious.

  I’m serious too. I expect you to listen when I give you instructions. I shouldn’t have to lay down these threats.

  You shouldn’t feel entitled to threaten me in the first place!

  We’ll talk about this next week, babe. Keep your head down, worry about your dad and not Matt. Sleep well.

  I sat there a while longer, but there were no further messages and I didn’t hear anything that sounded like someone breaking into the house, so I made my way to my bedroom as silently as possible and locked the door behind myself once I got there. Checked my closet and under my bed and the well in my desk where the seat went even though it was ridiculous to think anyone with those long legs could hide anywhere in my room.

  Even then I didn’t want to get undressed where there might be eyes on me. I changed into my pyjamas carefully, without exposing any extra parts of my skin to the open air.

  I slipped into my bed without turning the lamps off and kept my grip on my phone. I was not going t
o sleep at all that night, and I had a feeling that was in the region of what Axel had hoped to achieve.

  There was no way I could just take this. He had crossed all the way over into stalking… or at least he was going to make me feel stalked while trying to avoid having to actually do anything that would land him in trouble.

  Well, these messages he was sending me would probably land him in trouble… except revealing them to anyone might land me in trouble too, because Dad and I were now dependent on him financially. And that was the outcome that assumed anyone believed those messages were really unwanted. At this point pretty much everyone seemed to believe we were having a flirtation that had gone wrong, and that meant they were likely to believe I was just angry and trying to ‘get’ him.

  I supposed there were girls out there who would do that sort of thing. Tamara had muttered a few things about some crazy ex of Steven’s, but I would have bet our house on that being just the exception. And yet when a girl had to accuse a guy, there were always these questions. That was just how the world had to work I supposed.

  And if there was no evidence he’d actually come anywhere near my house without my knowledge, if he was just trying to rile me up about it like I was struggling to convince myself was the case… I would just make things worse for myself, for Dad… probably for the boys too.

  But two could play at this stalking game, surely. If he was going to force a connection to my family, I was going to use that for all it was worth. He was going to be the one fearing me popping around every corner.

  Having made that decision, I was actually able to close my eyes and start to drift off.

  Chapter Thirteen: Axel

  It was still pissing me off the next day, but I had what I needed and I had a busy day ahead of me, so I was trying not to let it get me too distracted.

  She ought to be grateful to me though. That fucking Aileen. She had to realise her dad was a flake, never going to be able to do anything right for himself. He was exactly the same type as Matt’s mother: never got over that one disappointment, was just going to be a vegetable for the rest of his life.

  People like that needed help, they needed all semblance that they were ever going to contribute properly to society taken off the table. That wasn’t a service our government was prepared to provide: it was up to people like me, who were able to get it done. In the case of the Andersons I was happy to do it even, because Aileen wasn’t a flake. She worked, maybe not as much as she could have, but dealing with someone like that father all the time would be a drain. I didn’t expect the father to do anything useful for me under my ‘employment’, I just wanted him out of the way where he wouldn’t cause anyone trouble.

  It kind of amused me, to be honest, to get to his place to see what he was working on and to have a girlfriend show up in short order and have him cancel on me. That was the sort of move that took either big balls or a tiny brain: maybe both in his case; the girlfriend was definitely MILF standard, if you were into that sort of thing. I didn’t expect shit from this guy, so good luck to him if he wanted to spend his afternoon fucking his remaining brain cells out instead of proving to me he was useless.

  But then Aileen had sneaked right off to Matt’s place once she thought she knew where I was going to be, hadn’t she? What the fuck was she even doing with him? I knew Matt was smarter than to cross me by fucking around with someone I was doing business with, and I didn’t believe for a second Aileen would even touch him after what I’d done to her. She’d come along to show me how much I wasn’t going to get to her and then I’d gotten to her. No way she would be able to think of some other man yet. I bet she’d be up for another punishment if I decided she needed one—and I was definitely leaning in that direction.

  I was going to have to be careful though because she was getting to me a whole lot more than I wanted. You had to respect an opponent who wasn’t easily humiliated, and when it came to Aileen that cute little arse end was as interesting as the mouthy end.

  I wasn’t going to have her running a deal on me. That coming week, I’d put her in her place. I’d figure out how to deal with Matt too; I had plenty of dirt on him I hadn’t spilled yet.

  For the moment, I had a guy to meet about my product. Lucas had put me onto him in exchange for a generous percentage of any deal we thrashed out: he ran a boutique science education line and just happened to be looking into the viability of getting a shop set up in Hobart. So I’d invited him to my place, and I was going to blow his mind with my prototype and my sales talk, and that would be the start. I’d graduate running.

