KING: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Elite Royal Academy Book 1)

by L. J. Woods

  He sits back in his chair. “And why the fuck would you do that?”

  There’s a lump in my throat and I don’t want to say it. “I thought I was going to lose you.” I don’t give it up that easy. “What are you doing in The Grove anyway?”

  “What do you think I’m doing?”

  Smug prick. “How did you know where I was?”

  “I gave Willow my word that I would bring you back, in exchange for knowing where you are.”

  “For what? Why did you come? I thought I was nothing to you.”

  “What? I told my dad that horseshit so you wouldn’t be on his radar,” Damien says this as if it’s obvious. “I didn’t want him knowing about you. About us. I called you when you left but you didn’t answer. Went to your house but the Arhibalds said you weren’t home. I felt like something was up so that’s when I pulled Willow to the side.”

  “Well…" I shift in the bed, pain ringing through my side. I wince. "You’re not going to be able to uphold your side of the bargain.”

  “And why’s that?”

  “I’m never going back to Eden.”

  “Coward.”

  My jaw clenches. I just jumped in front of a gun and he’s calling me a coward? “Watch it.”

  “So you’re going to stay here and slum it up with Zane in The Grove? Maybe he’ll get the job done next time.”

  “You’re a dick.”

  “I know.” He leans in. “But you're so fucking stubborn. You don’t take my shit and it’s annoying.”

  Damien’s eyes land on my lips. That look still gives me goosebumps but I’m not having it. “Gee, thanks.”

  “It makes me want to do better." He rolls his eyes, a twitch of a smirk. "Or some stupid fucked up shit like that. And that’s why you gotta come back.”

  “You want me to come back for you? You've been trying to get me out of Eden since day one."

  “I thought you had something on my family. That you were trying to tear us down. It’s not every day a girl like you walks into ERA like she owns the place. When the Huangs kept asking about you, I started to think something was up.”

  Was? “Something is up Damien.” I lean on my elbows, ignoring the pain. “Cindy Huang knows something about my parents. I know it. She has a whole file on my mom and she gets super aggressive when I ask about it.”

  Damien raises an eyebrow but I continue, “I don’t know what it is.” My eyes scan the stained boards in the ceiling. “I mean, a non-profit lawyer and a journalist died in an accidental house fire. How important could they be?”

  “Shit, Jo.” With my eyes back on Damien, he rubs his chin, glancing down at his shoes. “You mean you really don’t know?”

  The look on his face makes my heart sink. I’m not sure I can take more bad news. “What is it?”

  Putting my hand in his, he takes a second before he continues, but I’m already starting to feel like I can’t breathe.

  He sighs, "The fire wasn’t accidental.”

  “Quit being stubborn.” Damien holds a spoon to my mouth, but I’m not liking what it's holding. “You don’t like French onion soup?”

  “Don’t like the smell of it either.” I grimace, white sheets ruffling around my naked body when I try to sit up.

  Damien’s taking his instructions from the doctor like he's a medic on duty. Doc says I’ll recover soon as long as I take it easy. The damage is minor. A trail of stitches and bandages some of the only clues that I'd suffered a gunshot wound.

  Regardless, I don't want to go back to Eden Gardens. Not right away. Not ever. So Damien did the next best thing that came to mind. He got a room at one of those fancy hotels near the airport between Eden Gardens and The Grove.

  Of course, Damien made sure to get the best room available. Top floor. King bed. Fluffy sheets. Fluffier towels. He ordered room service for food to take with my medication but he’s still got a lot to learn about my tastebuds.

  “Fine. I’ll get you something else.” He reaches for his phone, stripped down to his boxers. "But you gotta eat, Rowland."

  “Pho.” Smiling I can already taste the comforting savoury broth.

  Damien pauses, his dark hair a mess from rolling around in bed with me for hours. "French onion soup is too much but pho isn't?” I nod and he shakes his head, a smirk on his face before he taps on his phone.

  The bedroom gives us a view of planes arriving and departing. A TV hangs from the white ceiling in front of us but we haven't turned it on, my eyes locked on a Boeing heading for the clouds. The dark walls in the room are both luxurious and calming. An upgrade from the hospital's sterile, white environment.

