Dirty Dark Prey: A Dark College Bully Romance (Elite Royal University Duet Book 2)

by L. J. Woods

  And I love it.

  This week is a blur.

  Between finishing my project and whatever the fuck it is Isaac and I are doing, I haven’t had a second to breathe.

  Photos of Doctor Donovan are all over ERU like he’s some sort of saint when he was anything but.

  Missing.

  The only thing that's missing is justice.

  He deserved to die.

  A smile twitches at my lips, my eyes on the rain pattering against the large glass window overlooking the campus. Then my brows lower, a pang in my chest.

  No wonder we can’t keep our hands off each other.

  I’m as bad as he is.

  Eliana Li Fonti, daughter of the famous Fonti brand continues her guest-lecture. It should thrill me. I should be catching her every word, but I’m too busy watching the hockey team run drills in the rain.

  My head tilts, water rolling over Isaac’s bare chest and I only wish I was out there with him. Us and no one else. That's when we finally let out all our pain, anger and aggression on each other until there's nothing but pleasure. Bliss.

  Chaos.

  “Miss Lyon?”

  My head whips towards the front of the lecture hall.

  Where the hell did the rest of my class go?

  “These are yours, si?”

  I blink, Eliana Li Fonti’s gray eyes on me. Holy, shit, she’s speaking to me.

  She stares at me in a stunning burnt orange cape, shimmering like copper. She holds up the designs I handed Hera at the beginning of the class.

  Unstick your tongue from the roof of your mouth and speak, you idiot.

  “Si,” I wince. “I mean, yes.”

  She looks at it again. “Edgy doesn’t begin to describe the dark heap of sorrow that you’ve created.”

  My shoulders drop.

  My new designs are darker than my usual stuff. Black. Leather. Chains. Rope. Sharp lines and asymmetrical designs. It’s like what I’m wearing now. A leather pencil skirt and a cut-off corset. All black. My regular ideas haven't inspired me. They're too over-the-top and glam for how I feel. Changing my style is the only thing that’s kept me focused.

  And now Eliana Li Fonti hates it.

  “I love it,” she says, with no hint of a grin and I’m not sure I hear her right until I stand up. “And I love this.” She waves her blue nails around my outfit, stopping at my shoes. Black studded Valentinos. “We will work on your shoes, but I love you. Bueno, you will come to Italy for the internship next month, si?”

  My head whips to Hera. She leans against the podium, arms crossed. She looks impressed. Proud. So why don’t I have an answer?

  “Can I think about it?”

  “You’ll what?” Hera pushes off the podium.

  Eliana smiles like I’m a cute puppy. “I’ll give you both a moment.”

  Hera thanks her before pulling me aside. “Now, I don’t think you’re ready, but this is the chance of a lifetime, Lexi. La Fonti doesn’t just hand out memberships.”

  She waits for an answer and I think of one fast, even though it’s far from the truth. “I, uh, I don’t want to miss the fashion show.” Hera looks at me like I’m speaking gibberish. “The ERU fashion show pulls in so much attention that it’ll kickstart my career if I’m featured.”

  “If you’re featured,” Hera reminds me. “You have to be at the top of the class for that, Lexi and you’re not.”

  “Not yet. But if it’s my fashion show that’s running at the end of the year, it can change so much for me and my brand. I don’t want to be stuck in someone else’s fashion house.” Now that’s not a lie. Then I call to Eliana, “Can I think about it?”

  Eliana shrugs before she swings her card at me and even that’s beautiful. A delicate cream colour with her name calligraphed in shiny rose gold. “You can, but do not wait too long.”

  After class, a smile sits on my face the entire way back to the Johnson mansion. As I get closer, it dawns on me. If I leave for Italy next month, I’ll leave Dom. I’ll leave Isaac.

  So I’ll talk to them. This is important to me. We'll figure this out.

  I’m preparing what I want to say to Isaac as I pull into the house. Will he even care? Does it even matter what he thinks?

  My car slows, my foot on the brake.

  I narrow my eyes, trying to make out the scene.

