A Hurt So Sweet: Complete Dark Bully Romance Series Box Set: Elite of Eden Falls Prep

by Isabella Starling

  “What plan?”

  “I… can’t exactly tell you. But you’re my oldest friend. I couldn’t just let you stew there, waiting for her to come back.”

  “Where is she?”

  “Julian’s lake house,” he finally admits.

  I click my fingers at Kelley, the Oakes’ driver, and he gives me a curt nod, opening the car doors for me. I climb into the limo, sinking into the buttery leather as I bark instructions at Kelley, and he starts driving. But even though we’ve set off now, we’re at least an hour away from the lake house, maybe forty-five minutes if Kelley really fucking steps on it.

  “Lai, what have you done?” I demand.

  He remains quiet, and I know that whatever it is, it’s likely fucking bad. For me, and for Pandora.

  “Is she alive?” I ask, and Lai laughs out loud.

  “Of course she’s fucking alive,” he hisses. “What do you take me for, some kind of monster?”

  “Don’t forget I know more about you than anyone else,” I remind him.

  “Look, Dexter,” Lai goes on firmly. “She’s fine, you’ll see for yourself when you pick her up. But you’re not going to be calling the shots forever. You’re not the boss of us anymore.”

  “What the fuck’s that supposed to mean?” I demand. “You were more than happy to work out a deal with me before Brantley came back. I got your back, you got mine. What’s made you change your mind?”

  “Well…” He hesitates, making me roar in frustration. “Look, it’s her, alright? It’s Pandora.”

  “Why her?”

  “Because she’s currently the most valuable asset in Eden Falls,” he goes on resolutely. “Whoever marries her will automatically be the most powerful man in town. Especially after she has their kid.”

  “But you know her father wants her to marry Easton,” I growl, watching the scenery change through the limo’s tinted windows. “What’s that got to do with you, anyway?”

  “Easton will share her,” Lai mutters.

  “Excuse me?”

  “He won’t keep her to himself like some selfish, obsessive fucking stalker, Dexter. Like you.”

  “What the hell did you just call me?” I’m fucking foaming at the mouth with anger.

  “You kept Pandora away from us for too long,” Lai sighs. “You teased us with her. Taunted us. You had to know we were going to stand up for ourselves.”

  “Except you’re not,” I hiss in reply. “You’re just following someone else’s orders.”

  “Well, at least he has more perks for us,” Lai explodes. “At least he lets us have a share.”

  “What have you done?” I demand. “What the hell have you done to Pandora?”

  “Just… get here,” he says with an exasperated sigh, and it’s then that I hear the faint sound of sobbing in the background.

  It sounds like a woman crying. No, it sounds like Pandora Oakes crying.

  “I’m going to fucking kill you,” I tell him icily. “If you hurt her, you’re dead goddamn meat.”

  “Sure,” Lai smirks. “We’ll be long gone by the time you get here. Bye, Booth.”

  The call ends and I curse out loud, immediately calling him back. But it’s too late – he’s turned off his phone, and the call won’t connect. Frustrated, I throw the phone at the glass partition separating me from the driver, shattering the glass and breaking the phone. But I don’t give a shit. My heart is hammering in my chest with the knowledge that they’ve done something I can’t take back.

  They’ve stopped following my orders. They’ve stopped listening to me. And now Pandora isn’t safe with any of them. I’m afraid I’m already too late to help her.

  The next forty minutes pass by excruciatingly slowly. Despite my continued insistence for Kelley to drive faster, it still takes her a little under an hour to arrive at Glass Lake where Julian’s parents’ lake cabin is situated. Once Kelley slows down to a stop in front of the cabin, I’m out of the car before it has even stopped completely, shoes crunching on the gravel as I run inside the house.

  The front door is unlocked, but there are no cars in the driveway. Lai must have left with the others, just like he said he would.

  The faint sound of sobbing I heard over the phone earlier is still there, and I follow it like a hound on the prey’s trail. The house is pristine, beautifully decorated, but fucking reeks of something I can’t quite define. Like something really fucking dreadful happened in here.

