Do It Or Else: A High School Bully Romance (Dirty Little Secret Book 3)

by Kai Juniper

"I think I know who's texting us."

  "Who is it, or who do you think it is?"

  "I think it might be Ms. Higgins. The texts keep telling us to do stuff for other people or be nice to people we'd normally make fun of. That's totally something Ms. Higgins would do. She's one of those save-the-world type of people."

  "You say that like it's a bad thing."

  "It's not, except when she forces people to do shit they don't want to do."

  "Are you saying you wouldn't give to charity unless you were forced to?"

  "I'm saying she doesn't get to decide that. She's using this to control us, which is wrong, but that's not what I'm here to talk about. I'm here because I need your help."

  "With what?"

  "I need you to find out if it's her. She likes you more than anyone else at school, which means she'll tell you stuff if you ask."

  "She's not going to tell me she's the one sending the texts."

  "She might, if she thinks you're on her side."

  "What do you mean?"

  "You're not getting the texts. That tells me she's protecting you, keeping you out of this so you don't get in trouble. She knows you don't like me, or Finn and Parker, but if you play it up more, and tell her how much you hate us and how you hate when we get away with shit, there's a chance she might confess and tell you she's the one who was there that night."

  "I don't think she'd do that. She knows you and I have been getting along. She sees us working together in class. She's not going to believe me if I tell her I hate you and want to see you get in trouble."

  "Then we'll make her believe it. We'll start fighting during lab. Yelling at each other. Refusing to work together."

  "We could try it, but I still don't think she'll tell me anything."

  "Would you just talk to her and see if you can find anything out?"

  "Yeah. I'll talk to her tomorrow."

  "Thanks." He pauses. "That was it. That's all I wanted to ask."

  "I finished our assignment," I tell him, not ready for him to leave. "You want to see it?"

  "You can just send it to me. I'll look over it later."

  I nod, wishing I could make him stay, but I don't know how. I shouldn't even want him to stay, but I do. I miss him, more than I should, and having him here is bringing back all the feelings I keep trying to deny.

  He's looking at me, like he's waiting for me to say something. When I don't, he says, "Okay, well, I guess I'll be going."

  I walk him to the door. He opens it, but instead of leaving, he stands there a moment, then closes the door and turns to me.

  "Was there something else?" I ask.

  "Yeah." He looks down as he rubs his scruffy jaw. "What you said the other day...about being friends?"

  "Yeah?" I say, thinking he changed his mind.

  "I shouldn't have left things that way. Without an explanation."

  I wait for him to continue, my pulse racing as his eyes lift to mine.

  "We can't do this, Ella. Whatever we started needed to end, not just the physical stuff, but us. Being friends. Talking. Confiding in each other. It needed to end."

  The hopefulness I felt just seconds ago is replaced by disappointment. I thought he was going to tell me he wanted to get back together. I thought he missed me, but I guess not.

  "I understand," I tell him. "I only brought up the friend thing because I didn't want us to start fighting again. I didn't want to go back to being enemies."

  "Maybe that's just how it's meant to be. Maybe we were never meant to be friends, or anything else."

  "Maybe." I look down. "If that's it, you can go."

  I wait for him to leave, but he doesn't.

  "Fuck," he mutters.

  When I look up at him, he seems torn, and maybe a little confused. I'm confused, too. I don't know what's going on here, why he isn't leaving.

  "Ella." His hands go around the sides of my face, his eyes locked on mine.

  "What?"

  "I lied."

  "About what?"

  He kisses me, and just the touch of his lips makes my body come alive with a desire so strong I can't control it. I want more. I want him to touch me, kiss me, be inside me.

  I grab his shirt and pull him towards me as I walk backwards into the house. I stumble over something on the floor and almost fall, but Briggs catches me, then scoops me up in his arms and takes me to my room. He sets me down and I shove his polo shirt up, wanting it off so I can feel his smooth skin, his taut muscles, his warm body against mine.

