Devious Little Liars: A High School Bully Romance (Saint View High Book 1)

by Elle Thorpe

  He’d come as a prince. Navy-blue suit with royal sashes and badges. A sword at his hip. And a crown, strikingly similar to my own, perched on his head.

  He didn’t move from his spot. And I didn’t move from mine. The two of us stayed locked in some sort of mental battle, neither of us willing to look away. He was the prince to my princess. I couldn’t have picked a better costume if he’d been my boyfriend and we were couple dressing.

  Anger surged. I hated him. I didn’t want him here. The only thing that had stopped me from removing his name from the guest list was he was Banjo’s best friend, and this was his night, too. I’d thought I’d just be able to ignore Colt, but how could I? He’d done it just to play mind games with me. He’d known it would throw me off. Or maybe he thought it was funny. It wasn’t. I ground my molars together. It didn’t matter how his eyes on me made me want to part the sea of people and go to him. The pull was so strong, it would have been easier to just give in. Throw myself at his mercy. Beg him to kiss me. Fuck me. Just so I could stop wondering what it would be like.

  It was Colt who turned away first.

  I’d won.

  But somehow it didn’t feel like winning.

  I forced my feet to move and circled the room, being the gracious host, chatting with people both from my old life and from the new. I sipped the punch, accepted birthday presents, and laughed politely when appropriate. I snatched a few moments here and there with Banjo, but he was Mr. Popularity, too, getting dragged into conversations or onto the dance floor. I spotted Rafe every now and then, his eyes burning with desire each time, and I promised myself I’d get some alone time with him before the night was through. I hadn’t been alone with him since last weekend, on the way to the football game, and it had been much too long. I missed his kisses. His heart. I just wanted some time for the two of us, away from prying, judging eyes.

  Owen caught up with me by the bar and pulled me aside, out of earshot of the bartenders and those waiting for drinks. “Damn, Lacey. You’re stunning in that dress. Why a princess?”

  I shrugged. “Long story. Listen, I’ve been meaning to call you.”

  Owen visibly perked up, obviously pleased by that.

  I cringed internally. I was beginning to think that Owen might have a crush on me, and I didn’t want to encourage it. He was a nice guy, and I was appreciative of his help last weekend. But that was as far as it went for me. There was no attraction from my end. Not like I had with Banjo or Rafe.

  Or Colt.

  I forced myself to stop subconsciously searching the room for the guys and focus on Owen. “I just wanted to say thank you. I have a lot of black spots from the other night, but I remember you helped me. I’m grateful.”

  He squeezed my upper arm, then let his fingers trail down my skin. “You’re welcome. You know I’m here for you, right? Anytime.”

  I forced myself to smile.

  “Maybe we can go out somewhere during the week? Just you and me.”

  My eyes widened. “Oh. Um, like a date?”

  Owen nodded. “Exactly like that.”

  He stepped in closer, and I fought the urge to take a huge step back. It wasn’t exactly that he disgusted me. He’d been kind to me. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. But if he invaded my bubble any farther, I wouldn’t be as polite.

  “Um.” Shit. There was no way around this other than to just be honest. “I’m sorry. But no. I just don’t feel that way about you.”

  Surprise widened his eyes, but then he laughed. “Wow. Okay. Well, that’s never happened before.”

  His laugh didn’t quite sound sincere, but I laughed, too, feeling awkward.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Why are you sorry, babe?” With the worst possible timing, Rafe swooped in behind me, fitting his chest to my back and wrapping his arms around my middle. He kissed my cheek.

  Owen scowled at him. “Not your business.”

  Rafe loosened his grip, moving me to stand at his side. But his attention was all on Owen. “Excuse me? Anything to do with Lacey is my business. Who the hell are you?”

  Owen looked to me. “Seriously? Who is this?”

  I sighed. “Owen, I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

  Owen shook his head and stalked off. Rafe smirked.

  “You didn’t have to do that,” I complained, slightly irritated.

  “The guy was hitting on you. I heard every word. You didn’t like it.”

  “Or you were jealous?”

