Broken Trust : Pacific Prep

by R. A. Smyth

  The murmurings are louder now, more than a few students nodding their head in agreement. Whether they actually agree or they’re just too afraid to disagree with me, I don’t really give a fuck.

  Pushing the girl away from me, she stumbles, scurrying through the crowd as tears run down her face, not stopping until she crashes into some guy's arms.

  “Take this as a warning,” I say, my steely gaze intent on the group of scholarship students. “If you mess with us, you will get burned.” I stare at Hadley, making it clear to her that this is all her fault, this show is for her benefit. She better heed my warning.

  Chapter 14

  “That was all because of you,” Abigail cries, whirling on me. Her makeup is smeared, black tracks from her mascara running down her face as Todd hugs her against him, the others standing in a semi-circle around them, all of them wearing tight expressions as they look at me.

  “Me? That wasn’t...I didn’t…” I trail off, not knowing what to say.

  She shakes her head, not wanting to hear my excuses.

  “No. Everything was fine before you showed up. They left us alone.” She sobs against Todd’s chest. There’s an unfamiliar tightness in my chest, guilt eating at me as I watch her fall apart. “As long as you continue to piss them off, just stay away from me.”

  She buries her face in Todd’s chest and he wraps his arm more tightly around her, throwing a glower my way before whispering in her ear, the two of them walking off toward the dorm.

  “She’s right,” Samuel speaks up, drawing my attention his way. “I think I speak for all of us when I say, stay away from us. All of us.” Everyone but Emilia nods in agreement, even Michael gives a hesitant jerk of his head, his lips pursed.

  My eyes fall on Emilia as the others give me a final, hard look before turning their backs and walking off. Emilia’s the only one who looks at me with sympathy and pain, but she doesn’t say anything, looking torn between staying with me and following the others.

  “Emilia, are you coming with us?” Samuel calls out.

  “I told you they weren’t worth messing with.” Her voice is choked, tears gleaming in her eyes as she gives me a final empathetic look, her face pinched before turning on her heel and walking over to the others.

  A sea of emotions flows through me as I silently watch them leave; rage, pain and sadness swirling around like a tornado inside my gut. I’m torn between going after them and apologizing, and storming back into that hall and eviscerating Hawk. Did the others know what he was going to do? I didn’t see their faces, too enraptured by the show of devastation Hawk was putting on for everyone.

  Closing my eyes, I release a deep breath, weariness creeping into my bones.

  “Are you okay?” Cam’s soft tone only heightens the exhaustion. How did everything get so complicated? Coming here was supposed to make my life better. It should have been easy.

  Turning around, I slowly take him in, trying to read from his face if he was involved in tonight's fiasco.

  “What the fuck was that in there?” I sigh, waving toward the dining hall.

  His lips are pressed tightly together as he gives a quick shake of his head, a gesture that doesn’t really tell me anything.

  “He was pissed about finding you in the apartment.”

  For real? What right does that give him to do what he did?

  I stare at him incredulously for a moment, not understanding him at all.

  “So he took it out on Abigail? She never did anything to him!” My voice rises as anger sparks within me. “She didn’t deserve what he did to her tonight; none of them did.”

  “I know.” Everything about him is too calm, too at odds with the raging storm within me.

  “But you never stopped him.”

  He shakes his head again, his shoulders dropping. “We didn’t know he was going to do that.”

  My eyes narrow as I scrutinize him, carefully trying to suss out if he’s telling the truth or not. His open expression, his uncrossed arms and steady eye contact say he’s not, but just because he doesn’t know about it doesn’t mean he won’t have Hawk’s back if he goes after the others to settle his score with me.

  He’s got my head all twisted, trying to work out where he stands. It’s too much. I can’t handle any more tonight.

  I shake my head. “I’ve gotta go.”

  The words are barely out of my mouth before he takes a step forward as though to stop me, but I quickly raise my hand. “Don’t. Please. It’s been a long night, I just wanna go to bed.”

  With a pained expression on his face, he gives a sharp nod and I turn on my heel, my gut swirling with upheaval as I walk back to my room, regretting ever leaving it tonight.

