The two men stared at each other with tight jaws.
“Come on,” Adam said as he wrapped his arm in mine.
I got up and walked with him out of the dining hall. But, his footsteps were furious and I had to softly jog in order to keep up with him.
“Thanks for standing up for me,” I said as we walked along the campus sidewalk in the cold evening air.
He panted for breath. “Eh, it’s what boyfriends do, right?”
I laughed as I slowed my movements, causing him to slow in return. “You know, for being my boyfriend, I don’t really know all that much about you. Who were you before you came here?”
“You mean, besides the homeless guy that wandered into your mother’s halfway house?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “Besides that.”
“To be honest, I don’t really know,” he said.
He stopped just as suddenly as he had flipped that table tilted his head back as if he were breathing in the night sky, and when he exhaled, I could see his breath in a puff of cloud against the winter cold. “I was going to leave Charleston. I’ve never really felt like I’ve fit in here. But then, that night happened, and so I stayed.”
“There was more about that night that kept you here besides just me,” I said. “You can tell me any romantic version of the story that you want to, but I know there was more to it than that.”
“You’re right,” Adam conceded, and I was surprised to hear him admit it. “But that doesn’t mean the romantic part wasn’t true,” he smiled.
We walked further along, not heading back toward the apartment or in any particular direction at all, but just walking and enjoying the feeling of our clasped hands under the breezy stars.
“Lisette,” Adam said as he stopped walking and turned to face me, taking both of my hands in his. “I need to be honest with you.”
This is it. He’s going to tell me who killed my mother.
“Yeah?” I asked softly as I gazed up into his eyes.
“There’s much more going on here at Lineage than you know about. Deeply-rooted stuff that was happening long before your mother got caught up in the middle of it.”
“What is it?” I asked. “Adam, you have to tell me, please. I deserve to know.”
“Yes, you do. But it’s so dangerous. You shouldn’t have come here. I thought it would be better to have you here with me, that I could keep a closer eye on you and protect you from things if you got too close to the center of it. But now I feel like it might have been a mistake to bring you here.”
“Well, it’s a bit too late for that now, isn’t it?” I joked, trying to cover up the fact that I was actually really nervous about it all.
“Yeah,” Adam agreed. “It is.”
“So, tell me,” I pleaded with him again as I took one of my hands and held the side of his face. “Just say it. It’s okay. You might even find it freeing.”
“There’s so much corruption here,” he said. “Nobody blinks an eye when it comes to talking of money and murder. Most everyone here is involved in it in some way or another.”
“Is Michael involved in it?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yeah. But not in the way that you think.”
I wanted to know what he meant by that, but he didn’t give me the chance to ask.
“I’m involved in it too,” he said with a heavy look of remorse. “I’ve done some horribly corrupt things because I didn’t have a choice.”
“But you weren’t at all involved in what happened to my mother?” I needed him to say it again.
“No. I wasn’t. But not only do I know who killed her, I also know who made him kill her. And, I know why she was killed.”
I opened my mouth, ready to beg Adam to tell me what he knew. I would do anything, anything at all, to know what he knew. But, he continued before I found the strength to speak.
“All I can tell you is that the person who killed your mother didn’t want to do it and that the person who ordered her execution did it because your mother knew too much. Your mother uncovered what was happening here, much like you are trying to do now. And it ended in her murder.”
“Why won’t you tell me who it is?” I asked as tears sprang to my eyes.
“If I told you, it would put you in even more danger than you are already in. I may be a force to be reckoned with, but I am not invincible. And right now, I’m your best chance of survival here.”
And when he took my hand to start walking again, all I wanted was to tug him back and force him to speak.
All I wanted was the fucking truth, and I felt like he was taunting me with it.
11
When Adam and I arrived back at the apartment, Michael was already asleep in his room. We laid down quietly on the bed together, and Adam wrapped around me in a way that made me feel almost more at home than when I was with Julian. I rolled onto my side, and Adam matched my movement, curling his body around the back of mine. I rubbed against him as I tried to get into a comfortable position, and I heard him let out a small groan as I backed my hips up against his body.
Then I felt what the groan was about.
“Sorry,” I whispered as I felt his growing presence against the top of my thighs.
“It’s okay,” he said. But, after a minute of quiet, he took in a deep breath. “I want to make love to you, Lisette.”
I slowly turned around to face him and felt him against me.
He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “It doesn’t have to be now, but I want to know that it will happen. So, tell me if you don’t want me. I’ll still promise to protect you here, but tell me the truth.”
Hy eyes held his as I turned my body against his and reached down to grab him in my hand. He sucked his breath in at my touch and stared at me as I held him. I opened my thighs enough to lay his heavy cock between my legs and up against the warmest part of my body.
“I do want you,” I said as I laid my head up against his chest and listened to his pounding heart. “And, it will happen.”
We were still in the same position when we woke up in the morning. Adam was already awake and was holding his cell phone to his face.