  He yanks his shirt off, then looks at me, breathing hard. "What are we doing, Ella?"

  "What we've been wanting to do." I look in his eyes. "I missed you. I wish I didn't, but I did."

  "I missed you too, so fucking bad."

  I jump into his arms and kiss him, and any and all hesitation we had about doing this is gone. Clothes are stripped off and tossed aside, and we're in my bed. Briggs sighs, almost in relief, at the feel of being inside me again. I know exactly how he feels, relieved to finally stop denying myself what I wanted, and needed. I don't just mean the sex, but being with Briggs, the guy I'm supposed to hate but who somehow found a way into my heart, and into my soul.

  I don't understand how or why we ended up together, but questioning it doesn't change anything. I still have feelings for Briggs—deep, strong emotions that tug at my heart when I'm not with him, and this undeniable need to be near him, to feel him beside me, to feel his touch.

  Doing this with him is only going to make that need stronger and the emotions deeper, but I couldn't tell him no. It's what I wanted, and I don't want it to end. Briggs must be thinking the same thing because he's taking his time, moving in and out of me at a slow, steady pace as he kisses me on my lips, along my shoulder, and up and down my neck. He whispers in my ear, telling me I'm beautiful, and hot, and how he can't stop thinking about me.

  This is the Briggs I've been missing, the one I fell for, the one I could love. Where has he been? I wish he'd tell me. Maybe later. Maybe this will change things, and get us back to how things were.

  "I don't want this to end," he whispers over my lips, "but shit." He thrusts into me faster, like he's losing control. He slides his hand between us and touches me, rubbing his fingers in just the right spot.

  His touch sends me over the edge and I gasp, my back arching up, my hands gripping the sheet.

  He slides his hand out and pumps into me harder, faster, until he comes. He collapses back on the bed and I turn and lay my head on his chest. His arm goes around me and he smooths my hair and kisses my head.

  We don't talk. We just lay there, and I can't help but wonder if that was us getting back together or if that was the end. Briggs seemed reluctant to do it. It's like he was fighting with himself since the moment he got here. He didn't want to come inside, and when he did, he made it clear we couldn't be friends, or anything more. So was this some kind of goodbye, a way to end what we started?

  "I should probably go," he says, running his hand over my hair. He keeps doing that and I like it. It's soothing, comforting, like something a boyfriend would do.

  "If you're worried about my dad, he's not coming home until late."

  "Are you saying I can stay?"

  I look up at him. "If you want to."

  "Have you eaten yet?"

  "No. I was about to when you got here."

  "Let's order something in. Whatever you want. It's on me."

  I smile, happy he's staying.

  "Then maybe after dinner," he kisses me, "we could come back here and do this again."

  I get up from the bed and get dressed. "I'll go get the takeout menus."

  "Don't get something cheap," he says. "I'm buying."

  "I only have menus for cheap places." I go to the kitchen and get the menus, bringing them back to the bedroom.

  "Go online," Briggs says. "Find an expensive place you've always wanted to go and order from there."

  I watch as he gets dressed. "What's going on with you?"
<
br />   "What do you mean?"

  "You're being really..." I stop to think how to say it.

  "Nice?" he says with a smile.

  "Yeah." I smile back.

  He comes up to me, his arms going around me. "I want you to be happy."

  "With food?"

  "With everything." He kisses me. "Order whatever you want. I left my wallet in the car. I'll be right back."

  He's staying and buying me dinner? Does this mean things are good with us? We're back together? What about the valedictorian thing? Is he going to keep harassing me about it? I want to ask, but there's a chance just bringing it up will ruin our night and I'm loving this too much to have it end.

  We order dinner from a fancy seafood place. It's really good and something I never get because it's expensive and my dad hates seafood. After dinner we end up back in my room, in my bed. When he leaves at nine, I don't want to tell him goodbye.

  It was a perfect night, almost too perfect. It makes me worry something bad will happen to take it all away.

  Monday morning, I get to school early and go to the AP Chem room. Ms. Higgins is at her desk, grading papers.