  He shook his head. “Don’t get jealous over small dick pricks like him. And anyway, I wanted to show you something.”

  He guided me into the shadows and pushed me up against the wall, kissing me slowly, his tongue invading my mouth and my senses until I forgot all about hurting Owen’s feelings. I snaked my hands into Rafe’s hair.

  “Tonight?” I whispered, pulling back from him, breathless and needy, heat coiling between my legs. “Come home with me tonight.”

  He touched his forehead to mine. “I want to, baby. I do. What about Banjo?”

  “Both of you,” I whispered boldly. “It’s my birthday, after all.”

  He gave me a wicked grin. “Indeed it is, princess. And birthday girls always come first.”

  I went to kiss him again, but he dodged my advances, and instead, caught my hand. “First, though, Banjo and I have a surprise for you.”

  I raised one eyebrow, then leaned in, pressing against him seductively. “Is it the sort of surprise where we’re naked? Alone? In a room, and I take your—”

  “Jesus, stop,” Rafe said, voice dark and verging on pained. “Or I won’t be able to get through this.” He towed me up onto the stage, grabbing Banjo from a conversation with one of his football friends. “It’s time,” he said.

  Banjo nodded and followed us up the stairs. He positioned me in the center of the stage and made a motion to someone at the back of the room. A spotlight lit us up, bathing us in bright, yellow light. I blinked a few times to adjust my eyes, while Rafe went to a microphone and tapped it, checking to see if it was on.

  Someone cut the music and upped the house lights, so I could see each and every face in the crowd.

  Apart from Colt. I couldn’t see him anywhere.

  “Good evening, everyone,” Rafe began, drawing the attention of the last few people in the room. “For those who don’t know us, I’m Rafe, and this is Banjo.”

  Banjo stepped forward and gave a wave, before Rafe continued.

  “We’ve gotten very close with Lacey since she came to Saint View…”

  I jerked my head in his direction. Close was an understatement. But there were only a few titters from the crowd. At least most people were mature enough to take it at face value.

  “…and we wanted to do something special to mark her eighteenth birthday.”

  I glanced in Banjo’s direction, and he grinned.

  “You’ll love it,” he whispered.

  Rafe signaled to someone at the back of the room again, and a screen dropped down behind us.

  “Turn around,” Banjo said in my ear. “Happy birthday.”

  My cheeks flamed beneath the makeup, but I turned around, squeezing Banjo’s hand in the process. On the screen, ‘Happy Birthday, Lacey’ flashed up, and an annoyingly jovial, upbeat song played.

  “Here’s a little trip down memory lane,” Banjo’s voice said on the video.

  I groaned good naturedly as a photo of me at age five, just after I’d come to live at Lawson and Selina’s flashed up on the screen. The next image was a more recent photo. The dreaded braces years. I winced as the room chuckled with laughter. But it was in good fun. There were photos of Meredith and me in our matching school uniforms. Me, Lawson, and Selina on a family picnic. Me playing on stage at a Providence recital during my junior year. Then a handful of selfies Jagger had dragged me into, plus one she must have secretly taken, of me, Rafe, and Banjo all huddled together after the football game.

  The video ended, and everybody clapped. I turn
ed back to face the room of people smiling up at me. My aunt was in the front row with Meredith and Jagger not far behind her.

  Then, across the room, Colt caught my eye. He reclined against a pillar, casual, and with a smirk aimed my way. Him the cocky prince, me the haughty princess. Our outfits a pair in a way we’d never be. Like before, our gazes collided and held, fierce electricity slamming between us.

  A loud moan ripped through the sound system.

  The crowd gasped, and a familiar voice said, “Fuck, Lacey. You’re so gorgeous. I love bare pussy.”

  Hoots and hollers erupted. I spun around.

  The world around me tipped upside down. Because right there on a huge screen, for everybody I knew to see, was my worst nightmare. One I couldn’t wake up from. It just kept playing.

  My naked body. Laid out on Banjo’s bed, legs spread, while I panted in need, waiting for Rafe and Banjo to pleasure me.

  “Get your mouth on it then. Before I do.”