“Julian needs to talk to you,” he said as I opened my eyes.
That woke me up. “What? How do you know that?”
He waved his phone in front of me.
“How come you guys can text each other, but I can’t text Julian?”
“Because no one is going to suspect that I want to talk to the guy,” Adam chuckled. “That’s why he and I exchanged numbers.”
“You and Julian exchanged numbers?”
That simple fact astonished me. They didn’t like each other.
Adam shrugged. “Yeah, we figured it was the best way to keep tabs on what was going on and to keep you safe.”
I was beginning to feel like everyone else in the world knew what was going on besides me. And I didn’t appreciate it one damn bit. Still though, I leapt out of bed and rushed around to get ready. Time was wasting, and I needed to know what Julian needed to speak with me about. It would eat away at me all day if we waited until this evening to meet. And apparently, he felt the same way, because when we got to the tree, Julian was already there.
I rushed up to give him a hug, but the look of panic on his face stopped me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“You need to get out of here,” he said in a hushed tone that Adam wouldn’t be able to hear. “Now.”
“Why? What are you talking about?”
Julian pulled me behind the tree, out of view and earshot of Adam, which I’m sure didn’t make Adam very happy.
Julian’s voice lowered to a whisper. “I overheard some of the Lineage board members. They came to Goldshire yesterday to attend some sort of urgent meeting. When I saw them walk into the Dean’s office, I followed them and listened from outside the door. They’re threatening to use extreme measures if Goldshire Academy doesn’t “close its doors.”
I furrowed my brow. “Cl
ose its doors?”
“Yeah, as in shut down the school.”
“They can’t force Goldshire to shut down,” I said. “They would never get away with that.”
“Actually, I think they will.”
Julian popped his head around the side of the tree to see if Adam was still in the same spot, keeping guard. A gust of breeze blew the messy auburn hair on the top of his head. I had a brief flashback to when we were in high school playing a game of tag football. We were rolling around on the grass together, and all the leaves got caught up in his hair. I laid on top of him and picked each leaf out as we laughed until our ribs hurt.
“Marta was there,” he finally continued. “She was talking to the Dean and citing some merger that the two schools are getting ready to have. The academies aren’t just rivals, Lisette, they’re a cover-up for an underground drug-ring.”
I blinked. “What?”
That was insane. There was no way those two colleges were partners in crime for anything, let alone an illegal drug-ring. They couldn’t even tolerate sitting in the same dining hall together for an hour without most of their faculties wanting to kill each other.
He nodded. “It’s true. I heard it all myself. They want to use Goldshire as an organization front to take the fall in the eye of the public so that Lineage can continue their operations. You need to get out of there now before things get way too dangerous.”
“I can’t,” I said as I shook my head and tried to wrap my mind around the information that he’d just told me. “I can’t just leave here now, not when I’m getting closer to finding out what happened to my mother. I can’t just give up.”
He gripped my upper arms. “Listen to me, you have to—”
“Guys,” Adam said as he came around the tree. “Sorry to break this up, but we have to go. Security is coming.”
I didn’t even get to say goodbye. Adam scooped his arm around me, and Julian took off toward the street as I watched him rush away. I tried to whisper and tell Adam what Julian had said to me, but people kept passing by us, and the campus suddenly seemed busier and more crowded than usual.
So, I never got the chance.
We both had one night class that night. Adam insisted that I wait for him at the lecture hall since his class got out about thirty minutes later than mine did. But tonight, I was burdened by what Julian had said, and I just wanted to get back to the apartment and take a hot shower.
Michael wouldn’t try anything at the apartment with me, not since he knew Adam would be there shortly after I arrived. So instead of waiting for him like Adam was expecting me to do, I started to walk across the campus to go home. It wasn’t even all the way dark out yet, just past dusk. I was about halfway there when Michael jumped me and threw me behind the tall hedges that lined the pathway.
“Get off me!” I screamed at him.
“Shut up,” he said. “I’m not trying to hurt you or even touch you for that matter.”
“Then why the hell did you tackle me into a hedge?” I yelled as I looked around for my bag that had fallen off my shoulder.
“I’m giving you a warning,” he glowered.
I rolled my eyes in genuine frustration. “I am so fucking sick of warnings. Leave me the fuck alone, Michael.”
I reached to pick up my bag and leave, but he hit it out of my hands and grabbed me by both shoulders.
“You idiotic, impulsive fool!” he said as he shook me. “Get off this campus and leave this school, or you’re going to end up dead just like your mother.”
That’s it, I’ve had enough. No more people warning me. No more people protecting me. No more of them trying to seduce me and threatening me. I’m over it.
I pulled my hand back and punched him in the jaw as hard as I could. Michael stood there and looked at me in shock for a moment before he tried to grab me again. This time I jabbed my knee between his legs and sent him doubling over onto the ground. I went to grab my bag again and make a run for it, but I barely had my hand on the strap of the bag when Michael grabbed me by my ponytail and yanked me to the ground. I fell face-first and felt my lip split open when it hit the rocks.
