Forsaken: A bully romance (An Academy Twin Rivalry Series Book 1)

by Taylor Blaine

  What did I think? In that moment, the stupid rumor about me and Jaxon faded to the bottom of my list of priorities.

  Stephanie came from a disgusting amount of money, but her mom was a lush and her dad was never home since he was out screwing most of Los Angeles. He’d deposited his wife and daughter in Shores while he went out and sowed his oats and anything else he could find to stick his dick in.

  I grabbed Steph’s arm and pulled her into the bedroom. Throwing the comforter back on the bed to hide the evidence of the pain she’d undergone, I gently pushed her onto the mattress and then sat beside her. I turned her way and cradled her hand in mine. Studying Stephanie’s face, I knit my eyebrows. “You don’t believe in abortion.” I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, myself. I hadn’t even dealt with sex yet. Pregnancy wasn’t something I’d considered as possible at my age. But she’d said fifteen.

  Fifteen people in West Shores had abortions in the last month. I blinked and considered the statistic she’d put out there like she was talking about a test for history. My lips moved and nothing came out. I swallowed and tried again. “Okay, you don’t believe in abortion. Let’s work with that. What do you believe in?”

  She grinned at me, tears in her eyes she didn’t try fighting. “Not abortion.”

  We laughed and I shook my head. “Okay, but what about adoption?” That was an option, right? Would it be an option for me, if that happened?

  I suddenly resolved never to have sex. I couldn’t. With Jaxon’s rumor about me, I probably wouldn’t have any prospects anyway. Just in case, though, I couldn’t help keeping in mind that any sex could result in pregnancy. That wasn’t a good game for me to follow when I just wanted to get to medical school and escape the trap my father had left my mom and I in.

  Stephanie half-shrugged. “You don’t think that’s terrible? Giving my baby to someone else?”

  Did I think it was bad? Not at all. Wasn’t that better than trying to raise a child when you were still a kid yourself? I mean, Stephanie had a hard time thinking about anyone but herself and she was one of the nicest people I knew. Yet, she thought about what she wanted right now, not what she needed tomorrow. How in the world would she raise a baby? Hand it to the maid when she was bored?

  “I think it’s something to think about. You don’t have to commit right now, but just think about it. I think they even have options like open adoption where you can still see the baby after it goes home with the new parents.” I was probably overwhelming her, but she had to know what the options were, plus, talking about what she was going to do was so much better than having her dwell on what had just happened. Facing the fact that her boyfriend had sodomized her against her will wasn’t going to help her with any major decisions.

  I offered myself up for a distraction. I narrowed my eyes and patted her knee. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, someone started a rumor that I slept with Jaxon O’Donnell at East Shores. Braddox is pissed at me. He’s not… I don’t think he’s going to be able to get over it.” I chuckled sadly. “I’m not even sure I want him to get over it, you know?” I was so close to telling her how hot Jaxon made me, but how could I own that, even to myself, when he was nothing but a dick to me?

  How could I justify telling Stephanie to stay away from Ryan when he was such a jerk when I fought the temptation to jump Jaxon and have my way with him daily?

  He was an ass and I still couldn’t help dreaming about the things he could do to me.

  I couldn’t tell Stephanie that I longed for Braddox or Jaxon and I wasn’t sure which one since they looked almost identical.

  She shook her head and wrapped her arm around my shoulder. “Well, you sure know how to get attention.”

  I couldn’t argue with that one. Even without trying, I had gotten more attention than I knew what to do with.

  Chapter 10

  Jaxon

  Waving at Crenshaw through the window, I flipped my keys around my finger. The keys hit my palm and I flipped them again, back into my palm, then again. Mondays were normally just a way to escape the hell in my apartment, but not this Monday. I had more trepidation to see what was going to happen to Olivia.

  Driving the no-longer defaced El Camino to school, I tapped my finger on the steering wheel. For once, the skies were clear and blue without any clouds. A genuine spring day came around very rarely.

