The Hunt: High School Bully Romance (Kennedy Academy Book 2)

by Mae Doyle

  The money is gone. There’s a stack of paper napkins shoved inside right now. Someone stole my fucking money and replaced it with paper fucking napkins.

  “What the fuck!?” I throw the wad to the ground and scream. There are a few students walking around, and they glance at us, but nobody stops. They know better. I don’t have the respect that fucking Clay did, but people still know better than to fuck with me.

  “You’re a sick fuck, you know that, Teague?” Bethany slams into me, her hands flat on my chest, and pushes me back. I take a step back to recover and then brace myself for her to hit me again. “Why would you say that you’d help me and then fuck me over like this? What was the fucking point?”

  “Wait. You think that I did this?” It takes all of my self-control to keep my voice level. “You really think that I would do some shit like this? Fuck, Bethany, that’s messed up, even for you.” Anger seeps back into my voice. “I don’t know who took my fucking money. How do I know it wasn’t you?”

  “Me? Bullshit, Teague. It wasn’t me. You have someone else you need to go find. Kill them, whatever. I’m fucked, you see that, right?” She reaches up, running her hands through her hair. There’s panic on her face, and I slowly realize that she’s telling the truth. Bethany’s not the one who stole the money. Anyway, it’s not like she would have had a chance to

  She’s still prattling on but I tune her out. I need to find who did this. I need to kill them. Bethany said it, and she’s right.

  Closing my eyes, I take a deep, slow breath through my nose. Someone is fucking with me. Someone stole my money. I just have to think about who would want to do some shit like this.

  Who hates me enough to try to fuck me over and is brave or stupid enough to think that they could actually get away with it?

  Nora.

  Clenching my hands into fists, I leave Bethany in a pool of her own tears and stalk back across the courtyard to where I left Mitch and Robby watching her. She has to be the one who stole the money. She’s the only person who had access to my room this morning.

  Probably took it after her shower while I was in the kitchen.

  Fucking bitch.

  She thought that I was hard on her last night, well, now she has another thing coming. I’m going to find Nora and I’m going to destroy her.

  “Where is she?” Mitch has a huge burrito halfway to his mouth and Robby’s slurping on his drink when I stalk up to them. When they don’t answer right away, I knock Robby’s cup away, orange soda splattering the two of them and soaking the ground. “Where the fuck is she?”

  “The fuck is your problem?!” Robby stands up, shaking his hands and spraying soda all over me. “Jesus, man, get a grip on yourself.”

  “I asked you where she is.” When neither of them move, I grab Mitch by the collar, pulling him to a stand. “Nora, you fuckwits. The little artist I asked you two to watch for me? Did she leave and you just watched her walk off, or did you fucking escort her somewhere?”

  Nervously, they glance at each other. Robby speaks first, like I knew that he would. “I think that maybe she went to the bathroom?”

  “You think? Or you know?”

  “Well, we didn’t fucking follow her there to watch her piss, okay?” Mitch takes a step back when I turn my gaze on him. “She left just a minute ago, so I’m sure that you can catch her if you really want to.”

  “I fucking hate you both.” Turning in a circle, I strain my eyes to see if I can spot Nora easily. Thanks to her stupid fucking clothes, she’s easy to spot in a crowd, but I don’t see her. Dammit. She’s not here, and that doesn’t help me in any way.

  Fucking think. I pinch my nose between my fingers, trying to remember if there was anything missing from my room this morning. If she really had the balls to sneak into my space and take the cash then there’s nothing that would have stopped her from taking other things, as well.

  I can’t think of anything.

  That doesn’t mean she didn’t take something.

  It’s entirely possible that she did.

  Closing my eyes, I try to focus.

  I’m a hunter.

  Hunters don’t panic.

  They get into the minds of their prey. It’s the best chance for actually being able to make a kill.

  Okay, so she was in my room. I know that she hates it here.

  If I hated it here, what would I take? Cash, obviously, but beyond that. She didn’t have anything bulky on her when I drove her to school this morning, but she could have stashed something in her room.

