Heartless Savage: A High School Bully Romance

by Ivy Blake

  As if he could tell what I was thinking, Steven smiled and cleared his throat, like a movie villain waiting for his big speech.

  “You forgot about the back doors,” he said slowly, a smug expression taking over his hardened face. “I parked my car on a different street.” he laughed to himself, an evil sound that sounded less than human. “I knew you’d be back soon enough.”

  My heart was racing in my chest, pounding so hard it was like a wild animal that wanted to be set free. I swallowed hard as I tried to process what was going on. There was no way that I was going to get caught like this.

  “I’m just leaving,” I said calmly. “I’ll be out of your way, and you’ll never have to see me again.”

  I walked down a couple of the steps at the same time that Steven folded his arms. His eyes were taunting me, begging me to challenge him, to see what he’d do to me.

  “Oh, you really think it’s that easy do you?” he snickered. “No wonder your mother left you, when you’re this stupid!”

  “She didn’t leave me!” I exclaimed as I felt the fire churning in my belly.

  “She left you because she doesn’t love you!” Steven yelled back. “And if poor mommy doesn’t love you, Austin, you can sure as hell bet that no one else will!”

  Even though I knew he was spitting venom specifically to get to me, I couldn’t help but falter at his words. It’s not true, I repeated to myself over and over again, but that didn’t stop the tears from pricking at my eyes.

  “What’s wrong, Mr Quarterback? Looks like your shine is dimming,” he mocked me, looking far too pleased with himself. I just wanted him to hit me and get it over with or leave me alone and let me pass. This in-between was killing me and I was running out of patience and faith that I wouldn’t do the wrong thing.

  “Can you let me go, please?” I muttered, just loud enough so that he could hear.

  “Let you go?” said Steven in a patronising voice. “But then you’re gonna run your little bitch mouth all over this town just to taint my name.”

  I scowled at him because he had already tainted his own name, even if only a few people knew what he was really like. I had to remind myself that I wasn’t responsible for the breakdown of my family, I was meant to be the kid for fuck’s sake!

  I was sick of him patronising me, sick of him treating me like shit, absolutely sick of everything. Mom had brought this guy into our lives and here I was having to defend myself against him on my own. My mind was cloudy and I could only see red as I charged down the stairs, straight towards Steven hoping to catch him off balance. I was too slow and instead Steven shoved me so that I went sprawling on the floor, my belongings scattered around me.

  “Pathetic bitch,” he spat at me as he stood over me. “You worthless little bitch. You think you’re special but you’re not.”

  I brought my hand to my lip and could feel that I’d busted it when I landed on the ground. Nothing new when it came to Steven. I tried to stand up but Steven held me down, this time his hands wrapped firmly around my throat. I struggled as he choked me, gasping for air, but the sad fuck only pressed on my windpipe harder.

  “You think you can come into my house whenever you want-”

  Steven didn’t get to finish his sentence because as quick as a flash, the door flew open and in came Nate with a baseball in hand which he swiftly used to knock my stepdad unconscious.

  “Fucking asshole!” he shouted at Steven’s unconscious body. Nate turned to me. “Are you okay?”

  I struggled to catch my breath as he helped me up. I hadn’t realised that tears were running down my face as Nate wrapped his arms around me.

  “You’d been in here for ages so I had to check it out, something didn’t feel right. Thank fuck I did!” he said, letting go of me.

  “Thank you, man,” I croaked as we grabbed my things and left the house, Steven still out cold on the ground. “Is he dead?” I asked.

  “I wish,” said Nate as he loaded my bags into his boot. “He’ll have a concussion if he’s lucky.”

  “If he’s not so lucky?”

  “You don’t need to worry about that,” Nate said to me pointedly. As we got in the car I felt my neck for bruises and winced at how tender it was to touch.

  “He could have killed me,” I said slowly, realising that Nate literally just saved my life.

  “He needs to go to jail for a long time for the shit he’s done to you,” Nate said, his face hard. “But for now, we need to focus on making sure you’re alright. If that bastard knows what’s good for him, he’ll stay the hell away from you.”

  Nate put his car into gear and pulled away from the house of hell. This time as we drove away, I didn’t look back like I usually did. My eyes stayed focussed on the road ahead. Even though Nate was driving above the speed limit, I felt like we couldn’t get away fast enough.

  Chapter Twenty

  Megan

  I had been distracted for the last few days, regardless of whether I was at home or at school. Austin hadn’t been in and I assumed it had something to do with his stepdad. Even though we sent texts to each other throughout the day- mostly memes or suggestions about dirty things we’d down when we next saw each other, there really wasn’t much in-between. We didn’t talk about the shit that was going on with him.

