Crowd of Lies (Kingsley Academy Book 2)

by Lisa Helen Gray

  His hand reaches down between us, and without warning, he pushes inside of me, my back sliding up the bed.

  “Kai,” I groan, gripping his shoulders, my fingers digging in.

  He pulls back, leaving only the tip in me, before slamming back inside, the force causing a scream to escape.

  His thrusts are fast, hard, and with each one, that tightness begins to build stronger, more intense. My breathing comes out in harsh pants, my pulse skyrocketing.

  “Kai,” I gasp out, clenching my eyes shut.

  “So fucking good. So tight. Mine,” he vows.

  He lifts up, glancing down at me as he grabs a tit in each hand, squeezing them as he pushes them together. I can feel my nipples harden as he rubs his thumbs over them, and a gush of wetness seeps between my legs.

  “Fuck,” he groans, gritting his teeth.

  Without warning, he spins me around, lifting me at the waist until I’m on my knees. He grabs the soft globes of my arse, squeezing to the point of pain. And with pain comes pleasure. I moan, gripping the sheets beneath me. He enters me forcefully, lifting me up off the bed as he powers in and out.

  My hair slides across my back as I glance behind me, silently pleading with Kaiden to give me what I want.

  The teasing, the torture, it leaves his gaze. He pushes me down on the bed, sliding his hands up my arms, causing my entire body to break out in goose bumps. The air leaves my lungs when he links his fingers through mine, the intimacy too real, too strong. I clench my eyes tightly shut, trying to keep out the onslaught of feelings I have for Kaiden.

  It doesn’t work, and tears spring to my eyes.

  I can’t let him in.

  Not again, not when I’ve had a taste of how badly the loss of him hurts. He can’t have that power back.

  He already has that power.

  His fingers tighten at the same time his thrusts become slower, yet harder, our bodies jerking up the bed and back down with each movement.

  He drives in deeper, unafraid of hurting me. And he’s not. The pleasure overrides the pain, but I know afterwards, I’ll be sore.

  I duck my head, moaning loudly into the sheets. Skin slapping against skin echoes around the room as he keeps fucking me.

  He unlinks one of our hands, reaching between us. “Come for me, Ivy. Come!” he demands.

  I lift my head as a powerful orgasm tears through me. A cry escapes as I slam myself against Kaiden, riding out the orgasm and hoping it never ends.

  Because the moment this ends is the moment we go back to reality, back to ignoring each other, and a million obstacles keeping us apart.

  “I’m going to come,” he rasps, his fingers digging into my arse, and I’m pretty sure it’s going to leave a bruise.

  He pulls out, and I feel him gripping his cock, pumping his orgasm out, blasting cum all over my arse cheeks.

  “Fuck!” he groans, his body jerking.

  He slumps to the side of me and pulls me into his hard chest. I go willingly, needing another moment with him before it gets torn apart.

  “I can never get enough of you,” he admits, and I look down, finding him pumping his dick in his hand.

  I get up, sliding off the bed and grabbing the sheet and uniform from the floor. “I need to get cleaned up,” I tell him, feeling void.

  Before he can object, I head into the bathroom. I clean off his arousal from my arse before getting changed and straightening my hair.

  I know he’s out there. I can hear him moving about. There’s no avoiding him, not if I want him to leave before the girls come back, wondering what’s taking me so long.

  With one deep breath, I wrap my fingers around the door handle and twist, pulling the door open.

  Kaiden is dressed, looking sexy as hell with his sex-fussed hair. He scans my expression, reading me, just like he always does. It scares me how well he can do it.

  “We’re good together, Ivy. This proves it.”

  I shake my head at him and walk over to straighten the sheets. “It proves we have chemistry. We’re toxic, Kaiden. Look at everything that has happened. I’m not saying never, I’m just saying not right now. We need to deal with the things that make all of this complicated. I’ve done complicated my whole life with my mum. If you really want me, want this, it’s something you’ll want too.”