  But if she really hates it and wants to get away, then she’s going to need access to a vehicle.

  Like my truck.

  Like my spare set of keys.

  I have no idea if they were still on my dresser when I ran in to grab the cash before school, but if Nora went in there and poked around…well, there’s nothing to say that she wouldn’t have seen them.

  Fucking bitch.

  She’s running and I have to stop her.

  Sprinting, I tear out of the courtyard, ignoring Mitch and Robby calling my name.

  Ignoring the fact that the bell’s about to ring and I’ll get in trouble. Trouble I can deal with. Later. When I make sure that Nora didn’t steal my truck.

  The parking lot is huge, and I have to wind my way through rows of cars before I get to my space. My truck is still here, but something’s wrong. The driver’s door slams shut as I run up, Nora staring at me from the window, panic clear in her eyes.

  I slam into the door, yanking on the handle, but she hits the automatic locks just in time. The dull thud of them sliding into place pisses me off. She knows that I won’t ruin my truck, but she doesn’t know that I’ll kill her.

  “Get out of the truck, Nora!” I scream, slamming my hands on the window. She winces away, even though I can’t touch her from out here and shakes her head. “What do you mean, ‘no’? You fucking bitch, get out!”

  Students and teachers can probably hear me, but I don’t give a shit. This stupid virgin bitch stole my money and is now trying to take my truck. I watch, horrified, as she stabs my key at the ignition. It takes her a few tries, but she manages to get it in and twists it, her whole body leaning into the motion.

  “Stop! Just get out of the car, Nora!!”

  The fucking bitch just shakes her head at me, her face white with terror.

  She should be scared.

  I’ll fucking gut her like a deer.

  I’ll admit, even though she stole my keys and turned on my truck, I really didn’t think that she was going to try to run for it until she starts backing out of my space. “No, no, no!” Climbing onto the truck’s running board, I grab the rearview mirror for support. “Stop! Nora!”

  She has the audacity to mouth something at me and then focuses on inching my truck out of the space.

  I swear to God, if she scratches it, I’ll kill her.

  I’ll wring her neck, squeezing hard enough to watch the light fade from her eyes. Then I’ll dump her somewhere so that the wild animals can get her and nobody will ever know what happened to poor fucking little Nora.

  Once she’s free from the space, she puts the truck in gear, inching forward through the parking lot. My hand is a vice on my side mirror. There’s no way that I’m letting her take my truck without taking me, also.

  “Let go!” It’s the first time she’s spoken, and her eyes are wide with panic. “Just let me go!”

  “Not a chance,” I snarl, smacking the window again. She shudders away and then turns to face the front, gripping the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles are white.

  While Nora may have been able to get free from me eventually if she’d just fucking behaved, she brought this on her own, and she’s fucking crazy if she thinks that I’m just going to let her drive off with my truck. And my five grand.

  We’re still inching through the parking lot, but in just a minute we’re going to make it out onto a main road. There’s no way that she has any idea where we’
re going.

  Is she just going to drive blindly?

  There’s no way that I can let her get out on the road. Someone will see us and call the cops.

  My mom may not have believed her last night, but Nora does a damn good job of playing the victim.

  Only thing is that she’s not going to have to pretend any longer.

  It’s now or never. Gritting my teeth, I punch the driver’s window, wincing at the pain that shoots up through my arm. Nora screams and ducks, taking her foot off the gas for a moment.

  The window holds.

  I punch it again, and again, my fingers aching, but finally it starts to spiderweb. She’s screaming now without stopping, her foot back on the gas, gunning it for the end of the parking lot.

  One more punch.

  Screaming back at her, I punch the window, feeling it shatter under the impact. The cut glass scrapes against my hand and arm, slicing it open and splattering blood all over me and inside the truck as I reach through it for Nora.

  She bats my hand away, trying to keep me from grabbing her while also trying to stay on the road.

