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

by Natalie Bennett

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Rhiannon

  I understood now.

  Audrey said there had been rumors.

  Dax claimed the families weren’t who they pretended to be.

  What happened between Judas and me made a hell of a lot more sense now. I wasn’t sure what it was they were into, but I knew it involved shallow graves and dark secrets.

  None of that bothered me.

  I couldn’t pretend it did. Judas knew it didn’t. I was beginning to wonder if the others did too. That would explain why they were so readily accepting of me. Their close-knit circle had never been breached before. It was impenetrable. I was in now whether I wanted to be or not—deeply, if Judas had anything to do with it.

  This is what bothered me.

  What right did he have to think he could take control of my life? I knew I could handle him. It would shred every part of the girl I wanted to pretend I was, but I’d be fine in the end.

  But would Audrey? She was involved now too, and I knew it was because of me. And then there were my parents. Judas said to ask the Clermonts. That implied I wasn’t one. I could’ve been thinking too hard about this. I knew better, though.

  Judas may have spoken in riddles, but they would always make sense when deciphered. Though some part of him clearly enjoyed my confusion or misery. Probably both. A knock sounded on the bathroom door. I jumped, causing water to slosh onto the floor.

  “Yeah?” I called out.

  “Dinner’s ready,” Dad replied.

  “I’ll be right there!”

  I pulled the tub stopper to let the water drain and climbed out.

  After dressing quickly in simple cotton shorts and a tank, I tossed my hair up into a bun, surveyed my reflection in the mirror to make sure my orgasmic bliss wasn’t obvious, and then headed downstairs.

  The smell of spaghetti and garlic bread filled the air, but for once my appetite was non-existent. My head was all over the place. So much had happened over the past few weeks. I wished life would pause for a second before throwing any more curveballs at me. I also knew just for daring to want such a thing, ten more would be coming.

  I helped Mom set the table and even served myself a regular portion for appearance’s sake. The usual questions followed.

  “How was your first day?” Dad asked.

  “It was okay, made some friends.”

  “Of course, you did. You’ve always been well liked,” Mom said.

  If it hadn’t been for the day’s events, I would have missed the smallest hint of bitterness hanging at the end of that sentence. I twirled some pasta on my fork, watching her from below my lashes.

  Sitting there looking at the two of them had me remembering that morning. I forced a bite into my mouth, telling myself that I was being paranoid.

  “So, Audrey didn’t mind bringing or taking you home?” Dad asked.

  “Actually,” I began, making a split-second decision as to how I wanted to play this, “my chaperone gave me a ride home.”

  “Oh, boy or girl?” Mom sat taller in her chair, eager for my answer.

  “Boy…”

  She smiled. “Is he cute?”

  Dad gave her a look that could have shot a bird down from the sky.

  “He’s gorgeous,” I sighed, all dramatic like.

  “What’s his name?”

  “Judas Barron,” I replied flippantly, scooping up another bite of unwanted pasta.

  Echoing silence blasted through the air. I glanced between the two of them as some silent communication went down.

  “I told you,” Mom said suddenly.

  “Told me what?”

  “She was talking to me,” Dad replied. “Are you sure he’s the best person for you to be hanging out with, sweetheart?”

  I fought to keep my expression neutral. If his grip on the fork was anything to go by, he wanted to say something much different than he just had.

  It was the little things about people you had to pay attention to. Body language. Words could be dipped in sugar and smiles were forced at the drop of a dime.

  “We aren’t ‘hanging out.’ He gave me a ride home.”

  “So, then you gave a complete stranger our address?” Mom checked.

  Now that she mentioned it, I hadn’t told Judas where I lived. He just knew. Furthermore… “Wait. You were just excited that a cute boy brought me home. An actual cute boy did bring me home, but this one is a problem because…?”

  “Don’t get smart with me, Rhiannon.”

  Oh, so that was the card she was going to pull. They’d both unknowingly confirmed what Judas had said. They knew the Barrons. How, was what I wanted to know. Not once had they ever mentioned them.

