by J Bree
“I’m not fucking you.”
He chuckles and kisses my neck. I cringe away from the feeling. His fingers are still tight on my wrist, tight enough that I can feel the bones grinding together and I know it’s pretty close to snapping. My fingers start tingling. Writing assignments will be a bitch if he breaks it. I slip me fingers into my pocket and grip my knife but I don’t pull it out just yet. I give it one last try.
“Joey. I’m not having sex with you. Let me go.”
He grunts and rips my arm until I sprawl backwards onto the bed and covers me with his own body. The hand I have wrapped around the handle of my knife is trapped between our bodies and I can feel his erection digging into my thigh. Instinct tells me to scream but I choke it back. I put the scared fifteen year old girl into a box and I let the Wolf take over. The Wolf is calm and patient and can wait for the right moment to go for his throat.
“Just lay still. You might find you have less trouble at this school once you’ve been fucked by me.” His lips crush into mine and I can feel his tongue come out and force its way into my mouth.
I’ve never been kissed before.
It’s disgusting.
I might never kiss a guy again if it’s always like this.
I arch my back deliberately and he purrs at me, obviously thinking I’m melting for him. It gives me just enough room to pull the knife out of my pocket and press it against his groin. I’m aiming for his femoral artery but I know he’s more worried about his dick when he pulls away and gapes down at me. It’s a comical look on his face and I know it's only there because the cocaine has taken hold.
“Get off me.” I say softly. The vein in his neck is flicking, his blood pumping like crazy. He’s frozen for a second, just staring down at the knife pressed against the hard line of his dick.
He finally releases my wrist and stumbles back. I can see the high is really setting in and for once in my life I’m glad he’s taken the cocaine. I don’t want to think about how he would fight back if he were lucid. He runs a hand over his face and laughs.
“Fuck it. It’s not like I need the money, I was just hoping for the bragging rights.”
Money? Bragging rights? What the hell was he going on about? I shoot him a glare and I raise the knife towards him as I edge around him towards the door. Maybe Ash had been right, maybe I should have taken his warnings a little more seriously. Clearly, Joey is more than psychopath, he’s also deranged. “What the hell are you going on about, I wasn’t going to give you money.”
He laughs again and I flinch at the cruel edge to it. “My family earns more money in a minute than your worthless bloodline ever has, clearly I didn’t mean your money. If you fuck me I’ll win the sweep.”
“What fucking sweep?”
He smirks and stands up. His pants have a clean cut in them from my knife and I can clearly see the outline of his erection in his dark boxers. A dark thrill of panic shoots through my blood and I look back up at his face quickly.
“First to fuck you gets the sweep. There’s currently a hundred and forty grand on the line and it’s climbing daily. I thought it would be worth a quick fuck even if you are Mounty trash.”
A hundred and forty grand?! That’s more than four times the amount my mom used to earn in an entire year at the docks and these pompous dicks are throwing it around on a stupid bet? I see red. I see so much red I think about slapping his handsome, cruel face. I think about stabbing him too but then I count down slowly from five until my vision clears. This boy is way too dangerous for a scholarship girl to mess with without a plan. If I want to end him I’ll have to be more subtle about it.
And now.
Now I want to end him.
The walk back to the girls dorm is much more tense now that I don’t have a rich dickhead to clear the path from teachers. I have to duck and weave and I find myself thankful that Hannaford is a big, old, castle-like building with lots of alcoves and statues to hide behind. I sigh with relief when I make it and sneaking past the other freshman’s rooms is easy. I get to the sitting area across from my room when I see Avery straddling some guy and making out with him like she’s starving for oxygen and he’s the best option she’s got.
I don’t have the problem I did with Harley and I sprint to my room. Once I’m safely locked inside I give myself a minute to freak out about Joey and how close I came to something terrible happening. When the minute is up I change into my pajamas and climb into my bed.
I don’t sleep.
I think about skipping classes the day after the party because it’s the last day before fall break but I don’t want to ruin my perfect attendance record. I spend double my usual time on my makeup because you can see every sleepless minute carved into my face. I finally give up and head straight to class, skipping breakfast. My stomach is roiling with the memories of the tequila last night and I’m sure if I touch food I’ll hurl. I’m early enough that I’ve even beaten the teacher to History so I enjoy the quiet.
I collapse into my desk and rest my head against my textbooks. I’m sure I look hungover but I can’t summon enough energy to care. I hear the teacher arrive and I give her a little wave without looking up. She doesn’t seem to be concerned that I’m expiring at my desk. Then I feel the chair next to mine pull out and Harley drops into his seat. I glance up at him and he looks too healthy, too happy, just too much and I give him a glare.
“Did someone have a big night?” He says, too loud and far too cheery. I want to hurt him.
“Feel free to choke.” I reply and he grins at me. Avery is already at her spot in front of us and she looks down her nose at me with a smirk. The class starts and she flips her hair at me. I spare her a second of my time, just long enough to wonder if she has anything else planned for me, before I push her out of my mind.
I manage to pull myself together enough to get through the class. My stomach gurgles towards the end and Harley keeps slipping me these looks until I’m squirming in my chair.