  If I was into omens, I’d say it was going to be a good day. But since, I also didn’t believe I had the same luck as other people, if it was a good day for others, it’d be a shitty day for me.

  Good thing I didn’t believe in omens or whatever they’re called.

  Parking was uneventful. I’m not even sure why I came to school. When I was at Crenshaw’s, I never wanted to go back to the depressing walls of East Shores. The school had to be designed to keep those kids oppressed. To keep me oppressed. If I didn’t know better, I’d believe it was a conspiracy by my brother to keep me in my place. And honestly, I didn’t know better.

  Seeing Braddox again on Friday night had occupied my thoughts half the time over the weekend as I’d made myself at home at Crenshaw’s.

  The other half the time, I couldn’t get the image of Olivia in her party clothes wrapped up in Braddox’s arms out of my head. No matter what I did, it wasn’t going anywhere. Because when I thought of that, I could see what it looked like when she’d kissed me and then that sparked the memories of my hands on her, her lips on mine, and the instant heat and awareness.

  If I avoided thinking about the kiss she and I had shared, then my thoughts went the other way and those wrapped around searing jealousy at seeing her kiss Braddox.

  Didn’t she know what she was doing? She couldn’t feel for Braddox the way she felt for me. Pure hatred wasn’t the only thing she felt for me, either. It couldn’t be. Not when my body could tell when she was in the vicinity. There had to be the same awareness on her part.

  I refused to believe otherwise.

  What did I know, though? There was nothing I could do about it. She was dangerous there with me, watching me. She was already wrapped up in Braddox. It wouldn’t be hard for her to give away anything she found out about me. She already got info on where I worked. What had Braddox said when she’s reported it to him?

  Shoving those thoughts from the forefront of my mind, I climbed from my car. Tucking my keys into my pocket, I loped into school for my first class. All weekend I’d gone out of my way not to answer texts from East Shores students. They’d wanted details about the rumors and I didn’t want to feed anything more into what was already going to be a helluva day for Olivia. She wouldn’t be accepted. Maybe if I’d said we continued sleeping together, things would have been different. But I said I moved on. I said she was a one-time thing.

  She wasn’t worth claiming and she wasn’t worth defending. Everyone would see that.

  The collection of problems gathering over the weekend was exactly why I didn’t lie about things.

  I didn’t care what West Shores thought about her. All I wanted was for her to leave the school. I didn’t want to be watched by Braddox and his spies. He would know my plans and I couldn’t have that. I refused to be ambushed by my brother.

  He’d already taken away my livelihood, my father, my everything. He wasn’t going to take away my future, as well.

  I pushed through the front doors of the school, ignoring the chipped and rubbed smooth paint. One more sign that the school’s dilapidated state was something we all just assumed was the way it should be.

  It is what it is, or something like that.

  The few students standing around in the hallway glanced my way, many of them staring when they realized it was me. Normally I was used to the attention and just ignored it, but this time… there was something different. There wasn’t as much deference in their expressions as there was humor when they averted their gazes.

  Humor. Could it be they thought it was funny I’d screwed the new girl? Maybe they thought it was funny that I’d screwed my
brother’s ex-girlfriend. I hadn’t told anyone that part, but who knew what information traveled between East and West Shores Academy. I hadn’t even been aware we’d had a spy in our midst. Something I’d ask Thomas about as soon as I saw him in class.

  When I passed a group of girls, they smiled at me and then faced into the center of their group, tittering and laughing as they murmured something behind my back.

  I half-turned to them, but continued walking. Laughing? They were laughing. I jutted my jaw to the side and continued walking forward. Why would girls be laughing at me? Normally, they stared after me with some kind of hunger and I enjoyed the attention. True, it bugged the hell out of me on a good day, but that longing was better than what I was getting at that point in time.

  In my first class, I claimed my normal seat in the back and leaned against the seat. Taking in the students as many of them glanced surreptitiously my way and then smiled at a nearby friend.

  Narrowing my eyes, I studied the present students one at a time. What was going on? That there might be something I didn’t know irritated me beyond anything else.

