Ruthless (The Privileged of Pembroke High #4)

by Ivy Fox

  But I don’t move.

  I just keep to our maddening tempo.

  Elle, though, is not as subdued.

  “Touch me,” she whimpers.

  Chad lowers his face once more, his eyes never leaving mine, as he starts kissing her bare shoulder until he’s at her neck. One of his hands moves away from her hip and onto her ass, discreetly brushing up against my eager cock.

  I close my eyes to relish the sensation.

  Between Elle’s grinding and his touch, I feel as if I’m going to combust. Elle shivers in my hold, and I know she’s hurting just as badly as I am. And by God, I’ve never wanted to taste her pain on my tongue more.

  With one hand still gripping her waist, my other travels from her navel up to one perfect breast. With her small size, she’s completely hidden away in between us, making no one the wiser when I begin to play with one hard nipple.

  She lets out a desperate sigh.

  I look over at Chad, whose fiery eyes stare at the way I play with her breast before a hungry beast takes over. He wets his lips one more time before lowering himself to bite my fingers and then suck her erect nipple over the red fabric of her dress. Elle wails in agony, making me clasp my hand over her mouth. Her tongue peeks out, and I wish it were my mouth on hers rather than my hand. She runs her fingers through Chad’s hair as he switches from one breast to the other while her eyes look up at me in desperation.

  God help me.

  I take my hand away from her mouth, and this time, I kiss her as I wanted.

  Desperate. Hungry. Insane.

  She doesn’t pull back, preferring to fight me with her sweet tongue, trying to dominate when, in fact, I’ve already given her my total submission. When Chad begins to fully stroke my cock over my jeans, my brittle sanity begins to snap. There is only so much a man can take after all.

  ‘Let’s get out of here.’ The words are on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t find it in me to move, much less speak.

  I just need one more kiss.

  One more caress.

  One more fevered sigh, and then I’ll say it.

  I don’t care where we go from here, just as long as the three of us are together.

  But before I have time to actually say the words, strong hands push me away and snatch Elle from in between us.

  “Ash!” She smiles brightly at him, but he doesn’t even register her gleeful greeting.

  “Get your fucking hands off my sister, assholes! What the fuck were you thinking?!”

  “Huh?” Chad mumbles, still in a daze.

  “Fuck. Is he high?” Ash demands, his feral stare directed at me since Chad is completely out of it.

  “He’s something.” I smirk, trying to hide how bereft I suddenly feel without both of them in my arms.

  “So are you, dipshit,” Ash growls before pushing his sister behind him to check on her.

  Once he’s made sure she’s still in one piece, he turns around and grabs my neck.

  “Did you fucking give my baby sister the same thing Chad is on?”

  “Relax. She only took half a pill of molly. It will wear off in an hour or so. Nothing you didn’t do when you were her age.”

  “When I was her age, I wasn’t screwing two guys at once on the dancefloor.”

  “Guess little Elle isn’t as boring as her big brother.” I taunt.

  He looks at me in disgust and then back at Chad with the same predatory stare. My protectiveness comes to life, and I put myself in between them.

  “Leave him alone. He’s just having a good time.”

  “Not with Elle, he’s not. Or you, for that matter. You want her? Make sure she’s fucking lucid enough to give consent, motherfucker, or I’ll break every bone in your body. You feel me?!”

  “Yeah, I feel you,” I mumble.

  He hugs Elle to his side as he takes her away from us as fast as he can. With every step he takes, Elle keeps looking back at us in both confusion and sadness.

  “Bye, Princess. Raincheck, yeah?” I wave to her.

  Her cheeks flush, her front teeth biting down on her lower lip, reminding me that I still have her taste lingering on the tip of my tongue.

  “Why is Elle leaving?” Chad murmurs beside me.

  “Big brother didn’t like that we were playing with her.”

  “I did,” he says with a sad smile, his eyes falling to the floor.

  “I know you did, Boy Scout.”

