Kings of Quarantine: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep Book 1)

by Caroline Peckham

  “Let’s see what you’ve got then, princess,” he said in a tone that suggested he expected to be unimpressed. I didn’t care about impressing him, but I sure as shit was gonna take an opportunity to vent this rage living in my bones.

  I moved toward him in a flash, throwing the first punch with a yell of anger. Then another and another, working hard to free the tension in my body. I stepped back, aiming a fierce kick at the centre of the pad and forcing him back a step. I didn’t even care to look at his face, I just focused on that red target and pictured Saint’s face, Blake’s, Kyan’s.

  I threw punch after punch before landing front kicks, side kicks then finishing it with a roundhouse. If it really had been those boys I’d been attacking, they’d currently be laying on the floor in puddles of their own blood. Which was the kind of image which brought a twisted smile to my lips.

  Laughter tumbled from Monroe’s lungs as he tossed the shield across the room. “Holy fuck, princess.”

  I shrugged, leaning forward as I panted. My vision was darkening and I just needed a second to steady my heart. My stomach felt so hollow, it hurt. And the thought of how many days this could go on for was like thirty percent terrifying… Alright, sixty.

  Monroe directed me over to the water fountain at the side of the room and I stood up, feeling a bit better as I headed over to get a drink.

  “So you know how to throw fists and kicks at a shield, but how do you fare against an opponent, Rivers?”

  I turned to find Monroe strapping gloves on and his shirt firmly on the fucking floor. My mouth dried out as my gaze dipped to the perfection of his damn body and the tattoos clinging to his flesh. He had an angry tigress amongst the artwork of his chest and I pinned my gaze on her, liking the fire in her eyes.

  “Oh I know how to face an opponent, sir. You’ve just gotta find their weakness.” I strode after him as he climbed up into the boxing ring and I pushed myself up after him. We moved to stand opposite one another and adrenaline slid through my veins as a smirk tugged at my features.

  He mirrored it, giving me a dark look and a tingle raced beneath my flesh. “Good. Because I’m going to sharpen you into a deadly blade against those boys, princess. I’m going to offer you every single weakness I’ve dug up on them. Are you ready for that?”

  Hell yes! I nodded eagerly then lunged as I threw the first punch. My fist slammed right into the tigress and I grinned as I bounced back onto my heels as he came at me in retaliation. He jabbed my side with the lightest of blows and I rolled my eyes.

  “Don’t you dare hold back on me, Monroe,” I growled. “I came here to fight. So fight.”

  His eyes danced with light and he came at me again with power this time, slamming his gloved fist into my arm. I was ready, wincing at the blow, but not slowing as I brought my knee up and drove a kick into his gut with a cry of effort.

  He fell back with a wild laugh and the sound echoed right through my body, making my veins hum with life.

  “The winner will be whoever gets their opponent on the ground,” he said, his voice full of vigour as he came at me again.

  It felt good to fight a real man. A man who gave me a fighting chance. Who didn’t manipulate and threaten his way into controlling me. He was an equal opponent and I thrived on every punch and kick he threw. I even relished the pain he delivered because it was fairly given and I delivered it back just as hard.

  We were soon bruised and sweating, dancing around each other as our fight carried on, neither of us managing to uproot the other.

  Darkness flickered at the edges of my vision again, but I blinked it back, forcing myself to focus.

  I kicked and punched over and over, but my lack of food was taking a toll. Monroe aimed a kick toward my gut and as I brought my arms up to defend myself I stumbled back, nearly losing my footing as my vision darkened. He didn’t waste a second of the advantage, running at me and freaking football tackling me to the ground.

  His full weight slammed on top of me and an oomph left my lungs as the air was forced from them.

  “Shit, are you alright?” he asked, gazing down at me with an intense stare.

  I nodded then started laughing and fucking laughing.

  I was more than alright. I was freaking divine. Here in this room, I felt invincible, untouchable. And that also got me hot as hell as Monroe shifted his god-like body over mine.

  Our breaths mingled and the burning heat of our flesh pressed together, taking my mind down a filthy road. The sinful look in his eyes said his mind was following the same path and that did all kinds of twisted things to my body.

