Cruel Hearts: A Reverse Harem High School Bully Romance (Knights of Templar Academy Book 2)

by Sofia Daniel

  Heat blazed across my cheeks. This was so unlike me. I’d always managed to play things cool, to act like I’d had bigger and better. If I didn’t act indifferent, he might turn into Kendrick, thinking I was in love. “Oh, right,” I said, feigning disinterest. “It’s alright, I suppose.”

  With a snort, he lowered himself next to me onto the bed. “Come here.”

  “Why?” I edged away.

  “So I can kiss you.”

  “Who says I want to be kissed? Maybe all I want is a hard fuck to pass the time.”

  Maxwell wrapped his arms around my shoulders. “You’re not as tough as you like to appear, Lilah Hancock.”

  “Who says—”

  He pressed a finger on my lips. “When we first met, I thought you were the fuck-em-and-leave-em type. I went mad with frustration at your resistance, and I wanted to take you down a peg or two.”

  “That’s why you went along with Elizabeth’s plan?”

  He lowered his gaze to his muscular thighs. “I was so hell-bent on conquering you that I didn’t realize until too late that you were nothing like the girl I lusted after.”

  My throat thickened, and the back of my eyes tingled with the threat of tears. “What are you trying to do?” I asked, struggling to keep the emotion out of my voice. “Put me off my hard shag?”

  “I’m sorry for not looking beneath the surface.” Maxwell lowered his lips to mine in a kiss so sweet and that conveyed so much affection, it filled my heart and my eyes with happy tears.

  He drew back and swiped a thumb over my damp cheek. “I was a bloody idiot not to have seen the talented, hardworking, kind girl under the tough exterior.”

  “You were,” I said.

  “Can we put our past behind us?” Maxwell cupped my cheek and gave me a gentle smile.

  “I already have.”

  His eyes softened, melting what was left of my frozen heart into a puddle. “I want to make love to you.”

  I swallowed hard. If I didn’t say something to lighten the mood, this would turn into a scene out of a romance novel. While I trusted Maxwell, falling for him wasn’t fair on Orlando, who I liked just as much.

  With a smirk, I tilted my head to the side gave him a cheeky smile. “Do you know how?”

  His brow furrowed. “Why do you ask?”

  “The last time we fucked, you did a convincing impression of a virgin. I thought you might—”

  Maxwell cut off my words with a kiss.

  His mouth was hot, demanding. It sent pleasant shivers down my spine and came with a tongue that found its way to the seam of my lips. With a gasped moan, I let him in.

  Maxwell’s naked body pressed against mine and eased me onto my back. The train’s judders rocked us from side to side, and his bare erection settled between my thighs. I wasn’t complaining. Not when he devoured me with strong strokes of that wicked tongue.

  One arm wrapped around his broad, muscular shoulders, and I trailed the other down his strong back and onto glutes as hard as granite.

  He chuckled. “Eager, are we?”

  “A girl can’t be blamed for wanting a grope,” I murmured back.

  “Speaking of groping…” Maxwell trailed hot kisses down my neck, and I arched into the sensations. He pulled my shirt out of the waistband of my skirt and unfastened my buttons with rapid dexterity.

  In moments I lay beneath him, my tie unraveled, shirt open, and bra exposed. My lips quirked into a smile. “I thought you’d have your hands all over me by now.”

  “Just soaking in the view,” he said. “I can’t express how great it feels to be in this position with you knowing it’s me you’re about to fuck.”

  I squeezed the erection pulsing between my thighs. “Oh, I can feel it.”

  His face split into a grin that was all Maxwell. Running the pad of his thumb over the white lace covering my nipple, he said, “Cheeky minx. I can’t decide if I want to fuck you while you’re half-dressed or strip you down and shag you senseless.”

  “Why choose?” I reached down and wrapped my hands around his dick. “You’re good for more than two fucks.”

  With a growl, Maxwell raised my hips off the bed and yanked down my knickers and tights in a single smooth movement. A laugh bubbled from my throat. This was bloody ridiculous! Here I was lying on my back in a luxury train, clad in a school uniform with my legs spread, my tights around my ankles, and my bra pulled up over my tits.

