Lawless Kingdom: A Dark Romance (Reign & Ruin Book 1)

by Natalie Bennett

  “You want to split up?” I questioned. “Is that a good idea? This Gabby chick knows you, not me.”

  “If someone knows me Rhia, they know you. You’re literally the moon to my sun.”

  Aw. I liked that.

  “If we hurry, we can make the second showing of our movie,” she continued.

  I liked that even better.

  “I’ll take right.”

  She nodded. “Meet here in ten minutes or I’m coming for you.”

  “Same,” I laughed, already stepping in the other direction. I felt strange being around this many people after what happened the other night. It hadn’t been bothering me as heavily until this very moment. I imagined more than a few had been in attendance, but not a single soul made a passing remark.

  Had no one seen anything? Or was it that they didn’t care? Dax had been the one to get our drinks, after all. Did he not see someone put something in them? Did he know they had? I couldn’t picture him allowing that, but then again, people could always surprise you.

  Suffice it to say, I would never take a red cup from anyone again unless Audrey made the shit herself. Last night could have gone so differently for us, so much worse. I’d heard a million horror stories about girls who had been drugged at parties.

  I navigated around a couple kissing and made my way to the rear end of the boat. There were a few friendly smiles aimed my way and a redheaded guy watched me with interest in his eyes. He was pretty. I wouldn’t mind him joining me in bed. I just couldn’t do pretty for long-term; I’d tarnish it and make it as ugly as I was inside.

  That had been one of the better things about Dax. He didn’t notice or care to know about the shit I kept locked up tight inside my head. Pretending tends to be easier when no one is searching for what’s underneath the mask you wear.

  Speaking of Dax, I didn’t see him anywhere.

  The boat was huge but not gigantic. I felt like I was playing a game of Where’s Waldo?

  I rounded a corner and took a few steps before my feet froze in place. Right there, literally a few meters away, was Judas Barron. Two other guys and a girl were with him, the girl a dead ringer for Brenda Songs. All of them lifted their heads and looked my way.

  “Rhiannon Clermont,” one of the guys announced as if I were stepping into a boxing ring, a wide grin on his handsome face. He had the bluest eyes I’d ever seen, a perfect shade of sky blue that popped against his brown skin.

  I ignored him, fixing my gaze on the gorgeous fella casually leaning against the boat railing. He was in a white shirt today, a soft leather jacket over top of it, and donning a pair of dark jeans.

  “Where’s Dax?”

  He dragged his gaze up and down my body—slowly. I instantly felt exposed. Knowing he’d seen it all already didn’t make me feel better.

  “How would I know?”

  I glared, taking a step towards him.

  “Don’t play games with me.”

  He tilted his head to the side with a menacing smirk. “But you’re so fun to play with.”

  I frowned. He’d said that as if we were well acquainted. “I think you’ve got me mixed up with someone else. I don’t know who you are, and I don’t care. I just want Dax.”

  He strode forward, his movements predatory and confident. I steeled my spine and forced myself not to retreat, drawing in a small breath when he got within a few inches of my chest.

  His intoxicating cologne seeped into my lungs. I was forced to tilt my head back so that I could see his face.

  “You don’t know who I am, but your pussy sure as fuck does.”

  “What the—”

  “And you say you want Dax, but we both know that’s not true.”

  He couldn’t mean…I crossed my arms and finally took a step back, vigorously shaking my head. “Clearly, you’ve gotten your wires crossed somewhere. I don’t know what your beef is with my boyfriend, but I would always pick his side over yours.”

  “Would?” His smirk split into a grin.

  Shit. I held his gaze for as long as I could, feeling as if he were penetrating every layer of my soul.

  Judas was proving that he was the definition of intensity. I’d never dealt with anything or anyone like him. He left me feeling bereft and unarmored.

  I swallowed and took another step away from him, intending to go find Audrey so we could get the hell out of here.

  He moved with me like we were doing a synchronized dance. When his arms wrapped around my body without warning, palms skimming down my back and leaving a chill in their wake, I attempted to break free.