  “I want this more than I care to admit to myself, Ivy. I’m not going to give up. Nothing that has happened with our parents needs to come between us, and I thought you felt the same. You’ve constantly preached we aren’t our parents, but you’re using them as an excuse to not be happy. And you can’t lie and say you aren’t.”

  He’s right, being with him, being a part of the group, it was the happiest I’d ever been.

  Maybe I am using them as an excuse, using them as a barrier to protect myself. It doesn’t matter.

  “It doesn’t change the fact that your dad wants me dead and I want him to rot in prison. That is going to come between us; if not now, then eventually. I’m not equipped for that kind of pain, because when it comes down to it, he’s your family, Kaiden. You’re just angry at him right now.”

  His laugh is humourless. “You have no idea. If it came down to a choice, it would be you every time. Hell, before I met you, I’d have picked a stranger over the likes of him, and that was before I knew the true monster he is. But it will always be you, Ivy. You need to get that and get it quickly. I like to think myself a patient man, but when it comes to you, I’m not. I want it all. I want all of you.”

  With those parting words, he leaves. The door slowly clicks shut, the sound causing me to jump as if he slammed it.

  I need to get my shit together. I want him. I want him so badly it hurts. But giving in right now… it feels like defeat.

  And I’m not one to go down without fighting.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  IVY

  My temples throb as I walk into the kitchen. It’s Saturday, which means the twins threw a party last night. Judging by the sound bouncing off the walls in my room during the early hours, they had the entire school in attendance.

  “You look rumpled this morning,” Nova greets.

  “Thanks,” I mutter, pouring myself a cup of coffee. “Did it keep you up?”

  She lets out a small laugh. “Over the years, I’ve learned to invest in ear plugs. I didn’t hear a thing.”

  I turn to her, grimacing. “Please tell me you have spares?”

  “I’ll have some placed in your room before the end of the day,” she promises. “You are spending the day with Mrs White today, aren’t you?”

  “I am. I need to leave soon to go help set up. It’s still okay, isn’t it?”

  She glances away for a moment before looking back at me, taking a deep breath. “You know that I hired someone to find Royce. They aren’t as restricted as the police.”

  “You’ve found him?” I ask, my heart pounding.

  She reaches out for my hand, soothing me. “No. But you need to be careful when you’re out today. He doesn’t believe Royce has left the area.”

  “What?” I ask, dropping down on the stool beside me.

  “It’s fine. I’m going to hire security. I haven’t been able to get it on short notice, but hopefully they’ll be here Monday.”

  “Really?” I ask, not sure how I feel about having someone following me. “Is it necessary?”

  She arches her eyebrow. “Yes, I really do think so, Ivy. He’s dangerous, and until the original copy of the recording is in the right hands, we need to be vigilant. He could say it’s been tampered with and altered. We can’t let that be an option,” she declares. “We will win this. He will pay for what he’s done.”

  “I’ll be careful. And you do the same,” I tell her. Since our heart to heart, things have been different between us. I don’t feel that defence mechanism coming between us. It’s kind of refreshing to not have that problem weighing me down.

  “I will. Now get going. Ed is grumpy in the morning and I’m afraid your
tardiness will set him off.”

  I laugh, knowing exactly what she’s talking about. “I’ll be back later, but I’m popping out to some musical festival later. There’s a few of us going, so I won’t be alone.”

  Her shoulders sag with relief. “Good. I need to go check on a client’s company today, so I won’t be back till later. Call me or Annette if there’s anything you need. No matter what. And make sure you take your cards.”

  “Thank you,” I tell her, grabbing my jacket before heading out the door.

  The air has a chill to it, but I know in a few hours it will be roasting hot. Its due to rain soon and I can’t welcome it enough. This must be the hottest summer I’ve ever known.

  I round the corner, stepping into the garage and grabbing my bike. Elle will give me a lift into town and bring me back, but I still need it to get to hers.

  Pushing the bike outside, I come to a stop, my heart in my throat when I see Danielle stepping out of Kaiden’s, her expression hard. The second she sees me, she smiles and looks back to the house.

