by Huss, JA
Contents
Bully King
DESCRIPTION
CHAPTER ONE - COOPER
CHAPTER TWO - CADEE
CHAPTER THREE - COOPER
CHAPTER FOUR - CADEE
CHAPTER FIVE - COOPER
CHAPTER SIX - CADEE
CHAPTER SEVEN - COOPER
CHAPTER EIGHT - CADEE
CHAPTER NINE - COOPER
CHAPTER TEN - CADEE
CHAPTER ELEVEN - COOPER
CHAPTER TWLEVE - CADEE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN - COOPER
CHAPTER FOURTEEN - CADEE
CHAPTER FIFTEEN - COOPER
CHAPTER SIXTEEN - CADEE
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - COOPER
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - CADEE
CHAPTER NINETEEN - COOPER
CHAPTER TWENTY - CADEE
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE - COOPER
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO - CADEE
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE - COOPER
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR - CADEE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE - COOPER
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX - CADEE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN - COOPER
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT - CADEE
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE - COOPER
CHAPTER THIRTY - CADEE
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE - COOPER
CHAPTER THIRTY - TWO - CADEE
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE - COOPER
RULING CLASS
END OF BOOK SHIT
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BULLY KING
Edited by RJ Locksley
Cover Design by JA Huss
Cover Photo: Wander Aguiar
Cover Model: Andrew Biernat
Copyright © 2020 by JA Huss
All rights reserved.
ISBN-978-1-950232-51-2
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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www.JAHuss.com
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DESCRIPTION
The sexy boy with power torments an outcast girl at his mercy. He wants her gone, she wants a ticket into the elite ruling class. And she's willing to pay ANY price to get it. A dark bully romance filled with sex, lies, and secrets that will bring everyone to their knees.
Bully boys.
Arrogant tyrants.
Blue-blood bastards.
Call them whatever you want.
Around here, we just call them Kings.
Fancy boats.
Lakeside mansions.
Luxe watches and bespoke suits.
The Kings of High Court College act like Gods.
And Cooper Valcourt is the worst of them.
He is the bully king.
His family owns everything.
And his mission is to put me in my place and send me packing.
But Cooper and I have a history filled with secrets.
And everyone knows that power doesn’t come from having money.
It comes from holding secrets.
And I’m holding one of his.
A very dark secret that can bring him to his knees.
Bully King is new-adult, dark, bully romance from New York Times bestselling author JA Huss featuring boys with power and girls at their mercy. It’s a campus shrouded in lies and a summer rush into an elite society that can propel a poor girl straight into the ruling class.
If… she’s willing to pay the price.
CHAPTER ONE - COOPER
“Do you know what your problem is, Christopher?”
I hate it when my father calls me Christopher. He only does it to be a dick. No one calls me Christopher. Not even him.
Except when he wants to be a dick.
And he always sneers it. Because my given name wasn’t his idea. It was my dead uncle’s name on my mother’s side and she insisted on it. My oldest brother nicknamed me Cooper because my middle brother couldn’t say my name right.
“Well? Do you?” There’s a bulging vein sticking out the side of his neck.
“This a real question? You really want me to tell you what my problem is?”
“I asked”—he takes a moment to suck in air through his flaring nose—“if you knew what your problem was.”
I pull out my phone, bring up my notes app, and click on the starred title at the top. “My problem is”—I sigh as I read from the app—“I’m an inconsiderate little prick who thinks that this good life I’ve been provided is a right instead of a privilege. I’m also greedy, stupid, lazy, and will never amount to anything.” I slouch in the chair in front of his massive mahogany desk. “Does that about cover it, Dad?”
He hates when I call him ‘Dad.’ It’s only ever been ‘Father’ for him.
But hey, he called me Christopher first. So fuck it.
“I should throw you out,” he threatens.
“Do it,” I say back. I even narrow my eyes at him to put some threat behind the dare.
He won’t. If he was going to throw me out of High Court College—the college my family founded nearly two hundred years ago—he’d have done it long before the end of junior year.
“You’re on your own next semester. Do not expect that trust fund to mature upon matriculation.”
Why he has to use words like ‘matriculation,’ I’ll never understand. Can’t he just say ‘acceptance’ like everyone else?
No. He’s a pretentious bastard who feels the need to rub everyone else’s inferiority in their faces.
Like I even want to be a part of his stupid fraternity. It wasn’t even my idea. I was forced into it.
“No money,” he continues. “No cars. No boats. No trips. No—”
“I get it, Dad. I’m cut off. There are no favors from your criminal friends in my future. Are we done here?”
“Criminals!” He bellows a laugh up at the high ceiling of his office. “You’re one to talk.”
“So we got a little messed up. Who cares? That’s what guys my age do.”
“You were arrested!”
“It was a drunk-tank arrest. And we weren’t driving the boat. She was.” I almost manage not to laugh.
But not quite.
