Unmasked: A Reverse Harem High School Bully Romance (An Evergreen Academy Novel Book 4)

by Ruby Vincent

  We smiled at each other when he pulled back. “I promised the first time we did this that I would go slow and take my time. I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep my promise.”

  “That’s okay.” I draped my arms around his neck. “We can count the last year as going slow.”

  Ezra bent and kissed me again. His mouth remained on mine as he nudged my legs apart. I knew what he was going to do as I slid my hand down between us. Ezra swallowed my gasp when he slipped his fingers into my core. Then I swallowed his.

  I wrapped my hand around his length and stroked, matching his pace as he probed the spot he knew drove me crazy. He picked up speed and my back arched off the bed until I couldn’t maintain our kiss. I moaned as I tugged and stroked him, enticing the most delicious sounds from Ezra. I wanted to make him feel as good as he was making me.

  The sensations tantalizing my body were reaching a fever pitch. He crooked his finger and black spots danced in front of my vision. I knew it was coming and I went faster. I wanted us to go over the edge together.

  “Fuck, Val,” he hissed. “You have no idea the things you do to me.”

  I might have said something in reply, but Ezra hit that spot again and the black spots exploded into bursts of light. A breath after me, I heard him groan and I stroked his length as he rode the wave down.

  “Damn.”

  I laughed breathlessly. “My thoughts exactly.”

  Ezra didn’t have time to recover before I grabbed his shoulders and shoved. He let out a small shout as I flipped him over and straddled him. His hair wasn’t perfect anymore. I pushed back the strands that fell across his face and bit my lip hard when I looked into his eyes. A dark promise of passion and all-consuming lust were held in those obsidian pools.

  Our eyes were locked as he put his hands on my thighs. “Don’t move,” he whispered.

  “I won’t.”

  He didn’t break eye contact as he moved down the bed and positioned himself between my thighs. It was me who closed my eyes as he licked my core. A moan ripped from my throat as my eyes fluttered shut. Ezra’s tongue tasted and probed me until another orgasm rocked my body.

  I slipped off of him and fell boneless at his side. My chest heaved as I struggled to catch my breath. “C-condom,” I got out. “Now.”

  He chuckled. “I kinda like a lady who is bossy in bed.”

  He moved quick but I landed a whack on his arm as he dove for the bag at the bottom of the bed. We were grinning at each other like fools when he came back to me and pressed his body on top of mine. Being with him was what sex should be. I felt safe and comfortable with him. I had fun with him. It was everything I once thought it couldn’t be.

  “I love you, Valentina.”

  “I love you too.”

  Ezra pushed inside of me as I uttered the final word and I lost the capability to speak. We devolved into moans, cries, and pants as he moved. My cries reached their peak as he thrusted hard, and soon, I was brought to a screaming orgasm. My nails dug into his back as he followed me.

  Ezra peppered kisses along my jaw as the room came into focus. He settled next to me and pulled me to him until we were gazing at each other across the pillows, noses brushing.

  “I knew it was going to be good,” he said, “but that was incredible.”

  Giggling, I gave him a peck on the lips. “How big is that box of condoms? ’Cause I’m pretty sure we’re going to need more.”

  “HEY, THAT’S MINE.”

  I smirked at him as I popped his fry in my mouth. “I’ve let you do unspeakable things to me for the last two hours. You can share your fries with me.”

  We were snuggled up in bed, naked as the day we were born, and indulging from the trays of rooms service laid out before us.

  He laughed. “I guess that’s fair. Want to steal my salmon too?”

  “Yes, please.”

  Ezra cut off a piece of the flaky, buttery fish and fed it to me. I sighed as I snuggled into his side. “This is perfect. I don’t want to leave.”

  “I wish we didn’t have to. It’s nice to get away and do something that’s...”

  “Normal.”

  “Yeah.” Ezra turned his head toward his bag. “Normal.”

  My smile dimmed. “Your bag has been buzzing all night. Is it your mom?”

