Broken: A High School Bully Romance (Athole Academy Book 1)

by Vi Lily

  His afternoon was much the same, except that French sucked without Beth sitting next to him, whispering how much she wanted to “French” him. She liked to see if she could make him blush.

  French had just ended and he was on his way to math when he’d heard about the police arriving at the school. One of his teammates told him they were there to arrest his dad.

  And not ten minutes later, he got the text with the video.

  Stupidly, Ben didn’t put two and two together right away. He didn’t connect the arrest with the video. Later, he would figure it was shock that caused the delay in brain function.

  Of course, he hadn’t watched the whole video.

  He made his way to the sports complex, where the coach’s offices were located. Ben didn’t know why he felt the need to go there; maybe to see his dad get cuffed and stuffed. It might be satisfying.

  The halls were crowded with people heading in the same direction, but they moved for him. He felt like Moses parting the sea. He could hear the whispers surrounding him — about the video, his dad, his dad’s past. Ben pretended he didn’t care; unfortunately, this was nothing new to their family.

  Hell, he’d even been held back in school a year because of his dad and his screw ups, causing a family upheaval.

  A few people mentioned Beth’s name; that caught his attention, but he didn’t stop to ask what the hell they were talking about. Probably just wondering what she was going to think of all the Penn family drama. Everyone at school knew he and Beth were tight.

  Even Raine and her whore minions had finally quit hitting on him.

  The police had already carted his dad off by the time Ben got to the complex. There were news reporters all over the place, which he thought was weird and wondered how the hell they knew.

  He then noticed freaking Raine talking to one of the reporters, most likely trying to get her fifteen minutes of fame. The stupid bitch turned then and spotted him. She pointed and the reporters all turned on him like piranhas on a steak.

  Ben knew the drill. “No comment,” was his standard answer. The reporters were asking him what he knew of the incident, if his father had committed such an act before, throwing a term at him he’d never heard. “Loco Parentis.”

  But the reporter that Raine had been talking to asked a question that made his entire world shatter.

  “Did you know that your girlfriend, Beth, was sleeping with your father?”

  Ben felt the blood drain from his face even as he argued internally. Beth? No… No, that was impossible.

  He growled at the reporter and pushed his way through the crowd, heading back the way he came, to the parking lot. He needed to get out of there.

  Damn Raine, starting rumors like that. There was no way Beth had slept with his dad. It made no sense, not at all. Especially since she could have easily had him and not lowered herself for some skanky old man.

  He shook his head at his thoughts. Unfortunately, Ben knew all too well that chicks didn’t think his dad was “skanky.” No matter their age, they always thought he was hot. Ben could never see it, but then, it was his dad they were talking about, plus he had never considered any dude to be hot.

  Still… there was no way Beth had been with his dad. No way.

  But who was the chick in the video? He never watched the whole thing because, seriously, who wanted to see their dad with his cock in some chick?

  A doubt started to take hold in his brain, and he was slowly piecing things together, things that had been whispered, spoken behind hands, as he walked down the hall.

  Do you think he knew about Beth?

  Why would his dad would risk it with her?

  Wonder if Ben knew, like some sick father son thing.

  Maybe they tag teamed.

  Nadine said Beth was staying home because she was sick. Maybe she was. Or maybe she was hiding. Too chicken to face the circus she knew was going to happen today. The one she maybe caused.

  That would mean that, if it was Beth in the video, she had something to do with filming it and then leaking it. He dismissed that idea right away. There was no way she could. Or would. No one in their right mind would publicize a sex video of themselves, not unless they were some sort of rock or porn star.

  Beth had dreams of Harvard. A porno was definitely not something she’d want to put on her application.

  Then again, maybe her talk of Harvard was bull. It was possible she had been just lying to him for some reason, to make him think she was different than the other hoes.

  Or maybe she’d met his dad and had just fallen for the dick’s bull like all the other girls had. Ben thought back to when he’d told Beth about his other girlfriends who’d tried to hook up with his dad. She’d freaked and seemed seriously skeeved. He doubted she was that good of an actress.

  So why was he having doubts?

  He knew he was going to have to force himself to watch the whole video.

  Chapter 2

  B EN STAYED HOME for two days after losing it at school. He was pretty sure that if he hadn’t stayed home, he would have been sent home. Probably for trying to kill someone.

  It was a damned good thing Beth had stayed home herself.

  He’d never been so mad in his entire life. So disappointed. Disgusted. Furious. His dad had once again ruined their lives.

  But he was mostly pissed off at Beth. She’d destroyed him. He’d trusted her, believed in her, thought they were going to be together forever. His dad might be a selfish loser and what he did was unforgivable, but it wasn’t surprising, because he was a piece of crap. But Beth?

  What she did was worse.

  The stupid bitch had the nerve to text him and call him. He had dozens of voicemails and probably twice as many texts from her, saying she was innocent, that she’d been drugged. She even claimed she went to the hospital for a rape and drug test.

  Part of him wanted to believe Beth, believe that she was innocent, even though that meant his dad was not only scum of the earth, but a rapist scum of the earth, and barely better than a pedophile. Which he already suspected, honestly.

