Our Secret: A College Bully Romance (Golden Crew Book 1)

by Belladona Cunning

  And Leo, he has it all down pat, too. With his scruffy jawline, piercings, and big lion tattoo on his side, he draws those older women in like a magnet. The younger women usually don't like his no-nonsense attitude and the way he needs to have verbal replies to everything. Girls can't flirt with my guy because of that. Because girls our age seem to be stuck in the hair twirling and biting their lip stage.

  Sorry, ladies, but that's not attractive. It just makes you look empty-headed, boring, and immature.

  Leo surprises me, though. His frown turns into a smile, "Already have. Nice, but she sounded like I was killing her when she took my dick."

  "Fucking dog!" Easton barks out a laugh, shoving him.

  As we take the stairs to the ground level, Zeke gets into the conversation, "Y'all coming to the game tonight?"

  Zeke is a front lineman for the Golden Oaks Eagles. He’s team captain, just like he was in high school. The other team captain just so happened to graduate last year, and when Zeke came into the fold, they automatically named him captain of their team. Good thing, too. Zeke is a beast on the field.

  "Yeah," I reply. "We'll be in the nosebleed section behind the panting girls and middle-aged hotties that drool all over you all."

  He snorts half-smiling. "Dick." Then, when we get to the ground floor, he adds on, "Fuck. I forgot to get something out of my biochem class. I'll meet up with you all later."

  "Later," we all reply in unison, watching as he jogs back up the stairs.

  I bet he's going to fuck that teacher. I smile at the thought. He always has loved getting on Leo's nerves. Plus, Zeke doesn't have biochem until next semester for his science credit.

  I should know because he has it with me.

  "Anyone else believe that?" Easton asks, pointing back over his shoulder as we pass the main office.

  I shake my head, smirking. "Not a chance."

  We all break out laughing, even Leo. You'd think he's a bit perturbed that his friend is going after a piece he's been with already, and probably still is tapping, but he's not. Leo's never been like that. He doesn't get possessive over women he fucks, even if it's on the regular.

  Now, the women he wines and dines on the regular? Those are the ones you don't touch. Bro code implicitly applies to them.

  Making our way down the hall, we all peer at each other when a giant ruckus sounds from inside the girls’ bathroom. The very last one before you leaves the building altogether. No one would be caught dead in this building after hours, and technically, they shouldn't even be here. The only reason the guys and I are here is because the test we were taking in that English class of ours ran over.

  In other words, we couldn't focus on the test due to the fact her tits were hanging in front of our faces. So, we had to stay over and finish.

  Before any of us can ask, my eyes widen in their sockets when Cassandra and two of her friends, girls with names I forgot the second she told me, come stumbling out cackling like the wicked witches of GOU.

  "Cass," I say, gathering her attention. Her laughter instantly cuts out, and a look of abject horror flashes through her eyes.

  When she moves toward me, that's when I see it. A pair of familiar sneakers attached to two legs I’d know anywhere, lying on the bathroom floor. You can barely see them sticking out from under the stall.

  My heart leaps into my throat. I push Cassandra out of the way and force my way into the bathroom, Leo and Easton right behind me. Hurrying over, I hit a thin puddle of water and nearly fall, the front of my body smacking into the stall so hard a grunt lodges in my throat.

  "The fuck?" I hear Easton breathe, but I'm too frantic and laser-focused to care about anything.

  Slamming open the door, I get a good look at Harloe lying on the floor. From the top of her head to her knees is soaked. The smell of vomit is strong and makes me sick to my stomach. She looks so helpless, and I can't help it when the anger I feel toward her takes a back burner to what I feel now.

  Everything inside demands revenge.

  I hear the clicking of heels as, no doubt, Cass comes in to inspect her handiwork. I'm too horrified to describe even adequately what I'm feeling right now. How can someone go this far to bully someone? Yes, I used hateful words and some questionable actions. But I'd never do this.

  "The fuck, Cassandra?!" I bellow in rage, and drop down to my knees, gathering Harloe into my chest. Her body instantly soaks mine, but I don't care.