  “Thanks for a great night.”

  The door shuts and I feel it in my soul. The palms of my hands burn as I squeeze the handlebars tightly, closing my eyes briefly at the onslaught of pain. He said I meant something, said I was different, and he’d never choose her. My knees knock together.

  A small voice inside of my head is screaming that he wouldn’t do this as I watch her walk towards me, her expression filled with smugness.

  “It’s okay,” she coos as she nears. “It was always going to happen. We’re meant to be together.”

  “Why don’t you go play on the motorway, Danielle, and leave me the fuck alone.”

  She laughs, pulling her bag up her shoulder when it begins to slip. “I’m not finished with you. You’re hiding a secret, and I’m going to find out what it is. Something tells me it has to do with the disappearance of Royce Kingsley. Rumours are, he left town.”

  She must see something on my face because a spark lights behind her eyes before her smile turns into a smug grin.

  “Were you sleeping with him?” she taunts.

  I mask my expression, looking bored. “If this is what you want to do with your time, go for it. Rest assured, you’ll be wasting time, it just won’t be mine. But you’re good at wasting time on people who don’t care about you.”

  Her expression hardens. “I’m going to make sure he sees you for who you really are. Mark my words.”

  “No, watch yours. I don’t do well with threats, Danielle. You keep pushing and pushing, but the minute I snap, you’ll go run to Daddy. You’re weak. You’re nothing. The only thing you have going for you is your looks and even those will fade over time. Your time will come. You’ll get what is coming to you. Everyone does eventually.”

  She huffs before trotting off in her high heels. She’s near her car when her ankle twists and she collapses to the floor.

  I let out a laugh, ignoring the angry glare she sends me as she lifts herself up and gets into her car.

  The front door to the Kingsley house opens and out steps the twins, their eyes narrowed on the car speeding away from the house.

  “We can only guess what she said to you. We were waiting to come out to find out what she said. She’s up to something. She tried saying she left her phone here last night at the party.”

  “She implied she slept over with Kai,” I tell Ethan.

  His face scrunches up with disgust. “No, she fucking didn’t. Kai locked himself away in his room all night. He’s been in a bad mood since Tuesday.”

  I shamefully look away, knowing the reason. “She knows there’s something to know about your dad. She’s determined to find out.”

  The twin’s glance at each other, silently communicating. “We can’t guarantee she won’t find out, but we can distract her enough that she doesn’t have time.”

  “All right. I need to get going, but you two should fill your brother in,” I warn them.

  Lucca grins. “Tell him yourself later,” he tells me before walking away with his brother.

  “Later? I’m not seeing him later.”

  “Have a good day, Ivy.”

  “Lucca, answer me, dammit,” I yell, only to be ignored. “Arseholes,” I call out, even if they can’t hear me since they’ve shut the door behind them.

  I grab my bike, already wishing the day was over and it’s barely even begun.

  *** *** ***

  The joke Nova made before I left the house comes to mind and I begin to laugh at the sulking expression on his face.

  Elle found he had whiskey in his flask of tea and confiscated it immediately. He’s been a sourpuss ever since.

  It’s lunch time and the crowd has thickened immensely since we first opened this morning. I didn’t even realise this many people lived in Cheshire Grove, but Elle assured me there were hidden villages and a load more private communities like the one the Kingsley’s and Monroe’s built many years ago.

  “I’m starving, Elle. Could we retire for an hour and go to the food venders up the lane?” Ed complains.

  Elle finishes serving the lady in front of her before turning to her husband. “I made sandwiches. They’re in the cool box.”

  He rolls his eyes at me. “I ate those after I worked up a hunger putting the stool together.”

  “Then eat mine,” she scolds, placing her hands on her hips.

  He has the brains to at least look shamefaced when he admits, “I ate those in the car. We missed breakfast.”

  “Because you insisted that we sleep for another hour.” She lets out a harsh breath, shaking her head like she doesn’t know what to do with him. “And let me guess, you ate Ivy’s.”