  But the evidence against Beth was way too damning.

  He might have believed her if she hadn’t been moaning like a bitch in heat in that video.

  And then she’d accused him of leaking it, saying because he worked in the office, he had access to the student and teacher phone numbers. He did, but still… the fact that she’d accuse him of that was the final straw that smashed the camel’s back.

  On Monday, he made the decision to return to school. His dad had been released from custody after they found out that the “girl on the video was over eighteen.” Even though the age of consent in their state was seventeen, because his dad had been in the role of a teacher, that changed it to eighteen.

  His dad had barely missed a statutory rape bullet.

  Not that Ben cared; he was so sick of all his dad’s bull that he figured some jail time might do the guy some good. Teach him a lesson he didn’t seem capable of learning.

  He no longer had a job, though. No matter how great of a coach he’d been — and since his dad had taken over as head soccer coach at Athole, the school had an unbeatable record — the administrators couldn’t overlook the fact that the dude had banged a student.

  Some people — mostly parents whose kids were on the soccer team — had protested, saying that maybe the video had been faked, that it wasn’t a student he’d been hammering, but that maybe someone had basically photoshopped her in.

  But hell, not even his mom, who had a degree in computer engineering from some tech university in Dublin, would have been good enough to manipulate the video that much.

  The proof, the nail in the coffin as they say, was at five minutes and three seconds. The camera view was aimed straight at his dad when he groaned in ecstasy, “Damn, Beth, you sure are tight.”

  Ben still got sick at the thought of that video, of Beth sprawled out on that mahogany desk like a street corner whore. Enjoying it.

/>   It had taken several days for him to calm down enough to start thinking things through. He had a lot of questions, first and foremost being, who took the video? It was shot from four different camera angles, almost like a professional porno. But the quality of the thing wasn’t too great, almost like it had been shot from security cameras.

  His dad hadn’t come home after getting released and his mom had continued her mostly MIA status. He still suspected she was shagging Beth’s dad, because what had started as a joke had started becoming a real suspicion. Ben didn’t care; more power to her if she could find some happiness after her crappy marriage. She’d put up with his dad for way too long, in his opinion.

  But shagging Beth’s dad meant the possibility of a long-term relationship with the guy, and that meant Ben would have to be civil to the bitch.

  Screw that.

  He’d had the whole weekend to calm down enough to not want to kill anyone. It had taken a lot of alcohol, but with his parents missing, there wasn’t anyone around to care. Gwen had checked in on him a few times, and had offered him food she’d made, but Ben had turned her down. He appreciated his little sister’s efforts, but he didn’t want to do anything that might kill the numb he had going on.

  Glen came by the house to check on them. It was like he knew that their mom had taken off. Ben figured it didn’t surprise anyone; she hadn’t been much of a parent for the past few years, ever since the last move they’d had to make thanks to his dad.

  Ben didn’t blame his mom for much; she was playing the best game she could with the hand she’d been dealt. With her background of a strict Christian family, plus the addition of traditional Samoan family values, it wasn’t in her nature to leave her husband, no matter what kind of piece of crap he was. He knew his mom had felt trapped for a long time.

  But it seemed she’d managed to escape.

  His dad, too. Hadn’t even bothered to call any of his kids. It was like he got caught with his pants down and was too embarrassed to talk to any of them.

  Good riddance.

  Once Glen was sure they were okay, he left some money for them and told them to make sure to call him or Sandy, his wife, if they needed anything. Glen understood that both Ben and Gwen wanted to try to continue living as normally as possible, and to stay at Athole.

  If it were possible.

  Ben wasn’t worried about anyone giving him a hard time. No one would dare. But he was worried about his little sister and made sure she knew that if anyone even looked at her funny, to let him know and he’d deal with it.

  They planned to go to school together Monday and Ben was getting ready when he got a text. He frowned when he saw it was from Rod.

  Rod: hey man. can i get a rid wit u?

  Ben was pretty shocked by that, to say the least. The kid had some balls, that was for sure. He debated ignoring him, but then he thought maybe Rod would be a good source of info.

  Ben: yeah be there in a few

  Rod was standing in the driveway, visibly shivering. Ben snorted to himself; these West Coast people were never going to get used to the cold. His mind drifted to the way Beth would sigh in relief whenever he’d drape his jacket over her, and he could see her covertly sniffing the thing with pleasure.

  Ben growled as he pushed those thoughts aside. It didn’t do him any good to think of that whore.

  He noticed that the Mercedes wasn’t in the drive and he couldn’t help wonder if Beth had gone to school. Surely not. She’d be crazy to show her face there. The kids would eat her alive. He knew that they’d blame her for his dad getting fired. He also knew that Beth had no idea how insane Athole was over their soccer team, since she hadn’t experienced a season yet.

  Part of him hoped she didn’t go to school. He might be enraged at her and never wanted to see her again, but for some reason, he didn’t really want to see her hurt. He shoved those thoughts aside; she deserved whatever came her way, the dumb bitch.

  Rod hopped in the car with a “thanks, man,” then he turned and smiled at Gwen, who’d insisted on sitting in the backseat as usual. His sister had been even more quiet than usual, so it didn’t surprise him when she barely acknowledged Rod.

