Cruel Academy: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Princes of Ravenlake Academy Book 2)

by Nicole Fox

  And it is a miracle we made it through half.

  Now that I know what Haley looks like naked and straddling me, it seems a shame to have her any other way.

  I’m not sure whether Finn would be proud or disgusted to know how many surfaces in his gym and living room I’ve taken Haley on.

  I move her curly ponytail aside and kiss a line down the back of her neck. “I’m offended you don’t think sex with me is a workout. I suppose I’ll just have to prove otherwise.”

  In the end, she is too curious to resist, and I end up taking her from behind with her hands flat on the floor and her legs wrapped around my waist. As if that wasn’t enough of an arm workout for her, after I’m spent, I wrap her legs around my neck and eat her to another orgasm of her own.

  When we’re finished, she collapses on the floor, her chest heaving with exertion, and her legs crumpled beneath her.

  “Okay, that was definitely a workout.”

  “Two months ago, you wouldn’t have been strong enough to hold yourself up that long. You’ve come a long way.”

  She nods. “I also had incredible motivation to stay in position.”

  Her brows wag suggestively, and I could honestly fuck her again right now. No matter how many times we have sex or how many times I lie in bed and stroke myself to thoughts of her, the well of need inside of me never seems to empty.

  I thought my pull for Haley would disappear once we’d fucked, as has been the pattern with every other girl in my life, but it seems to only be growing stronger.

  I’m like a junkie, constantly on the hunt for my next hit.

  I lie back on the floor and tuck my hands behind my head, elbows wide, as Haley shimmies back into her workout shorts and sports bra.

  “You going to the fights this weekend?”

  The question jerks me abruptly out of my post-sex thoughts and into reality. The reality where I have to beat the piss out of some guy to make enough money to take care of my mom and pay back my friends.

  “Yeah.”

  “Do you think I could … come with you?” She bites her swollen lower lip and bats her bright blue eyes at me.

  I sit up and rest my arms over my bent knees. “Do you think that’s a good idea? Bumper made it pretty clear he is gunning for you. I’m not sure you want him to think we’re together in any way.”

  He already saw us at the campsite, and, based on the last week, I’m not sure whether I think we’re together or not.

  I mean, we definitely aren’t dating. Not by a long shot.

  But I haven’t been with anyone else since Haley and I started this arrangement, and recently, I’ve been able to forget about our time together being a coerced arrangement at all.

  I’m not sure taking our strange relationship further—beyond the realm of Finn’s house—is a good idea.

  Plus, as much as J.C. and Noah were fine with starting a war with the Hell Princes, I’d like to avoid one.

  “I don’t give a fuck what Bumper thinks.” It’s the first time I’ve heard her use her ex-boyfriend’s biker nickname. “I don’t want him to think I’m scared of him anymore—because I’m not—and I think I’d benefit from watching you fight.”

  “You’ve seen me fight plenty before.”

  “But I wasn’t paying attention.” I make a mock-wounded face, and she rolls her eyes and smiles before continuing. “We’ve been working out and going through movements here, but now that I know what to be watching for, I want to see a full speed, no-held-punches fight.”

  I want to argue and tell her no. Bumper hasn’t told anyone in the Golden Boys about my fighting in the underground because I’m no doubt making him money as well. Or maybe it just hasn’t occurred to him, that moron.

  But if I piss him off enough, he could. And then all the time I’ve spent with Haley trying to keep my secret a secret would be for nothing.

  It’s a risk.

  But Haley drops to the floor in front of me, lays her hands on top of my knees, and pouts out her lower lip.

  “Please?”

  I narrow my eyes. “Guilt doesn’t work on me.”

  Mischief sparkles in her eyes, and suddenly she pushes my knees apart, pushes me down to the floor, and drags her hands down my chest towards the waistband of my shorts. Almost instantly, I’m hard again, and I hiss as she slips inside my shorts and wraps a hand around me.

  “What about this?” she purrs, her breath warm against my skin. “Does this work?”

  I open my mouth to respond, but when her soft lips slide over me, I lose the ability to speak. Within only a few minutes, I have no choice but to admit how remarkably convincing she can be.

  Looks like I’ll be taking a plus one to the fights.

  30

  Caleb

  Bringing Haley to the fights was a mistake.

  My usual fight prep involves listening to a playlist of heavy metal, stretching, and tuning out the crowd.

  Unfortunately, when Haley is in the crowd, that is nearly impossible.

  The fights tonight are in a barn thirty minutes outside of Ravenlake. I have no idea if the owners know we are using their barn or not. It isn’t my job to know. It’s my job to show up and win my fight.

  Except tonight, that job just became ten times harder.

  Haley pretended otherwise, but I could tell coming to the fights made her nervous.

  When we pulled up, she scanned the crowd for Bumper, and she let out a sigh of relief when she didn’t see him. Inside, she did the same thing.

  Bumper doesn’t seem to be in attendance tonight, which is a blessing. If he had been, I would’ve been even more distracted checking to make sure he wasn’t tormenting Haley.

  Then, on top of the visual distraction, my mind is elsewhere, too. What is Haley going to do about her debt to Bumper?