  My heart plummets once again when I see true sadness tainting the green in his eyes. If he keeps this up, he’ll end up having a bad trip, and like hell am I going to let that happen.

  “Come on. I should take you home anyway. Remind me never to give you anything ever again. It’s fucking lethal to my sanity.”

  He shrugs but moves his feet to come with me. When he entwines his hand with mine, I snap my head his way in surprise. He’s still looking lost without his BFF at his side, but the drugs must still be doing their thing because he doesn’t loosen his grip on my hand.

  This night didn’t go as I planned.

  But it sure had its memorable moments.

  When we get to his house, I take him directly to his bedroom, wanting to make sure he’s alright and safe. The molly should be disappearing from his system by now, but Chad is a lightweight. Half a pill, and he was all sorts of fucked up, so who knows how long it will take until the drug wears off completely.

  I haven’t even turned on his bedroom light yet when he falls face-first onto his bed. I walk over to him and take off his jacket and shoes so he can be comfortable. He remains silent with his eyes closed all throughout, but I can tell he’s still awake. I don’t want to leave him until I’m sure he’s dozed off, but I can’t stay here either. Not when he’s so vulnerable.

  Ash was right.

  I fucked up back at the club.

  In a moment of weakness, I took advantage of Chad and Elle tonight. I can’t fall prey to that again. I won’t. If either one of them comes to me in the future, I want them to know what they’re doing. Tonight, I’m not sure either of them did, and the uncertainty of it all has me twisted up inside.

  I’m about to leave and head for the kitchen to grab some water when Boy Scout holds out his hand, grabbing my wrist and halting my next step.

  “Stay,” he whispers, those stellar green eyes of his fixed on me.

  I give him a curt nod and take my boots off. Once I’ve set them in the corner of the room, I slide in next to him, my arm under my head as I stare up at the ceiling. He remains with his back to me, trapped in his own little world.

  “Saint,” he calls out softly after a while.

  “What is it, Boy Scout?”

  “Have you ever been in love?”

  I swallow dryly, perturbed by the question since I’ve spent the last ten minutes struggling not to pull his body to mine.

  “Why?”

  “I just want to know.”

  “Curiosity killed the cat. Didn’t anyone ever tell you that?” I try to redirect his question.

  “I think I’ve always been in love,” he replies.

  My jaw ticks furiously at his confession, knowing who he’s precisely referring to.

  “Good for you,” I clip back.

  He turns around on the pillow, his head just inches away from mine, while I keep my stare deadlocked on the stucco ceiling above us.

  “Don’t you want to know with whom?” he asks, his warm breath tickling my cheek.

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  Because if you say her name, I’m not sure if I’ll punch you for daring to love her when she’s gotten underneath my skin or fucking cry because I haven’t gotten under yours.

  “Because I already know,” I answer stiffly.

  “She’s my heart, Saint. I can’t live without her,” he hushes with true longing tainting his every word.

  I close my eyes and let myself feel the rage, disappointment, and heartbreak
his confession provokes.

  “I know,” I choke out, disheartened.

  I want to run away from this room. I want to fight and fuck my way out of this mess.

  And yet I stay sprawled out on his bed beside him, suffering in silence.

  “There’s only one problem,” he whispers after a long pause.

  “Hmm,” I mumble, not able to sound out words when I feel like I’m being torn apart in all directions.

  “I think I love you, too.”

  I snap my head his way and witness true pain swimming in his eyes.

  “You think, or you know?”

  His gaze remains transfixed on mine as he drops his head on my shoulder.

  “I know.”

  I clasp my hand over his cheek to pull him up, and he leans into my touch. For someone who just professed his love, he looks like his world is about to end.

  “Does that scare you?”

  He nods.

  “Why?”

  “Because I can’t keep you both. I’m going to lose one of you if I choose, so I just do nothing.”

  “That’s a shitty cop-out, Boy Scout.”