  Ben pulled out of the drive without acknowledging the kid either. Rod’s teeth were chattering too much for conversation anyway.

  They were halfway up the mountain road that led to the school when Rod finally spoke.

  “Thanks for getting me. I didn’t wanna ask my mom to take me since it snowed last night. She can’t drive for crap in this weather,” he snorted.

  Ben nodded once. “No problem. Where’s your sister?” He didn’t want to say her name.

  Rod snorted, crossed his arms and looked out the window at the passing winter landscape. “Dumb bitch went to school. Gotta death wish, I guess.”

  Ben frowned in the mirror when Gwen sucked in a breath that sounded a little pained. She averted her eyes when she saw him watching her. He knew his shy sister liked Beth.

  He then gave Rod a side-eye. “Yeah, sounds like it.”

  “Serves her right for what she did. Never thought she was like that, though…” his voice trailed off and then he cleared his throat.

  “She’s claiming she was, uh, raped. Drugged too.” Ben could see Rod glance his way, but he didn’t look at the kid. He knew Rod was trying to give him the info without offending him.

  “Yeah,” Ben said, “she texted me the same thing.” This time, he did look at Rod. “My dad’s a scumbag and I wouldn’t put something like that past him, but you can’t deny that video.”

  Rod snorted and curled his lip in disgust. “Stupid bitch was sure enjoying herself. Didn’t look like rape to me.”

  Ben grimaced at the hateful words, and Gwen made another pained sound behind them. He hated to hear his own thoughts coming from someone else, especially Beth’s own brother.

  “What do your parents say about it?”

  Rod snorted again. “Mom believed her at first. But then they went to the hospital and the doctor said they didn’t find any drugs in her.”

  Dammit. Ben had still been holding out hope that maybe Beth had been telling the truth. At this point, he didn’t give a crap what happened to his dad and rape charges on top of losing his job — and his family — would serve the douche right.

  “Doc did say that one of the rape drugs doesn’t always show up though.”

  Ben grunted. That wasn’t enough to raise suspicion that Beth was telling the truth. The video said it all.

  They were quiet the rest of the way to school. As they were getting out of the Jeep, Rod asked if he could still sit with him at lunch. Ben smirked.

  “This isn’t you versus me, bro. We’re good.” The kid had practically beamed at him as he trotted off. Gwen had left them behind without so much as a backwards glance.

  School was a surprise. Ben expected comments and looks, hostility for sure, so he was shocked when he got none of that. Well, he got looks and comments, but there was nothing but sympathy, which he thought might actually be worse. Anger and accusations he could deal with.

  He got none of that though as he made his way toward the office. The first thing he wanted to do was change his schedule. There was no way he wanted to be in any class with her.

  As he turned the corner of the hall that led to the administration area, he ran into Raine, literally. She’d been talking to her minions and not paying attention and when she slammed into him, her school tablet when flying. Ben snatched it before it hit the ground.

  “Wow,” Raine breathed. “You sure have quick hands.” Her blue eyes traveled over him and he didn’t miss the appreciation. The chick had been hitting on him since he transferred to Athole. They’d gone out a few times, but Raine was too shallow for him, and he was too poor for her. Beth had been so different than these rich bitches…

  Ben’s chest tightened at the unwanted thought. He needed to put some real effort into forgetting the bitch.

  “Later,” he mumbled as he pushed through the
minions. Raine reached out and caught his arm.

  “Maybe we could sit together at lunch?” she offered with widened eyes, like she was trying to look all innocent. He snorted. “Innocent” was the last thing Raine Barre could call herself.

  He shrugged. “Whatever. There’s a free chair at our table now.” The unspoken “Beth won’t be using it” hung in the air. He walked off without waiting for Raine’s comment or reaction.

  His mood went from bad to crappy after being told it was too late in the semester to change his classes. He was just going to have to suck it up and deal.

  Ben had noticed the Hanson’s Mercedes in the parking lot, so he knew Beth was at school. He braced himself as he walked into first period.

  He didn’t look her way as he took a seat at the back of the room. She was sitting in her usual place, with the seat next to her that used to be his empty. He glared at the back of her head for a moment, until she turned slightly, and he moved his eyes away.

  Ben could almost feel her eyes on him, and he swore his skin prickled from it.

  Beth sucked in a stuttering breath that he could hear even from across the four rows that separated them. He ignored the way the sound made his chest hurt. He refused to have any sympathy for the whore.

  Kaila, one of Raine’s minions, walked in the door. She saw him, then turned her eyes to Beth. He watched as Kaila got an ugly, determined look on her face, then she glanced toward the teacher’s desk. Mr. Carmichael hadn’t come in yet.

  She walked toward Beth as she pulled the lid off the coffee she’d probably just picked up in the dining room. Ben’s eyes widened when he realized what she was going to do.

  It wasn’t enough for Kaila to just dump coffee on Beth’s clothes, apparently, because instead, she poured the cup on her head. Beth screeched. Ben could see the steam from where he sat. Damn, that was hot coffee. He frowned at the sympathetic cringe that came over him. For some stupid reason, he wanted to jump up and help the bitch.