  “Get off me!”

  “Almost done,” he soothed as if I were an insolent child, tightening his hold, smashing my chest to his. Feeling firm fingers along the top globe of my left ass cheek, I stiffened. A second later something was tugged free. My lower lip detached from the top when Judas stepped away with my cellphone in his hand.

  “Thought I was trying to feel you up?” His knowing grin said he knew that’s exactly what I thought.

  “I don’t have to force myself on you. Not when you’d all too willingly let me touch every part of your body, principessa.”

  “Like I did the other night?” I rebuffed, anger bleeding through my words.

  “The other night was me doing you a favor, believe it or not. You should be thanking me. Don’t turn it into something it wasn’t.”

  I laughed without humor. His ego was way too much. “A favor? So, what? You’re my hero now? My gallant white knight?”

  “No.” His answer was firm, one word said with so much grit I didn’t question it. “A hero is altruistic. They don’t expect things in return.”

  “And you do?”

  “Yeah.” His eyes drilled into mine. “You. Every fucking part of you.”

  I’d been being sarcastic. I had a feeling he wasn’t.

  “Give me my phone back,” I snapped, ignoring the reaction he’d just caused inside me. I moved forward to grab it, just to be stiff-armed by the guy he’d been talking to on the balcony the other night.

  He was too damn tall for his own good, indigo eyed with dirty blonde hair styled similarly to Judas’. Did he not have averagely attractive friends? You know, like me.

  “Just a second, Kitten.” Blue eyes needled.

  My nose screwed up involuntarily. I loathed pet names. “It’s Rhiannon.”

  “Nah. You remind me of a pissed off cat. So, it’s Kitten.”

  An image of my old tabby popped into my head. When he got mad at the other cats through our front window, he’d puff up like a cotton ball. I hoped to god I didn’t resemble that when I was upset.

  I watched Judas’ fingers fly across my screen with a scowl on my face. “How did you unlock it? And what are you doing?”

  “Here.” He held the slim device out for me, ignoring both my questions.

  The asshole dropped his arm and let me move forward to retrieve it. I took the phone from Judas as delicately as I would a bomb. He watched me closely. When he finally stepped away, his brainless minions did the same. Brenda—the second, as I’d deemed her—offered a friendly smile.

  “I’ll see you in two weeks,” Judas tossed over his shoulder.

  I stared at the retreating quad in confusion. What was happening in two weeks?

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  JUDAS

  The verdict was in.

  “I like her!” Brianna exclaimed. Her gaze trained on the space Rhiannon and Audrey had just vanished from.

  “You know how I feel,” Owen chimed in, crossing his arms.

  I did. He’d been my eyes and ears for some time now. From a distance. If I hadn’t staked a claim on little Rhia two years ago, he would have done so himself.

  “I always knew it would be this way.” Gavin shrugged nonchalantly.

  “You think she’s gonna let Dax go?” Brianna asked, turning to face the rest of us.

  Gavin released a sound between a laugh and a scoff, palming a few strands of blonde hair.

&n
bsp; “That girl doesn’t like him like that,” Owen replied.

  Brianna didn’t look convinced. She was somewhere between a realist and a hopeless romantic. If she’d been witness to the inner workings of their relationship as we were, then she’d be on the realistic side.

  It did make me contemplative as to whether Rhia believed the lies she told. We both knew Dax was nothing more than a way to pass time, a security blanket to seem normal, to hide away all the dirty things about herself she wanted to keep secret.

  If only she knew there was nothing wrong with being a little monstrous. Every single one of us had a darkness within ourselves. Most feared it, some fought it with light, others ignored it, and people like me? We fucking thrived off it.

  If you’re wondering what made me this way, thinking I’m some poor juvenile delinquent with a shitty backstory or that I’ve suffered a terrible tragedy, you’d be wrong.