I tasted a mixed mouthful of dirt and the metallic taste of blood, which only fueled my fury toward him.
I tried to stand up, but Michael kicked me in the side and sent me curling over my stomach. He hunched over me on all fours and pinned me to the ground, and when I sunk my teeth into his forearm, he struck me across the cheekbone. I got a few good shots in at him, but eventually, there was nothing I could do. I wasn’t a match for Michael, no matter how hard I tried. I looked up at him through blurred and bloodied vision. His blonde hair was matted with dirt, and his muscles were tensed beneath his shirt. He had the perfect opportunity to kill me, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop him.
But instead, he got off me and pulled me up by one arm to stand in front of him.
“Leave,” he snarled.
I narrowed my eyes. “No.”
There was so much blood pooling in my mouth that I had to spit it onto the ground between us. I barely had enough energy to stand on my shaking legs. Literally, the only thing holding me up was his hand gripping my arm. But then he let go, and as soon as he did, I fell back to the ground.
I watched his back as he walked away and wondered why he hadn’t killed me.
It was getting dark, and Adam would be worried if I wasn’t at the apartment by the time he got there. I pulled myself up and dragged my body, one step at a time, toward the apartment. When I got there, there was no sign of either of the guys.
I pulled off all my clothes and headed straight into the shower.
The water at the base of the tub ran red with blood, and by the time I had stepped out of the shower, the swelling and blackening of bruises had already begun. I dried off, bandaged myself up as much as I could, and wrapped a towel around my body. My right eye had nearly swollen completely shut as I tried to make my way down the hall and into Adam’s room.
“Holy shit!” Adam said when he saw me come through the door. He ran up and grabbed hold of my arms, and for once, I didn’t mind the help. I felt like every muscle in my body was screaming at me as I laid down onto my back on the bed.
“What happened?” he asked breathlessly.
“Someone jumped me on my walk home,” I said weakly.
My head was pounding so bad that I couldn’t tell if it was the swelling or the pain that was screwing up my vision.
“Damn it, Lisette, I told you to wait for me!” he shouted. His loud voice hurt my head even more, and I winced.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to yell at you.”
“It’s okay,” I replied. “I deserved it. You were right.”
He raked his hands through his hand. “No, you didn’t deserve any of this. Did you see who did this to you?”
My thoughts slowed nearly to the point of unconsciousness. I could tell him that it was Michael who did it, but what good would that do? He would likely go try to beat the shit out of Michael, and he might very well be able to beat him, especially considering that I was able to get in a few good hits on Michael tonight. But all that it would do would be to shine a brighter light on me and likely get both guys into trouble with Marta.
I needed Adam, and it wasn’t worth risking.
“No,” I lied. “I didn’t get a good look at him.”
I heard Adam curse under his breath before he kissed me gently on the forehead.
“Okay,” he said after he had calmed himself down. “Just get some rest.”
At those words, I allowed myself just to lay there in pain as Adam gingerly pulled the wet towel off from around my body and slid one of his warm shirts onto me. He even grabbed a pair of my panties and slid them up over my waist and pulled my favorite pair of fuzzy socks onto my feet. Then he pulled the blankets up over me, lifted my head for me to swallow a pain pill, and laid down beside me.
“Wow,” I mumbled deliriously as he held me
. “You really do love me,” I teased.
I think that he said something after that, but I didn’t hear him because the pain pill had already kicked in and knocked me out.
Sending me to a place where my nightmares continued to plague me like never before.
12
When I woke up the next day, I had already slept through my first class. Adam had missed his class, too, because he was adamant about not leaving my side again. He tried to talk me out of going to any of my classes at all that day, but I felt like it was important that I showed Michael I wasn’t going to hide. Every single bone in my body hurt. I put on a lot of makeup, but nothing could cover up the black eye and split lip.
At lunch, I was not the only one people were staring at because Michael had a black eye, too. And it gave me great satisfaction knowing that mark of honor on his face was thanks to my fist. There were questions and rumors flying around the school, but neither of us were saying anything about what had happened.
Adam kept giving me side glances, though.
As Michael walked past Adam and me in the hallway, I felt Adam’s hand grow suddenly tighter around mine.
“Don’t,” I whispered as I anticipated what he was about to do.
Adam let go of my hand and walked up to Michael until both men were stopped in front of me.
“Did you do this to her?” Adam shouted.
“Get out of my way, Adam,” Michael demanded.
It was clear that he was in no mood to get into another altercation. It also seemed like as much as he sometimes put Adam in his place, that he never truly wanted to argue with him.
Adam stepped up to the plate. “Not until you answer me.”
Michael pushed Adam to the side, trying to get away. But when he did, Adam swung him around by the arm and held him in a chokehold.
“Did you do this, Lisette?” he growled as he held Michael to face me.
Ruined: A Dark Bully Reverse Harem Romance (Beautiful Tyrants Book 1) Page 8