Kings of Lockdown: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep Book 2)

by Caroline Peckham

  My fingers traced the skin where Saint had held me, his touch lingering beneath my flesh.

  I finally released my anger and found a dark and determined place to settle into within me, burying any attachment I felt to Kyan deep down inside me where I’d never seek for it again.

  I needed to focus on the positives. I may have sacrificed more of myself than I’d planned to last night, but I’d gotten my wish to punish them all the same. Another rule broken by Kyan, meant another slice of vengeance pie for me. And I was ravenous.

  ***

  I messaged Mila in the early hours of the evening and she came to meet me at the kitchens out the back of the Redwood Dining Hall. I was so glad that I was able to spend time with her again and as she jogged up to me under the shade of a huge pine tree, I rushed forward and hugged her. I knew we were supposed to be keeping six feet apart, but the school was locked down and everyone who remained here had passed the forty eight hour quarantine period, so I didn’t think we had to worry.

  “Girl, you’d better explain that cryptic message. I feel like you’re up to something bad.” She stepped away, giving me a narrowed eye look of mock judgement as she whipped out her phone, flashing me the message I’d sent and I laughed.

  <3 Tatum <3:

  Get your ass to the kitchens, I need your help with something fishy.

  I laughed conspiratorially, grabbing her hand and tugging her through the back door into the storage room that connected to the kitchens. “We’re gonna make fish stew. And by stew, I mean we’re gonna throw every fishy thing possible together with mayonnaise until we can’t breathe because screw actually cooking stew.”

  “Errr yuck. Why?” she asked, her petite nose wrinkling as she started helping me gather cans of tuna, mackerel and sardines from one of the back shelves. It was pretty bare in here since the Night Keepers had taken most of the good food. Apparently fish was not to Saint’s taste though. It wasn’t to mine when you threw it in my face either, King Asswipe.

  “Because, I’m going to give a Night Keeper a bath,” I said brightly, my heart shining with anticipation. How had I gone from being the angriest person alive earlier today to floating on a cloud and sparkling like a damn rainbow?

  Mila ran around to block my way back as I moved to head into the kitchen with the stack of cans clutched to my chest. Her eyes were frantic with fear and I felt her concern right down to the pit of my stomach.

  “Are you crazy?” she hissed like she was worried someone was listening. “They’ll kill you.”

  “They won’t. We have a new arrangement.” I side-stepped her. “And don’t worry, I won’t tell them you helped me, I promise. Even if I did, I’ve bought you Night Keeper immunity anyway.”

  “What?”

  She trailed after me into the kitchen and I placed the cans down on a metal work surface beside a large, industrial sized sink. Mila planted down the few she’d carried in, looking to me for further explanation.

  I turned to her, placing my hands on her shoulders. “Relax, Mila. I wouldn’t ask you to help me if there was even the slightest chance you’d get in trouble for this. The guys let me make a few rules of my own. And I can punish them any way I like when they break them.”

  “What rules?” she asked, her manicured brows pulling together. “And who broke one? What did they do to you?”

  Her eyes gleamed and I dropped my arms to my sides, my heart squeezing at having a friend who cared for me like she did. I could see it blazing from the depths of her gaze. No girl had ever looked at me like that, not since…Jess.

  Emotion burned the back of my throat and I glanced away at the piles of fish cans. I didn’t want to lie to her, even though I knew voicing the truth was probably going to cost me a healthy dose of my dignity. “The rules state that they can’t do anything sexual with me.”

  “And they did?” she gasped, horror lacing her tone.

  “Yeah but consensually obviously.” I smiled awkwardly, rolling a can across the counter as I avoided checking her expression for utter judgement.

  “Which one?” she breathed, her voice softening enough that I guessed she wasn’t going to start shouting at me for being a top notch moron. Nope, that pleasure was reserved for my internal voice who was suddenly making a comeback and sounded a lot like Mr T having a rant. Damn, where did my sparkly rainbow cloud go?

  “Kyan.” I forced myself to look back at her.