  On the screen, Rafe went to work between my thighs, while Banjo kissed me and I moaned like I was a porn star. I held Rafe’s head, grinding against him while he went down on me.

  Blackness dodged the edges of my vision, and yet I couldn’t look away.

  “Turn that off!” someone yelled, but it faded into the laughter and the catcalls from the rest of the room.

  “Lacey!” someone shouted, but I’d gone numb all over as shock rolled through my system.

  Banjo shook me. “Lacey!”

  That woke me up. My gaze focused in on his face. His beautiful green eyes that I loved. And then I drew back my arm and slapped him hard across the face.

  My palm stung. Banjo’s expression morphed into shock.

  “Lacey…” he said quietly. He didn’t even lift a hand to his cheek, though the outline of my fingers appeared almost instantly.

  I felt little satisfaction in it, though.

  “You taped us?” I hissed. “How could you!”

  “Lacey, I—”

  I held up a hand. “Shut up. Don’t even bother.”

  Banjo backed off a step, only for Rafe to take his place.

  I shot him down with a single look. “Don’t tell me you didn’t know what he was doing. You’re an asshole.”

  Hurt and betrayal washed over me like a tidal wave, ready to drag me down and drown me in its depths. And in that moment, I might have let it.

  I’d trusted them. And they’d betrayed me. In the worst possible way. In a way I couldn’t come back from. It was fine for them. Society didn’t treat men the same way they treated women. They’d be local legends. The Saint View slum dogs who’d had a threesome with the society princess. And I’d be the slut who’d been stupid enough to let two boys film her at her most vulnerable.

  Bile rose in my mouth. I fled the stage, running for the door.

  “Lacey!” Meredith yelled, my aunt and Jagger right behind her.

  I shook off Meredith’s touch, face burning with shame. I couldn’t even look at my aunt. Couldn’t bear the thought of the woman who I’d just called Mom for the first time seeing me like that. Shame rolled through me, mixed with a healthy dose of hate. In one sick, twisted move, they’d ruined everything I’d spent the last thirteen years building with Selina. Just one glance at her horrified face told me she’d never look at me the same. And I couldn’t blame her. I’d embarrassed her in front of everybody we knew. It would be minutes before the entire episode was online, and then we’d never live it down.

  “Just leave me alone,” I begged them, choking on my tears. “Please. Just leave me alone.” I ran for the door again, bursting outside. The frigid wind whipped around me, and the waves roared. They smashed onto the beach, calling me in their direction, promising to drown out the laughter still bellowing behind me. I hit the sand stumbling, kicking off my shoes.

  The smell of smoke filled my nostrils. The glowing red end of a cigarette broke the darkness, but I was practically on top of the person before I realized who it was. I dimly took in her sparkling dress and spiked heels.

  “I warned you,” Gillian said into the night air. Then she laughed cruelly. “Stupid bitch. You didn’t really think they’d love you back, did you? They’re broken, princess. All three of them. They’ve lived through shit upbringings and traumas you know nothing about. They can’t love you. Not even if they wanted to.”

  Her laugher took my breath away and replaced it with a stabbing pain.

  She’d been right. She’d warned me. I hadn’t listened.

  And I’d paid the price.

  Gillian’s laughter was the last thing I heard as I ran blindly down the beach and into the darkness.

  34

  Lacey

  I ran until my lungs burned. Until the lights from the party disappeared. Until the people shouting my name were drowned out by the ocean. And then I sank down onto the sand, still cold and wet from the high tide, and cried. Great heaving sobs that jerked my entire body. I hadn’t grabbed my coat, and the wind whipped around my bare skin.

  It had all been lies. Devious little lies, one stacked on top of the other. Each one so tiny I hadn’t noticed them all building up until they came crashing down on top of me. Each one splintered my skin, ripping it, tearing it like tiny shards of falling glass from a shattered window. But it was my heart that was broken. I had feelings for Rafe, and he’d thrown them in my face. And Banjo…I couldn’t breathe when I thought about how just hours ago, I’d stood in his arms and told him I was in love with him.

  I loved him.

  But he loved Colt.