  Better question. Why is half a department store sprawled across the Johnson driveway?

  Dior. Balenciaga. Gucci.

  “What the hell,” I mutter, putting my car in park and staring out at the designer carnage in front of me.

  “How could you!?” It’s only when I hear that familiar yell that I’m plunked down to earth. “After everything?”

  My mom stands at the front door, her fist banging against it, and I’ve seen this before. Sometimes it’s not this dramatic, but it all means the same thing. Another one bites the dust.

  I never saw her fucking up what she had with Lionel Johnson. Isaac and I planned to do it for them. At least we meant to but all we do is end up all over each other.

  “Lio! Please!” She bangs her fist against the door and my eyebrows rise to my forehead.

  Cassandra Lyon is not one to beg.

  As I approach the door, picking up bags, heels and jewelry along the way, the smell of pot wafts through the air as my mom falls to her knees, sobbing.

  What the fuck happened?

  Moving my eyes up to the second floor, it all starts to make sense.

  Isaac smiles down at my mom, leaning out the window like he’s on a fucking yacht.

  Did he make a move without me?

  Was this his plan all along?

  Or is this still revenge?

  Whatever the case, this move ruins my entire fucking life.

  Twenty-Two

  Lexi

  Should’ve known better.

  Isaac winks from his window but my glare only worsens.

  Leaving my mom to her theatrics at the door, I round the building to the side entrance. My mom calls my name but right now my mind is on one track.

  Once I’m in the house, I bump into Anna, a big suitcase wheeling behind her. “You’re leaving?”

  She jumps when I speak before she wipes away a tear with the palm of her hand and dries it on her jeans. “I suppose so. Lionel told me since I’m Cassandra’s hire, I can leave with her.”

  “What about your school?” I ask. “You took the year off for this.”

  “My silly risk, I suppose. Hey—” She must notice the scowl on my face. Or my cheeks turning red. “Keep your chin up, yeah? I’ll be okay. I’ve been through worse.”

  “Lexi?” Lionel’s voice comes from behind Anna. He comes towards us with a tall glass of red liquid in his hand and Anna continues for the door. Before I can call out to her, Lionel speaks, “I don’t think—”

  “Lionel!” My mom’s voice comes from behind me, pleading to her angry lover but I’m not sticking around for this.

  I climb the steps to the second floor, my skin so hot you can likely see the steam coming from my ears.

  His room doors are open when I push on them. The minute I step in, he turns around.

  Isaac leans against the sill in that same smug manner he’s always in when he’s doing something to push me to the edge. The fact that he’s wearing a silk cheetah print shirt unbuttoned to his lower abs only makes this harder. And when he does that thing with his tongue between his lips, I have to remember what he did.

  Betrayed me.

  “I thought we were a team!” Walking up towards him, I pat on his chest. He has no idea what this means for me. “We were supposed to plan this together!” My push almost makes him stumble backward, the booze on his breath making it easy to figure out why. He looks over his shoulder through the window then the ground before he narrows his eyes into mine. “Now Anna’s out of a job and—”

  “Thought you wanted to be Miss Independent?” His palms come to my shoulders, twisting me around. Now my ass is against th
e sill as he leans me towards the ground. I grip onto his shirt. “I did what we wanted. I broke them up. Why the fuck are you so mad about it?”

  I can feel the wind blowing my hair but I’m too angry to care. He might as well push me out the window at this point. “Like most of the things you plan, this was a bad fucking idea.” His firm grip on me makes my stomach tighten, but I push past it. “You fucked up, Isaac. Did you do this to get back at me?”

  His brows furrow and with another push on his chest, I’m standing tall. “Is that what you think?” he asks, rebalancing his step.

  “Lexi!” My mom’s voice comes from outside. “Let’s go! I know a real man who’ll listen to his woman.”

  “Same,” I say, turning around to storm out of his room.

  She's lying, where I'm going will be ten times worse. But I know it hurts Isaac as much as it hurts his dad.

  “Wait, Lex. You don’t have to go,” Isaac says when I’m at his door. “You can stay.”