“This is funny? Boy?” And now he’s growling at me so I know we’re already done here. The growl is a sure sign he’s about to lose his shit. “You didn’t just get drunk. That girl’s father called me.”
“So? She wanted it.”
My father just stares at me, his unblinking focus on me as he probably wonders how a boy like me could possibly be related to him. “Do you have any idea how many problems you caused for me because of your actions last night? You’re not going to get away with it this time.”
“OK. Fine.” I throw up my hands and roll my eyes. “What’s my punishment?”
I expect the usual. Some high-visibility community service so the masses might see me as some relatable, humble human being. Which is stupid. Very few people can relate to me. And I’m not very humble. Humble doesn’t get you far in this life I’m living.
My father slides a glossy blue and gold folder across his desk. It slips right over the edge and I have to catch it before it drops to the ground.
School colors, ut-oh. I hold the folder up. “What’s this?”
Winston Valcourt, Chairman of High Court College and Prep, AKA my father, grins like he just slipped something past me and I haven’t realized it yet. “Your summer job, son.”
“Job?” I laugh. “No. I’ve already got a summer job. I’m out of here this afternoon. I put in my ma
ndatory family appearance at the Prep graduation last night and now I’ve got a ticket to New Zealand with my name on it.”
“Not anymore.”
“Like hell.” I glare at him. “I’m not getting stuck here all summer. Ax, Lars, and I are all leaving for the airport in”—I look at my watch—“three hours.”
“Cooper, when are you going to understand that unless you do as you’re told, you have nothing in this world?”
“I bought that ticket with my own money. I worked for it.” This is not entirely true. Ax worked for it. And he sold drugs, so that’s probably not really considered work. But eh. Fuck it. It sounds good when you say it out loud. “You’re not footing the bill for my summer holiday. So I don’t get what the problem is.”
He points at me. “That is the problem. You think you own this world.”
“I wonder where I got that idea?”
“You”—he’s still pointing—“do not. Own this world. I do.”
I slouch even more in my chair and let out a long breath of air. “I’m not staying here.”
“You are. And so are your friends. The Judge and the Mayor have both been contacted. You and your buddies have been grounded.”
“Grounded? That’s funny. I’m twenty-one years old, Dad. You can’t ground me.”
“The plane, Cooper. The plane has been grounded. Not you. You”—I have a feeling, if I were close enough, he’d be poking me in the chest right about now—“you will be spending the next eight weeks running the Fang and Feather Summer Rush.”
“No. Fucking. Way. I’m not running that shit show. And you can’t just ground some commercial airline.”
“Can’t I?”
Can he? He has to be bluffing.
My phone dings a text.
“Check it,” my father says.
I slide my phone out of my pocket and glance at the screen. It’s an alert from the airline. My flight has been canceled. I mutter, “Fucking. Prick,” under my breath.
“As I was saying.” My father leans forward, his elbows on his desk, and he steeples his fingers under his chin. “You will run the rush this summer. Your brothers did it before you. And believe it or not, Cooper, this year’s pledges are expecting you.”
“You mean their fathers are expecting me.”
He just continues like I didn’t even speak. “They know that you are a symbol of what Fang and Feather stands for.”
“That’s fucking sick, and you know it. I’m not babysitting incoming minions!”
“You absolutely are. You and Isabella are going to run the entire camp all summer long.”
Fuck. He got Isabella mixed up in this plan? This makes me hesitate. “And if I don’t?”
“Walk out, Cooper. Go ahead. I dare you. Walk out. Walk away from all of it. Isn’t that your favorite threat? Isn’t that your dream? Tell me to just go fuck myself, slide your sunglasses down your face like you’re some hotshot with power, and walk off into the sunset?” He laughs. “I’m going to make it very easy for you to do that now, son. You’re nearly a grown man. Might as well let you make these decisions for yourself. But if you walk out, you take nothing with you. Your entire cottage was packed up last night while you were in the drunk tank. Your car has been taken to a secure location. Your bank accounts have been emptied. And you won’t be able to go to Lars and Ax, either. I’ve already spoken with their fathers. They are in the same situation. Either the three of you show up at the Glass House for the rush, run it for the next eight weeks, and move forward in life humbled into submission—or all three of you lose everything.”
Humbled into submission? Did he really just say that?
I open my mouth to reply, but he cuts me off.
“There is no discussion. This is not a deal to be negotiated. That part happened while you were sobering up this morning. This is an order.” He leans back in his large, wingback office chair and smiles. “Do it. Or don’t. And if your answer is no, then goodbye, Cooper. I wish I could say it has been nice knowing you, but the truth is, the last fifteen years were practically unbearable. You make me tired. And I’m done dealing with you. This is your last chance with me. And before you say no, understand this. Either all three of you show up and run the rush, or you, Ax, and Lars are all cut off. The deal has been made. And it’s not just about money. I’ve already instructed your brothers that they will never speak to you again. If you walk away, you walk away from all of us. I will remove every picture of you I have. I will erase you from this family. Your brothers will forget you even exist.”
