Beyond Vengeance: Pacific Prep #3

by R. A. Smyth

  “Why now? Why didn’t you run away years ago?”

  I sigh. It’s a good question. “Have you ever been so consumed by your fears that they’ve immobilized you?”

  “Like night terrors?”

  “Yeah, but when you’re awake. That’s how I felt every time your dad was around me. I wanted to fight back, but I was frozen with fear. He was the scariest thing in my universe—and that’s saying something. Over the years, he convinced me I could never get away from him. He swore he’d never let me go. Hearing that over and over messes with you. The words get into your head and make you believe they’re real. It took me a long time to realize his words were just that—words.

  “One day when he was with me, he got a call from the school...about you. You’d done something that had obviously warranted a call to him. Before then, I didn’t know anything about this man who visited me once a month and brought me unwanted gifts. I felt powerless, which only further reinforced the influence he had over me.

  “But that day, he said your name, and the name of your school. I know it wasn’t much, but it was enough for me to work with. Enough for me to feel like I had some control; something I could use to fight back with.”

  “So you made a plan to escape?”

  I nod my head. “More or less.”

  “And come to Pac?”

  I nod again.

  “To kill me.”

  It’s not a question, and I can tell by the tone of his voice that he doesn’t believe me, or believe that I’m capable of doing something like that. He’s seen me fight twice now, so he knows I have the skills to do it, but there’s a huge difference between physically being able to overpower someone and being mentally strong enough to take someone's life. If only he knew I can do both. But despite the darkness that lives inside him and likes to rear its ugly head now and again, Cam is all light and happiness. Honestly, he’s the one I worry about the most when it comes to telling them my truth. I don’t think Mason will be all that shocked, and I think West will be able to rationalize it. Hawk, I’m not sure about yet, but Cam…I worry it will be too much for him.

  “Yeah. I know it sounds far-fetched—”

  “Not really,” he admits, shaking his head. He’s deep in thought, lines furrowed across his forehead. “You’re physically capable, and you’ve proven you can get in and out of our apartment without any of us noticing. If you’d wanted to, you probably could have done it ten times over by now.”

  More like fifty, but who’s keeping count.

  “So why didn’t you?”

  He looks genuinely confused and it breaks my heart a little. I’ve seen true evil. I’ve stared it in the face day in, day out for years now, so I know Cam is anything but evil. Yeah, he’s got an angry darkness within him, but who doesn’t? This world tries to beat you down every damn day. It’s only a matter of time until all that locked up anger and resentment takes on a form of its own. We all like to think we’re not capable of horrible things, but in the right circumstances, with the right incentive, we’re capable of anything. We all have demons inside of us, some peoples are just more vile and barbaric than others.

  I shift onto my knees and move to straddle him, needing him to see the honest truth in my eyes. I’ve told him this before, but I get the impression he wasn’t really listening, or he didn’t believe what I had to say, so I want him to really hear me now.

  With my face taking up his whole field of vision, I press my palms flush against his cheeks so he has no option but to look at me. “Because you are nothing like your father.” I see the protest forming on his lips and I quickly lean in, pressing a chaste kiss to shut him up. “You are the sunlight on a dark day, the rainbow when it pours, the lighthouse in a storm. You’re my sunlight. My rainbow. My lighthouse. I was barely alive when I turned up here, but you helped me learn to breathe. You made me see there’s more to life than just surviving. I need you in my life, making me laugh and reminding me of the good times when things are going wrong. So please, please don’t let all this self-hatred and guilt you’re carrying around swallow you up, because I don’t know what any of us would do without you.”

  A tear leaks out of the corner of his eye and runs down his cheek, catching on the edge of my thumb before I swipe it away. The way he looks at me…I don’t know how to describe it. It’s almost like reverence. No one has ever looked at me like that before, like I’m some sort of angel sent to guide them.

  His hand wraps around the back of my head, his fingers tangling in my hair as he draws me in. His lips collide with mine, hungry and eager. It’s more than just carnal need though. The way he kisses me, it’s like I’m his lifeline. The only thing keeping him alive right now.

  I kiss him back with as much fervor, needing him just as badly as he needs me. Our hands are everywhere as our bodies burn up. Tearing our clothes off, Cam wastes no time sinking into me in the most delicious way possible. It doesn’t take long before we’re both cresting that peak, and I cry out my release into the night sky.

  “I hope you know I’m never letting you go,” he pants in my ear.

  That suits me perfectly fine. I have no intention of going anywhere.

  Chapter 12

  I storm into the computer suite, sending the door banging off the wall as I sear anyone who so much as dares glance in my direction with a heart-stopping death glare.

  We knew the girls would do something, but this has Bianca’s dirty fingerprints written all over it. I’m going to tear out her fucking ovaries and force feed them to her.

  “Wow, why do you look like you want to murder someone?” West asks, cocking a brow as I dump myself in the seat beside him.

  “Have you seen this?” I snarl, opening my tablet for him to see. Navigating to the page, I thrust it under his nose and watch as his eyes widen and his features tighten, a scowl forming across his face.