  “What?” she gasped, somehow looking absolutely thrilled and completely appalled at the same time. “But he doesn’t get with girls at school.”

  “No, he doesn’t screw girls at school, doesn’t mean he isn’t licking, touching and biting every one he can get his hands on otherwise.” I tried to hide my bitterness at those words, but wasn’t sure I managed it.

  “Nah, I don’t think he has. Bitches at this school talk and believe me, they’d be screaming from the rooftops if one of them managed to bag a night with Kyan.”

  “Maybe they’re just not screaming from a rooftop near you,” I said dismissively.

  “Yeah maybe,” she conceded. “But I’ve seen the way he looks at you. If his dick was a compass, the girls in this school would be due fucking south…and apparently you’re north.” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and I waved a hand dismissively.

  “I am not north.”

  “You are! You’re the freaking north pole girl and Kyan wants to point his arrow right at you. And dip it into you.”

  A laugh exploded from my chest and I started to blush. What if she’s right? What if he really doesn’t touch other girls on campus? And why does that make me feel like I’m made of butterflies and all of them are about to take off at once and scatter me to the wind?

  I had to be logical here though, I mean, Mila could have been right…but I still had my doubts.

  She gasped suddenly, pointing an accusing finger at me. “You like him!” she announced at the top of her voice.

  I hushed her, my heart pounding madly in my chest. “I do not like him. I hate him. He’s just…hard to resist sometimes.”

  “Sometimes?” she balked. “So this has happened before?”

  Dammit.

  “Like, one time before,” I admitted guilty. “But it’s not like it means anything,” I rushed on, ignoring the tug in my gut that told me I’d just lied. To her. To myself. To the universe. Shit, I can’t let my revenge cost me my heart. I have to lock this down.

  Mila stared at me for a long moment then burst out laughing. “Girl, for a second there I thought you were falling for one of those assholes.”

  “No chance,” I laughed, but it came out kind of choked, not that Mila seemed to notice thankfully. I am not falling for one of those assholes, right? Right??

  Mr T started laying into me again in my head and I tried to drown him out, but the guy had a point. I was a fool. Wasn’t sure why he’d shown up in my mind to tell me that personally though.

  “So ohmagod, tell me everything. Are the rumours true? Has Kyan got a monster dick?”

  “Mila,” I snorted, turning my attention to the fish cans and starting to open them.

  “Do not hold out on me girl, I’ve been trying to train Danny’s dick to do tricks for weeks. I heard Kyan Roscoe’s dick is talented enough to start its own circus.”

  I fell apart laughing, grabbing a huge bowl from under the sink, then tossed Mila a spoon as we started scraping the contents of the cans into the bowl.

  “Technically, I wouldn’t know how talented it is,” I said, a blush crawling deeper into my cheeks.

  I wasn’t the type of girl to get all flustered over guys like this. I could have summed up my sexual experiences with any boys previous to the Night Keepers with a straight face and without my blood rising a single degree in temperature. But when I thought of my night with Blake or fooling around with Kyan, my body went into overdrive like it thought I was on the cusp of an impending heart attack. Even thinking of the way Saint had spanked me in the past made me want to start fanning myself.
The three of them were just…gah. It wasn’t fair how much they affected me. Then throw Monroe into the mix and it was basically a miracle that I managed to keep my body from turning to liquid form around all of them.

  “What do you mean you wouldn’t know?” I felt her narrowing her eyes at me and I sighed.

  “Me and Kyan haven’t screwed. Just fooled around a bit. He really doesn’t sleep with girls on campus, or kiss them apparently.”

  “He doesn’t kiss you?” Mila asked in disbelief. “Well fuck me, you’ll never get under his skin.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, glancing at her as she scooped a pile of tuna into the amassing bowl of fish.