  “Is it? If I can stay this way, then I have you both in my life. If I choose, that won’t be the case.”

  “Always trying to be the good one. Be selfish for once. It’s fucking liberating. Trust me.”

  Disappointed with my answer, he turns his back to me again, cutting my heart up with just that one move.

  “Why did you tell me this?”

  “I just wanted one of you to know.”

  “Why not Elle?”

  “If she knows the truth, then she’ll leave me.”

  “Give Princess more credit than that. She’s a big girl. She can handle it.”

  “But I can’t. Besides, you and I both know she’ll never consent to what I want.”

  I turn to my side, my chin on his shoulder, knowing the exact thoughts ruminating in his head.

  “And just what do you want?” I ask hoarsely, unable to prevent my hand from traveling down his chest until it finds his half-mast cock. My conscience tells me I should stop, but my need for him surpasses my guilt. I cup his dick in my hands, making him let out a stifled groan. “Tell me.”

  He closes his eyes as if picturing her in his mind, his hand covering mine as I stroke him over his jeans.

  “I want to lick her tears off her cheeks. I want to see her olive-toned skin red by my hand. I want to kiss the burn marks on her roped wrists.”

  “That’s fucked up, Boy Scout.” I groan while pressing myself against him.

  “I know,” he whimpers sadly, adjusting his stiff cock with my hand.

  “So you want her submission?”

  “Yes.”

  “But not mine?”

  “Don’t I have it already?” he asks, glancing over his shoulder to face me.

  I don’t answer him. It would be pointless since we both know he fucking does.

  Pulling my hand away, I lie on my back, needing to distance myself from him, even if it’s just a little bit, to safeguard whatever is left of my mangled heart.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?”

  “For everything,” he admits on a somber exhale.

  “I know you are, Boy Scout.”

  He turns around, placing his head once more on my shoulder, and to my utter shame, my arm wraps around him to keep him close.

  “I don’t know what to do with all of this.”

  “I don’t either.” He sighs, frustrated. “I never have.”

  I run my fingers through his blond hair, feeling his body melt against mine as his worries begin to dissipate, and sweet slumber takes hold of him. After what feels like forever, his shallow breathing lulls me to sleep.

  The next morning when we wake up, neither one of us talks about what happened the night before. We also don’t acknowledge the fact we slept the whole night in each other’s arms, desperate to hold on to one another in any way we could.

  But it doesn’t matter anyway because, in the end, I know who he’ll choose.

  It will always be her.

  As the song goes, I might make him hard, but she makes him weak.

  He’s just not brave enough to admit it.

  And maybe neither am I.

  But one of us needs to be, for everyone’s sake.

  He’ll never choose, which means I have to be the asshole who does it for him.

  Chapter 24

  Chad

  I told him I loved him.

  So, what does Saint do?

  He hooks up with the first girl at school that bats her eyelashes at him.

  Not so discreetly, I watch from my locker, Saint nibble on some senior’s earlobe, her fingers running through his dark hair. I should be hurt at his reaction, but instead, all I feel is an overwhelming disappointment—in him and myself.

  Fuck.

  Why the fuck did I confess how I felt about him? How I felt about her?

  I should have known Saint well enough that he couldn’t handle my indecision, especially after I admitted that Elle was the cause of it. His fragile ego can’t stand that she’s his competition for my affection. Hence, him lashing out in the most predictable of ways. I’ve tried to build up a tolerance and become immune to Saint’s sporadic hookups, mainly because I know these girls mean nothing to him.

  Not like I do.

  But still…

  It never ceases to sting.

  But I guess I brought this all on myself. I should have kept my mouth shut. It wasn’t fair of me to lay all my baggage on him like that. It was selfish to want at least one of the people I care about most to know what was tormenting my heart.

  I can’t even blame the drugs for my impulse.

  I knew what I was doing, and against my better judgment, I did it anyway.

  And now I’m paying the price for it.