  I'm still not over what Damien said in the hospital room. I was still paralyzed from shock when the doctor came in to discharge me. Unable to digest his instructions, Damien was there to take it all in. He even stopped off at the pharmacy along the way.

  It's a side to Damien I've never seen before.

  “Didn’t take you for a caretaker.” My eyes turn to him as he grabs one of the dozen pillows we threw off the bed. He tucks it under my head before grabbing the leftover soup from the glass side table.

  His head falls against the leather headboard. "You took an actual bullet for me." Moon-like eyes bounce around my face, tingles joining the burn in my abs. "I'm repaying the favour."

  “Well, you only get one.” My head sinks into the feathers, my eyes positioned on the clouds. “Don’t let it get to that next time.”

  He chuckles and even with a gunshot wound, it stirs my insides. "Not that many bullets flying around Eden,” he says.

  I've only been gone a few days but the sound of that town still makes my mouth bitter. "Not a good enough reason to go back."

  He pulls the spoon from his mouth, one dark eyebrow up. "What's that supposed to mean?"

  “Why should I go back to Eden? You said it yourself, I’m better off—”

  “What? Here? With your backstabbing BFF?" I must have hit a nerve because he's clenching his bowl of soup hard enough that his knuckles turn white.

  "Oh, and you're a saint?"

  He stares into his bowl, swirling around the spoon. "If it wasn't for me, Zane would've had his way."

  "And if it wasn't for me you'd be nursing a gunshot wound." Shifting in the bed, my eyes narrow at Damien. "Wait, what happened to Zane?"

  "What, you're actually worried about that asshole?" He doesn't look at me, his nostrils flaring like I've offended him by asking that question. "He won't bother you anymore."

  A flashback comes to mind. He's said these words before. I move my head until I'm in front of his bowl. “Did you do the same thing to Zane that you did to Luca?”

  “Luca was out of line and got what was coming to him. As for Zane, I gave him what I promised. I told him if he didn't get the fuck out of here I'd come after him with all the money in the world to see him get locked up for good.”

  “You threatened a person of colour with jail time?”

  “I—well yeah…considering the circumstances.” His lips twist, spoon dropping in the soup. “But I also gave him nine grand and a one-way ticket down south with a place to stay. I don’t think he’ll be back.”

  It takes me a second to digest what Damien is saying. Zane left The Grove. His domain.

  “Well, all the more reason to stay here,” I say.

  "His friends went with him." He gets up and it's hard not to look at his tight ass when he does. "So you can stop daydreaming about that orgy."

  Prick.

  Bowl in hand he walks around the corner to the open bathroom sink. There's still stains of blood on his skin, that morning replaying in my mind as the bowl clanks in the sink.

  Wait, did he say they left? Both of them?

  There's a lump in my throat while his sentence settles in my mind. They all left without me. They didn't even come to check on me.

  Damien might be right. Why do I want to stay in The Grove when I'm not sure anyone here ever cared about me at all.

  When he's back
in eyesight, he leans against the wall. He swoops a hand through his dark strands before he tugs on his jaw. Hesitating, he crosses his arms over his bare chest. I can almost make out the gears moving in his head but it's like he's stopping himself from saying something.

  A minute goes by, a pang in my core the longer I stare at his almost naked body. He lets out an exhale, eyes wandering over my body tucked into the sheets. "So, what'll it be?"

  Cocking an eyebrow I meet his gaze. "What will what be?"

  "Are you coming back to Eden or should I drop you off at the Glendale crackhouse?"

  "God, you’re such a dick." My eyebrows knit together but he doesn't seem bothered. “I killed someone, remember? And all of Eden knows it and that’s your fault too. I don’t just get to come back from that.”

  “For fucks sake Jo, you didn’t kill anybody!” His fists clenched, his forehead hits the wall before he looks back at me. “How were you supposed to know you had a bad supply? You’re not an idiot. Quit feeling sorry for yourself.”

  I’m piecing together what he’s saying as quickly as I can.