  I had two very capable parents who told me they loved me way too fucking much, cheered for my accomplishments and mourned my losses. I’d had a diamond encrusted spoon wedged up my ass since before I could comprehend what the fuck being wealthy was. More importantly, I’d been blessed with like-minded friends.

  My famiglia never suppressed the real me. In our society, I was fucking perfect. I was taught to blend in and behave like any normal kid in my shoes would, and I did that well. Mostly. My best friends and I had been brought up together, all eventually expected to join rank in the adult world and continue building an empire of money, sex, and power. What people died, killed, lied, and stole for every single day. The three things that made the world go around.

  We were a sick, savage youth. The offspring of modernized and clandestine ‘crime’ families. Paragon assets, so to speak.

  But for all the modernizations following the newer generations, some things remained the same—marriage and family values among them. Most of our parents, grandparents, and so on had everything aligned by the time they were my age. Twenty at the oldest. For me that was just two years away.

  I knew my parents were on board with my decision, ecstatic even now that they knew who I’d been watching. And they had every reason to be. There was sordid history between my family and Rhia’s. History my gorgeous girl knew nothing about.

  I’d have to wreck her world to bring her into mine. Fortunately, I was a selfish fuck who was ready to do just that.

  She’d love me anyway, and always. But that would come much later. Right now, I had something else to focus on. I was more interested in the acquisition, the game of predator and prey both of us craved to play.

  We were a New Age Romeo and Juliet, but for one of us our curtain call would come with a much more satisfying ending, and a sinister twist.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Rhiannon

  One week ago, Judas put his number in my phone.

  I had yet to use it.

  Eight days ago, my ex-boyfriend sent me a one-worded text in a reply to my hundreds.

  I’d cursed him to the moon and back at this point.

  Ten days ago, I attended a party and still wasn’t entirely sure what the hell had happened. But that was the catalyst for all this strangeness. And to think, my summer had been going so well just the week before that. On the plus side, it was almost over.

  Taking Mom’s advice, I was trying to move past all the happenings and focus on the upcoming year. My mother, on the other hand, wasn’t following what she preached…

  “I don’t get it.” She shook her head, sprinkling some pepper onto her greens.

  “You loved him. He was your—” She cut herself off and shot Dad a look.

  Thank god. I was seconds away from ripping my ears off. I took back the thing about her having a sixth sense. She was insane. I loved Dax like a brother, and despite what she obviously believed, he was not my first.

  A guy in a wolf mask was. In a shed behind a brownstone that had since been foreclosed. I often went back with the crazy notion he’d be there somehow, waiting for me. I could say none of this out loud; both were varying degrees of disturbing.

  One sounded gross and incestuous when I thought of all the non-brotherly and sisterly things Dax and I had done.

  The other wasn’t exactly romantic or the special virginal deflowering I’m sure they thought I’d had. A stranger screwed my brains out while I laid on top of mulch bags.

  Come to think of it, my wolf had a few similarities to a certain someone, from what I could remember. Not to mention all the hints he’d dropped about us somehow knowing one another…

  “There are different kinds of love, Evie.” Dad’s voice forced me back to the present and out of my short-lived reverie.

  “See, he gets it.” I gestured towards him, returning his smile after he winked. I wanted to give the man a medal and standing ovation.

  “I get it too!” Mom defended, causing us both to laugh.

  “This is nice,” Dad said after a minute, his fork waving around between the three of us. “Dinner in our new house, together.”

  I nodded in agreement, reaching for my drink.

  “Yeah, all these new starts and exciting changes.”

  Sucking down some root beer, I sent shifty eyes between the two of the them. Mom had a cheesy smile on her face, which gave away the secret Dad was so successfully hiding.

  I looked at him and grinned. “You know she told me all the things just now?”

  He laughed and nodded, running a hand through his graying hair. “She has a tendency to do that.”

  “She is right here,” Mom intoned, “and I’ve kept this secret for two weeks. Do you understand how hard that was when my baby girl’s been so down?”

  I scratched my temple and took sudden interest in the rest of my meatloaf. I hadn’t been down. She had. I was starting to think she loved Dax way more than I ever could.