  I was going to let it go, play up the scolded adolescent. My mind had already leapt back to his, “Ask the Clermonts,” comment.

  “Of all people, why a Barron?” Mom sighed.

  “Is there something wrong with them? Something I don’t know about it?” I knew the answer to this.

  I’d glimpsed a darkness in Judas more times than I could count, one I appreciated. One I assumed came from being an heir to his family’s empire. But they didn’t know I knew him that well. I wasn’t about to mention it now. Besides, I wanted to hear what they had to say.

  “What’s so terrible about Judas and his family? Is it because they have money?”

  Dad’s fork clattered to his plate. “Is this why you like him? We raised you better than that. Do we not provide for you well enough?”

  What the hell? “I didn’t say that.”

  Mom steepled her fingers beneath her chin and stared up at the ceiling. “Then why would you whore yourself out?”

  If it wasn’t my mother across from me, I would have a great response for what she’d just said.

  Like, knocking her ass out of the chair. But it was, and I couldn’t believe she had. I mean, ouch. Did she really think I would do that?

  “Evie, that was unnecessary,” Dad reprimanded, his voice gruff.

  “Well, Marcus. She is a little more… developed than most teens. Maybe she’s taken notice.”

  That comment hurt ten times more than the last one. She knew how I used to struggle with my body image. That was a low blow. “Maybe? My ass is huge, Mom. Half the girls around me are the same size as you. Of course, I’ve taken notice.”

  She simply stared at me, no apology or restructuring of what she’d just said coming forth.

  “She didn’t mean that the way it sounded. You know you’re beaut—”

  “It was exactly the way it sounded, Dad. Don’t stick up for her. She’s in control of her own words. I don’t care. Someone clearly has a body complex, and I promise it’s not me.”

  I stood up and left the room before whatever bullshit she had to say could be spewed next. There wasn’t an apology for the truth; sometimes that shit had to hurt.

  I locked myself in my room, taking in the pastel colors. They weren’t really me, but they helped me feel better about the shit inside my head sometimes. I’d acted on my urges only once. One year ago. Funny how everything kept coming back to that night. To that specific person. I couldn’t even say why I did it, only that it felt right in that moment and I’d never regretted it.

  I grabbed my cell off the nightstand and flopped down onto my bed, propping my chin on a balled-up pillow.

  Scrolling through the contacts, I found who had to be Judas under a simple letter J. I hovered over the message box a few seconds. Did I really want to bother him and start a conversation?

  Did he not just have his fingers inside your pussy and make you come? my inner voice snarked.

  Touché to that.

  Monday, August 12th, 2019

  Me: U were telling the truth. 6:45 PM

  I went to toss the phone aside, but it pinged back instantly.

  J: I would never lie to you. 6:46 PM

  No idea what I was supposed to say to that. Somehow, for whatever insane reason, I believed him. I didn’t understand his mot
ive. It’s not like he owed me anything. What we had between us was the furthest thing from a relationship. It was a screwed-up mess of emotional turmoil and blackmail.

  Me: Why tell me at all? 6:46 PM

  He didn’t text back that time. I sent a quick message to Audrey saying I needed to talk to her, and then I sat the phone to the side.

  I woke up fifteen minutes later than I should have, and when you needed to primp, every minute was precious. I went for the same style uniform I had the previous day, knowing sooner or later I would have to wear the dreaded white one. I only had four.

  My mother called for me as I was racing for the door, but I ignored her. I wasn’t in the mood and didn’t want to hear any apology she might’ve had. Not right then.

  I hit the clicker for my Soul to unlock the doors, pausing at the bottom of the stairs. Judas’ sleek Mercedes was at the end of my damn driveway.

  After yesterday, I would not be getting back in a car with him. It had nothing to do with Mom or Dad and everything to do with my desire to ride him in his front seat.