  “Most likely. I told her I would be gone for the weekend, but I didn’t give her details. I know she wants a decision.”

  “About what?”

  He sighed. “About us going to counseling.”

  I raised my head off his shoulder to look him in the eyes. “Counseling?”

  “She’s been having a hard time. She thinks that if she hadn’t worked or traveled so often, she would have been there to see what was going on. She’s trying to make up for it now, but I think the counseling is mostly for her.”

  I pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Do you want to go?”

  Ezra held still for a while, but after a minute, he nodded. “I do, and I’ll call her and tell her that I will, but right now”—his lips curled into a grin as he looked at me—“is all about you.”

  Smiling, I slipped my hand under his arm, reaching for his tray. “Can I at least finish your dinner before you have your way with me?”

  “Nope.”

  The room service spilled to the floor as we went down laughing.

  “I’M GOING TO DROP YOU off at school. Then I’ll go back home to get my things and talk to Mom.”

  “Sounds good.”

  The car pulled up to the gates of the academy. I kissed Ezra goodbye and hopped out. Evergreen Academy expected students out on a weekend pass to return to school by noon on Sundays. Ezra got me back five minutes before the deadline. Stepping onto the pavement, I saw that I wasn’t the only one cutting it close.

  Sofia and Zane strolled across the pavement, laughing about a private joke. She lit up when she saw me. “Hey, Val. Did you have fun with Ezra?”

  “It was amazing. What about you guys?” I wagged my eyebrows at her. “Did you have fun?”

  She grinned unrepentantly. “We definitely did. The double date went well too. We went back to my place after, but Paisley and Kai stayed in the Promenade and ended up at the park. She said they stayed up all night talking.”

  “I’m happy for them. I know Kai was having a hard time after leaving his ex-girlfriend back home.”

  Zane threw his other arm around me. The three of us headed up to school arm in arm. “It’s good my brother is moving on, but they both want to keep this quiet. This place is getting insane, and they want to have something that the new Knights, the Spades, and their minions can’t touch.”

  “I get that,” I replied. “Maverick and Ezra are coming back this week. I’m glad we’re all going to be together, but I have a feeling things will only get more complicated.”

  “No doubt you’re right.”

  “Hey, Thomas.”

  The three of us pulled up short. I turned around and found Jaxson on our heels.

  “I already have to fight your twin to keep him off my girl. You gonna be a problem too?”

  Zane threw his hands up in surrender. “I don’t want any trouble.”

  Jaxson cut off my laugh with his kiss. Sofia and Zane walked off throwing catcalls over their shoulders as we deepened it.

  I rested my forehead against his when we broke apart. “How are you? Is everything okay?”

  He nodded. “I’m fine, but I don’t know about Maverick.”

  “What?” I pulled back. “What do you mean?”

  “He sent me a text. He said something is going down at the dorm.”

  “At the dorm? Did he say what?”

  Jaxson held up his phone. “He just texted me. I didn’t get a chance to ask.”

  “Then let’s go.” I grabbed his hand and spun in the direction of the dorm. I could see my friends converging on the lone building steps away from the fountain. Sofia and Zane reached the door and walked in while Kai and Paisley strolled a few feet ahead
of us. Worry quickened my steps until Jaxson was running to keep up with me.

  “Baby, I’m sure everything’s okay. He would have said if it wasn’t.”

  Kai glanced over his shoulder when he reached the porch and caught us on his tail. “Hey, you two. What’s—”

  I sidestepped him and ran up the steps. I threw open the door and skidded to a stop behind Sofia. My mouth fell open as I took in the sight that brought my best friend and her boyfriend to a halt.

  “Listen up!” Gus bellowed. “Boys are on the second floor and girls on the first and third. No fighting over rooms. They have been assigned. All dorm rules apply...”

  I took my eyes off him as Maverick stepped out of his room loaded down with a duffel bag. He walked over to us when he saw me.