  While I respected it, I was still curious and every day when I went outside, I couldn’t help but stare at his house at the end of the street, wondering what his evil stepdad spent his days doing in there.

  I’d come to realise that Austin and I were technically dating, a tentative term that I was still getting used to. But since we weren’t seeing anybody else, it only made sense to use that title (according to Sophie). Which meant that it sucked even more that he had moved away, meaning that spontaneous sleepovers were much less likely because I couldn’t bring myself to meet Nate’s family or introduce Austin to my mom.

  While Austin hadn’t been at school, Nate and Ross had and since they were his best friends, it was very clearly that they had an idea of what we were getting up to. I nearly had a heart attack the first time that Nate had said “hey” to me as I was walking to my Maths class, his public display of acknowledgment unfamiliar to me.

  Even Ross, who I liked considerably less, smiled at me occasionally. I was glad that he and Lola had tired of their little affair because I couldn’t think of anyone I wanted my sister to be with less. While he was one of Austin’s friends and had briefly had a fling with my sister, that didn’t make me like him much more, especially since he was like your stereotypically annoying frat boy, but I decided that I could be civil with him.

  “You going or home or to see your boyfriend?”

  I looked up from my phone to see Lola standing at the car door. It had been impossible to hide the truth from her with my phone going off so regularly. It hadn’t taken much for her to put the pieces together. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about calling him my boyfriend, that label seemed a bit scary and we technically hadn’t agreed upon it. A fact that Sophie wouldn’t stop bringing up.

  “I can drop you off if that’s what you’re asking,” I said, as I tucked my phone away. Austin and I had agreed to a date of sorts. He’d asked me to meet him in the park after school and to be hungry- so I assumed he was bringing food for us both to eat.

  “When are you gonna bring him round for Mom to meet?” Lola asked as she buckled her seatbelt.

  “Urm, it’s still early days,” I told her, even though it was a half-truth. On one handed I wanted Mom to meet Austin so that she could stop bothering me about my love life. But on the other hand I was nervous about taking that next step so soon. Not to mention the fact that Austin’s stepdad still appeared to live on our street and I imagined that Austin wanted to be as far away from him as possible, which was completely understandable considering the circumstances.

  “Watch me plan a surprise party for your birthday and invite him to the house,” teased Lola.

  “Fuck that,” I said as I rolle
d my eyes.

  Even though my birthday was coming up, both Lola and I knew a surprise party would never be on the cards. It was literally one of my worst nightmares. I looked sideways at my sister as she looked out the window and smiled to myself. I’d been so caught up in my own little world that I hadn’t realised that she was significantly less mean to me than when we’d first arrived at Valley High and that now we could actually hold a conversation without wanting to kill each other. It was a small difference, but it was still nice, nonetheless.

  “What do you want to do for your birthday?” asked Lola, her eyes lighting up.

  “Damn if I knew,” I said with a shrug as we pulled into our driveway. “Do you think I should get changed?” I asked.

  “Yes!” exclaimed Lola, “wear something cute, you’re going on a date right?”

  “I guess, he just said to meet him in the park-”

  “Just because you’ve successfully seduced him- ” Lola pretended to vomit before continuing, “doesn’t mean you should stop trying.”

  She was absolutely right, and besides, I was feeling a bit stiff in my blazer and skirt. I texted Austin that I’d be a bit late before having a quick shower and rummaging through my wardrobe for something ‘cute’ to wear. I found a yellow sundress that I’d bought ages ago but barely worn and paired that with a denim jacket and ankle boots. I tied my hair up in a ponytail, allowing some curly tendrils to frame my face before spritzing on my favourite perfume, which I knew Austin was also a fan of, before saying goodbye to Lola.

  I decided to walk instead of taking the car because it was a lovely day and the park wasn’t that far away. I pulled out my earphones and turned on my music, deciding to take one out so that I could stay aware of my surroundings.

  Since the conversation with the police officer, I realised that I was basically in charge of my own safety. Phone in hand and keys between my knuckles, I walked around the neighbourhood with my eyes peeled, on the lookout for my stalker.

  When I arrived at the park, a lovely big green space with lots of trees, I saw Austin rolling out a blanket next to a brown wicker basket. I snuck up behind him, quiet as a mouse.

  “Boo!” I said in his ear.