  That dead fucking bitch set up a website where any Tom, Dick, and Harry can watch that stupid fucking video Cam and Hawk released last semester. I make a mental note to tear them new assholes when this class is over.

  “Look at the number of views.” I’m practically vibrating with anger in my chair. “And do you see what it says about me? That bitch even got her hands on fake medical records that say I’ve been in a fucking psychiatric unit all this time. She’s got the whole school thinking I’m fucking unstable. No one will even look at me today. One kid nearly peed himself when he accidentally walked in front of me.”

  He quirks an eyebrow. “Thought you hated everyone trying to get your attention.”

  “Doesn’t mean I want them thinking I’m about to go apeshit on their asses.”

  I know he’s about to come back with another stupid retort, but he sees my deadpan stare and thinks better of it—smart boy. He focuses back on the tablet for another few seconds before setting it down, pulling the same screen up on his computer and split screening it along with one of his gibberish code programs.

  “What are you doing?” I ask curiously. “Can you take it down?”

  “Better,” he assures me with a smug smirk, his fingers flying furiously over the keyboard.

  I want to know what he means by that, but I don’t want to distract him when he’s busy, so instead I sit and watch, not having the faintest idea what he’s doing.

  After about fifteen minutes, he hands the tablet back to me. “Okay, refresh the page and play the video.”

  “What? West, I really don’t need to see that thing again. I know what my body looks like, thanks.”

  He rolls his eyes at me like I’m being deliberately obtuse. “Just play the damn video, Firefly.”

  “Fine,” I sigh dramatically, doing as he asks.

  I’m only half watching as the video begins to play, but the second I realize I’m not looking at myself but at Bianca’s head on a blob of a body, jiggling as it does some sort of weird naked dance, I throw my head back and burst out laughing. Holy shit, that’s fucking amazing.

  “How did you do that?” I e
xclaim, a huge grin on my face. Damn, I want to kiss him so bad right now. “And what about the other stuff?”

  He’s got a wicked glint in his eye as he smirks back, before concentrating on the screen, hopefully getting rid of the fucking article that claims my scars are all self-inflicted, and the reason why I was locked away in a psych unit all these years. It’s the fake medical records that infuriate me. They look fucking real, and they bluntly state that I’m a danger to myself and others, and that I was removed from the facility against medical advice. Fucking bitch is going to pay for this.

  “I’ve erased everything else on the website,” West confirms. The tension drops out of my shoulders immediately as I collapse back in my chair. “As for the video, it’s pretty easy, really. I’ve done it before, so it took no time at all to recreate it.”

  “You’ve done this before? To who?”

  “You read through all the files I gave you, right?”

  “Of course.” I made sure to read through them all the night he handed them over to me, and I’ve been keeping them safe since then, scouring through them at every available opportunity.

  He nods his head, having expected that answer. “So you know about our chemistry teacher.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been meaning to talk to you guys about that.”

  Again, he nods his head, pulling up the chemistry teacher's OnlyPorn account on the computer. I’m guessing he was able to bypass whatever website restrictions the school has in place. Somehow, I doubt they would be okay with their students having easy access to such sites during class time.

  “Did you play the videos he’s uploaded?”

  “What?! No. Why would I do that? Why the hell haven’t you taken them down yet, if you're so damn talented?” I argue.

  The smug look he throws me lets me know I’ve underestimated him. He passes me an earphone so I can hear the sound as he clicks on the video. Instead of the underage porn I was expecting to find, I have the horrific pleasure of watching Mr. Dillman, our chemistry teacher, trussed up like a thanksgiving turkey, as some dominatrix woman spanks his ass and he screams like a little girl. West pauses it just as the woman produces a monster dildo—there’s really no other word to describe the ten-inch black dick that’s lined up with his asshole, sans lube.

  “What,” I stutter, flapping my hand at the screen in protest. “It was just getting good.”

  West laughs as he exits out of the site.

  “How did you manage to do that?”

  “It took a lot of work, and required Cam to scare the crap out of him so I could record that girly scream you heard.”

  I laugh. “Damn, that’s amazing. I need a copy of that.”

  “You seriously thought we just left those videos up there for anyone to see?” he asks, looking hurt. His expression makes me wince.

  “Why haven’t you gotten rid of him, though? That’s all well and good,” I say, pointing toward the monitor, “but he’s still preying on vulnerable students.”

  West grits his teeth. “I know,” he spits out. “We haven’t been able to get rid of him. He’s in our parents' pockets, along with several other staff members. We have a mountain of evidence against him, but if we take it to the police now, our parents will just get him off and the school will sweep it under the rug. We’re waiting until graduation to release it. We figure by then our parents won’t care as much about who in the school is on their payroll.”

  Well, that makes sense, and now I feel bad for thinking the worst of the guys.

  “I’m sorry,” I grimace.

  West sighs, moving his chair so our knees are pressed together. His fingers come up to press firmly on either side of my chin in a dominating hold that ensures I can’t look anywhere but at him.

  “It’s okay. I know you have difficulties trusting people, and I know you don’t fully trust us yet. We might be assholes, but we don’t condone what he or our parents are doing.” He releases his hold on my chin, clasping my hand between his large palms. “Hawk told us what you said to him, about taking down our parents and the company.”