  “You’re something, princess,” he muttered, almost to himself.

  I fell still beneath him, drinking in the look on his face that didn’t hold any hate in it. It was real nice not to be looked at like a disease for once. It was so very nice, so….

  Darkness claimed me and I fell into its peaceful grip for who knew how long.

  Someone was suddenly shaking me and I wet my dry lips as my eyes fluttered open. Did I just pass out?

  “Tatum!” Monroe said urgently and as my eyes found his, I reached up instinctively, wanting to run my fingers over his face, realising a second too late that my hand was still gloved. He had such a lovely face though even with a fat glove butting against it.

  I froze as I realised I was acting like a crazy person and my stomach broke the silence, growling pitifully loudly for him to hear.

  “You need to go and see the nurse.” Monroe helped me sit up and I shook my head.

  “I’m fine,” I said firmly.

  “You’re not fine-” he started in a growl, but I cut over him.

  “I haven’t eaten. They didn’t let me,” I revealed, my cheeks suddenly warming. I didn’t know why it was so embarrassing to say it. Maybe because it felt like a show of weakness that the Night Keepers had this much control over me.

  Monroe’s face hardened into something truly furious. He was like a scorned god and I half expected him to pull a golden triton from his ass and race off into the night to defend my honour. I smirked at that mental image and he frowned sharply, suddenly getting to his feet and striding off to the other side of the room.

  He returned a moment later with three protein bars and dropped down in front of me, holding them out.

  “Eat,” he commanded, with no room for refusal. It was the first order I’d received all day that I was actually thrilled about.

  I pulled off my gloves, tossing them aside then snatched one of the bars, tearing open the wrapper and taking a huge bite out of it. It was sweet and nutty and tasted like the best fucking thing in the world. I consumed the bar within three savage bites, giving zero fucks about manners or decorum or any other bullshit thing Saint would have punished me for flouting. When I finished it, I found Monroe watching me like I was a wild creature he wanted to lure into his man cave. And hell, I wanted to pad my way right into it and curl up by his fire.

  He offered me another bar and I took it just as eagerly, eating it with just as much barbarism as the first. By the third, I managed to slow down enough to eat it like a semi-tame girl, but I still finished it in under a minute.

  When I was done, Monroe reached out and wiped a crumb from the corner of my lips, making me fall entirely still as I stared at him.

  He pushed it into my mouth and I tasted the salt of his flesh, sending a delicious heat rolling down my spine. He retracted his hand, seeming unsure of why he’d done that, and I really wanted to know the answer too. Monroe was untouchable. Which was all the more frustrating because he was also delectable. And by the way he was looking at me now with the power of a hurricane in his eyes, I wondered if he thought I was too.

  He blinked suddenly and the spell was broken. He rose to his feet, heading across the room and grabbing his water bottle from the floor, tipping his head back and pouring it down his throat. It gave me a long moment to stare at the tightened muscles of his huge body and heat blazed between my thighs at the sight. Shit, he was like a
warrior. Some sort of beautiful being plucked right out of a Greek myth.

  By the time he finished drinking, I was on my feet, looking disinterestedly at my nails, refusing to let him see how much I was inwardly drooling over him.

  “So…” His tone darkened and I lifted my head, nodding to acknowledge what we were about to discuss. “I know each of the Night Keepers well enough to rip them apart.”

  His tone sent a shiver darting along my flesh. “Say that again,” I half groaned and his eyes flashed with heat.

  “Rip. Them. Apart,” he gave me what I wanted and I let my head fall back as a full groan fell from my lips. He released a wicked laugh then pointed to the mat. “We can talk while we stretch.”

  “Sure,” I agreed then bent over to touch my toes, hoping to make him look at me. Because screw it. If the Night Keepers weren’t going to let anyone touch me, I could at least fantasise about my hot P.E. teacher from time to time. And I was more than happy to give him some reasons to fantasise about me too. Though when I glanced at him, he was pointedly not looking. And I guessed it had been stupid to think a teacher would want me like that.

  I soon dropped down to sit and stretch my legs and Monroe joined me on the floor. “Tell me everything,” I asked of him and he drew in a long breath.