  “What the-!” Austin jumped, his arms raised as he turned to see me standing behind him, despite the fact that I was probably the least intimidating person he knew. His worried expression was quickly replaced with a big smile as he bent down to hug me. I melted into his arms and smiled into his chest as we rocked from side to side.

  “You didn’t scare me, by the way,” he whispered against my hair.

  “Who’s the terrible liar now?” I teased, looking up at him.

  Austin smirked at me and planted a light kiss on my mouth before taking my hand in his and leading me to a spot on the blanket. As I got myself comfortable, I noticed that Austin was staring at me, watching my every move and I suddenly got really nervous.

  “You look really beautiful,” said Austin with a smile.

  “You don’t look too bad yourself,” I teased, when I really wanted to gush about how hot he looked. His button down shirt clung tightly to his athletic body, his hair swept out of his face in that messy, yet sexy, way that I loved.

  “You better not be a fussy eater,” said Austin with a fake stern face as he laid out some items from the basket on the blanket.

  “You better impress me,” I said hotly as I watched him make my plate.

  There were cute little sandwiches, delicious fruits, cheese, chocolate and many more things that made my mouth water. We ate and chatted away together, and I was really glad to be seeing him after what felt like an age, even though in reality it had barely been a week.

  “How are things at Nate’s?”

  “Alright, obviously things are kinda awkward with his parents and Steven. What with them growing up together and him being an abusive piece of shit,” said Austin matter of factly even though I could tell that what he was saying meant a lot more to him.

  “Oh yeah, what’s the situation with Steven?” I asked warily, my curiosity getting the better of me. Austin absentmindedly raised his hand to his neck before blinking and dropping it, as if he was in a trance.

  “He was arrested for battery-”

  “That’s good news!”

  “But then he bailed himself out,” he said shortly before taking a bite into some grapes. My face fell and I was suddenly overwhelmed with sympathy for Austin.

  “Bullshit!” I exclaimed.

  “What use is the law if you can just buy your way out,right?” Austin shrugged and offered me a grape. I took a bunch and played with them in my hands as I thought about how to comfort him.

  “That fucking sucks,” I said finally, realising that there really weren’t many words in the dictionary that would be good right now.

  “Hell yeah, it does. But on the bright side he wants nothing to do with me apparently, whatever that means.”

  “Are you still scared of him?” Austin’s eyes narrowed and he looked at me as if I’d asked if he still wet the bed.

  “I’m not scared of anyone,” he said, his voice faltering as he looked away. Austin stared at a family walking past with their puppy, the kids running to chase it as it went to retrieve a stick.

  “I’m not going to judge you,” I said softly, grazing his arm with my hand. “He seems fucking terrifying from what you’ve told me. You don’t have to be strong all the time.” Austin glanced down at me and a sad smile spread across his face.

  “Thanks for giving me the permission to be scared,” he said, tapping the tip of my nose.

  “You’re very welcome,” I said, scrunching up my face. He laughed and bent down to kiss me, his mouth soft and comforting.

  “I’ve missed you at school,” I said truthfully, once we’d stopped kissing.

  “Has Max been giving you trouble?” Austin sat up straight, his eyes alert.

  “No, not at all!” I said, relieved when he relaxed again. I hated seeing him tense up. “I’ve just missed seeing you.”

  “I’ve missed you too, “ Austin said after a moment as he interlaced his fingers with mine. He brought my hand to his lips and kissed the knuckles one by one, his eyes on me the whole time. I shivered with pleasure at the intensely intimate action, allowing myself to ignore everyone else as we sat like this together.

  “When are you coming back?”

  “Soon,’ he said with a faraway look in his eye.

  “I know you need time off to process everything, I get that. But what about your grades, the scholarship, college?” I hated how I sounded like a nagging parent, but I’d found myself invested in Austin’s wellbeing and his future. I knew how badly he wanted to get that scholarship and I wanted to see him achieve his dream.

  “Oh I’m still studying don’t you worry.” He flashed me a charming smile. “In fact, I have something for you- if you don’t mind.” Austin reached into the basket again, took out an A4 notebook and passed it to me.

  ‘A birthday present?” I teased as I flipped open the book. The first few pages were filled with his surprisingly neat handwriting, a variety of essays on the books that we’d studied in our English classes.

  Austin’s eyebrows shot up. “It’s not your birthday is it? If I’d known-”

  “It’s not today,” I said with a laugh, “it might be next week though, but it’s no biggie.” I said, brushing off his concern.

  I didn’t like people fussing over me too much for my birthday. It was a weird amount of attention on one day, simply for being born. Like woah, go me.