  Maybe I shouldn’t have ignored my phone over the weekend. I pulled out the flat screen device, intent on correcting my mistake. I paused as my skin prickled with awareness.

  Olivia had just walked into the room. No, the addicting little wench didn’t walk.

  She swaggered in like she owned the place. Where was her humility after being labeled a Shores slut? Not only that, but she should be an outcast at both schools by this point. She should be meekly creeping into the room with her eyes downcast. Her cheeks should be pink from embarrassment and shame, or even fury that no one believes her over me.

  Why then, if she should be all those things, was Olivia flipping her intoxicatingly long wavy hair over her shoulder and winking at the group of girls seated to my right? Why did she arch her eyebrow in challenge at Thomas who had entered at the same time she did?

  I set my phone on the desk and leaned toward Thomas as he slid into his seat, jerking my chin up in acknowledgement. “What’s going on?”

  Amusement and something like interest curled Thomas’s lips as he watched Olivia take her seat. He’s lucky I didn’t punch his ass in the mouth, to be honest. I set my jaw and stared hard at him while waiting for his reply.

  He glanced at me and froze. Then slowly he blinked and furrowed his brow. “Don’t you know, man? I sent you like six texts this weekend to give you a heads up.” He half-shrugged. “I figured you didn’t answer, because maybe it was true.” He didn’t smile which suggested it wasn’t good.

  I held up a finger as he opened his mouth to say more. “Just a second. Let me catch up.” I swiped the screen on my phone, finding over thirty texts waiting for me, forty Instagram notifications, and what could only be described as a tsunami of notifications on email and Facebook. Stupid social media.

  I pulled up Thomas’s texts and inhaled deeply as I read all six messages.

  Shit, Jax, I wasn’t sure you really tapped that. The new girl is claiming it’s true.

  And… just so you know, man, she’s saying she’s had better. Much better.

  Okay, that’s not what she said. She said you were lame and even had a problem keeping your dick up.

  Sorry, man. What do you want me to do?

  Are you there?

  I’ll shut it down, if I hear it from anyone else. But it’s been reported to me over twenty times already. You need to get on top of this. Now.

  The shift in the tone of his messages was enough to light the fuse on my already short temper.

  I glanced up at him from my phone, irritation narrowing my eyes and thinning my lips.

  She had said what about me? The little bitch had taken the rumor I’d spread to get her out of East Shores and flipped it on me. If I weren’t so frustrated by all of it, I’d be impressed.

  I held up the phone, jerking my head Olivia’s direction. “Are you serious about this?”

  He held up his hands, slightly shaking his head. “Yeah, man. I didn’t know one way or the other.”

  I shook my head and turned to stare at the new girl. That had been a huge underestimation on my part. She had more balls than I assumed.

  Regardless. I didn’t care if she acted rashly. What I cared about was getting things straightened out. I ignored the teacher who showed up and positioned himself at the board. I stood, tucking my phone back in my pocket and striding angrily toward Olivia’s seat.

  Grabbing her by the arm, I hefted her from the chair and then proceeded to drag her from the room. To her credit, she didn’t flinch or fight me. Instead, she walked beside me with her head held high and the most arrogant smirk I’d ever seen.

  All of that only pissed me off further.

  I didn’t stop in the hallway as I manhandled her to the nearest empty room. It wasn’t until I’d pushed her inside the dark space that I realized I’d chosen the mechanical room.

  The furnace hummed along the back wall. Red and green lights on the dashboard giving away its position in the dim lighting. Along another wall, brooms and mops waited to be used.

  I spun her around and we faced off, feet from the wall beside the door which had nothing on it but the light switch and a small LED nightlight that glowed up from a plugin.

  Olivia folded her arms across her chest, pushing her cleavage higher. The line between her breasts whispered of shadows unplundered as it disappeared beneath the collar of her hot pink peasant-style shirt over black leggings that hugged her curves in all the right places. Her long wavy hair was left down, parted on one side and pushed behind her shoulders. Even her makeup added to the challenge as her eyes seemed even larger.