  Fuck, seeing her so vulnerable and defenseless does something to my insides. It feels like someone is taking their fist and repeatedly ramming it into my chest. And, honestly, I don't know how to feel about that. I never expected to feel anything other than hatred for the girl in my arms.

  "Guys, we need to get her to the clinic," Leo says, and I'm glad at least someone is thinking straight.

  The only thing I see is my Harloe, weak and needing me to protect her. To do something I promised to do a long time ago, but have failed at horrifically because of what happened all those years ago.

  Instead of being there for her, as a friend, I cut her off so completely and harshly, she had to run away to get away from all the rumors and taunts she knew were going to fly her way.

  I deserted her. It wasn't the other way around.

  Yes, she fucked up. Royally. But so did I. Friends first, lovers second, her tiny, angelic voice floats through my head over the pact we made when we decided to try and take our relationship to the next level.

  I broke that.

  Fuck, I broke that just like she broke me.

  Gathering her into my arms, I hold her close to my chest. For the first time in forever, it feels like I can inhale a full breath of air. As if the weight that's always been settled on my chest is no more.

  Hot, stinging warmth gathers in the corners of my eyes as my emotions run rampant inside of me. Trudging out of the stall, my eyes pin Cassandra to her spot, and I force as much fury into my glare as possible.

  "Us?" I growl, baring my teeth at her like some stray animal. "We’re done. Get out of my goddamn face."

  Her face falls even more, eyes flickering between an unconscious Harloe and me. "I knew it." She purses her lips and shakes her head back and forth, stepping away from us. "You're still in love with her!"

  Leo cuts in before me. "It doesn't take love to be a decent goddamn human being, Cass. Hunter used his words to get back at her for what she did, you crossed a line by going physical. Now get to fucking steppin'."

  Tears blur my vision as Harloe instinctively curls into my chest even more. Her tiny voice whispers my name, and it takes everything in me not to break down like a little bitch right here.

  I never meant for this to happen. Yeah, I gave her an ultimatum. But I was never going to get physical. It was a scare tactic. I was just trying to be an asshole to get her to go away and never come back.

  Even with what Harloe did to me, she doesn't deserve this. For God's sake, her vomit is mixed in with the water, coating her entire body. Her hair is matted from the chemicals of the toilet, and there's a line of blood trailing down below her nose.

  My words may hurt, but Cassandra almost fucking killed her.

  Stepping out of the bathroom, my guys flock both sides as we make our way down the hall. She doesn't get the hint and starts running after us in her skyscraper heels. The incessant click, click, click is getting on my nerves. I want to wring her freaking neck for doing this.

  We don't do this kind of shit, no matter how awful the person is to us. That’s not what the Golden Crew does, and I've aligned myself with Cassandra long enough she's been grandfathered in as a regular in our group.

  With steely determination masking my pain, I tell my guys, "I want it known everywhere that Cassandra Radcliff is no longer associated with the Golden Crew."

  "Hunter!" Cass screeches, her shrill voice grating against my eardrums. But I grit my teeth and bear through it.

  Fuck her.

  "We don't do physical altercations unless provoked."

&n
bsp; "But she did!"

  We've made it outside, and I stop my descent on the stairs, pulling a look toward her. "Harloe would rather chew her arm off than get into a physical altercation. You can bullshit other people all you want to, but you can't bullshit me. I know her. We were inseparable while we were growing up, so you can't expect me to believe the girl I'm holding in my arms right now changed so dramatically."

  Her eyes frantically sweep across the campus. "Please. Hunter."

  I feel my patience wearing thin with her—more so than usual. And I can honestly say this is the first time in the last three years I've truly been this pissed at Cass and her actions. Usually, I shrug it off and go about my business. But for some reason, I can't with this.

  This ... feels too personal.

  She went way too far.

  "Beat feet, Cass," I grind out, thinning my eyes into tiny slits of fury. My rage is simmering, threatening to boil over.

  I don't wait for her to reply, nor beg for another chance. It’ll do her no good, and I can't be fucked to listen to her grovel. She was always a means to an end. Both of us knew that.