  “Let me go!” Her voice is high and shrill and she keeps glancing at me, even though I definitely wish that she’d keep her damn eyes on the road. If she wrecks my truck I’m going to be pissed, and she’s not pay much attention to where she’s going right now.

  “Fucking stop the truck, Nora!” I scream, finally getting a grip on her stupid fucking baggy shirt. This one has paint stains on it, too, and I’m beginning to wonder if all of her clothes make her look homeless.

  Actually, I’m wondering what she looks like without all those ridiculous clothes on.

  Hell of a time to be thinking about this.

  Pulling hard, I yank her into the window, smacking her head against the glass and making the rest of it shatter out at me. Pieces of it fly into my face, cutting my cheek, but I don’t let go of her. “Stop the truck!!”

  She does, slamming her foot onto the brake so hard that I almost fly off of the running board.

  “Put it in park.” My voice is deep and full of gravel, and while Nora doesn’t answer, she does what I tell her to, groping around for the gear stick before managing to slide it into park.

  “Now unlock the door.” She gasps as I twist her shirt so that the collar is tight around her neck, the white of it bright against her red skin, but I’m not fucking letting go of her until she does exactly what I tell her to do. Her face grows redder and redder as she sucks at air, but instead of clawing at her shirt, she’s trying to unlock the door.

  Good girl.

  It takes her a minute of fumbling, but she manages to hit the button, and I sigh when I hear the locks disengage.

  Taking a moment to try to calm myself, I lean my head back and take deep breaths, ignoring the blood pouring down my hand and the way she’s squirming in my grasp.

  Finally, I let her go and open the truck door in one smooth motion. She pants and pulls away from me, practically throwing herself into the passenger seat.

  Calmly, I brush the broken glass off of the seat. The blood will take a professional to get out, but that’s not my worry right now. Right now, I’m worried about this stupid fucking virgin and how’s she going to make it up to me.

  “You better have my money on you, Nora, or I swear to God, nobody will find your body.”

  Instead of answering, she whimpers and reaches for the handle on her door. Slamming my hand down on the button, I lock the doors, then flip the child safety lock button for good measure.

  We’ll see her worm her way out of this one.

  “Nothing to say? We’ll see how long that lasts. Let’s go for a drive, Nora.” I hop in, slamming the door before buckling in. She’s still cowering away from me when I glance over at her and put the truck into drive. “You should really wear your seatbelt, Nora. You never know what type of shit you’re going to get into.”

  Chapter 7

  Nora

  I fucked up. It’s still hard for me to take a deep breath and I’m petrified in my seat, my face pressed up against the window, my entire body as far away from him as possible.

  Like he might reach out and kill me if I move.

  Sitting completely still, like I have a chance of him not seeing me if don’t breathe.

  It’s not the woods. It’s not like I can hide in the same 8 square feet of space where he is. Teague knows where I am. There’s literally nothing that I can do, and that scares the crap out of me.

  I have no idea where we’re going or what he’s going to do to me, but I had to take a chance to get out of here, right?

  I mean, maybe if I keep telling myself that then I won’t hate myself when he’s killing me, because I’m pretty damn sure that that’s what he’s going to do to me.

  He broke the window on his own truck, for crap’s sake, and I thought that the loved this truck more than anything.

  Slowly I reach up and feel the side of my head where I smacked into the window. I don’t think that I’m bleeding, but I’m going to be sore tomorrow. If I make it to tomorrow.

  Sure enough, there’s a large goose egg already forming on my temple. Running my fingers across it, I wince and suck in a breath at the pain.

  He doesn’t say anything. Not that I expect him to. How someone so gorgeous as him can be so evil is beyond me. It’s terrifying to think what’s hiding behind his dark eyes, his strong jaw, his rippling muscles.

  Nora. Stop it.

  I can’t believe that my body would betray me at a time like this. It makes no sense for me to be at all attracted to him, but something about him draws me in, like a moth to a flame. Too cliché. Like a fish to a hook.

  No.