  “We’ve got a surprise for you.” Dad stood and left the dining room, returning a minute later with a colorful pamphlet.

  Mom sat taller, practically vibrating with excitement.

  “Here.” Dad placed the brochure in front of me.

  I stared down at the image of two girls and a guy wearing uniforms, smiling at one another in front of a large brick building. Pesadilla Prep was written on the top of the pamphlet in large white letters.

  I knew this school.

  Audrey went here.

  So did Judas, Dax, and more than half of the rich-kid population in Crudele.

  “Um?” I looked between them, confused.

  “You got in!” Mom cried.

  “I wasn’t aware I’d applied…wait. How?”

  There was no way this was possible. I’d seen copies of their placement tests online. I would never embarrass myself so severely by attempting to take one. Not to mention the cost of attending somewhere like this.

  “Friends at work,” Dad chimed in.

  “You’re a roofer through a union.” That was my way of saying ‘bullshit.’ No one was spotting a friend that kind of cash so their kid could go to school with the upper class.

  “And roofers sometimes have connections,” he insisted.

  “Because that’s not suspicious,” I deadpanned.

  “We thought you’d be excited,” Mom cut in.

  A few weeks ago, I would have been. Now? Hell no! This was my senior year. I liked my school and the ‘friends’ that went there. The only people I knew at Pesadilla were Audrey and Dax. He didn’t count anymore, so really, I only knew Audrey. I wasn’t bothered by being the new kid. I was likeable enough, but I didn’t have any desire to run into Judas again.

  “You start when school does,” Dad continued, oblivious to my internal struggles.

  “Do I have to? Go here, I mean. I’m not trying to come off as ungrateful, but there’s nothing wrong with my old school.”

  “Of course, there isn’t Rhia. We just want the very best for you. I know it’s last-minute, but this would open so many doors college-wise. Maybe even Ivy League.”

  I laughed�
�hard.

  “We all know I am not getting into an Ivy League school. I can barely do geometry and physics.”

  Dad chuckled, cutting it short when Mom shot him a death glare. At least we were on the same page on that front. He cleared his throat and came in with the serious parent approach.

  “It’s only for the year, sweetheart. I don’t—we don’t expect you to get into Harvard or Yale.”

  “He’s right,” Mom agreed. “Besides, you told me you met Judas Barron, so you must have some friends already.”

  I peered at Mom through lowered lashes. Way too much excitement hung in that statement.

  “Like Audrey?”

  “See.” She nodded.

  That one tiny movement sealed my fate. They’d had their minds made up before I ever set foot in the room.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Rhiannon

  This uniform was a nightmare waiting to happen: a white bow-knot blouse, the bow being black, and a black strap skirt with white trim. The problem with wearing something that was one solid piece was the inability to pull it lower when my giant ass cheeks wanted to make an appearance.

  The other option had been a plain white jacket over a white blouse and a skirt of the same style. Wearing that would be an utter disaster. It would be a beacon for attention the second it got dirty.

  I’d gone for option one, the wisest choice. My long locks were tamed into a half-up, half-down style, doing the whole two bun thing, on either side of my head. A light layer of make-up was on, as was lotion, so the dreaded ashy knee couldn’t sneak up on me.

  All in all, I didn’t look too bad. The get-up was cute, even. A horn honked, and then Dad’s voice was calling up the stairs to let me know Audrey was out front. Because I didn’t have a parking permit yet, I was riding with her.

  I grabbed my leather satchel affixed with another giant bow and headed down. Mom and Dad were waiting at the bottom of the steps. He’d purposely decided to go in late today so he could be here, like I hadn’t had a first day of school for the past twelve years. It secretly warmed my heart.

  “Oh, stop right there!” Mom commanded, holding her cell up for a photo.

  I withheld a sigh and flashed her a bright smile, hearing the camera flutter repetitiously. Did she really need twenty photos of me in the same pose? If you asked her, the answer would be yes.