  I hate his tone. Hate the way he has to be so mean but no one’s ever said it like that. Even then, I’ve blamed myself for so long that it doesn’t even sound right.

  “But—”

  “And I didn’t tell Lea shit!” he cuts me off, strained voice getting louder. “Which reminds me, I’m getting sick of your assumptions.”

  “You can’t blame me for having them!”

  "I'm asking you to come back with me, you know you’re better off in Eden." His arms drop to his side. "You’re smart so start acting like it.”

  “I am!” Now I’m yelling. “That’s how I know life’s not as easy for me as it is for you. If I go back to Eden, I’ll be stuck with the Archibalds. Lea will be out to get me. No one there cares.”

  "Like I said, you're smarter than that." Dropping his arms he turns around, pushing his boxers off his tall, fit frame. I'm still in awe that a guy my age looks the way Damien does. He looks over his shoulder, his skin smooth and inviting. "You know I'll take care of everything. I'm not going to convince you any more than I have. Give me an answer when I'm done. I have your blood to wash off."

  The sound of his shower fills the room, my head hits the pillow. Damien's an asshole but he might be right. He's taken care of so much already, but is he saying he'll be by my side back in Eden? Can I hold him to that? He's Damien King and it feels like I'm making another deal with the devil.

  Going back to Eden means I'll be with someone who truly cares. Willow. And if she sent Damien to find me, that means she doesn't want me far away, even if it's better for her. Going back to Eden also means a better shot at a scholarship for a good university. One that I could never access from The Grove. That also means I'll be at the mercy of Lea and the Archibalds. Can I trust Damien to handle things?

  Can I trust him at all?

  The fire wasn’t accidental.

  His words make my body stiffen but there's one more thing we need to discuss before I make my decision. When I asked how he knew, he said Lea told him after the spiked coffee incident at MOCHA. Said she read the police report and she had an inkling I didn't know. As such, it was ammo. There has to be more to that though.

  The shower stops, and when Damien is back in view, he's looking more irresistible than when he left. He has a towel around his waist, water drizzling down his body like he barely dried off.

  "Do you know anything else about the fire?" My eyes trail the droplets of water streaming down his abs. God, even the mystery surrounding my parents isn't enough to stop my dirty thoughts.

  "If I knew more, you'd know." That swoop of hair hangs over his blue eye. "Doubt you'll be able to figure it all out from The Grove."

  He has a point. A very valid point. Yet there's something that still holds me back. A sigh escapes my lips, “Damien, I don’t even know if I can trust you."

  “When I want something I don’t take it lightly." His chest drops, making his way over. "I'll handle Lea. I’ll handle the Archibalds."

  “Fine!" There's so much more in Eden that I need to do. If I don't go back I'll be closing the door on so many answers. So many possibilities. If Damien's by my side like he says he is, this could all be worth it. “But not for you.”

  “No?” The bed sinks under the weight of his body as he climbs on, crawling towards me. He pulls the blankets back, revealing my naked body to him. A growl comes next, “Not even a little bit?”

  Damien's finger trails my left leg, circling my knee as he plants kisses on the other. His touch sends the butterflies in my stomach in circles and I'm biting my lip, but I don't give in. Never. "Not even a little bit."

  He positions his head between my legs. A spot that's becoming his favourite. “Not even if I invite you to the masquerade?"

  “Damien King wants to take me to the ball?" I can’t imagine us at a school dance. And now, here he is asking me to be his date. I guess all it took was a gunshot.

  “If you’ll have me." He nibbles the inside of my thigh, my core already longing for his touch.

  I laugh, his kisses brushing a ticklish spot. “Lea’s going to freak out.”

  “I know.” He looks up at me, taking my breath away for the millionth time. “But we're not thinking about her right now.” Climbing up my body, he leans in. “Right now I’m going to remind you why you’re coming back to Eden.” With one last look around my face, our lips connect again.

  Pulling the towel from his waist, I know there's no stopping us once Damien's on top of me. He turns into an untamed animal, primal and urgent. But there's a gentleness to his touch this time. I'm not sure if it's because of my wound or if something in him changed, but it's new. Consoling.