  I pretended not to see him, going right to the dark green cube on wheels that was waiting for me to get in it. Once I did, I didn’t bother reversing. I knew he wouldn’t let me out. I went straight and circled around the house, cutting through the field. A smile pressed to my lips as I drove away from him.

  When his car flew up behind me, I laughed. The laughter died as he got even closer. His front bumper nudged my rear, not hard enough to make me go coasting off the road, but hard enough that my tiny car jolted a bit.

  “Freaking psycho!” I yelled, immediately pulling over. I was not about to play twisted metal with him. He’d win. His car pulled in front of mine at an angle, so that if I wanted to go anywhere, I’d have to reverse.

  Then he was at my door, pulling it open just as I undid my seatbelt. He didn’t yank me out, though.

  Doing the opposite of what I expected, he reached down and took hold of my hand, gently tugging me from within the car. I shook off his touch and shoved him the second I was all the way upright. Course, he didn’t go anywhere.

  “Don’t overreact. You’re fine, and so is this ugly thing you call a car.” His response coupled with his calm demeanor only heightened my anger. How did someone casually attempt to drive another person off the road? Judas would know. The word psycho resounded in my head again as he regarded me clinically. As if I were the one with the problem.

  “Isn’t this what you wanted? Me to chase you?”

  My lips parted in shock. “No! What is wrong with you? Do you want to kill me?”

  He stepped forward in one fluid motion, capturing my face on either side, forcing me backward so that I was pressed against my car. “Why would I want you to die when keeping you will be so much more fun?”

  Fun. There was that word again.

  I tried to push him away, but he held tight, his grip firming. “I’m not a pet. I don’t want to be kept. I can’t be,” I rasped.

  He clicked his tongue at me. “I know this is hard to accept, but you don’t have a choice. We haven’t even gotten started yet. Sooner rather than later, we’ll be leaving this place behind us, and then the real games can begin.”

  Feeling tears of frustration gather in the corner of my eyes, I diverted my gaze so he couldn’t see them. How did one night of freedom result in this? I should never have gone to that damn party. Either of them.

  “I won’t willingly go along with whatever it is you want.”

  He forced me to look up at him. “Again, you don’t have a fucking choice.”

  “There’s always a choice, and if you think bullying me into submission will work, you’re wrong. You may be dangerous, but I can be too.”

  He laughed, sinister and low. “You think you’re any match for me, bambina?”

  “You don’t know me, Jude.”

  “We already established that I did, that I do, but you’re a very stubborn girl.” His forehead lowered to mine and he stared straight into my eyes. “I’m going to tear you apart from the inside out, and you’ll still spread your legs and let me fuck you sore.”

  I pulled at his hands, trying to remove them from my face. He skimmed his lips over mine, a wicked glint in his eye. “I’m going to flip your whole goddamn world upside down and make you love me as I shatter it into pieces.”

  I stopped struggling and stared at him, rendered speechless. The sound of an approaching vehicle had him moving away. I stood rooted in place. Without a word to me, Judas bent down and retrieved something from my middle console.

  “What are you doing?” I questioned when I saw what it was.

  He wound his arm back, bringing it forward to release my key fob. The black clicker sailed through the air, landing somewhere in the surrounding field behind us.

  “Why would you do that?” I yelled, spinning to scan the offending area, knowing my key fob could be anywhere. He recaptured my attention with a gentle hold of my jaw, forcing me to meet his stare.

  “Consider this a small lesson. If you run from me, I’ll do whatever is necessary to bring you back to my side. Whatever is necessary.”

  “I wasn’t running from you! I was trying to drive down the damn street!”

  “Get in the car.”

  “No.” I crossed my arms and shook my head.

  “Don’t be childish. Get in the car.”

  The fucking audacity! “I’m childish? That’s rich, coming from the psychopath that just ran me off the road and threw my key-fob. I can’t possibly fathom why I wouldn’t want to get in a vehicle with you.”

  “You haven’t come close to seeing that side of me.”

  Without so much as batting an eyelid, did he just admit to being a psychopath?