  I nod my head.

  “We’re all in. We’re sick of them controlling us. I’m sick of them holding me as leverage over everyone's heads.”

  I stare at him slack-jawed. “You want to help take them down?”

  “Yeah, Firefly. We’re going to destroy them, once and for all.”

  ***

  West’s little computer trick with Bianca was pretty awesome, and it’s certainly become the gossip of the school. The video spread like wildfire until Bianca locked herself away in her room, refusing to come out. That was over a week ago and no one has seen hide nor hair of her since. But, it’s not enough. People are still whispering about me. Don’t get me wrong, I kinda love the way the color drains out of their faces when I enter a room, but I want to instill that fear in them, because they know what I’m capable of, not because some fake document states that I’m mentally unstable. It’s important that I exert my control over the girls, and the only way to do that is to make it perfectly clear I’m the one with all the power around here.

  So that’s why I’ve gathered all the girls in the dining hall this afternoon. Okay, so I had to get the guys to spread the word that they were the ones that wanted to speak to the girls, to clear the air with the whole girl of the month thing—I’m pretty sure no one would have shown up if they thought it was me asking for the meeting—but either way, the method worked. Casting my eyes over the crowd as I step into the hall, it looks like every senior girl is here. Excellent.

  With my head held high, my school skirt swishes around my thighs as my combat boots smack against the wooden floor, effectively silencing the crowd as I stride to the front of the room. The guys wanted to join me, but it will make a much more powerful statement if I do this on my own.

  When I reach the Princes’ table, I pull out a chair, lifting my foot onto it before I step up onto the table so I’m standing above the crowd.

  “Where are the Princes?” someone shouts out.

  “Are they reinstating the tradition?”

  Jesus, is sex with the Princes all these girls think about?!

  “No, the tradition is not being reinstated,” I bark out more harshly than is necessary.

  “Then why are we here?”

  Oh, look who climbed out of their hidey-hole to join us today.

  “Ah, Bianca. It’s so great you could be here,” I say in a sugary sweet voice, topping it off with a cherry smile.

  Breaking eye contact with her, I look out over the assembled girls.

  “As you are all aware, a website was set up this week that contains slanderous allegations, along with a compromising video. A video that I did not consent to. Now, if the person who did it will step forward and own up to what they did, then this can be sorted out quietly.” Whispers erupt in the crowd. I know Bianca did it, and Bianca knows she did it, but I’m guessing most others don’t know who the primary suspect could be.

  “If the offending party does not own up to their actions, then everyone will suffer,” I declare threateningly. Honestly, I don’t expect Bianca to ever own up, but putting the fear of God in the rest of the girls will ensure they think twice before stepping out of line.

  “What does that mean?” a nervous voice near the back of the room asks.

  “Excellent question. What does that mean? Well, I guess it means that the secrets all of you have, that you don’t want everyone to know about, will start coming to light.”

  Another round of whispers as girls gasp and frantically consort with the person beside them.

  I don’t miss Bianca’s scoff, though, or the way she rolls her eyes. “Do you have something to say, Bianca?” I smile politely at her, like I’ve all the time in the world.

  Huffing, she crosses her arms across her ample chest, cocking her hip. “Please, you’ve only just started here, and you’ve been a pariah all year. You don’t know anything about any of us.”

  A few head nods and murmu
red agreements are scattered throughout the crowd and my polite smile turns positively vicious as I drop the act and let them see every part of the predator I am.

  “Is that so? Let’s see.” I tap my finger against my lip in time to the tapping of my boot against the tabletop. “I know Tiffany has chlamydia that’s gone untreated for over a year.” A gasp comes from somewhere on the left side of the room.

  “How dare you,” Tiffany yells, sounding offended.

  “Am I wrong?” I question her with a raised eyebrow. “Would you like me to show you the proof?”

  Lifting my phone out of my blazer pocket, I shrug my shoulders like it’s no big deal, because it is no big deal. With a press of a few buttons the swoosh of an email being sent echoes around the room—okay, so West spent over an hour teaching me how to attach a document to an email and mass send it, but that’s so not the point right now—and a few seconds later, everyone's tablets and phones go off.

  There is another round of gasps and whispers as everyone reads the email I sent. Attached is the latest letter sent by Tiffany’s gynecologist, urging her to contact him immediately with regards to her positive chlamydia result from over a year ago. It also lists the long-term consequences of the disease, and trust me, that shit is nasty. Why the fuck she doesn’t just get it treated is beyond me.

  Tiffany starts screaming a litany of abuse my way, but I just give her a megawatt smile in return, feeling fully in my element right now as I bring all these bitches to heel.

  I notice a movement in the far back corner of the room and my attention snaps to the doorway leading into the kitchen, noticing it’s slightly ajar. I have to restrain my eye roll when I spot Mason and Cam squinting through the crack. Idiots. They just had to check out what I was doing, didn’t they! Noticing me looking at them, Cam gives me a thumbs-up in encouragement, and Mason winks. Ignoring them, I focus back on the girls before me. They are much more subdued than when I first entered the hall.