  “I’ll start with Kyan as I know him best,” he said and I nodded eagerly. “I train him here pretty regularly. Fighting is about the only thing he’ll dedicate his full attention to. He’s a thrill chaser. If he sees some shiny new way to get a high, he’ll jump at it.”

  I nodded, releasing a bitter laugh. “Like chaining a new pet?”

  “Yeah,” Monroe growled, his jaw ticking before he went on. “As for his weaknesses? He’s only got one.”

  “What’s that?” I was all ears, half tempted to crawl over to Monroe and curl up in his lap like I was listening to the best bedtime story of my life.

  “He’s… lonely,” Monroe revealed and I frowned in surprise. He almost seemed hesitant to say it like he felt some loyalty to Kyan and I wondered if those sessions they spent together had bonded them more than he wanted to admit.

  “Are you sure?” I questioned. “He’s got his friends.”

  Monroe nodded firmly. “Yeah, but he’s constantly trying to fill the void that lives in him with fast motorbikes, bare-knuckle fighting and dirty fucks.”

  My mouth dried out at that last one and I couldn’t help my body from reacting a little. Kyan may have been my enemy, but I could bet he was one hell of a lay.

  I nodded slowly, stashing all of that information away for later. “What does that mean for me?”

  “He needs a girl who can fill that space, he just doesn’t know it yet,” Monroe said, his gaze dripping down me.

  I scowled, my walls slamming into place. “I’m not going to screw him if that’s what you’re suggesting.”

  “Trust me, I’m not suggesting that, princess,” he purred in a deadly sort of tone that reminded me Monroe had a darkness of his own living in him. “But if you get him hooked on you, make him fall for you until he’s begging, he’ll be putty in your hands. All he really wants is for someone to see something in him besides the violence and bullshit, something worth more than that. If you can be that girl then you’ll be the one owning him, not the other way around.”

  I couldn’t imagine Kyan on his knees like that, but the possibility set my pulse racing. “He’s not an easy nut to crack.”

  “You can crack him, princess. I’ve seen the way he looks at you,” he said with venom in his words like that enraged him. “You’ve just got to find a way to pick them all apart from the inside. If you get Kyan to want you, really want you, you’ll get him to fight for you too. He’ll stand up for you against the others, he has too much of a noble streak in him not to.”

  “Pfft, how is he noble?” I scoffed.

  “Just trust me.”

  I rolled my eyes, but decided to drop it, desperate to get onto more juicy details about my enemies. “So what about the others?” I asked.

  “Blake wants to be the top dog instead of Saint because he’s so competitive. He carries a lot of rage lately since his mom died and doesn’t handle his emotions well,” Monroe explained.

  “I noticed,” I muttered and he nodded seriously.

  “She died from the Hades Virus, you know?” he asked with a dark look. “That’s why he wants to blame you for it. Because of your father.”

  My breathing stalled as I stared at him, Blake’s hate for me suddenly seeming so much more understandable. Not that the virus was in any way my fault, but if he needed to blame someone within his grasp, I guessed it would be me. And in some twisted way, it at least made more sense why his hatred toward me burned so fiercely. But grief was like an endless tide. And if you built a dam against it, it was eventually going to break through and pour out all at once. Which was exactly what he’d done, and now I was laying at the bottom of that dam, receiving the full brunt of his rage whether I was culpable or not. It didn’t matter, so long as someone took the fall and helped him ease that pain. I’d been there too. I’d taken it out on my dad, the world. But I’d never built a wall against it, so my grief had spilled in a steady flow. The way Blake was dealing with it was brutal. Destructive. Both to him and me.

  “Don’t underestimate him,” Monroe continued. “Blake Bowman is volatile when he’s angry. I’ve seen him send more than one guy to hospital during a football match. And that’s just through his desire to win. But you can use that against him. He won’t say no to any challenge which is why he’s been butting heads with Saint for years.”

  “Really?” I asked. I hadn’t seen them fighting before, but Monroe clearly knew them better than me.

  “Yeah,” he said. “Bowman wants to be top dog. He doesn’t like losing at anything, including social hierarchy. Being second to Saint eats away at him constantly until every now and then he rises up and clashes with him.”