  I race up the stairs, following the sound of the sobs until I’m in the master bedroom of the lake house. A small figure is trembling beneath the sheets, nothing but her head looking out from the plush, large master bed.

  “Pandora?” I manage to get out, approaching her in three quick, long steps. “What the fuck happened?”

  She looks nothing like the snarky, defiant girl I know. She’s a mess – her face streaked with makeup from the party last night, her hair a tangled mess. And she’s naked. They left her here fucking naked.

  “Tell me what happened,” I beg, my own voice breaking over the words.

  The only thing I need now is an excuse to kill the people who did this to her. I don’t give a shit if they’re supposed to be my friends. My friends would never do this to the girl I…

  I shake my head to get the thought out. She doesn’t even seem to notice I’m there, her eyes focusing on the door as she whimpers and sobs, as if she’s afraid someone else is going to walk through those doors.

  “Pandora,” I try again, making sure I sound more patient than I feel. “Look at me, toy. Just look at me, fucking please, right here, look at me.”

  I guide her chin upward so her eyes can meet mine, and she does as she’s told. Her gaze is glazed over, as if she’s lost in a different world, not quite here with me.

  “Toy,” I speak up patiently. “Tell me what happened.”

  “E-Easton,” she manages to get out, the mere mention of my nemesis’ name making my fingers tighten into fists. “He lured me here… After the party…”

  “And then what happened?” I demand, making her flinch at the sound of my impatient, angry voice.

  I take a moment to collect myself, taking a deep breath before I reach for her hand, gently intertwining my fingers against hers. It strikes me that this is probably the first time I’ve been kind and gentle with Pandora. I’m really no better than the rest of them, the guys who did this to her, turned her into a mess I barely recognize.

  “Tell me, toy,” I ask her, my voice softer, kinder this time. “Just start at the beginning and tell me what they did to you, okay? And then I’ll get you the fuck out of here.”

  “Okay,” she whispers. “Easton brought me here… after the engagement… he, he… he wanted to have sex with me.”

  The thought makes me fucking furious and I mutter, “But you didn’t, right, Pandora? You didn’t let him fuck you?”

  This time, when her eyes meet mine, she looks more broken than ever before, and the truth hits me like a punch to the face. She did it. She went through with it. She fucked Easton, and he didn’t even have to force her.

  The betrayal fucking hurts like a knife being twisted in my back. But I do my best not to let her see it, not just because I want to protect her from my own rage, but because I can’t show her how much this information has hurt me. As far as Pandora’s concerned, I don’t give a shit about her – she’s just a pawn in my games, a way for me to get what I want. I can’t show her she’s anything but that to me, not when I’m not certain what she means to me myself.

  “Did you sleep with him?” I ask her, forcing my fingers to remain slack against hers even though I want to choke the answer out of her. “It’s okay, Pandora. Just tell me the truth so I can help you.”

  She swallows thickly, looking anywhere but at my eyes. Then, she closes her eyes and nods, a barely perceptible move of her head indicating that she betrayed me, just like Lily Anna fucking did. And with the same guy, no less.

  If I were less confident, I’d be q
uestioning what Easton fucking Brantley has on me. But I know there’s nothing comparable between the two of us. I’m everything he’s not, even though he’s just proved to be more calculating and cruel than I’ll ever be.

  “Okay,” I choke out. “What happened after?”

  “We-we went to sleep,” Pandora whispers. “When I woke up, it was like he was a different person. H-He told me the rest of the guys were h-here… He started g-getting dressed, and Caspian came in.”

  “Caspian?” I ask, furrowing my brows. “Why?”

  “To fuck me.” She looks right into my eyes this time, her gaze burning with pain as it meets mine. “Easton told them all they could fuck me.”

  “Who?” I demand, forcing my fingers not to crush hers out of the pure rage I’m currently feeling. “Who did he tell they could fuck you?”

  “Caspian,” she whispers. “Julian. And… Lai.”

  “Lai?” I repeat. “But they didn’t do it, right?”

