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

by L. J. Woods

  The excitement from the fashion show buzzes around us while Ray eyes me up. I hope she doesn’t have a knife in her boot. But a small smile tugs at her face and that makes relief fill my chest. “I miss you too," she groans.

  “So, you forgive me?” Her smile is contagious because I can feel my face beaming.

  “Help me edit my next book and we’ll call it even.”

  I take that inch and wrap my arms around her. “You got it, girl.” It takes her a couple of minutes before she’s had enough and pushes me off. Then it hits me. “Does that mean we can like, double date?”

  She groans.

  “Vacations!”

  Another groan but that little smile still stays on her face. “Baby steps.”

  “Weekend getaways?”

  Ray finally breaks, giving me a small laugh as someone rushes by us, almost knocking into her.

  “Sorry! The show begins in five!” Students I recognize from my fashion class run behind her. "Everything is missing!”

  Ray's phone chimes. She looks at the screen, then cringes. “So, Christian says they’ll meet us inside.”

  “No, there’s no way I’m going in there after I dropped out of the course.” More students zip by me and with how chaotic things are, I'm starting to think I've dodged a bullet.

  “Come on, you can start making it up to me by keeping me company.” She links my arm in hers. “If we’re suffering, we’re suffering together.”

  Now I’m the one who groans.

  Once inside the main room, it looks more glamorous than outside. Velvet and gold chairs line each side of the regal ballroom, leaving a strip of marble floor as the runway. Lights bounce around the dim room, shining on the golden crown moulding above. Besides the students running around, this place looks built for royalty.

  Ray and I grab a couple of seats towards the door. While we catch up on the last couple of months, it feels like forever waiting for the guys. It's almost eight-thirty, the show scheduled to start at eight. There's no sign of the boys. No sign of the models either.

  After another twenty minutes, we head for the doors as Hera Tsang makes her way to the middle of the room. She looks hesitant. Nervous. She doesn’t have a mic, so she yells to the crowd, stopping us at the door. “Evening ladies, gentlemen and those beyond the binary.” She fidgets with her glasses. “It is in my utmost horror that I’m here to tell you the show will not go on as planned this evening.”

  The crowd starts to murmur, some people getting up and leaving.

  “I knew I shouldn't have wasted my time on students.”

  “Please, do not blame the students,” she says. “In a rare turn of events, all the designs for tonight have disappeared. We are doing our best to…” The lights cut off, Hera’s words trailing.

  My hand goes to Ray’s wrist like I’m hoping she’ll save me from whatever’s about to happen.

  “The fuck is going on?” she mutters, her body tensing.

  Then that familiar beat drops.

  That melody we spent all weekend working on fills the room. Purple lights turn on in time to see Christian escort Hera towards the black curtains at the end of the runway.

  Then my voice streams out of the stereos lining the walls.

  Gasps and whispers erupt as one of the models saunters out in …

  “Holy shit.” My grip tightens on Ray. “That’s my design.” One of the ten I’ve been working my ass off on all week. And before I can digest what’s happening, another model walks out in another one of my designs.

  Ray turns her eyes to me. “I thought you lost the show.”

  “I did!” Looking around for an explanation, some of the guests who stood to leave, return to their seats. Flashes go off and the crowd begins to clap as another one of my designs appears on the runway.

  “Well, it sure as hell doesn’t look like it,” Ray looks around the room with me before a smirk comes on her face. “Actually, people are soaking this bougie shit up.”

  The models time their walk to the music, twirling in my outfits, showing off the goods. They move to my vocals like it's part of the show. I'm frozen. In awe.

  It all looks stunning.

  Cameras roll up to the stage, circling the outfits, getting every inch as the models work with them, showing off my designs.

  It’s not until Isaac follows the last design out that I start to piece together what’s happening.

  Him. Isaac is happening.

  Unlike Hera, he has a mic in his hand as the models circle him, the crowd going wild as all ten designs make their last strut around the stage. “I want to thank you all for being part of my song’s debut.”

  “Who’s the designer?” Someone calls from the crowd. The audience cheers them on.

  Isaac smiles towards me, my heart thumping against my chest. “I thought you’d never ask. If she wants to stand, she can.”

  Hesitating, I look around the room, heads turning and twisting like they’re all dying to see who’s behind this.

  Ray pushes me forward guiding me towards Isaac and the crowd goes wild. Glancing at Hera, she gives me a stern look, but that stoic face gives a hint of a smile and … I’m so overwhelmed I’m shaking.

  “Go!” Ray urges with another shove.

  Someone in the front row beckons Isaac closer, whispering in his ear and when I get there, he turns to me and smiles. “Take your bow, my Queen.”

  I’m dazzled by the glimmer in his eyes, beaming with pride. Instead, I wrap my arms around him and lock him in a kiss.

  Isaac is savage. He gets what he wants even if that means swindling his way … or stealing an entire fashion show. And this time, he did it for me.

  When we part, he has a wide smile on his face before he turns to the crowd again. “Meet Lexi Lyon, the designer behind these creations. The genius behind these designs, those vocals. My light in the darkness and …" He chuckles, those eyes roaming my face. "The love of my fucking life.”