  “So I need to make them clash?” I whispered excitedly.

  “Yeah, and the way to do that is through fucking with Saint’s need for control,” Monroe said and I swear I was getting so wet for him over the way he was talking that I was surprised he hadn’t noticed me panting yet.

  “Go on,” I encouraged, biting on my lower lip. His gaze dipped to my mouth for half a second before he dragged his eyes back up to mine like a good teacher. I kinda wished he was a bad one though.

  “You need a way to get into The Temple.”

  I laughed dryly. “Well they’re making me live there so that’s easily done.”

  His eyes brightened with that news and I kinda wanted to punch him for it. “That’s brilliant, you’ll be in the perfect position to strike at them. I imagine Saint keeps the place a certain way. And from what I know of Blake, he’s a messy fucker and that would drive Saint to insanity. If you can figure out what Blake does regularly to piss him off, you could do some of those things too…”

  “And get him blamed for it,” I finished with a grin.

  “Exactly. Generally with Saint, if you can get him feeling out of control, you’re gonna break down their entire little Bermuda triangle of bullshit.”

  I nodded keenly, but my heart leapt as the door flew open. Blake strode in with fury in his eyes and my heart thrashed fearfully against my chest.

  “What the fuck, Bowman?!” Monroe jumped to his feet and Blake slowed to a halt, folding his arms as his eyes slid to me on the floor. I was mid-stretching out my right calf, gazing up at him in horror. Holy shit, what if he heard something??

  “I’m here to pick up, Pl- Tatum,” Blake said simply.

  I rose to my feet as his gaze slipped to me.

  “We’ve been looking all over for you, sweetheart,” he said, his voice overly sugary and I scowled at him, more than happy not to bother with the compliant bullshit now that I had a bunch of ammo lined up against him. And I couldn’t wait to start firing it.

  “She has kickboxing lessons with me three times a week,” Monroe gr
owled. “And if you ever walk into my training room uninvited again, I’ll have you in detention for the rest of the semester, Bowman.” Monroe’s muscles were rippling and the sweat gleaming on his body drew my gaze for a hot minute. He was going to bat for me and hell that made me gooey inside. I wished I could show him how grateful I was…

  “You didn’t mention that, Tate,” Blake said to me with a firm stare.

  “Didn’t I?” I asked with an innocent shrug.

  “Rivers will be training with me. I think she’s got a shot at the regionals and fuck if I’m missing out on the opportunity to train an athlete like her,” Monroe said simply then turned to me with a sharp stare. “You’re either here three times a week, or you’re in detention with me instead.”

  “Okay,” I agreed and Blake snarled.

  “Fine. Come on.” He held out his hand for me and I had to laugh. I was not gonna play the little whipped puppy anymore.

  “Thanks for the lesson, sir,” I said earnestly to Monroe then breezed past Blake until I was out of the room and he was running to catch me.

  His arm curled around my shoulders and he yanked me in close to his body, making my breathing quicken as the scent of him surrounded me. Spiced cologne and a bottled threat.

  “I want your school schedule written out by hand tonight. One copy for each of us.”

  “Okay, I can colour code it too if you give me some crayons?” I offered with a smirk. “Would you like me to write down my bathroom habits too? I’m a morning pooer-”

  “Shut up,” he snapped, glaring down at me. “Got your backbone reinstated, I see, Cinderella.”

  “Clever boy.” I reached up to scruff his hair like a dog and he snarled, locking his arm around my shoulders again and guiding me along the path.

  “Let’s see what Saint makes of that then,” he growled.

  “Yeah, he is the top dog after all.” I nodded in agreement. “You couldn’t go making any decisions on your own, I suppose.”

  “We make our decisions together,” he snipped.

  “Sure you do,” I said airily and he cut me another glare. Part of me wanted to bring up the tension stifling the air between us. I wanted to ask him about his mom, to try and soften the hatred he felt for me. But something told me now wasn’t a good time. I needed to catch him in a better mood. Though lately, I never saw any of the easy-going guy who’d made my heart beat faster and brought a smile to my face when I’d first arrived at Everlake Prep.