  "Ms. Higgins?"

  She looks up at me and smiles. "Ella, what are you doing here so early?"

  "I wanted to use the library before class. I found what I needed so I thought I'd stop by and see how I did on Friday's exam."

  "I just finished grading them." She shuffles through the stack of exams, pulls mine out, and hands it to me.

  "An 85?" I say, shocked I didn't do better than that.

  "You missed the first few questions, but it's still an excellent score. The average on the test was 70."

  "I thought I had all the answers right." I look over the questions I missed. "Are you sure this is wrong?" I show her the exam, pointing to question two.

  "Yes. If you remember, I said in class that you'd need to account for all the variables. That was a tricky question. I had a feeling a lot of people would miss it."

  She's acting like this is no big deal, but to me, 85 is a low score. I almost always get above a 90.

  "What was the highest grade?" I ask.

  "One person had a perfect score."

  "Who?" I ask, but I think I already know.

  "I'm not allowed to say, but I'm sure you can guess."

  "Briggs."

  She just smiles.

  Briggs got a perfect score? That irritates me, but also turns me on. I love that he's smart. It makes him even hotter. But I'm disappointed I didn't at least get close to his score.

  "I wouldn't worry about it," Ms. Higgins says. "You're still first in the class."

  "I know. I'm just sick of Briggs always getting what he wants," I say, starting my subtle investigation to see if she's the texter, but I'm still not confident she'll tell me anything.

  "You make it sound like he didn't work for it," Ms. Higgins says. "That's not really fair, Ella. Briggs had to study just like everyone else."

  "I know. I'm just annoyed in general, not just with Briggs, but everyone here. I'm tired of all these rich kids getting everything they want and doing stuff and getting away with it."

  Her brows draw together. "Like what? Are you talking about something specific?"

  "No, but don't you ever get tired of it? All these rich kids with their fancy clothes and fancy cars living a life of privilege?"

  "It's not my place to judge. If their parents give them those things, that's their choice. It would be nice if they'd give some of that money to charity, but maybe they do."

  She wants them to give to charity. That was one of the demands. Is that a coincidence, or does it make her the texter?

  "It's not just that," I say. "It's the way they're always picking on people. It's wrong. Briggs bullied me for years. And Finn and Parker are always bullying the tech guys and they never get in trouble for it."

  She nods. "We've talked about that in our student advisory meetings, but there really isn't much we can do unless we actually catch them in the act."

  "I'm sure there's something you could do."

  "If you have ideas, let me know." She looks down at the stack of papers on her desk. "Ella, I'd love to keep talking, but I really need to finish grading these before class starts."

  "Do you need this back?" I hold out my test.

  "You can keep it. I'll be handing them out today." She looks up at me. "Don't worry about your score. You're still far ahead of anyone else in the class."

  "Yeah." I force out a smile. "See you later."

  As I walk out to the hall, I notice Briggs coming my way. I race to hide my test in my backpack, but the zipper's stuck.

  "Ella," I hear Briggs say.

  I look up and see him in front of me. "Hey. You're here early."

  "I'm going over some plays with Coach." He glances at Ms. Higgins' classroom. "You talk to her?"

  "Yeah." I lower my voice. "She didn't say much, but I don't think it's her. I'll tell you later."

  "What's that?" He points to the test in my hand.

  "Nothing." I fold the test in half so he can't see the grade.

  "Is that the Chem exam?"

  "I don't know. Maybe. I have to go." I turn to leave.

  "Wait."

  "What?" When I turn back, I see him checking to make sure we're alone.

  He walks up to me and smiles. "You want to meet up later?"

  "Maybe," I say in a flirty tone.

  The classroom door opens and Ms. Higgins comes out, stopping when she sees us. "Oh! I didn't realize you two were out here."

  "We were just talking about our assignment," I say.

  She smiles at Briggs. "You did very well on your test last Friday."

  "Really?" he says, sounding surprised.

  "You were the only one to get a perfect score," she says. "I need to get something from the office. I'll see you both at class."