  I should have known when he’d told me he thought of Colt as his brother. He’d told me he owed Colt everything. Colt had declared a war on me from the very first day of school. And yet I’d thought Banjo and Rafe would go against that? I was an idiot. A stupid, foolish girl who’d listened to the lies of boys.

  At least Colt had never lied. A bitter laugh fell from my lips. How ironic, the one I hated the most, was the only one who’d been truthful this entire time. He’d said I was breakable.

  He’d been right.

  “Lacey,” a voice said in the darkness. He sat down beside me in the sand. “God, there you are. Are you okay?”

  I didn’t have the strength to run away anymore. Didn’t have the strength left to fight. It had all gone to shit. “No,” I whispered to Owen. A sob bubbled up my throat. “No, I’m really not.”

  He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me tight. I burrowed against his chest, letting the warmth of him thaw my frozen body, drawing comfort from being held.

  He dropped a kiss on my head and rubbed my chilled arms with his palms. “Sssh,” he whispered. “It’s all going to be okay.”

  But it wasn’t. He didn’t know that. I couldn’t stop crying. My tears soaked his thin shirt, sobs racking my entire body until I was exhausted and weak. Logically, I knew I was crashing after the spike of adrenaline, but there was no stopping it. Owen was a safe place. He’d gotten me home from this beach once before, and I instinctively knew he’d do it again.

  “Thank you for coming after me,” I whispered. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  Owen grasped my chin and tilted my face up to look at him. He used his thumbs to wipe the tears from my cheeks. “I’m always here for you. Always.”

  I closed my eyes, trying to ward off a fresh round of tears, but it was impossible. They seeped between my eyelashes, running down my cheeks again. Owen kissed my temple, then my cheek, the edge of my mouth, chasing tears.

  His lips landed on mine.

  I didn’t move. I was spent. Emotionally and physically drained. His kisses grew bolder, pressing against my mouth, running his tongue over my unresponsive lips, urging me to open.

  “Come on, baby,” he murmured. “I know how to make you feel better.”

  His voice snapped me out of my trance. I shoved him. “Owen, stop.”

  It was as if I hadn’t spoken. He came right back in, harder this time, taking what he wanted. There
was nothing gentle about this kiss. It was demanding. Hard. Unfeeling.

  His fingers wrapped around my upper arms, holding me in place while he assaulted my mouth. Nausea rolled my stomach, and I shoved him away again.

  “Owen! I said, stop! I told you before, I don’t feel that way about you.”

  His fingers still bit into my skin, but he reared back.

  “You stupid bitch,” he hissed. “You give it up for the Saint View trash, but not for me? I’ve got hired help who earn more than those fuckboys will ever earn in their lives.”

  I struggled with his grip on me. “Maybe so, but that doesn’t make you better than them. And it sure as shit doesn’t determine who I sleep with. Let go!”

  The back of his hand cracked across my face, taking me by surprise. Sharp pain exploded in my cheekbone, and the force of the impact had my head snapping to the left. I cried out at the pain, covering my cheek with my hand. My eyes watered as I slowly brought my gaze back to his.

  I jerked away at the expression on his face. It was cold. Hard. Furious.

  For the first time that night, a new emotion crept in.

  Fear.

  This wasn’t the Owen I knew. This wasn’t the Owen who had rescued me from the beach last weekend after Colt had thrown my keys into the ocean. This wasn’t the boy who had cared for me and helped me into bed.

  “Is that how you like it?” he sneered. “Do those Saint View boys rough you up before they plunge their cocks inside you?” He yanked my hand and rubbed it over his straining erection.

  I tried to pull away, but he yanked my arm so hard my shoulder jolted in pain.

  “I know what you do for them, slut. The whole fucking world just saw it. You do it for them. You can do it for me. At least I can afford to pay you.”

  He grabbed the spaghetti strap on my dress and shoved it down my shoulder. The material bit into my skin, and I cried out when he squeezed my breast.

  “Owen, stop!” I yelled.

  But he was no longer listening.

  I fought to get away from him, scrambling backward across the sand, but he caught me easily, cracking his hand across my face again.