  But I took in the sight of her lips last and that was stupid on my part. The fullness of the bottom bow glistened as she licked it nervously.

  Hot lust burst through me, combining with the fury her retaliation rumor caused. Maybe I was so mad because she’d dared to suggest that anything between us would be boring or inept. As if a limp noodle wouldn’t be hard around her.

  Something in my eyes must have made her nervous. She inhaled sharply, stepping back, her eyes widening more and her chest rising.

  I followed her, essentially stalking her as she walked until her back hit the wall and she raised her hands to fend me off. “Jaxon, don’t hurt me. I… I was just defending myself.” But that wasn’t an apology.

  And to be honest, I didn’t want one. I didn’t expect one. She wasn’t like the other kids in school. She wasn’t the type of girl you did whatever you wanted to and then walked away. No, Olivia had a special quality about her that demanded she be treated like royalty. Maybe that’s why she drove me crazy.

  Maybe I sensed something in her that I hadn’t seen in a very long time.

  I pushed closer to her, shutting my eyes as her hands met my chest through the thin t-shirt I wore. Her fingers slightly kneaded my flesh and the softest bite of her nails through the cotton material made me snap my eyes open.

  She’d dropped her gaze to watch her hands, her mouth gently parted as she breathed. She didn’t touch me out of anger or even out of fear. Instead, she seemed almost to be lost in amazement.

  I reached up. I couldn’t stop myself. She’d kissed Braddox so willingly, so openly. She’d kissed me with so much longing, but that was when she’d thought I was him.

  How would she kiss me? How would she respond to me?

  I reached up, bracing my hands on the wall beside her head. Leaning forward, I bent my arm and used my forearm as the brace, forcing her to lean her head back to look up at me.

  Inches separated us and our breathing mingled. Her eyes lowered to half-mast and she bit her bottom lip. “What are you going to do?”

  Did she think I was going to beat her? I didn’t hit women. However, I did have a punishment I could enact that would be more torturous for me than her, but didn’t we both need to do penance?

  “Nothing you don’t want me to do.” I curved my free hand around her wai
st, holding her gaze while I slid my fingers and flattened palm up her side and then up her back. “We’re both liars. Wouldn’t you agree?”

  She clamped her lips shut as she narrowed her eyes. “I’m only a liar because you made me that way. You started this… war or whatever it is that you’ve dragged me into.” A fire burned in her eyes and it did nothing to cool my longing to pull her closer.

  “Fair.” I couldn’t say much more. My throat constricted as I studied her. I desperately longed to kiss her, make her beg for what she’d told others had been barely acceptable.

  But I could let her go. I would let her have her win.

  “It’s not like it matters. You’re just like Braddox, you know?” She sighed, the warmth of her breath blowing past my cheek.

  The plan had been to leave her alone until she’d compared me to my brother. To that two-faced snake I couldn’t get out of my head for kissing her.

  “Thinking I’m anything like that asshole, sweetheart, is your first mistake.” I cradled her head in my hand, entangling my fingers in the hair at her crown. Her long hair tickled the skin of my forearm and I moved my face close but not touching as my lips hovered millimeters from hers. Our breath mingled and we both breathed shallowly in anticipation.

  “What’s my second?” She barely breathed the sassy question, sending more heat against my mouth.

  I searched her face, relishing the moment her eyelids sank and shut and she pushed herself closer to me. That was all I needed. “Thinking anything between us would be boring or unsatisfying.” I lowered myself the tiniest amount and sealed our lips together.

  We melded, moving our lips against each other. Heat consuming our flesh. Our tongues touched and danced away from each other only to come back together as if seeking vengeance. Our kiss became more, as if we struggled to make sure the other person could feel everything about us.

  She stretched onto tiptoe, pushing on my shoulders and pulling my lower lip between hers and sucking. I almost moaned, I won’t lie, as she scratched her nails down my chest.