  Lionel appears at the top of the stairs. “No. She can’t.” He crosses his arms, stepping to the side to let me through. "Lexi, you can leave your car keys at the door."

  When I look over my shoulder, the look Isaac has in his eyes makes this even harder.

  But he did this to us. It’s always his rules. His plan. His way.

  And once again, I’m burnt by Isaac Johnson.

  “Mom, where are we?”

  “I’m only here to get what’s mine.” She doesn’t look my way when she responds, sucking on her cigarette. And with the way her desperate eyes peer at the door, I know it’s not money.

  “You sure that’s what you wanna do?” I thought we’d go further than across the tracks. But it looks like one of my mom’s providers is trying to move their way up to Eden. Not that this place looks like it.

  Mom and I stand at the top of a creaky staircase of a battered down triplex. A couples’ argument comes from the open window below, sirens wailing in the distance.

  A bang rings through my body and I don’t want to know if that was a gunshot. Sure, Queens is questionable to those from Eden, but from what Ray tells me, The Grove is far worse.

  She pounds her fist on the door and … is that a bullet hole?

  “Mom?”

  “Don’t be fucking ungrateful!” she snaps, pointing the ember of her cig between my eyes. It reminds me of all the times she used it before. “If you can stick with me when we’re in a fancy mansion, you can stick with me for one night here.” She pounds on the door again, this time harder.

  It’s never one night. When I open my mouth to tell her that, the front door squeaks open and a man in a pleather jacket smiles back. “Look who came crawling back. Thought you were too good for me, Lyon.”

  Jake. He used to frequent the alleys of my mom’s shows. Never thought they still kept in touch. The drive here is as depressing as his face. A scar running along the side of his temple, a silver tooth at the front.

  “And you brought her too.” Jake eyes my outfit, still in the black ensemble I put together this morning. It’s all I have after Lionel said he’d send our things, but something tells me he won’t be quick on that promise. “How nice.” He peers down the stairs. “Where’s the boy?”

  Glancing at my mom, I wait for an answer too. Instead, she pushes past him into the dingy apartment. He grabs her arm on the way. My mom gasps.

  “Hey!” I warn. Not that I care what happens to my mom after her poor decisions. But I’m tired of men thinking they can put their hands on a woman whenever they want.

  Jake pushes my mom to the floor before his hand comes to my throat. “You got something to say, kid?” He squeezes, making it clear that I don’t.

  “Please,” Mom begs. “It’ll only be a couple of weeks until I can get us on our feet again.”

  A couple weeks?

  I don’t know this guy well, but he’s like the rest of them. Power-hungry. Sleazy. Abusive.

  “Oh, don’t worry.” He lets go of my neck and I wrap my hands around my throat as if I’m trying to expand my airways. “I got your rent right here.” When I look up, he grabs at his crotch, then he glances at me, giving me kissy lips. I wince. “And since you brought company, you’ll be paying for two.”

  “She’s my daughter,” Mom protests.

  “Right. Then make that three.” He pulls her towards the filthy bedroom and slams the flimsy door while I push myself up off the floor.

  I don’t mean to sound prissy but this place looks like the ‘before’ on Pimp my Crib. Orange linoleum. Stripping paint and mouldy walls. I’ll give it to Jake, all that drug money gets him some pretty fancy furniture. A leather sofa, and a massive TV sitting in the centre of boxes of who knows what and empty beer bottles.

  As I look around, it's not long before the creaking of the bed makes me crawl out of there.

  Slamming the front door, I lean my back against it. Squeaks, moans and groans still come through, blending with the fighting couple below. At least back at Isaac’s, my mom’s room was far away from ours. But I’m not there anymore.

  And it’s all his fault.

  All he had to do was consult me on his plan but something tells me this was his plan the entire time. Two birds. One shitty Grove apartment.

  I’m not sure where I’m going when I make it down the stairs. A street light flickers as I approach it. Then a thought hits me as it flicks on again.

  Things do happen for a reason. A smile on my face, I swing my backpack to my front and pull out the card Eliana left. She doesn’t know it but she came at the right time.