  While he usually bites and pulls at my skin, marking me where he seems fit, this time he keeps his eyes on mine. He's watching every expression, catching every moan as I react to his stiffness inside me. When he makes me come, his staff bottomed out against my wall, he presses a pillow into my side. The soft pressure combined with the sheer ecstasy of my orgasm dulls the pain of my spasming abs.

  This is the closest we've ever come to having more than sex. Whatever we're doing feels like an R&B song. A love poem. And I want that feeling again and again.

  We spend the weekend in similar horizontal positions. Vegging out in the lavish room between gentle sex and Damien playing nurse. When it's time to leave, Damien softens the blow by taking me shopping for the dance.

  It's not until two women are tying up my dress behind a velvet curtain that I realize this is the beginning of the Damien King experience.

  “If she likes the Valentino and the Jimmy Choos I'll take both,” his voice comes from outside the purple curtains. “She can decide later. Excuse me, I said peppermint tea, not whatever this dirty water is."

  Damien keeps surprising me. He’s still an asshole but an attentive one. Still demanding and spoiled but if he wants to show that he cares, this a hell of a start.

  “You look beautiful, miss,” one of the ladies says, she’s staring at me in the mirror, awaiting my response. “Do you want your boyfriend to see?”

  “No.” I shake my head, amazed at my reflection. “He can wait for this.”

  Twenty-Eight

  Damien’s Lambo comes to a lull in the Archibalds’ driveway.

  “I can’t believe you convinced me to come back here.” I look out the window, the mansion welcoming me back to luxury.

  “I did offer you my dad’s beach house near the Acres,” he says.

  “Yeah but that would mean leaving Willow at ERA.” I try to make out if I can see her from a window. “And there’s no way I’m letting them get the satisfaction of chasing me out.”

  Damien reaches behind us for a long bag in the back seat, the one containing my new dress. He won't tell me how much it cost. Considering the state of the store and some of the price tags I got a peep at, something tells me it's worth more than everything I’ve got.

  I
turn to look back at Damien and he already has his eyes on me. “You ready?”

  I nod, sighing, “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

  The only thing making me excited about going inside is seeing Willow. She spent the last few days at Bella's but I told her I’d be coming back tonight and to meet me here.

  Damien walks with me to the front door, and a minute after ringing the bell, Vincent answers. He eyes us up. “Good. Come.”

  “Uh, I’m going to check on Willow.” I attempt to make my way to the stairs but Vincent cuts me off.

  “That wasn’t a question,” he says.

  “Jesus, give her a second Geeves.” Damien pushes me aside, getting in his face.

  While shopping for dresses he took the liberty of buying us a change of outfits. A black hoodie and matching joggers for him, a black maxi dress for me that's easy to get out of.

  Vincent smiles, giving a sarcastic, “How adorable.”

  “Damien?” A voice comes from the living room. One I recognize. Damien’s brows furrow when he glances back at me. Seems like he recognizes that one too. “Damien is that you?”

  “Dad?” Damien takes my hand, leading me into the living room, ignoring Vincent.

  When we get into the living room, we find Nancy, Eric and Sebastien sitting around the coffee table. Glasses of wine in front of them.

  Damien’s grip tightens, and I look at him in time to see his angular jaw clench. “What are you doing here?”

  “Your question is insulting,” Sebastien says standing up, his eyes moving from Damien to me. His suit is full plaid today, white shirt and red tie, “I thought something was going on between you and this girl. When both of you disappeared I knew I was right.”

  Damien chuckles. “You’re here to reprimand me for going on a date?” It’s weird hearing Damien consider the last few days as a date, but for us, it's fitting. It still makes the flutters in my stomach go wild and there’s warmth in my heart. “I thought you wanted me to make her feel welcomed. Which I did. Over and over again.” I ignore that part.

  "Didn't know you had a thing for orphans," Sebastien smirks, it almost looks like Damien's. My stomach twists. “Turns out, Miss Rowland isn't a fit for the Archibald family. She'll be back in The Grove next week, isn’t that right?” He turns towards Nancy and Eric.