“Enjoy the show?” He doesn’t look at me when he says this and I know it’s on purpose. He’s taking notes for the homework we’re supposed to get down over the break. It takes me a second to remember what I saw last night in the woods. I can’t think about any of it without think about Joey’s dick pressing into me and his body pressing me into the bed. My wrist is still aching and I’m a little worried he’s sprained it.
“Not particularly. Though if you need my opinion I’d suggest you start using protection. The girls at this school get around even more than Mounty’s do and you don’t want to catch something that makes your dick fall off.”
He smirks at me and then leans in towards me. He smells amazing and usually I’d secretly love feeling the heat from his torso against mine but I’m just not in the mood for his shit today.
“That’s why she was sucking me off.”
I lean away from him and shoot him a glare. I don’t find his banter amusing. I don’t want to high five him, except maybe slapping him would be cathartic. I decide to change tactics instead.
“Did you know there’s a price on me? Did you know that’s why I’m being stalked by guys at this shitty school?”
Harley’s smirk falters on his lips for a second and then it’s as strong as ever.
“Everyone knows about it. They all know Joey staked his claim on you as well.”
Staked his claim, like I’m a slab of fucking meat. I feel the grips of that white hot rage taking me again. Harley must see it too because his face splits into a grin. “Like I said, Mounty, if you hit Joey I will take that memory to bed for the rest of my life.”
“Fuck hitting him.” I whisper back and Avery turns to glare at us both. It must kill her that I’m next to Harley in nearly all our classes. She can’t contain him or control him if she’s not right beside him.
The bell tolls. I shove my books away and pull out the required homework for the fall break. I enjoy the feeling of all of the students eyes on me as I hand it over to the teacher. She takes it wit
h a shocked look and then scans over the page.
“Well done, Miss Anderson. Enjoy your fall break.”
Harley is the only student who knows how far ahead I am so he’s the only student not gaping at me when I arrive at every class for the day with all of the assignments already complete. Even Avery is hissing at me by the end. I’m smug as fuck knowing they’ll all be at home with their families and slaving over class work and I’ll be running around Hannaford doing whatever the hell I want to do.
I refuse to go down to the dining hall for dinner. I don’t want to see Joey or be approached by any of his raucous group. I don’t know if he’s now lifted his ban and I’ll be propositioned in the halls again so I settle into my bed and try to ignore the rumbling of my stomach. By tomorrow afternoon I’ll have the building to myself and I’ll be able to eat all I want.
Fall break is the best week of my life so far.
I sleep in. I shower at odd times of the day. I eat whenever I feel even the slightest bit peckish. I watch movies on my phone and dance around my room in my underwear while listening to good music. I do whatever the hell I want and I do it in my own time. I feel free.
I should know by now that nothing good in my life lasts.
I’m enjoying my last day of quiet in the sitting area when I hear my phone ping. I very rarely get texts and there’s only one person with my contact details. My heart sinks as I pick it up and see Matteo’s text.
I’ve been asked to contact you about a job.
A job. That could mean anything from tailing someone’s girlfriend to killing an errant informant. Coming to Hannaford Prep has been an attempt to close the door on my old life in Mount’s Bay and to starting a new, legitimate life. I had done things at Matteo’s command that I wanted to leave firmly in the past. The trouble was, Matteo had no intention of letting me go. I would always belong to him.
I’m not leaving Hannaford until summer break. The food is free and good. Sorry.
I chew on my lip for a minute and then I dig out my emergency bottle of whiskey while I wait for his reply. I’d smuggled it in on the first day but hadn’t felt the need to drink it until now.
I owe a lot to Matteo. He’s the reason I’m alive today. I could just have easily stayed with him in Mount’s Bay and dropped out. He had encouraged me to, he wanted to bring me into his organization and have me run it with him. If I hadn’t gotten the scholarship I would have been inducted and become one of his pawns. I’m not a fool, I know he’s the head of a gang. I know he sells drugs.
I know he kills people.
I try to think about those years in foster care as a story, something that happened to some other girl. It’s easier to do now I’m here in the sheltered halls of Hannaford. I have a real buzz going on before I finally take that trip down memory lane.
Once upon a time a young girl finds herself orphaned and at a group house. Another kid takes her under his wing. He protects her and cares for her for an entire year. She is lost and hungry but she thinks someday she will know what it means to be happy.
And then one day he tells her he’s named her in the Game. She doesn’t know what that means but he tells her it’s the only way she will ever by safe and free. So she learns. She learns how to fight. She learns how to disappear. She learns how to make others disappear. And then she competes. She is broken beyond repair. She will never run again. She is covered in scars. She can’t sleep at night, she can’t bear the sound of her own voice, she sleeps with a knife, she startles at every sound, she’s scared of what hides in the shadows, she can’t breathe-
She wins.
She is crowned the Wolf.
She could become a leader. Have a gang of her own, make millions, live an untouchable life. She goes to school instead. Get’s a scholarship. Disappears. Tries to forget all of the things she did to get to where she is. She does forget most of the time. She forgets until the Jackal calls her home.