  "Glad you chopped that bitch loose," Leo growls, and I catch his eyes flicker down to Harloe, softening. "No matter what she did, Hunt … She doesn't deserve this."

  An arrow pierces my flesh and lodges in my cold, dead heart. Swallowing hard, I instinctively hug her tighter to my chest. "No." I release a sigh. "No, she doesn't."

  By the time we get to the clinic, which is halfway across campus, I'm frantic for a different reason. Harloe is beginning to grumble and releases these little sighs my body is paying a little too much attention to. It dredges up the past as I remember the delicate way she'd stretch like a cat, bowing her back up off the bed as she groaned and whimpered awake. Her tiny smile when her eyes would land on me.

  It was always a smile. No matter what I did to her, or how much of an asshole I was, she always had a smile at the ready. Until the night I knocked it off her face forever. Now, the only thing I have are memories, and those memories hurt more than a jagged blade slicing through my chest.

  Leo gets the door, so I'm able to carefully carry her inside. We make our way to the registration desk. The nurse looks up and immediately goes on high alert. Jumping up from her chair, she races around the desk and starts fretting over Harloe.

  "Oh, my goodness. What happened to the poor dear?" she coos, feeling her head, and then picking at her wet, soggy clothing. "Why is she all wet?"

  Without replying to any of her questions, I say, "You know who I am?"

  The nurse—I peer down at the name tag on her chest, reading Jolene—swallows hard at the brisk sound of my voice. "Yes. You're Hunter Prince, Landon's son."

  I nod. "So, it’s safe to say that you know who is in my arms, correct?"

  Again. She nods. "Would this happen to be little Harloe?" She's not so little anymore. She's all grown up.

  "Yes."

  Easton, thankfully, has already gone for a bed and is wheeling it toward us. I carefully lay Harloe down, but at the last second, her grip on my shirt tightens, like she knows I'm about to leave her.

  I'd hate to admit this, but that affects me plum down to my core. Knowing that she unconsciously wants me to stay near and protect her. But the fact of the matter is, I can't. Harloe and I—our past is just too muddied, and our future is nothing more than murky water.

  Meeting the nurse’s eyes, I say with a bit of authority entering my tone, "She is not to know who brought her here, do you understand? Do not, and I mean, do not tell her anything."

  She seems to read between the lines, a soft smile branching out over her features. "You have my word, Mr. Prince. She won't know a thing."

  With that, I can't stop looking down at Harloe, so broken and vulnerable. My chest squeezes tight, and I can barely breathe through the pain. But I have to do this. I can't allow all of my hard work to unravel. If I stay and make sure she's okay, it will do exactly that.

  CHAPTER 16

  Since the day Cass and her squad nearly drowned me in the girl’s bathroom, I’ve constantly been peeking over my shoulder, waiting for someone to attack. GOU is no longer a place where I am trying to better my life, it’s now turned into a war zone.

  Especially since, afterward, I woke up in the campus clinic and had no fathomable idea of how I got there. And the nurse wouldn’t tell me shit. No matter how much I tried to get her to break, she wouldn’t.

  We’re now leading into the week before Halloween, and I still don’t know who it was that got me there. I wish I could thank them. You know, possibly buy them a coffee as thanks for making sure I was okay. They didn’t have to, but I’m tremendously glad they did.

  Day in and day out, I find myself growing so tired. Between the taunting laughter and heinous bullying, I can barely stomach the thought of even sitting in on a lecture. Being super glued to my seat, while everyone is laughing at me, isn’t something I want to repeat. It was embarrassing and had my cheeks redder than a ripe tomato.

  The bullying has gotten so terrible and malicious, that I’m doing what I promised I’d never do. I’m considering a transfer after this semester is up, if I can find a college that’ll take me.

  Looky there, I guess Hunter does get what he wants after all.

  Not because I want to, but because I have to. While I could have swung Maverick’s sudden arrival, if we were found out, I can’t risk my child at the hands of these monsters. My fists and temper will only get me so far.