  “Is that supposed to make me feel better? It doesn’t. I’m not getting in your goddamn car, Judas. I’ll ride with Audrey. My parents don’t want me around you anyways.”

  Without warning, he took hold of my wrist and dragged me over to his Mercedes.

  Violating my personal space, he shoved me up against the driver door and grabbed hold of my legs, forcing them around his waist. The skirt of my uniform flipped up, revealing my entire ass and thong. His cock pressed against my apex, hard and throbbing.

  “What the hell are you doing!”

  He stared down at me for a minute before looking either direction of the empty road. “Your dad takes this route to and from your house, right?”

  “Put me down,” I snapped. I wriggled my body, which was the wrong thing to do. He ran his hands from my thighs to my ass, grabbing a handful of each globe, pressing his hips against mine.

  “I’ll put you down, and then you’re going to get in the car. Otherwise I’m bending you over my hood and burying my dick inside your pussy.”

  “You’re not…you can’t be serious.”

  “Try me,” he taunted, bringing his lips to my neck. “Imagine how your dad would feel, seeing his precious baby girl getting fucked on the side of the road, hearing her scream my name.” He nipped my ear, then slightly leaned back. “Now, are you going to be a good girl and do as your told? Or do you want me to handle the ache between your thighs? The one that’s saturating my dick.”

  “Get off,” I ground out.

  He lowered me to the ground with a rage inducing grin. I tugged my skirt over my ass and rounded to the other side of his car.

  We didn’t speak the entire drive to the school. The morning was a precursor to how the rest of my day would go.

  Apparently, news had spread that Judas and I were officially an item. Showing up with him further cemented this belief.

  Walking into the school was like walking into a pride of pissed off lions. The pettiness jumped out of these girls in full force.

  The words fat and ass were thrown around quite liberally, one of the worst insults ever. I wasn’t fat, not even a little. My ass, however? That couldn’t be helped.

  Lewd remarks and dirty looks kept coming, all things that I’d never had to handle b
efore, should have been no problem to handle, but were now grating on my nerves and defenses.

  The last straw was the food court when some giant ass jock thought it would be cute to shoulder check me. He knocked into me so hard I lost balance, gritting my teeth to lock down a yelp. My knees hit the marble, sending another lick of pain through my legs.

  “You’re an asshole, Erin,” I heard some sensible voice reprimand from the crowd of students watching us.

  Most agreed, more than the number that didn’t. Erin stared down at me with a humorous grin on his face. “Damn, new girl, trading your crown for blow jobs already?”

  My crown? I had no idea what that meant. I began to get up, and he attempted to stop me.

  “No, no. Stay there. Why move when you’re in perfect position?”

  One of the volleyball chicks laughed a little louder than anyone else, seeking extra attention. I decided right then that if murder were legal, I’d kill her first. Erin shook his head at me and turned to walk away, stepping right into the palm coming at the side of his face. A loud smack was accompanied by the usual oh’s and ah’s. Audrey’s voice rose above the noise, and a teacher suddenly appeared.

  He took in the situation and immediately got between them, Audrey still cussing Erin out. Brianna made to help me, but I didn’t want her assistance. I picked my own damn self up and walked away, dusting off the imaginary crown I supposedly had.

  I was insane to think math would be any better, but at least most of the students in were chill and laid back. Gabby Dawson was in here, the pretty redhead I’d seen Judas talking to my first day after English. So was her twin brother Gabe, the pretty boy from their boat.

  There was a test coming up that Friday on the first segment in the textbook, and we were given free rein to study in the class or the library. Most opted for the library, so I stayed in the classroom to try and actually study.

  So did Kelly.

  Yay me.

  “You know he’ll never be fully yours,” she snipped five minutes in.

  I shut my eyes and released a silent sigh. “Maybe not, but we both know he’ll never be yours either.”

  She didn’t like that little jab.

  “He was with Gabby for a while, you know. Was all sweet and charming with her too.”