  “What is going on?” I asked as I slipped through Zane and Sofia.

  Maverick’s reply was to hook his finger through the lining of my jeans and draw me in. “Mav—”

  He captured my lips in a searing kiss that blew away my anxiety. It suddenly hit me hard how much I had missed him.

  “Can we go outside and talk?” he whispered against my lips.

  I nodded without speaking.

  Together we walked out of the chaos and onto the porch. Maverick led me off to the side as people came in and out of the door.

  “It’s exactly what it looks like,” he began. “The guys have been telling me what’s going on and it seems everyone that stood by you has been kicked out of the dorm. They live here now.”

  I gaped at him. “Everyone? But that’s half the senior class. There aren’t enough rooms.”

  “You’re right.” Maverick folded his arms as he leaned against the wall. “That’s why most of us are going to have to double up.”

  “This is— This is insane! They can’t do this.”

  “They are doing it, and it’s not just the seniors. Gus has been shouting at us to hurry up because he has to supervise the junior, sophomore, and freshman moves.”

  “You mean the underclassmen—”

  “The school is split down the middle.”

  I twisted around at the third voice. Eric stood on the steps with a suitcase at his feet. He walked up to us, his face unreadable. “Those who will follow the Spades and those who won’t.”

  Stiffly, I faced him. “You’ve chosen to be one who won’t. Why?”

  “This is getting out of hand, Val. I don’t know what to think, but I’m not willing to be on the wrong side of this one.”

  My hands curled into fists. Maverick reached out and grasped my shoulder, most likely sensing the effect those words hand on me. “All I ever wanted was to go to school, make friends, and get my diploma. I didn’t want to get involved with the Spades. They got involved with me.”

  His expression didn’t change. “I see that now. It’s why I’m here.”

  “I did not want it to come to this.” I stepped closer until there were only inches between us. “But now that it has... I’m not backing down. Scarlett hurt innocent kids. She attacked me. She used her position as a Spade to turn the school on me. I can believe the Spades didn’t know what she was, but now they do and they have chosen to stand against me. I’m not backing down.” My eyes pierced into him. “And I don’t have time for anyone who doesn’t have my back.”

  “I get why you don’t trust me—”

  “I have no reason to trust you. You’ve abandoned me twice.”

  “That wasn’t about you.”

  My eyes popped. “Excuse me? How is it not about me?!”

  The muscles in his jaw tightened. He broke eye contact, glancing away as his gaze grew unfocused. I thought for a while that he wouldn’t answer, but slowly his reply came. “You know that Edens have been at Evergreen since the start. Since I was little, all I’ve ever heard about was my legacy. My grandmother drove home that the Edens were a part of making Evergreen what it is today, and I would be a part of its future. In my house, there’s no question of if you should obey the Knights. You do. There’s no wondering if the mark system is right. It is. There is no doubting whether you should fear the Spades. You should.”

  He shifted to look me in the eyes. “Choosing to back you meant going against my family and... you’ve met my grandmother.”

  I tried to fight it, but a niggle of understanding was working its way in. What he did was wrong. He was the worst friend imaginable, but at the end of the day, I always knew I had my family’s support no matter what I did. I guess Eric didn’t feel the same.

  He must have seen that understanding in my eyes because he changed. Eric’s expression softened until the veil pulled back far enough for me to see the internal battle raging in him.

  “I did what I thought I had to do then,” he continued, “and now I have to do this. Can that be enough?”

  We stared at each other for a long time, neither one of us moving. I was holding his gaze when I said, “No.”

  He blinked. “No? What do you mean no? No, it’s not enough?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Val.” Maverick’s voice was soft, but I heard the question in that one word.

  “It’s not enough that you walked out of that cafeteria,” I plowed on. “You walk away all the time.”

  He winced. “So you want me to leave.”

  “No, I want you to help.” His face crumpled in confusion. “I told you I’m not backing down. I’m going after Ace and I’m going to find them and expose that psycho and any other Spades hiding in the shadows. It’s not enough for you to sit by. The only way I’ll know for sure you’re on my side is if you take them down with me.”