It’s the Boar. He’ll pay cash or a favor. Whichever you prefer. The job is small enough. It can wait until summer break.
Despite what the spoilt kids here think I don’t actually need the money. The favor makes it tempting. I’m owed a lot of favors and I like having them up my sleeve. I could have Joey taken out of my life as permanently as I wanted. It amuses me that Ash and Harley warn me about him.
If only they knew who I really was.
Chapter Ten
“Joey wants to see you in the chapel after the assembly.” Harlow says to me with a smug look on her pretty face.
I’m sitting in the dining hall on the first day back after the break, lamenting all of the noisy students after my week of peace. I also have a teensy bit of a hangover after finishing off the whiskey and I’m not in the mood to deal with Joey’s bullshit. I stare Harlow down until she finally gets the picture and stomps off. I cradle my piping hot, black coffee and try to absorb the superpowers of the caffeine. The school doesn’t serve hot coffee but I have a small stash in my room for emergencies.
Today is an emergency.
I’m having a moment when I hear Blaise’s voice down the table from me. I’m proud to say I can now listen to it without wanting to die but I still can’t look him in the damn face. I glance over and see he’s only a couple of seats away surrounded by other students in our grade. I can’t help but listen in.
“My parents are pissed at my scores. Father wants me to spend more time at home and Mother is backing him up for once. I think she’s still pissed I went on a tour to Europe without asking her first.”
The group around him laughs and I can hear the fake tones from where I sit. How awful it must be to have to entertain all these kids who are just trying to gain social status by sitting with you. I’d feel bad for him but he’s a rock god with millions in the bank and an established career. He doesn’t need my sympathy.
“Father wants to get me on track to take over Kora from him. I have no interest in technology and manufacturing. I’m not going to pull my grades up just for his dreams.” He continues. His eyes are guarded and sharp and I can’t look at them for longer than a second. Kora is his family’s business. His dad became a billionaire in his twenties by manufacturing computer parts during the first big technology wave.
“At least you’re doing better than me in Math. Maybe you should study more and mess around on your guitar less.”
A wounded look darts across Blaise’s face but he covers it with a smirk effortlessly and the girl who spoke doesn't seem to notice. The lyrics I’ve listened to and sung over the years that he wrote come to me all at once. Living a lie, wearing a mask, walking alone. None of these kids understand him. No one here really knows what it feels like to have melodies creep into your subconsciousness while you sleep and steal your soul. None of them have listened to the same words over and over again until they’re burned into their being. None of them understand what it means to be Blaise fucking Morrison. If you had have told me two years ago that I’d be listening to Blaise have this conversation at school one day I wouldn’t believe you.
“Never mind, obviously you’ll do what your father wants.”
Blaise gives the girl a look and I realize I recognize her. She’s the girl I saw in the woods that night with Harley. A blush begins to crawl along my cheeks as I think about the white streaks that painted her pretty face. She’s stroking Blaise’s bicep possessively. He doesn’t pull away from her even though he’s obviously pissed. “Why would I give up my music, Annabelle? I’m already successful, I’ve made my own money independently, why would I give that up for the stuffy, corporate life?”
Annabelle laughs again and the muscle in Blaise’s jaw ticks but he still doesn’t move away. Is she his girlfriend? Is she cheating on him with one of his best friends? I can’t imagine Harley doing that. Maybe I don’t know him at all.
“Your parents are worth billions. You don’t give up money like that for some singing and dancing.”
I snort. I can’t help myself, it just happens. Breakfast has wound down en
ough that Annabelle clearly hears it and looks over at me. I’ve never noticed her before but she knows all about me. Everyone at the school knows about the Mounty trash amongst them.
“This is a private conversation. Inferior students aren’t welcome.” Her voice is sweet and her face a mask of placid joy. If I’ve learned nothing else about the human race it is that the quiet ones are usually the worst. Best to nip this in the bud.
“Inferior? You’ve both just said you’re flunking the lower Math class and you’re not in any of the other top classes with me. Clearly I’m not the inferior student.”
Annabelle doesn’t flinch. She just flips her long, mousy brown hair over her shoulder and looks at me like I’m nothing. I consider slamming her pretty face into the table but then I rein myself in. I don’t need another rich kid hating on me. I need to learn to shut my mouth and keep my head down.
I need to stop feeling all of these emotions for gorgeous rich boys.
Blaise is sitting there surrounded by people he’s probably known his whole life and yet none of them understand how badly he needs his music. None of them have looked past his handsome face and his bank balance to see the real guy underneath it all. I’m not stupid, I know he isn’t just his musical talent but I’m certain that I know more about him than this Annabelle girl does. She’s vapid, shallow, and hungry for the immense wealth that being with Blaise would give her access to. “You could be the smartest girl on Earth, you’ll still never be someone worth our time.” She laughs and looks around at the others they’re sitting with to make sure they’re laughing too.
I do not need the trouble opening my mouth will bring me. But I do it anyway. My temper is going to get me killed someday, Matteo says it to me all the time. I should really listen to him, he’s killed people for dishing out less honesty than I am. “I’d rather be poor and smart than rich and brainless. You can’t even tell how pissed off you’ve made Morrison.”