  “Well, my mom always said the way to a man’s heart isn’t his love stick – my mom’s term not mine, dear god she’s an embarrassment sometimes – or through his stomach, it’s through a kiss. And not just any kiss. It has to be one of those happens-to-be-raining-and-you-bump-into-each-other-through-fate sort of kisses. The all-consuming, heart stealing, lung combusting kiss of all kisses. That’s how you make a guy fall for you.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Bullshit. And anyway I don’t want him to love me. I don’t want any of them to. I wanna torture them until they can’t take it anymore then pluck their hearts from their chests and eat them raw – if it turns out they even have hearts that is. I’m still not convinced Saint has anything in his chest but extra storage space for all the toilet paper he’s hoarding.”

  “Woah, you’re dark.” She smirked, a twinkle in her eyes. “I like it. Those boys have had it coming for a long time. But please be careful, Tatum. You’re taking on three guys whose families could ruin your entire life. You’re not just targeting them, don’t forget that.”

  I pressed my lips together, nodding though not really meaning that agreement. I was done being careful. I wasn’t going to let them get away with humiliating and hurting me no matter who I pissed off in the process. And it kind of frightened me how much that didn’t frighten me. I should have been running for my life from these guys. Instead, I was leaning toward the danger, hunting it out like a wild animal taking on prey with sharper claws than me. The only way I could win was by being smart. And even then, I wouldn’t come out the other end of this unscathed. It’ll be worth it when they fall from grace.

  When we were done with the fish and I’d caught Mila up on everything we’d missed out on talking about since the Night Keepers had banned me from having friends, I grabbed three jars of mayonnaise and we turned the fish into a thick, gloopy paste that smelled bad enough to make me gag. The scent brought me back to the day they’d covered me in stew and made the entirety of the school join in. It was one of the worst days of my life in all honesty. Discovering that my father was on the run for leaking the Hades Virus into the world had been enough to crush me, let alone the whole school turning on me too.

  As my mind hooked on Dad, my heart weighed a thousand tons. Knowing I couldn’t call him held a finality to it that I had to try and come to terms with.

  What if he never reaches out to me? What if I never speak to him and find out the truth? What if I never see him again?

  Those thoughts undid me and I found solace in the only way I could: focusing on punishing Kyan. I pictured his face the day he’d thrown his stew at me, his eyes cold, hard, dead. That person didn’t marry with the one I’d been with last night, the one who made me laugh and brought out such a wildness in me that I never wanted that part of me to fade. But I couldn’t fall for that pretty mirage. Kyan may have had some good in him, but it was nothing in comparison to the bad. He’d stolen my life, he’d forced me to the bottom of the food chain. He hadn’t spoken up against his friends when they’d hurt me. He was my enemy. And I could never forget that.

  I washed my hands in the sink and texted Kyan, my heart feeling as cool and as impenetrable as iron.

  Tatum:

  Come to the Redwood Dining Hall. Now.

  Kyan:

  Bossy, aren’t you, baby?

  Tatum:

  Just come.

  Kyan:

  Okay, but I’m gonna do it into a pair of your panties.

  Tatum:

  Why are you making this so hard?

  Kyan:

  Why are you making THIS so hard?

  I gasped as he sent a picture of his dick bulging against his sweatpants and heat washed up and down my spine. Jesus fucking Christ.

  Tatum:

  You’re gonna wanna deflate that for what I have in mind, douche lord.

  Kyan:

  Deal. Now call me a douche lord again…

  I growled beneath my breath, texting Monroe instead and hoping Kyan wasn’t going to be a prick and not do as I asked.

  Tatum:

  Come to the Redwood Dining Hall, you won’t wanna miss this.

  “I’m gonna go fetch the football team and spread the word,” Mila said with a grin.

  “Hell yes, post it online too, make sure everyone comes,” I said excitedly.

  “Will do.” She laughed as she headed out the door and I was about to follow when my phone started ringing.

  I took it out, finding Kyan calling and pressed my tongue into my cheek as I answered.

  “Hey, asshole, are you coming or what?”

  “Fuck, baby, say that again,” he said, his breathing heavy and my cheeks blazed as I realised he hadn’t been lying about dealing with his hard on.