  He threw up his hands. “What do you expect me to do?”

  “To start with... I want to go back to your house. Or you can go home and bring it back to me.”

  “Bring what?”

  “Your dad’s senior yearbook.” I peered over my shoulder at Maverick as he came over to join us. “It’s something that Evergreen and the police kept saying about Scarlett LeBlanc—something I never heard or thought of before.”

  Maverick’s eyes sharpened. “What did they say?”

  “They called her Mrs. LeBlanc.”

  “Mrs.” Eric spoke before Maverick could find a response. “She’s married?”

  “She must be,” I replied. “Or she used to be. I didn’t consider that someone like her could be a ‘Mrs.’ but it explains why I didn’t find her father in the yearbook. She has a different last name.”

  “So you want my dad’s yearbook so you can try to find her father? What’s the point?”

  “I didn’t get a chance to look at the entire senior class last time because I was interrupted by your grandmother. Even if I can’t be sure who it is, I can narrow it down.”

  Maverick spoke up. “How does that help us?”

  “I didn’t get to look through the yearbook but I did learn something. I asked Eric’s grandma why she was chosen to be a Knight and she said it was pretty much set in stone because of her last name.” I gestured at Eric. “When I first met you, you were pissed that you weren’t chosen. You thought your family made you a lock. Well, what if LeBlanc’s family had to do with her being chosen as a Spade? What if her dad was one too? If we could find him, maybe he would talk to us—tell us what he knows.”

  Maverick reached for my hand. “Even if he is still around and we could track him down, why would he admit to being a Spade? Why would he talk to us at all? We’re accusing his daughter of being a child molester and attempted murderer.”

  “We don’t have anything else to go on. I’ve gone over the list of Ace suspects a million times, but I’m no closer to figuring out who they are. Now that they’ve stopped talking to me, I need another angle. We need to know more about the Spades because they know everything about us.” I spun on Eric, making him jump. “Bring me the yearbook.”

  “Fine. I’ll get a pass for next weekend.”

  “Thank you. Also, I need you to tell me everything you know about Evergreen, its history, an
d about your dad.”

  “My dad?”

  “He was a Knight when everything went down with Nora Wheatly, Walter McMillian, and the Spades. He has to know more about what pushed the Spades to do what they did, or why your grandmother called Nora a common slut. He must have told you. What did he say?”

  “My father doesn’t tell me as much as you think.” He began backing away. “Look, I need to finish unpacking, but I’ll do what you want. I’ll get the book, talk to my dad, and tell you what I can find out.” Eric bent and gathered the straps of his bag. “There’s no going back after this. Helping you is my only option.”

  “Glad we’re on the same side for once.”

  Eric didn’t reply. He just took himself inside and shut the door softly behind him. Maverick was waiting with his arms out when I turned around and I fell into them.

  “I missed you, Beaumont. I didn’t want to call too much because I figured you needed space.”

  “Thanks for that. I missed you too, but it’s been intense. Mom and Dad haven’t had as much time to deal with it as I’ve had.”

  “Did they—”

  “Hey, can we talk about something else?” he cut in gently. “It’s been too long since I’ve held you. That’s all I want to do right now.”

  “Okay.” I burrowed into his chest, breathing in a scent that was distinctly Maverick. “That sounds good to me.”

  Chapter Six

  “You don’t have to do this.” I clamped down on his hand. It was too hard if his hiss was anything to go by. “The police and Evergreen know. That’s enough.”

  “That’s not enough. They are using our silence to paint you as a liar,” Ryder replied. He freed himself from my grasp, but touched the back of his hand to mine, keeping contact. The five of us were standing in the courtyard before the main building. That was as far as I got before I made them stop, sending everyone else ahead.

  “We have to do this, Val,” Jaxson agreed. “The hard part was telling our folks. We can handle whatever is next.”