  Maverick’s success depends on me. Instead of allowing my wants and needs to cloud my judgment, as my dad told me after hearing of the incident from Jenna—the little tattletale—I need to think about Maverick’s welfare. His needs. And, like a good mom, for the first time since starting GOU, I am.

  Even if it takes me months, I will find what I’m looking for. It’s simply hard because GOU was at the bottom of my list when it came to colleges, anyway. Not many universities will take financial aid for on-campus daycare.

  My dad already told me that he has Maverick for as long as I need him to, but I can’t rely on my dad forever. It’s nice, don’t get me wrong. To have such support where it is needed. But it’s not who I am, and I absolutely refuse to become that statistic.

  So far, Cassandra has stayed away, but I’m not ignorant. I know that won’t last forever. It’s mostly been her cronies and her eccentric followers who are taunting me.

  Still, enough is enough. I’m not going to get bullied because of a guy I have no interest in. We had a moment, so what? We have a past, too. Unfortunately, I can’t get rid of that. Not that I’d even want to. Maverick wouldn’t be here if I did, and he’s my life.

  This is really no kind of situation I want to bring Maverick into. Justifiably, when January arrives and a new semester begins, I won’t have much of a choice if I don’t get a move on my search. But fuck, I had to beg and plead GOU to allow me in with a toddler, so I can only imagine how the other college—the ones that haven’t already turned me down flat out—will react.

  “Lo,” Jenna says as she comes up behind me. Without a doubt, she notices what’s on my laptop. As predicted, she releases a drawn-out sigh. “You can’t let them win, girl.”

  “Easy for you to say, you’re fucking one of them,” I utter harshly, and then close my eyes and release a huff of air right along with my bitchiness. “Sorry. I’m tired of being tied into knots, and I can’t keep doing this.” The lie rolls swiftly off my tongue.

  “Maybe I can ta—” She starts, but with a cutting glare from me, doesn’t finish.

  “You are not stirring the pot.” Jenna quickly moves back when I start gathering my things. “That’s all I need is for you to go to Hunter and tell him to keep his pursuivants from bullying me. We’re not in high school anymore, Jen.”

  “Girl, I’m telling you, Hunt has no idea this is even going on.”

  Like I believe that one. I may not be the smartest thing out there, but I was most definitely not born last night. Of
course, Hunter has something to do with the bullying and taunting. He never wanted me here in the first place, and Cassandra’s followers are his followers.

  Ever since this year started and we moved in together, she and I have grown closer. It actually feels like I have a sister again like it did back then. But the fact of the matter is, nothing she says will make this go away. The only thing that will make it stop is if I pack up and go.

  Fuck, she still doesn’t even know I have a son, for crying out loud. A son who will be moving in here if I don’t transfer. She may love me, but she won’t love having a kid around that cramps her style. Jenna is a sexual being. She has a different person warming her bed every other night. More times than not, it’s Easton—and I still don’t know what’s going on there. Not that I even want to. And that just proves the point that GOU just possibly isn’t a good fit.

  “I wish I were one of those people who could learn online. It’d be so much easier,” I mumble in annoyance.

  “Ditto,” she inserts. “But seriously, I’d never lie to you. Hunt has no idea, and I’m sure if he did, he’d put a stop to it.”

  My jaw threatens to unhinge. “Who do you think started all this? It certainly wasn’t the preacher down on Raleigh street.”

  Tossing my bag over my shoulder, I slam my laptop closed and grab it and a few other university brochures to skim through during class.

  Now that I’ve decided to look for a different option, I need to move as hurriedly as possible. Deadlines on mid-year college transfers require a lot of paper and weeks of sitting in limbo—at least when you use financial aid.

  As I go to pass Jenna, her tiny, soft hand catches my arm and pulls me to a stop. The moment my eyes meet hers, I can tell that a Jen-Jen moment is about to come, and I need to get out of here. Tears are blurring in her eyes, nearly falling off her long bottom lashes.

  “I can’t lose you again, Lo,” she sniffles, shaking her head back and forth. “I just can’t.”