  “Please tell me you’re not jerking off right now,” I hissed, leaning back against the counter.

  “I’m not gonna lie to you, Tatum Rivers. Now do me a favour and call me a fuck-up or an overpriced escort.”

  “You can’t be serious?”

  “As serious as the news of my grandma in a road traffic accident.”

  “Kyan,” I hissed and he growled with desire. “You’d better get your ass down here. You play by my rules too now, understand?”

  “I play by no one’s rules. And you’re not sad about me breaking them anyway, you’re just sad I didn’t fuck you like you were begging me to.”

  My jaw fell slack and utter fury burst through my veins like liquid fire. My grip tightened on the phone as I tried to stop my body from shaking. “Fuck you,” I snarled. “You think you’re so irresistible Kyan Roscoe, but I only fooled around with you to pass the time. Contrary to what you believe, your dick isn’t one of the seven wonders of the world.”

  I hated that I was curious about how wonderous his dick really was. But screw him for trying to make out I was the desperate one. He’d been panting for me yesterday, he’d been the one to drag me behind the Sacred Stone. He’d been the one to-

  “God you’re mouthy,” he groaned and I growled in annoyance, about to hang up. “You would look so good beneath me, baby. I can’t wait until you’re desperate enough to beg for it.”

  “Get your head out of your ass, fuckboy. I wouldn’t beg for it if you were the only guy on Earth with a dick and one good screw would make me immune to the Hades Virus.”

  He groaned heavily, cursing and breathing my name. I hung up in an instant, shoving my phone into my pocket and trying to collect my thoughts as I stood there in a flustered mess.

  Did he just…?

  Oh my god, he totally played me.

  Kyan:

  Thanks for the dirty talk. You need a new panty collection ;)

  My lips popped open. He’d better have been kidding or I was going to strangle him with his school tie until he turned blue. I may have grown pretty precious about all the beautiful underwear Saint had provided me, even if it had been wrong for him to buy it in the first place.

  Dammit, if Kyan’s jizzed on that little red Victoria Secret thong I’m going to be livid.

  I headed outside and was surprised when I found over half the school had already gathered out on the lawn beyond the dining hall. Plenty of people looked my way, but none of them addressed me, averting their eyes or even bowing their heads. It was weird as hell.

  I lifted my chin, folding my arms as I gazed
down the pathway, not wanting to bring the fish out until Kyan was in front of me awaiting his punishment. I played out exactly how it was gonna go in my head until a vicious smile twisted up my lips.

  It was a while longer before the Night Keepers appeared, the dusky light hanging over them on the path and shrouding their faces in shadow. Of course they arrived together, but I was extra surprised to find Monroe strolling along beside Blake as one of the gang. I didn’t know why it shocked me. Maybe it was because last night felt like a crazy dream and that I’d never really considered the fact that now he was one of them, they were going to include him in everything.

  Monroe pushed a hand into his dirty blonde hair, tucking it behind his ears as his eyes swung towards me and made my heart pound. I let him see my grin and his eyes flashed hungrily, solidifying his bond with me. He was ready for the show. And I couldn’t wait to get started.

  “Kyan?” I called and he broke away from the pack as the other three stopped walking, creating a crescent as they looked to me with curious expressions.

  Kyan had his hair up in a top-knot and wore a fitted grey T-shirt which clung to his muscles and a pair of black jeans and a leather belt with a motorcycle engraved into the buckle. Apparently he’d changed out of his grey sweats for this occasion. How gracious.

  He had a cocky assuredness as he approached, tilting his head to one side like this was all some game he was the master of. But there was no way I was going to let that last.

  “Are you going to do as I say?” I asked and he smirked like he was enjoying this far too much.

  “Yes, baby. Anything you want,” he purred.

  “Strip down to your boxers and kneel over there by the lake.” I pointed and his lips parted in surprise. He hadn’t expected that. But I wasn’t just going to give him a fish stew shower, I was going to work on the humiliation part of his crimes too.