  It was about time for him to arrive, so I stepped outside and started a slow stroll down my driveway to meet him. Well, officially I wasn’t going to be meeting him, I had much better things to do with my time. But if he happened to turn up when I was already checking my mailbox, I could escort him grandly up into the house and control the experience for him right from the beginning.

  There was someone already hanging around our mailbox when I got down past the cars near the end of the driveway, back turned to me… the wrong type of figure to be Mal Cowen, surely.

  My hand started to twitch as if it held its own memories. I knew, even before she turned around: Aileen.

  How had she gotten here? There were hardly any buses; it was one of the nice things about this neighbourhood. Was this more of Matt’s interference? Why was she practically on my doorstep, and today of all days?

  “Hello, Axel,” she called as I came close. She was keeping her voice perky, but the nearer I got the more I saw her shaking. She knew for sure she was taking her life into her hands here. “I thought I’d be the one visiting you this time. It’s not that hard to get here; I did have to take a very early bus though.”

  “Aileen, you need to get your little arse home now. I don’t have time to deal with you right now.”

  Aileen’s chin went up. “Don’t have time to deal with my arse, you mean? You mean you’re not going to spank me in front of the entire neighbourhood?” She started turning as if she was going to get into position for me.

  “Keep your goddam voice down, you’ll kill some of the old folk in the neighbourhood with that sort of talk.” Maybe being gruff would make her behave. “I’m meeting with a potential business partner, like, immediately, so if you don’t want to fuck up your daddy’s chances of making it big you’d better make yourself scarce.” She was wearing this cute little sundress with no back and hardly any front, her tits peeking out on all sides. How the fuck did they fit bras under those things?

  I did not need to be thinking about her tits right now. Hadn’t I gotten enough of those already? I was starting to lose my focus, and of course right on time, a car pulled up outside my house. The man who stepped out was shorter than I expected, but otherwise matched the photo of Mal Cowen I’d found on his company website.

  He’d clearly found a way to identify me by sight, too. “Axel Bennett?”

  He was standing in front of the two of us now, shaking my hand. Aileen seemed frozen in her dismay; well, it was too late to just shove her off now. “Mal Cowen, this is Aileen Anderson, the daughter of one of my developers.”

  Cowen was looking her up and down, but mostly up: her chest was more or less on level with his face. I really didn’t fucking want this guy staring at her tits. Come to think of it, I didn’t even want all those people who had gotten that fake photo of her staring at that and thinking they were seeing her tits. I wanted to get going right now and delete it off every device that had saved it. Maybe delete the eyeballs of anyone who had looked.

  And none of this was what I was supposed to be thinking about right now.

  “Definitely not one of your employees,” said Cowen, winking at me. The fucking creep. What century had he dropped in from where women with tits and arses and pretty dresses couldn’t also have functioning brains?

  “Well!” Aileen drew his attention back to her face with her sharp voice. “It’s getting pretty steamy out here. Let’s head inside.”


  So somehow I was left with no choice but to follow her and Mal Cowen, who was sticking very closely to her, back into my own house. Aileen was grinning as she schmoozed him up, probably felt like getting my head unscrewed over this was the best thing she’d ever been able to do. Well, it was up to her now to prove she hadn’t just fucked everything up.

  She did stay mercifully unobtrusive when I led the way to my workshop and showed Cowen around my prototypes. He didn’t say much during my prepared spiel, just nodded and grunted sometimes, which left me pretty resigned by the time we’d done the rounds and he folded his arms and shot me a smirk.

  “I mean, it all looks very nice, I can see you’ve prepared hard which I appreciate, but… what’s your point of difference?”

  This was not a question I had prepared for. Couldn’t he see I was the fucking selling point of this whole thing? Once I got my start I’d be unstoppable, with a new killer product out every year. Two a year sometimes. I grasped for the thing that was foremost in my mind when I was planning to overwhelm someone with my ideas. “It’s educational…”

  Cowen waved me off. “Every fucking outfit is producing something educational these days, you should know that. People are labelling bath bomb kits for girls as science education, for goodness sake. That shit’s full of glitter! As if any of the target market want a science education anyway.”

  Aileen seemed to have missed Cowen ogling her earlier, but she definitely picked up on this new bullshit. The look she was giving him reminded me of Mum, when she’d decided that someone was in trouble. That was not a comparison I wanted to have to make, and this was not a situation I wanted to be in.

  Aileen was moving forward. I could kiss goodbye to this deal.

  Cowen was still waffling. “Honestly, the number of parents who come to my shops asking for educational toys has plummeted. They’ve all realised if they buy that shit for their kids, someone has to supervise them. Help them. Clean up the glitter. These days, they just say to me, ‘give us something that will let us ignore them.’ That’s the shape of parenting these days, that’s the industry we’re selling things in.”