  Like a baby antelope to the jaws of a lion. That’s it.

  I know that I’m going to be destroyed, and he’s going to be the one to do it to me, but I can’t help the fact that I want him. There’s something irresistible about him and the way that he looks at me, like he hates me and wants me at the same time.

  Like he doesn’t know what he’s going to do with me. It’s this indecision on his part that makes me shiver and causes the low aching between my legs.

  What the actual fuck is wrong with me?

  Risking a glance over at him, I’m terrified at what I see. His jaw is clenched tight, a muscle twitching in his cheek as he drives. I can see the scab from where I cut him yesterday and his eyes are dark.

  Teague is gripping the wheel of his truck harder and tighter than I’ve ever seen anyone hold it before, every muscle in his arm popping.

  Holy shit. He’s gorgeous. There’s just the minor problem of me pissing him off.

  Doesn’t matter how gorgeous someone is when they want to kill you, and I’m pretty sure that that’s exactly what’s going to happen to me.

  “Teague,” I venture, pushing my luck, “I’m sorry, can we talk?”

  Nothing. He doesn’t even look at me.

  “Teague. Please, look at me. I messed up, big time, and I’m so, so sorry. Will you please just – ”

  “Shut up, Nora.” This time, he glances at me and I shiver.

  Fuck. He’s looking at me like he wants to kill me. He hates me. He needs me. I don’t know what Teague wants from me, and I’m beginning to wonder if even he knows. I know that I messed up, but the way he’s looking at me has me wondering…

  “Do you forgive me?”

  His laugh is a loud bark. “Are you fucking nuts? You stole my money and were going to steal my truck, you crazy bitch. Why the fuck would I forgive you after that?”

  I’ve got nothing. He’s right. There’s absolutely no reason why he would forgive me, and as the tires eat up the road, I know that I’m dead.

  We’re not in town anymore. All of the buildings have been replaced by open fields and woods, and as we drive by them, I stare out the window, fighting back tears. I have no idea what Teague is planning, but I know that I brought it on myself.

  If only I had fought to stay with my mom.

&nb
sp; If only she weren’t crazy.

  Tears leak from my eyes and I rub them away in anger. Crying isn’t going to help. Nothing is going to help me now. Pressing hard, I wait until my vision goes black and fireworks explode before I take my hands from my face. It didn’t help, but it made me calm down some. I could apologize to Teague, but I think that will just piss him off even more. I move to speak, but he cuts me off.

  “Fuck, are you crying? Jesus, Nora, I didn’t know that you were a fucking baby and a virgin. Cut that shit out.” He glances over at me but there’s no compassion in his gaze.

  “I can’t.” Gulping for air, I take a deep breath, trying to stop crying, but the tears run hot down my cheeks. “I just think that this is all my fault.”

  “Fuck right it’s your fault! You stole my money and were stealing my truck.” Teague sighs and runs one hand through his hair before slamming it down on the steering wheel and making me jump.

  “Well, it’s not like I had a choice.” As upset and scared as I am, it pisses me off to think that he doesn’t see how he had a hand in what I did. He’s the one who drove me to taking his money and his truck. If he weren’t such an asshole then none of this would have ever happened.

  Again, he laughs, but this time he doesn’t answer right away. We slow down and he drives the truck off of the main road, bumping it through some tall grass in a field. After we stop, he turns off the truck and slips his keys into his pocket.

  The only thing in front of us are woods.

  “Give me the money and I’ll give you a choice.”

  Even though I have no idea what he’s talking about, and even though the money is the only bargaining chip that I have with him, I pull it from my bra and hand it over. It’s wrapped in one of my socks, and he grimaces when taking it.

  “This all of it or do I need to count it?”

  “It’s everything.” Slowly, never taking his eyes from me, Teague slips it into the center console.

  “Now, Nora, you have a choice to make. Are you ready?” He has one hand resting casually on the steering wheel, but it’s the other hand I can’t take my eyes off of. It’s resting next to him on the seat, just a foot from me.