  His eyes glazed. “Fucking hell. I’m about to jizz over the sight of you looking like some kind of porn star.”

  I slammed my legs closed. “Point your hose somewhere else or I’ll make you scrub cum stains off my uniform.”

  He roared with laughter and placed his hands over my knees. “Let me taste your wet pussy.”

  “Since you asked so nicely…” I relaxed my thighs, letting him ease them open.

  Maxwell’s gaze dropped to my sex, and his face slackened into a mask of lust. The prominent muscles of his chest heaved with his shallow breaths. As though drawn by a magnetic force, he lowered himself between my legs.

  Nothing happened for a few seconds, and I shifted on the bed, my stomach fluttering at such intense ogling.

  “You have the prettiest pussy.” The puff of his breath on my folds made my core muscles clench.

  For reasons I will never understand, my nipples tightened. “Don’t just look at it.”

  Maxwell swiped his tongue down from my opening, up and around my clit. Pleasure sparked from the little bundle of nerves, and I clapped my legs around his head, holding him in place.

  He laughed and continued licking and flicking and circling my nub, producing waves of ecstasy that had my toes curling and my eyes rolling to the back of my head. I grabbed a handful of his mahogany hair and shuddered under the movements of his wicked tongue.

  “Max.” That was all I could say while his tongue worked miracles.

  He groaned in response and continued keeping me suspended in bliss. Tingly heat swirled around my clit, picking up speed while it spiraled up to my belly and down my inner thighs. Breathing hard through my clenched teeth, I rode out the sensations, trying not to attract the attention of the other passengers outside.

  It was like having a volcano between my legs. A very sexy wet volcano being worshipped by natives that wanted it to erupt. The heat of my core rose to an inferno, and wave after wave of sensation pumped out in a series of intensely pleasurable spasms.

  After the last spasm had ebbed into a more chilled-out level of bliss, I let my thighs go slack. “That was amazing,” I said between several ragged breaths. “I could do this all night.”

  Maxwell raised his head from between my legs. “Good, because I don’t intend to stop.”

  I lay on my back, tangled in my school uniform, and panting as though I’d run a marathon. Blissed-out and spent didn’t begin to describe the bone-deep euphoria. No amount of heavenly kush had ever helped me achieve this state. The events of the day and the threat of the Liddells became as distant as the Milky Way.

  Maxwell’s gaze flickered down to my breasts, which still lay trapped beneath my wedged-up bra. I thought he would set upon me like a beast and take what he wanted. Fuck knows he earned the right.

  Instead, he met my gaze with a heart-warming smile. “Let’s get you out of that uniform.”

  Over the next few minutes—minutes, not seconds—Maxwell took his time removing my clothes. As he exposed new expanses of flesh, he kissed and sucked and licked me until my core dissolved into molten heat.

  It was exciting. Exquisite. Excruciatingly sensual. The best lovemaking of my life, and we had the whole night to indulge ourselves without disturbance. Maxwell had awakened every nerve ending, and my body cried out for more.

  “Enough,” I rasped.

  The fingers pulling on my nipples loosened their grip, and he raised his head from my collarbone. “What’s that?”

  I licked my dry lips. “Inside me. Now.”

  “If you insist.” He reached a
cross to a cabinet on the bed and pulled out a condom.

  Maxwell had probably taken other girls on this fancy train before and knew that the luxury rooms would be stocked with everything a gentleman needed for the long journey to Scotland. I pushed away those thoughts. It wasn’t like I was a virgin, and it wasn’t like we had promised each other fidelity. At some point, I needed to explain that I wanted to pursue things with Orlando as well as with him.

  After tearing off the foil wrapper, he raised his hips off mine and unrolled the condom over his massive cock-head. The poor thing looked choked within the confines of its rubber sheath.

  “Need any help?” I asked.

  He rolled it all the way down the base. “I’ll let you play with it later.” He positioned the tip of his erection at my slick, hungry opening and stretched me open. “It’s taking every ounce of self-control not to pound you into the mattress.”