  As she goes down the hall, Briggs looks at me. "I got the highest grade?"

  I shrug. "That's what she said."

  "I thought I got like an 80 on it, or 85. I wasn't sure about the first few questions. What'd you get? A 99?"

  "It doesn't matter. I need to look something up in the library so—"

  "Ella, what'd you get?"

  I sigh and show him the grade. "I don't know what happened. I thought I got everything right."

  "It's just one test. You're still way ahead of me."

  "Chadwick!" a man barks. I look behind Briggs and see the rugby coach coming towards us.

  Briggs turns around. "Coach. I was just coming to see you."

  "You're late. Hurry up!"

  "We'll talk later," Briggs says to me, taking off to meet with his coach.

  I was just about to talk to him about ending this valedictorian fight, but the stupid coach interrupted us before I could. I'll have to do it later. I don't want to put it off. I feel like it keeps coming back and making us fight. I need to find out why Briggs keeps pushing this and how to make him stop. Maybe now that we're back together, he'll finally let it go.

  I worked hard for that title. I'm not giving it up.

  Chapter Eight

  Ella

  "Where are you going?" Charlotte asks, stopping me in the hall. "I thought we were having lunch."

  It's almost noon and I'm meeting Briggs behind the bleachers. I try to think of a lie to explain why I'm leaving, but then remember I don't have to anymore.

  "I'm going to meet Briggs," I whisper.

  "Where?"

  "The field out back." I glance around to make sure no one's listening.

  Her eyes widen. "Are you guys going to—"

  "No," I say, pulling her aside, away from all the people going by. "We're just talking."

  "Yeah, right." She rolls her eyes.

  I smile. "Okay, we might do more than talk, but we won't be doing what you caught us doing there before. By the way, why were you out there that day? You never said."

  "I was going to walk around the stadium. I was thinking if I walked t
here every morning before class I could lose a pound a week. But then I decided I like sleeping too much to get up that early."

  "Charlotte, you don't need to lose weight."

  "Skinny people always say that." She looks me up and down. "How do you get a body like that without working out?"

  "It's all the lawn work. Sweeping and pulling weeds keeps me in shape." I check my phone. "I need to go."

  "Be careful!" she yells as I leave.

  She thinks Briggs and I will get caught, but there's nobody on the field this time of day, and even if there were, they wouldn't go behind the bleachers.

  As I walk down there, I feel my excitement building. It's hard to believe just a few weeks ago the idea of meeting up with Briggs filled me with fear and dread, and now I can't wait to see him. But when I get behind the bleachers, he's not there.

  "Briggs?" I call out.

  It's a few minutes past noon. Maybe something came up and he can't meet. I check my phone, but he didn't text me.

  Someone grabs me from behind and I almost scream, but then smile when I smell his cologne and feel his warm chest behind my back as he pulls me against him.

  "Hey." He kisses my cheek. "Sorry I'm late."

  I look up at him, smiling. "You scare me to death when you sneak up on me like that."

  "You love it and you know it."

  "Maybe." I turn to face him and he leans down to kiss me. He holds me close and deepens the kiss, making my body tingle and want more.

  As much as I'd love to keep doing this, I need to tell him about Ms. Higgins. We're running out of time to find out who's sending those texts, and if we don't find out who it is, we won't be able to stop the person from going to the cops. There's probably no chance we can stop it, but I'm holding out hope that it's possible.

  I pull back from Briggs. "We need to talk about Ms. Higgins."

  "We'll do it later." He kisses me and runs his hand up the back of my thigh, under my skirt.

  "Wait," I say, stopping him. "We can't do this. Someone might see us."

  "Nobody's out here."

  "I know, but still, we need to talk. I have to work after school and you have practice. This is the only time we have to talk."

  He sighs and steps back. "What is it? What'd you find out?"

  "I don't think it's her. I was telling her how unfair it is that you get away with stuff because you're rich and popular, and instead of agreeing with me, she stuck up for you."