  The crowd cheers but everything around me blurs, his words making this moment magic.

  This gesture tells me I'm not in this alone.

  Not anymore.

  “Thank you,” I whisper, staring into his eyes as people clap

  Isaac’s lips land by my ear. “How about you thank me backstage?”

  Thirty-Three

  Lexi

  “Champagne, and not the cheap stuff.”

  Thanking the waiter, I smile at her before she saunters away.

  Isaac, Dom, Christian and Ray sit around the white-clothed table, a dim light shining on our spread of food. Pastelillos. Mofongo. Empanadillas. Tostones.

  I didn’t expect to be here celebrating after the school fashion show. But here I am, with a massive smile on my face.

  Isaac reaches in his blazer pocket and I know what he’s about to do, so I slap my hand on the table. “Not a chance. I’m paying.”

  Tonight, we’re celebrating. And I’m footing the bill.

  “I must be hallucinating from all the drugs I've taken over the years.” Isaac raises a brow. “Because I could’ve sworn Hera didn’t give you that fifty grand.”

  “She didn’t.”

  Hera Tsang congratulated me on my unique designs. But considering how Isaac went about displaying them, she couldn’t give me the reward she promised other designers. Especially when they have to plan another show.

  While she didn’t reprimand me, she did help me out. “Hera introduced me to Flo Laroux," I tell my group. My family. "And she invited me to Paris to work at the freaking House of Laroux.”

  The champagne arrives right on time. Dom. Like the one Isaac popped all over my chest at that party. I don’t hesitate before popping it now, letting it spew all over his shirt.

  His eyes narrow, his arms swinging to the side before I reach for a napkin, dabbing at his muscular chest.

  Don't worry, this bottle isn't for me. Or Isaac. The only thing we’ve been getting plastered on is our art and each other. But for the rest of my family? It’s all theirs.
>
  “Fuck yeah!” Ray exclaims. While we still have work to do, it's clear we’re on track to becoming closer than ever. “Congrats, Lexi! That’s huge!”

  “You already know how to run a business,” Dominic encourages but I don't miss Isaac kicking him as I pour them all a glass.

  “Thought you wanted to be Miss Independent,” Isaac says. When I look at him, his face doesn’t seem as gleeful as the rest. “How you gonna do that by working under a fashion house?”

  “Well, I thought you’d never ask.” I smile. Wide. “We negotiated on the spot. Something you taught me. I’ll work alongside their brand instead of for them. Which means, my name will be right next to their logo." Placing the bottle down I use my hands for exaggeration, swiping it across my face like there's a label in the air. "MURK by Laroux and Lexi. But you know, with the cool little ‘X’ in the middle.”

  “Atta girl,” Isaac smiles, but then he looks down, his smile fading. And I know why.

  “Come with me." Sitting in my seat next to his, I take his hand. "I couldn’t have done this without you and how are we gonna make more music if we’re apart?” We’ve only found this thing between us, I’m not ready to let this go. But I’m not ready to let my dreams go either.

  “When do you leave?” he asks.

  The others pretend to talk, giving me the space to hash this out with Isaac. “This weekend.”

  “This weekend?" He sinks into his chair. "I still have a ton of work to do on the single.”

  “Do it in Paris.”

  “Without my studio?”

  “There are studios in Paris.”

  “So you want me to buy a place with a studio in Paris? Just to be with you?” He cocks a brow.

  “We can split a place, one we can both call our own.”

  “Now I’m jealous of your independence," Ray cuts in before she mutters. "I’m still staying at Perez’s."

  Christian catches it. “Not like I didn’t change around the entire building for you.”

  Ray scoffs. “Still reeks of nepotism.”

  I swing my eyes back to Isaac, Dom digging into more food while Christian and Ray go back and forth. Squeezing Isaac’s hand, I find his gaze. “Let’s do our walk of fame from Eden. Your career’s taking off. My career is too. The timing is perfect.”

  “Why?” Isaac asks. “Why do you want me to come with you?”

  I blink. Is he kidding?

  A smirk comes on his face when he brings his lips closer. “Say it.”

  I pause, my eyes bouncing around his face. Smooth. Chiselled. Perfect. “I want you to come to Paris with me because … I’m in love with you.” The table goes silent, his smirk spreading. “I knew that for a while. Truth is, it scares me and—”

  His lips press to mine, cutting off my words, my cheeks between his palms. The world fades around me again.

  And that makes everything perfect.

  Worth it.

  All the pain. All the trauma. All the fucking drama.

  Ray cheers us on, and I’m surprised to hear Dom chiming in.

  Christian chuckles. “Playboy forever, my ass.” Isaac keeps his lips on me but I hear an, “Ow!” From his side of the table.

  He speaks against my lips. “Our darkness is my light.” The words in his song. Our song.

  “And you’re my dark King.”

  “I guess we have some packing to do.”

  We hardly wait until everyone else has finished their champagne before we hop in the town car and head back to the mansion.