  My muscles clenched around his girth. “Pounding is good.”

  “You’re so hot and wet and tight.” He continued sliding into me, the delicious slow torture of being stretched open sending shockwaves of pleasure that stretched up to my nipples and down to my toes. A moan tore from my lips.

  As he sheathed himself to the hilt, Maxwell raised himself up onto his elbows and stared into my eyes. My muscles pulsed and spasmed around his length, molding me around the thick veins and ridges of his erection.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I groaned.

  He rocked in and out of me with slow, deliberate strokes, each movement riding the waves of my previous climax. I clung to his arms, which strained with all the tension he held in his body from fucking me so slowly.

  “Max,” I whispered.

  His eyes softened, and he brought his lips down on my forehead. Because of our height differences and we were in the missionary position with him penetrating me so deeply, kissing each other on the lips was tricky. But we had all night and had broken through every last remaining barrier.

  “Say my name again,” he growled.

  I bucked my hips. “Max.”

  His movements quickened, each thrust pushing me to higher levels of pleasure. I’m not sure what I babbled at him, but he fucked me harder. Tiny explosions detonated around my core, sending out exhilarating chain reactions all along my limbs. My muscles clenched around him, as the sensations built and built until they tightened so hard it almost hurt.

  “Oh, fuck,” he said from between clenched teeth. “I’m close.”

  “Me, too.” I jerked my hips against his, building up the most delicious friction.

  Then pleasure held my core in a grip as tight as steel.

  “Lilah!” He squeezed his eyes shut.

  My vision turned white, as did the molten flame of a climax that spread across my body like wildfire. Somewhere on the edge of my awareness, he shuddered and groaned. I was too busy moaning to pay him much attention.

  Maxwell collapsed on top of me, panting in my ear. “Bloody hell. I knew it would be better between us, but I had no idea.”

  It took several moments for the orgasm to work its way through my system. By the time I caught my breath and my mind returned from its orbit, Maxwell propped himself back onto his elbows and peppered my face with kisses.

  A giggle bubbled up from the pit of my belly. “How long until you can go again?”

  “Let’s order something to eat first.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “Then I’ll fuck you all night long.”

  Chapter 28

  By the time the train pulled into Glasgow Central, I was well fed, well rested, and well fucked. We were probably in a shit-load of trouble, and I would have to explain to Mr. Burgh that we had been arrested by Billy Hancock’s thugs.

  We held hands throughout the journey back to Templar Academy, chatting about our plans for the Glasgow weekend. Lady Liddell’s counterfeit DNA reports no longer held any threat over us, not when I knew the identity of my birth father.

  The taxi stopped outside the academy’s double doors, and Maxwell paid the driver. Chiming from the clock tower told us it was ten o’clock.

  “I have Physics.” Maxwell opened the car door and stepped out, letting in a gust of freezing wind. “How about you?”

  “Free periods until after lunch.” I hopped out of the taxi, and my feet sank into six inches of snow.

  As the taxi drove away, he wrapped his arms around my shoulders and lowered his lips onto mine into a lingering kiss. “See you at lunch.”

  “Can’t wait.” I gave him a quick peck and set off down the driveway toward Mr. Burgh’s house to pick up my school bag.

  Despite the freezing wind blowing through my blazer on the walk down the driveway, warmth spread through my heart. The last twenty-four hours had been a rollercoaster of drama. First Elizabeth, then her wretched mother, then my strange encounter with Billy Hancock, and finally Mother’s revelation. Throughout this, Maxwell had been at my side, both as a supportive friend and a fantastic lover.

  I passed the gates, noting the light shining in my balcony windows. It was probably one of the housekeeping staff.

  The door stood open a few inches. Frowning, I pushed it ajar and stood in the hallway. “Hello?”

  The sound of broken glass from above made my head snap up. Burglars? I glanced around the entrance hall for a weapon. A pair of tall umbrellas rested in the stand.

  I took the stairs two at a time, trepidation pounding through my heart. The rubber sole of my loafers squeaked with each step, and I hoped that whoever was upstairs wouldn’t notice the sound.