  “Ew, gross,” Elle says, leaning against the locker opposite mine. “Doesn’t your friend know that it’s bad form to make us all watch his Pornhub tryouts before eight a.m.?!” She pretends to gag.

  “That’s just Saint being Saint, babe.” I try to play off lightheartedly, but her brows pinch together in suspicion, hearing the sadness in my words.

  That’s the thing about Elle and me. She can read me like a book, so even if I’m not vocal about my pain, she feels it come off of me in waves nonetheless.

  “She doesn’t mean anything to him, you know?” she states coldly, “She’s just another notch on his belt to show everyone in school he has a working dick.”

  “You’re sounding more like Asher by the day,” I joke, trying to move away from the topic at hand.

  Her cheeks take on a soft shade of pink at my statement, her gaze dropping to the floor.

  “Speaking of my pain-in-the-ass brother.” She begins, kicking the air at her feet. “I’m sorry he ruined our night at the club last Friday.”

  “He didn’t ruin anything, babe. I had fun. Didn’t you?”

  “I think I did,” she replies, this time looking me in the eye. “But if I’m honest, I don’t remember most of the night. Only bits and pieces. I mean, I remember begging Ash to take me to the club and then dancing with you, but that’s about it. Everything else is a bit of a blur.”

  “Yeah. Me, too.”

  Come to think of it, the most I remember was Saint taking me home and what happened afterward in my bedroom, but I keep that bit of information to myself.

  “Last time I let that jerk give me drugs.” She scoffs, eyeing Saint again with his new conquest.

  “You shouldn’t have taken it in the first place.”

  “You did.”

  “So? If I jumped off a bridge, would you do that, too?” I arch a teasing brow.

  “Depends.” She places her little fists in her hips. “How high is this bridge we’re talking about?”

  The wide smile that crests her lips soothes my weary soul.r />
  “What would I do without you?” I laugh, closing my locker, and wrapping my arm over her shoulders.

  “Good thing you’ll never have to find out.”

  As she smiles brightly at me, there is a sinking feeling in my gut.

  I tighten my hold on her shoulders a little more, inwardly praying that I’ll never have to put her loyalty to the test.

  As I turn the corner to head over to Blythe house for my AP Spanish class, a familiar shadow catches my eye.

  No. It can’t be.

  He wouldn’t.

  Slowly I walk into the small interval between Avery and Blythe house, my nails biting into my palms at what I find. Saint’s arm is pressed against the brick wall over Addison’s head, whispering something in her ear. She doesn’t look remotely interested in whatever pick-up line he’s feeding her, but that’s beside the point.

  “Saint, I need to talk to you,” I say through gritted teeth, unable to keep my temper in check.

  “I’m busy,” he retorts, his black eyes fixed on Addison’s.

  “Actually, you’re not,” Addison announces, bored, pushing Saint away. “This was cute and all, but I don’t fuck sophomores.”

  “Too bad. You’re missing out.” Saint taunts.

  She scans him up and down, making my skin crawl at the way she’s sizing him up.

  “No, I don’t think I am. Little boys talk a good game, but that’s all they are. Talk. He’s all yours, Chad.”

  She flips her jet-black hair over her shoulder and struts past me.

  Saint chuckles under his breath as if amused with her rejection. Before he can follow her to change her mind, I shove him against the wall, fury as I’ve never felt before blinding me with rage.

  “The fuck do you think you’re doing?!”

  “What does it look like? Trying to get into the ice queen’s panties.” He laughs like it’s some kind of joke. He tries to push himself off the wall, only for me to shove him right back against it. “Boy Scout, I know you like it rough and all, but I’m not in the mood for your bullshit right now.”

  “You’re not in the mood?! But I have to put up with your shit?!” I yell in his face.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Yes, you do. For the past week, you’ve been getting your dick wet, right, left, and center. And I’m trying to be understanding about it, but Addison Hurst?! Are you fucking kidding me? Who are you trying to hurt hooking up with that bitch? Me or Elle?”