  He throws his hands up in the air. “You made her pasta. I had a midnight snack. It’s not like there isn’t food here.”

  She turns to me, exasperated. “Could you mind the stall for a little while? We’ll go grab some food and bring it back for us all to eat.”

  I nod, smiling, before winking at Ed over her shoulder. “Go, feed the beast.”

  “Beast,” he mutters under his breath. “I’m a growing man.”

  I roll my eyes as I pat him on the chest. “You’re fully grown,” I tell him. “Now, weren’t you hungry?”

  He smiles, kissing my forehead before linking Elle’s arm through his. It shocks me how far we’ve come since we first met. One, he was so unapproachable to begin with, he kind of intimidated me. Secondly, if he had tried kissing my forehead when we first met, I would have busted his nose. “Be back soon, little one.”

  I wave them off, still smiling to myself as I rearrange the brown paper bags under the table. When a shadow looms over me, blocking out the beaming sun, I stand, lifting my head to greet them. My smile falls when I see Kaiden standing there, repeatedly tossing an apple up in the air and catching it.

  He stops, smirking at me. “I’d like to buy this, please.”

  “That will be thirty-five pence,” I tell him.

  “Keep the change,” he tells me, handing me a tenner.

  I shrug, shoving it into the money tin. “What are you doing here?”

  “Came to see how you were. Annette mentioned you being here,” he explains. “The twins said Danielle stirred up some trouble this morning.”

  “Doesn’t she always?”

  “I’m sorry. I’m sorting it,” he explains, taking a chunk out of the apple.

  “I can fight my own battles.”

  “But she’s not yours. She’s only a problem because of me,” he remarks.

  “Possibly. But it could be that it’s not even really about you,” I tell him, lying through my teeth. “Not everyone is obsessed with you.”

  He smirks, walking around the table until he’s in front of me. “Are you saying you aren’t obsessed with me?”

  I inwardly groan as my arousal spikes at his proximity and the feel of his finger running over my cheek.

  “Yes, because there’s no way in hell I am.”

 
; “Liar,” he whispers, pressing his lips against mine. I sigh, gripping his T-shirt as I kiss him back.

  Once I realise where we are and what we’re doing, I push him back a step, looking around to make sure no one saw. “Kaiden,” I hiss.

  He doesn’t seem fazed that I pushed him away. If anything, I think it’s turned him on. “I’ll be seeing you.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” I mumble.

  He walks back around the table, chewing on another bite of his apple. “And I’ll sort Danielle. I’ll make sure she doesn’t bother you again.”

  “She’ll get what’s coming to her later,” I declare.

  “What?” he asks, his jaw dropping, surprised by my revelation.

  “Goodbye, Kaiden,” I mutter dryly.

  He leaves me stewing over the kiss. I can still feel him, taste him. It’s only when another customer stands in front of me that I realise I forgot to tell him about the news Nova shared with me this morning.

  My phone beeps with a message alert. I pull it out of my pocket, seeing Kaiden’s name.

  KAIDEN: Don’t let Clary pull you into shit. I just remembered she’s the chick that brought a tarantula into school and set it free in Danielle’s locker. And I’m pretty sure it was her who let a bunch of goats into the auditorium when Danielle had a fashion show.

  I burst out laughing. That is definitely something Clary would do. I might not know what we have planned, but I do know it won’t involve animals.

  I think.

  I quickly pull up her name and send her a message.

  IVY: There’s not going to be animals involved, right?

  CLARY: No. My dad’s being a spoilsport and won’t get me anything. I was going to get some stray rats and put them in the car. Apparently, that stuff takes time to get and he’s worried one will bite me and give me rabies.

  IVY: LOL!!! So glad you had the mind to ask him first. I think seeing a rat would have scared me more than her, anyway.

  CLARY: Yeah, the stick insects I put in her school bag gave me nightmares for weeks. I kept finding ones that got loose and it freaked me out.