  She laughs bitterly and I squeeze her fingers, hoping she can see how important this is to me.

  “Pandora,” I bite out. “Lai called me. He told me to come and get you, he told me where you were. Everybody was going crazy after the party; your father is fucking furious. He told me I could use Kelley to come and find you, toy. He’s desperate to bring you back. He never approved this, Pandora. We can just go back and everything will go back to normal, okay?”

  “Normal?” she repeats, her voice shaky as she pulls her hand away. “Things will n-never be normal again, Dexter. And it’s all because of you!”

  “What?” I furrow my brows at her. “What did I do?”

  “You started this sick… fucking game! This is all about Easton’s revenge against you, can’t you fucking see?” She starts to cry again, burying her face in her hands as she cries harder and harder.

  “Pandora,” I say, keeping my voice softer than I want to. “What happened after Caspian came in?”

  “What the fuck do you think happened?” she snarls. “He fucked me, Dexter! He fucked me like I was nothing but a plaything for him, because that’s what I am, isn’t it? That’s what you made me into!”

  I’m lost for words. How can I make it up to her? How can I give her back the innocence she lost when I’m the one responsible for ripping it away from her? Shame burns me up from the inside, the flames threatening to swallow me whole. I deserve this, but Pandora doesn’t.

  “Come on,” I utter, reaching out for her, but she flinches when my fingers touch her skin. “I’ll get you home. I have Kelley waiting downstairs, he’ll take you straight to the Estate.”

  “And then what?” She laughs bitterly, with no happiness in the sound. “They won’t keep it a secret like you did, Dexter. They’re going to tell everyone – and then my life will be over.”

  I struggle to find the words to calm her down, knowing she’s right. There’s no way Easton will keep his mouth shut about this. Pandora will be a pariah at school. She’ll be exposed, her Firstborn status taken away. Her life will be over. Unless…

  “I’m the reason all this happened,” I say. “It’s my fault this happened to you. So I swear to you right now, Pandora, I’ll make it up to you for everything you’ve gone through.”

  “How?” she demands, shaking her head in frustrated disbelief. “There’s nothing you can do, Dexter. It’s over for me. I’m done in Eden Falls.”

  “Not if I have anything to do with it,” I tell her, offering her my hand to help her get out of the bed they defiled her in. “Come with me, Pandora. I’ll make it all better. I won’t leave your side at school, I’ll protect you. I’ll make sure nobody ever hurts you again.”

  It’s as much as I can give her, the promise hanging in the air between us as she eyes me suspiciously, her gaze searching mine for another ulterior motive. I hate that it’s come to this, that she can’t trust me at all anymore, but I’m a man of my word and I fully intend on protecting Pandora from the others like I promised.

  Finally, she puts her hand in mine and I pull her out of the bed.

  “Where are your clothes?” I question her, and she gives me a long look that speaks volumes.

  “They took them,” she finally mutters, and I curse under my breath before slipping off my jacket and wrapping her up in it.

  “Come on, I’ll get you home.”

  “What about my father?” she asks, her bottom lip jutting out. “He’s going to fucking kill me.”

  “No,” I say resolutely. “I’ll make sure you’re okay, don’t worry. Come on, we need to get the hell out of here.”

  I lead her out of the house to a shocked Kelley who doesn’t say a word, just opens the car door for us and silently drives away from Julian’s lake house.

  Pandora’s quiet for the entire ride home, and I take every chance I can to check if she’s okay. Apart from the ruined makeup she looks just like the girl who’s been the thorn in my side for months. But there’s something different – the way she holds herself, the way she meekly looks away every time my eyes meet hers. Her defiance is gone, wiped out by the boys I called my friends only a day ago.

  They broke her.

  They broke her the way I never could.

  Chapter Two

  Pandora

  The car comes to a stop in front of Oakes Estate, but I stay glued to my spot. I don’t want to move. I don’t want to go inside; I don’t want to admit what happened to me in that lake house was real. Saying it out loud will make it too awful to handle. My mind is already foggy. I can feel myself fading away, and though I’m clutching at straws to stay sane, I’m getting fucking tired. Is it worth it to stay here, with these people who want nothing more than to ruin me? It would be so much easier to just slip away… let the shadows take me and build a wall not even my father’s shouting can penetrate.