“Bull. Shit. Maybe Dane. But Jack?” No. Jack would not do that to me. We’re tight. Aren’t we?
“Call him. Ask him. Trust me, Cooper. They signed on before you were even bailed out this morning. We’re all tired of you.”
I take a deep breath. I can feel my whole body heating up with anger.
My father, on the other hand, looks like he’s been practicing that speech and waiting for this day since my mother died when I was five.
He has always hated me. Always blamed me.
“Say yes, Cooper. Say yes and run the rush camp, find the next crop of initiates, and I will give it all back.”
“Where am I supposed to fucking live over the summer? What am I supposed to drive? How am I supposed to eat, for fuck’s sake?”
“I didn’t take the boat. That should suffice.” I say nothing while my father smiles at me for a long moment. Then he goes all casual, leaning forward on his desk like he’s about to chat up an old friend. “Can I give you a piece of advice?”
I scoff. “Better late than never, I guess.”
“Always have a plan B, Cooper.”
“What does that even mean?”
“Stash some money away for the next time you get caught and need to negotiate.”
“What?”
“You are such a child. When Dane got this lecture, do you know what he told me?”
“Dane? When did Dane ever get a lecture?”
“He told me that if I cut him out, he’d have me arrested for at least fourteen felonies and I’d spend the rest of my life in prison wishing I could hang myself from the window bars using shoelaces.”
“I’m sorry?” Like. Nothing he just said makes sense.
“He,” my father says, “has balls. Unlike you. You’re soft, Cooper. You don’t do anything one hundred percent. You coast. You never plan for anything—”
“Hello? I have a job waiting for me in New Zealand! Just let me get on the plane and I’m out! I’ll leave you alone forever!”
“No.” He leans back again. “You don’t get to simply walk away, Cooper. You have to fight your way out just like everyone else.”
I throw up my hands. “I have no idea what you’re even talking about.”
“That’s your problem. You have no idea about anything. Now get the fuck out of my office. I expect you and Isabella to join me for dinner tonight. If you don’t show up, well—I’ll just say my goodbyes now.” He leans across his desk, stabs a button on his phone, and says, “Laurie, send in the next one. Cooper and I are done here.”
“Yes, sir,” Laurie squawks back from the speaker phone.
My father stands up, walks over to his bar cart on the far side of the room, and starts pouring a drink.
I just sit there for a moment, wondering what I should do. Argue with him? Apologize? Throat-punch him, steal his car keys, and run?
What? What should I do?
“Get. Out, Cooper.”
I take my glossy blue and gold folder and get out.
CHAPTER TWO - CADEE
Why would the chairman of High Court Prep want to speak to me?
Come on, Cadee. You know why. They are throwing you out!
I mean, your mother is dead. D-E-A-D. She was the only reason you got to live on this ultra-pretty, super-special, highbrow, blue-blood campus to begin with!
I never fully appreciated how lucky I was to live here until my dad died three years ago. Before that I existed in blissf
ul ignorance, taking everything for granted, including our home. Which was reserved for the campus landscape director, who happened to be my father.
When he died, my mother and I had to move into an attic apartment above the Alumni Inn and she had to take a job as the head baker for the prep school cafeteria and catering department.
What will they make me do now? If I want to stay here?
Take over her job? Give me another one?
Do I want to stay here?
I never went to High Court Prep. I was educated at home by my mother and that was great. My non-traditional schooling fit me. I’m more of a loner. I like books, and going on nature walks, and painting with watercolors.
A gentle soul. That’s what my father used to call me.
And I would not call a single child who ever set foot on the High Court Prep campus a gentle soul. Not even the artsy kids, which is the clique I probably would’ve ended up in. They are cut-throat creatives with dark souls that belong to the devil.
Not gentle at all.
That’s why my parents didn’t want me to go to Prep, even though at my father’s level, we were entitled to an employee scholarship.
God, I miss him.
And now my mother is gone too. It hasn’t truly hit me yet. Just how utterly alone I am in the world.
But I don’t have time to dwell on it, because Chairman Valcourt wants to see me and I’m ninety-nine percent positive he’s calling me into his office to kick me out of my attic apartment.
Then what will I do?
Where will I go?
I don’t understand anything right now. The past two weeks have been a blur of denial and sadness. Denial, because I still haven’t cried. Not even when I saw my mother in her casket at the funeral. I wanted to cry, I really did. But there are just no tears inside me anymore.
Something is wrong with me.
Focus, Cadee. You’re about to get kicked out of your campus apartment. You need to come up with a plan. Something you could say to the Chairman to make him let you stay.
Do I want to stay?
These are not my people. I don’t have a single friend on this campus. My parents were my friends and now that they’re both gone, there is really nothing for me here.