  The rip of fabric tearing made me clench my teeth. This sounded like vandalism. My grip tightened on the umbrella, and I crept down the hallway and poked my head through the doorway of my room.

  Elizabeth stood at the other side of the bed, her eyes manic. She threw a crystal vase, complete with water and fresh flowers, at my head. “I will not be Esau!”

  Side-stepping, I dredged up memories of first-year Religious Education. He was the son of Isaac and Rebecca—a red-haired hunter with rough skin. “You don’t want to be hairy?”

  With a screech of fury, Elizabeth launched herself across the room. The mascara smudging around her pale, blue eyes made her look like a blood-thirsty ghoul. “You bitch!”

  My heart exploded into action, ordering me to kick the shit out of the crazy banshee or flee for my life. I planted my feet on the ground and waited for her to get close. Elizabeth charged with her talons outstretched. At the last minute, I dodged.

  She crashed head-first into the wall and dropped like a broken marionette.

  Not wanting to get close, I poked her with the pointy end of the umbrella. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

  Elizabeth reared up, snatched my makeshift weapon, and tried to pull me down. “You take everything that belongs to me!”

  “Shit!” I released the umbrella, raced into the room and around the bed, checking to see that she hadn’t disturbed the mattress where I’d hidden her winning ticket.

  Elizabeth scrambled to her feet and muttered a string of swear words. Her eyes rolled in their sockets and saliva foamed in the corners of her mouth.

  My throat dried. Either Elizabeth was reacting badly to something she’d taken, or this was some form of psychotic tantrum. In the chaos of the moment, I had trapped myself with Elizabeth blocking my sole exit. Right now, my only chances of getting away were the balcony or the bathroom.

  “Fuck this.” I bolted into the bathroom, slammed the door, and slid the bolt, my mind whirring at how I could use this to my advantage.

  So far, I hadn’t touched her, which meant her family couldn’t retaliate with assault charges. But if I called the police and the local press, Lady Liddell wouldn’t be able to cover up Elizabeth’s latest bout of craziness.

  Fists pounded on the door. “Open up, you thief!”

  “Yeah, right.” Leaning against the tiled wall, I pulled out my smartphone and searched for the Glasgow Gazette.

  “Elizabeth
,” said a distant but familiar voice.

  “K-Kendrick?” she said.

  “What are you doing in Mr. Burgh’s house?”

  “It’s that whore.” Elizabeth’s voice distorted with the force of her sobs. “She’s ruining everything.”

  “What have you done with her?” he asked, his voice soft.

  “Nothing. Yet.”

  “Good.”

  I gulped. No matter how much Kendrick protested, it was obvious that he still had feelings for Elizabeth. Had he come here because Maxwell had told him about the night we had spent fucking on the sleeper train? Kendrick had warned me more than once to stay away from his brother. Teaming up with Elizabeth might help him achieve two goals: freeing Maxwell from my clutches and reconciling with Elizabeth to become the next Lord Liddell.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” said Elizabeth. “Kick open the door and drag her out. We can fix things so it looks like she fell out of the balcony.”

  “Then you’d get me arrested for murder,” he said.

  “No!” she replied.

  “You framed Max.”

  “That was different.” Her voice lost its manic edge and now sounded seductive. “He wasn’t supposed to have sex with that slut. It reflects badly on us. I know we’ve had our differences, but you’re the one I love. If you help me get rid of Lilah Hand-Job, I’ll give you anything.”

  “Anything?” he asked.

  “You’d be securing our future,” she replied.

  I squeezed my eyes shut. If Elizabeth convinced him, I was dead.

  “Let’s go downstairs,” he said.

  “No,” she screeched. “I have to—”

  The next thing I heard was a scuffle, then the hard crash of a body hitting the bathroom door, followed by the thud of a body hitting the floor. Realization trickled through my skull, and I stuffed the smartphone back in my pocket. He hadn’t introduced himself as Kendrick, Elizabeth had just assumed his identity. This had to be Maxwell.

  After sliding the bolt, I opened the door and peeked out. Maxwell stood with his back to me, staring down at the floor where Elizabeth lay.