  She’s learning to fight, but she can’t fight him off forever. Not unless she plans to kill him, and then that would open up a whole new can of worms.

  If she wants this to end, she’ll have to pay him back. Without a job, I don’t see how that would be possible.

  All of these thoughts run through my mind as I circle the makeshift ring, facing off against an out-of-towner.

  In a desperate bid to give me some actual competition, Felix brought in his cousin from Houston to fight. He has a darker complexion than Felix and is significantly larger in every way possible, but they have the exact same face. It feels like I’m fighting a mutant version of Felix, which only adds to my mental disarray.

  Mutant Felix is bigger than me, but not fast. His movements are slow and lumbering, and it’s easy to dodge his punches and dart out of his maneuvers, but the man knows how to take a punch. Hitting him in the jaw feels like punching a bag of sand.

  He barely moves and responds with a heavy swipe for my ribs.

  I jump to the side and spin towards the back of the ring, all while glancing towards where Haley is sitting on a hay bale in the front row.

  The fight continues like that for too long—long enough that the crowd is growing restless and begins to boo both of us.

  But eventually, Mutant Felix grows tired.

  Sweat drips down his forehead, collecting in his brow, and I’m able to land a few sharp body blows.

  When he doubles over after a rib punch, I follow with a left hook to the face and a kick to the knee.

  From there, it’s just a matter of keeping him from standing back up, which, considering the size of him, isn’t difficult.

  It’s over pretty quickly after that.

  The card girl comes into the ring after the fight is over, and I recognize her as the redhead I almost went home with the night I heard Haley screaming in the alley.

  I wasn’t immediately certain, but when she narrows her eyes at me and curls her upper lip in disgust, I think it’s a safe assumption.

  She holds up my hand, holding my wrist between her thumb and pointer finger like I’m a dirty piece of garbage she is taking to the trash can, declaring me the winner to the cr
owd.

  As much as I try not to, I still find myself seeking out Haley.

  I expect to find her smiling and clapping in honor of my victory.

  But instead, her attention is on the man sitting on the hay bale next to her. He is much too close and it is obvious Haley is uncomfortable.

  Her body is angled away from him as much as is possible without falling to the floor, and she keeps shaking her head when he says things to her.

  The man grins to himself, pleased, and then turns back to make eye contact with someone behind him. I follow his eye line and see Bumper not too far off.

  He is standing against the side wall of the barn, hidden away in a pocket of shadow.

  But his eyes are on Haley.

  And he’s laughing.

  Clearly, Bumper is enjoying this, but why? What is his goal?

  The card girl lets my arm drop just as the man next to Haley turns towards me, and I get a glimpse of his full face for the first time. My vision goes red.

  Truly, I think I blackout, because the next thing I know, I’m jumping over the rope edge of the ring and yelling in Levi’s shocked face.

  “You owe me a proper fight, you son of a bitch!”

  He jumps back from Haley immediately and looks towards John, but his best friend hasn’t budged. John isn’t coming to his defense, and Levi knows it.

  The cheering crowd goes silent, tension filling the room.

  “It’s fine, Caleb.” Haley stands up and lays a hand on my arm, but I shake her off. She doesn’t give up. “Really, it’s fine. You just fought. You don’t need to do it again. I’m okay.”

  “Only because of me.”

  That night, my anger with Haley overshadowed all of my other feelings, but now the vision of Levi pressing her against the wall fills my mind, and I want an honest fight.

  One where he isn’t drunk off his ass.

  One where it doesn’t take one punch to knock him down.

  I point a finger directly into his face. “I’m calling you out.”

  Callouts happen regularly enough in the underground, but the crowd still gasps at the drama. Mostly because I don’t usually fight Hell Princes. It makes sense, considering I don’t lose fights.

  The Hell Princes don’t want to look like they can’t stick up for themselves—even though most of them can’t—so I’m pushing my luck by calling one of them out.

  Still, I’m too angry to think about the consequences.

  “Come on, man.” Felix appears to the left, hands held up in defense before I even turn towards him. “You won your fight. Why don’t we just call it for today?”

  A chorus of boos rings out from the crowd. They came here for a show, and right now, I’m giving them one.

  Haley wraps her arm around mine and tugs me gently towards the door, but I wrench my arm away and take a step back towards the ring.

  Levi has gone pale, but I have no sympathy. “Are you getting in the ring, or do you refuse my callout?”

  There isn’t a punishment for refusing a callout—unless you count social shame and being viewed as a coward as a punishment.

  I can tell Levi is weighing the options in his head, trying to decide if being beaten to shit is better or worse than being viewed as a coward.

  But before he can answer, John steps forward with a laugh. “Of course, he’s getting in. The Hell Princes don’t refuse a fight.”

  A mixture of shock and betrayal crosses Levi’s face, but he musters a thin smile and joins me in the ring.

  Haley runs to the ropes, her eyes pleading, and grabs the waistband of my shorts to pull me closer. “I didn’t ask you to fight for me, Caleb. You’re training me for exactly these situations—so I can fight for myself. Why are you doing this?”

  “I’m training you to be able to fight when there is no other option,” I correct. “Right now, I’m your other option.”