  “Helen for Eliana.” The voice that picks up sounds professional. Direct.

  Pacing under the light, I twirl my hair around my finger. “I’m calling about an internship Eliana offered me?”

  “Sorry, the position is filled.”

  “Is there anything else available? Hello?" It’s only when I look at the screen do I realize she’s ended the call.

  Phone in my tight fists, my head falls back to the sky and I let out a loud sound from the depths of me. A painful roar.

  You’re so stupid.

  Dominic wasn’t the reason I held back.

  He was.

  And once again, I’m a fucking idiot for some guy who breaks my heart and ruins my life.

  My pacing quickens under the streetlight and I clutch to my bag as cars slow when they pass. Hondas and Nissans. Buckets with dents in them. Nothing I'd see in Eden.

  My feet stop.

  This isn’t the end for me.

  Silver lining? I’m not far from ERU meaning that getting a place in fashion is still a possibility. If I make it back, I can stay at Christian’s. Or better yet, I can call him to pick me up and I won’t have to stay here at all.

  Taking out my phone, I text my brother, hoping he’s okay.

  Lexi: Where r u? We got kicked out of Lionel’s.

  Time slows as I wait for an answer, my pacing picking up again before my phone vibrates.

  Dom: With the guys! Isaac got me on the team! We’re celebrating!

  Blinking at my phone, it’s hard to believe. Isaac got him on the team, but me?

  A scream comes from behind me, piercing through the night.

  My body stiffens.

  Mom.

  I take off for Jake’s trap house, hoping what I fear isn’t behind that bullet-holed door.

  Isaac’s definitely a King—because he got me royally fucked.

  Twenty-Three

  Isaac

  So I fucked up.

  Is it so hard to believe I tried to do the right thing?

  For Lexi, it is.

  She won’t answer my texts or my calls. And after what Rayne told me, I realize how wrong not consulting Lexi on my plan turned out to be.

  But I have something that’ll make this all better. At least for me, because if I’m being honest, nothing’s been able to scratch that Lexi itch. Not porn, not even her downloaded PleasureChat videos.

  I need her … to be okay. Because if
she’s not, it’s all my fault.

  Tucking the box into my locker, a smile comes to my face. I know Lexi and I know she'll love it.

  “You planning on wearing those after you guys clobber the Tornados?”

  Perez’s voice fills the empty locker room. As usual, I’m late, but now that I’m wearing the ‘C’ on my jersey, I don’t care. Besides, Coach's eyes are on Dom. After boosting Dom to Coach, he spent all his time getting Dom prepped for his first game.

  “Why? You jealous?” I ask, but when I turn around, my gut flips. “Man, you alright?”

  Bandages decorate his head, the clicking of his crutches following him. “Just a concussion and a fracture. Coach says I’ll be able to play next season.”

  My brows furrow, throat drying. “You mean, you’re out for the rest of the year?”

  “Looking like it,” he says, his eyes wandering my jersey. “We’ll see what the Bruins have to say about it. They’ve been keeping a tight eye on me.”

  Shit. “I know you like spending time with your girl and all but I hope you make it back on the team, man. We miss you out there.” Carrying this team on my back is not my thing. It’s his.

  “Do you?” His words make me stop as I pick up my stick, wondering if I really did hear that. Or if that was my subconscious on blast. “‘Cause that hit looked kind of suspect when I played it back.”

  “You record our games?” That’s my first question and when I hear myself, I’m not sure it was the best one. Especially with the way Perez's eyes narrow.

  “For Coach and plays,” he says this like it's obvious before adding, “And for Ray. But for real. It looked planned out. Like after you missed that player you went straight for me.”

  “The fuck are you talking about? You think I give a fuck about this shit? You think I wanna be wearing the captain’s jersey?”

  He balances on one crutch putting out his palm like I’m the one being ridiculous. “Dude, even Lexi sees it.”

  My fist tightens around my stick. “You asked her?”

  “Wanted to make sure the concussion didn’t make me paranoid.”