  We’re all over each other in the back seat, his hands on my ass, around my neck, my body grinding against his. We’re still as frantic and rough as we always are and that will never change. The fire between us won’t ever die.

  But as we pull up to the mansion, a red glow coming from the home, there’s a different blaze in sight.

  One that strikes fear back into my heart.

  “Holy shit,” I push off Isaac’s lap, climbing out of the car as soon as it comes to a stop.

  The Johnson mansion is in flames and I don’t mean a small fire. It smells like charcoal and sulphur, heat dancing on my skin. My eyes widen, bursts of fire pushing through broken windows.

  Wait …

  “My designs!” I yell.

  Isaac yells behind me. “My records!”

  We both rush for the doors like fucking idiots, firefighters yelling behind us.

  I’m almost at the blaze when Isaac’s hand lands around my wrist. “No. Fuck it," he says. “I’ve risked a love before and I’m not doing it again.”

  Turning around, my brows furrow. “What about all your stuff? All my stuff?”

  He pulls me close as we watch the carnage around us. “We did it before, we can do it again.”

  “How are you so sure? What if—” His lips press to mine, like this house, his music and everything else means nothing. Like it’s all not burning to shit on the inside.

  “You and I? We’re magic, darkness and light. We always bounce back stronger, and together? We’re unstoppable.” He brings my hand to his thudding chest, warm and hard. “You feel that? You understand?”

  All I can do is press my lips to his again, feeling the magic his touch brings me. When we release, he takes my hand, leading me back to the car. “To Paris then?”

  “Lord almighty …” A familiar voice comes from behind us.

  When we turn around, Lionel Johnson stares at the house in horror, his luggage behind him.

  His eyes fall to the ground, his brows lowering. And when he crouches to pick up that glimmering thing next to his shoe, my heart stops.

  He takes the ring he gave my mom in his hand and now we all know who’s behind this. This wasn’t an accident at all.

  He looks at me, then Isaac, then the car that’s awaiting us.

  “Where are you going? To a hotel? I'll come with you.”

  Isaac hesitates before he stands tall, his hand gripping to mine. “We’re leaving. The country.”

  “Now?” He looks confused, his face scrunching. His hand shakes, the ring with it. I’ve never seen Lionel Johnson so low. Even when my mom left, he held regal and stoic. Now, he can hardly breathe. “The house—the house is burning down, Isaac!”

  Isaac’s eyes drop to the ring between his fingers. “From the looks of it, it’s not my problem.”

  “You need to stay.” Lionel takes a step forward. "I need you to help me rebuild this and fix … whatever the fuck this shit is! You’re not serious. You can't leave now. We need to talk about how to get through this."

  "You know the best way to get over something?" Isaac turns, patting his dad on the back as he leads me to the car. "Get under something else. You can thank me later.”

  Once inside, Lionel drops to his knees as Isaac’s arm comes around me. “You’re really just leaving him?” I ask, my eyes on the blaze. My past. The wildest ride of my life.

  Isaac pulls me until I’m straddling him, looking into those deep, dark browns. His warm chest hits mine, thudding like a metronome. “At Last” by Etta James comes over the car stereo, bringing that burn to my throat. That blur in my eyes.

  “He had his chance. You’re my light now.” His words roll through me like the blaze rolling through our past, burning our walls, our demons. “And nothing’s changing that. Not him. Not this fucked-up town. Love exists, and it’s with you, baby.”

  What’s Next?

  Thank you for reading Isaac & Lexi’s wild ride.

  Want more from Eden Gardens?

  Read Christian and Rayne’s Story

  (Elite Royal University)

  Read Jo and Damien’s Story

  (Elite Royal Academy)

  Dirty Dark Playlist

  Listen on Spotify

  - At Last - Etta James -

  - Hit Me Like a Man - The Pretty Reckless -

  - A Prince - Jorja Smith -

  - Bad Blood - Nao -

  - WTF Are We Talking For? - Labrinth -

  - Shutter Island - Jessie Reye
z -

  - Ex - Yulia Duzy -

  - Sunshine - Bibi Bourelly -

  - Love to Love You Baby - Donna Summer -

  - Dang! - Mac Miller, Anderson .Paak -

  - Work - Charlotte Day Wilson -

  - Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby - Cigarettes After Sex -

  - After The Storm - Kali Uchis, Tyler the Creator, Bootsy Collins -

  Also by L.J Woods

  Dark College Bully Romance

  Oh My God (Saint Angels Academy #1)

  Speak of the Devil (Saint Angels Academy #2)

  Dark High School Bully Romance

  KING (Elite Royal Academy #1)

  KNIGHT (Elite Royal Academy #2)

  PAWN (Elite Royal Academy #3)

  About The Author

  Love steamy romantic suspense? What about deliciously dark tales that’ll have you dripping … I mean gripping to your Kindle?

  L.J. Woods is an author of young adult and new adult contemporary dark romance. Her full-length novels feature fierce heroines and irresistible bad boy anti-heroes (I love me some alpha-holes!). She has a burning passion for weaving tales with diverse and complicated characters. Her angsty books highlight the darkness in us all.