  She opens her mouth to argue some more, but there is no point. I’ve called Levi out, he is in the ring, and the fight will start any moment.

  I don’t have time to fight with Haley about it.

  So, before she can say anything else, I grab a fistful of dark curly hair at the back of her head and bring her lips to mine.

  The crowd titters at the revelation, and I hold onto Haley a little bit tighter. I warned Haley about the dangers of Bumper thinking we are “together,” but I can’t be bothered with the thought of him right now.

  Right now, I want everyone in this building to know that if they fuck with Haley, they’re fucking with me, too.

  Reluctantly, Haley’s lips part and soften. I nip at her lower lip and then release her, walking backwards to the center of the ring, winking as I go.

  “We’ll be out of here in ten,” I assure her.

  “Promise?” she asks.

  “I swear.”

  31

  Caleb

  Five minutes.

  Five minutes is what it takes to have Levi out cold in the middle of the mat and my arm, once again, raised into the air as the winner.

  I suspected he’d have a bit more fight in him since, unlike that night several weeks ago, he was sober.

  But no.

  Levi is just as uncoordinated as ever. He holds his fists up to protect his face, but as soon as I jab once, he loses his composure and his ability to defend himself.

  He leaves obvious holes in his defense that call out to me like flashing lights. I strike out with a few body shots and when his arms drop to protect his body, a one-two punch to his jaw.

  And that’s that.

  Lights out. Game over.

  “Sleep well, bitch,” I mutter down at him.

  The crowd cheers and roars, and for a second, I can forget they are all rooting for me to lose.

  Even the people who bet on me week after week want to see me bleeding on the mat. I know that. It’s human nature to want to see the weakness in people, especially when they’ve appeared strong for so long.

  But I let myself forget about that reality for a few moments after a fight when everyone—even the Hell Princes—are cheering over my victory.

  I forget about it until I see Bumper sauntering slowly past the ropes, heading straight for Haley. She sees him coming and glances at me, and I see her jaw stiffen and her shoulders rise.

  She doesn’t want me to see her uncomfortable. Probably because she doesn’t want me to call anyone else out.

  At this point, another Hell Prince callout would be as good as throwing down the gauntlet. Plus, despite how easy it was to take Levi down, my energy isn’t where I’d want it to be to fight anyone else.

  My knuckles hurt, my legs feel heavy, and I’m ready to shower and sit down.

  Still, I watch Bumper closely. If he touches her, I won’t bother calling him out.

  I’ll jump the ropes and beat his ass before he even realizes what is happening.

  He approaches Haley, moving towards her with purpose.

  I hold my breath. Waiting. Watching.

  But he doesn’t stop. His shoulder brushes hers, he leans in slightly, but he keeps moving without pause.

  Haley turns to watch him go, her brow furrowed.

  As soon as I get to the rope, people come up to congratulate me. There are claps on the back and fist bumps, people thanking me for winning them money, and others surprised by my calling out a Hell Prince.

  I just nod and smile my way through the crowd, trying to get to Haley.

  By the time I make it to her, Bumper is long gone, but she is still looking after him, her lower lip between her teeth.

  “What was that?”

  She turns to me, brows raised. “What?”

  I tip my head in the direction Bumper went. “Did he touch you? Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” She looks into my eyes and then, to drive the point home, grabs my forearms, smoothing her thumbs over my skin. “I’m okay. He didn’t touch me.”

  “Did he say something?”

  She nods and pulls her hands away, tangling
them in front of her nervously.

  I grab her chin and tip her face up to mine. Her blue eyes are stormy. “What?”

  “It was quiet, and it happened so fast that I can’t really be sure what he said. I might have misheard him, or he could have been talking to someone else. It wasn’t a big deal and—”

  “Haley.”

  Her eyes snap up to mine, and she sighs. “He said, ‘This is war.’”

  32

  Haley

  John has always been melodramatic. You don’t become an abuser of women by being calm and collected.

  So, even though Caleb is worried about John’s declaration of war, I’m not. He was angry that Caleb beat his best friend in a fight, and he wanted to scare me—that’s all.

  Same reason he left a note on my car.

  Same reason he showed up at the Golden Boys’ camping trip.

  At least, I hope that’s all he wants to do. Because aside from the drama with John, my new life seems to be smoothing out, and I could really get used to it.

  My parents trust me more than they ever did when I was dating him. They’ve stopped interrogating me every time I leave the house, which has allowed me a lot more training time with Caleb.

  Speaking of Caleb, I’m not sure I’m even blackmailing him anymore. Neither of us has mentioned the arrangement in a few days, and honestly, our defense training sessions have turned more into cardio sessions.

  That’s what I’ve been calling them, anyway. My heart certainly does race, regardless.

  I see Caleb, J.C., or Noah between most classes during the school day, leaving Penny very little opportunity to harass me for being too poor and trashy to be in her sight.

  Even if I don’t have many friends, I don’t really have enemies at Ravenlake Academy, and that feels like a success.

  Estefania hasn’t responded to any of my texts since before the camping trip. I know she told John where I’d be. I know she helped him that night, but I want to know why.