  “I’ll come with you,” Dexter offers, and I twist in my chair, taking a long look at my unlikely savior. “It’ll be okay if I’m there with you. I’ll convince him it wasn’t your fault.”

  “Convince him?” I laugh. “It wasn’t my fault, Dexter. In fact, all of this is your fucking fault!”

  He regards me with a cool gaze, but I can see the silent fire raging within him.

  “Aren’t you going to say anything?” I blurt out, glaring. “You’re not even going to defend yourself, you prick?”

  He remains quiet, his gaze fixed on mine as he waits for me to go on. I groan, rubbing my eyes just as the door of the car flies open.

  “Sir, I’ll have her brought up as soon as-” Kelley scrambles to say, stepping in front of my enraged father.

  But the man doesn’t listen, reaching past Dexter and grabbing me by my hair, making me cry out in pain as he drags me out of the vehicle.

  “You fucking slut,” he says with cool disgust. “I should have known you’d be the one to disgrace this family! Raised somewhere else like a commoner, acting like an entitled brat with no manners… If I hadn’t made you take that DNA test, I’d be questioning whether you’re my daughter at all!”

  I scream as he drops me to the gravel, staring up at him with pure disgust. Dexter’s quick to get out of the car, and it takes him and Kelley to hold my father back before he can beat my unmoving body for what’s been done to me.

  “You make me ashamed,” my father spits on the ground, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his jacket. “Fucking ashamed that you’re my blood, my fucking family – my Firstborn, no less! Well, no longer, daughter. I’ve put up with you long enough.”

  “Please, Emilian, let’s speak about this,” Dexter interrupts, laying a calming hand on my father’s shoulder. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, there’s still so much for us to discuss-”

  “And you!” Father roars back to life, turning around on his heels and jamming his finger against Dexter’s chest. “You’re the reason all this happened. Because you couldn’t keep your filthy paws off her, and you made them want the same.”

  He looks at me with pure disgust in his eyes, the wa
y no father should look at their daughter as he murmurs, “I still don’t understand why, she’s nothing. Not beautiful. Not bright. Fucking nothing.”

  The words sear me like knives but I don’t cry. Instead, I pick myself up from the gravel, the stones digging into my bare feet. It’s cold as fuck out here, and I want to go to my room, bury myself under the blankets in my bed and pretend none of this ever happened.

  “Let’s go inside,” Dexter suggests. “Come on, we can’t talk out here.”

  My father groans, rubbing his temples, while Kelley offers me a helping hand and leads me across the gravel inside the house. I feel shame burning my cheeks as we walk into the house and find both Minnie and Belle there, watching us intently.

  “What the hell are you looking at?” Father roars to life as we walk inside. “Get back to work!”

  Both of them scurry to their feet, each one heading into a different direction of the house. Father turns to face me now, his face twisted in displeasure as he mutters, “My office, fucking now.”

  Kelley gives me an apologetic nod. Now I’m left with Dexter and my father, and I don’t know which one of them I hate more. Wordlessly, I fall into step behind my father and follow the two men upstairs to Emilian’s pristine office. I want to ask whether I can grab some clothes and wash my face, but I’m too ashamed, and I have a feeling my father would say no just to fuck me up more.

  In his home office, father sits behind his desk while Dexter takes the other chair. I wrap his jacket around my body tightly, attempting to hide what I can. A deep need for revenge ignites me to sit on the expensive Chesterfield couch in father’s office, not giving a damn that he’s shooting me dirty looks. I deserve to sit down, if nothing else.

  “What happened?” father demands now, his question aimed at Dexter.

  “Brantley,” my ex-fiancé grits out. “He took her to Julian’s lake cabin.”

  “Did you fuck him?” father demands, and I look away, squirming beneath the weight of his gaze. “Did you fuck the Brantley boy?”