  I toss and turn all night, sleep evading me. Any time I do get over into a semi-sleep, it’s filled with nightmares. Hawk’s face combined with their voices. Every time, I wake up in a cold sweat, my heart racing, and in the early pre-dawn hours, I give up on sleep and decide today I’ll have to function off coffee alone. At least no one will be in the dining hall this early so I can avoid the judgmental looks and whispers from the other students, and the awkward glares from the friends I had there for a little while.

  Pushing the door open and stepping into the hall, I cast a quick glance around the room, expecting it to be empty, but I pull up short when I see West sitting at his usual table, alone. Why is one of those assholes always in here? They have that fancy-ass apartment with a kitchen and everything; they don’t even need to fucking be here. Can’t a girl catch a break for once?

  Ignoring him, I make myself a coffee, ordering some breakfast. I hesitate as I glance over the tables, though. I’m probably not welcome at the scholarship table anymore, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be accepted at any of the others, either. Deciding it’s not an issue for today—I’ll be long gone before anyone wakes up and takes offense to my seating arrangements—I stroll over to my normal table and sit down.

  My ass has barely hit the seat when West gets up from his chair. Instead of heading for the door like I was hoping, he comes toward me, sitting down in the chair opposite mine.

  “What do you want, Wes?” I sigh, not mentally fortified yet to get into an argument with him. Could he not have let me get caffeine in my system first?!

  “Hawk said he found you in Cam's room the other day.”

  My eyes immediately snap up to him, narrowing in suspicion. Cam indicated as much last night—not that I’m surprised Hawk told the others.

  “What were you doing?”

  His tone is more curious than accusatory, which is the only reason I engage him.

  “Like I explained to Hawk, I was looking for my notebook. Cam must have accidentally lifted it. The door was unlocked, and I figured it wouldn't be a problem, but clearly I was wrong. Next time I'll just leave it.”

  “Next time?” His brows pull together in confusion. “What exactly is going on between you and Cam?”

  “Nothing,” I insist, trying really hard not to think about what he did to me on that library table. But then I remember...West was watching us. My cheeks heat at the memory.

  “You know, Cam is only interested in girls until he gets what he wants, then he drops them like yesterday's trash.”

  “Careful, Wes, you're sounding awfully jealous.”

  “Please.” He snorts, his gaze not quite meeting my eye. “I'm not. I'm just letting you know how it is with him.”

  “Well, consider me warned.”

  He eyes me up for a moment before nodding.

  “About last night…” He trails off, silence filling the space between us as he finds his words. “Hawk shouldn’t have done what he did.”

  “But you’re going to have his back anyway.” I sigh. I can see it in his eyes. I don’t even need him to confirm it.

  “We’re a team,” he justifies. Something that I just don’t understand. I’m more of a lone wolf myself. I play the game by my own rules, never answering or relying on anyone else.

  Aft
er breakfast, I pull up my big girl panties and knock on Emilia’s door, not happy with the way we left things last night. She was the first person here to be kind to me, and she’s been an amazing friend. I don’t want to see that end the way it did last night.

  I can hear her shuffling around in her room before the door creaks open a crack, revealing a still half-asleep Emilia in her bunny rabbit pajamas and fluffy slippers.

  Her eyes widen as she looks at me. “Oh, hey,” she says awkwardly, none of her usual morning loveable grumpiness to be seen.

  Licking my lips, unable to stop myself fidgeting with the hem of my top, I say, “I was, uh, hoping we could talk...about last night?”

  She cringes, breaking eye contact with me. “I don’t think there’s anything to talk about,” she mumbles, staring pointedly at her feet.

  “Seriously? You don’t think we need to discuss what happened?” I know her and the others are pissed at me, and I get that, but it’s not like I knew Hawk would do that. If I’d known…

  “Hadley.” Her voice is strained, emotion heavy in that one word. “None of us can risk having the Princes, or anyone else in the school, ganging up on us. We just want to get through the year without any issues. I...I’m sorry, but we can’t afford to gamble with our futures.”

  Before I can argue further, she closes the door in my face, the click of the lock engaging like a death knell on our short-lived friendship.

  With a heavy heart, I let myself back into my room, anger and agitation making it impossible to sit still or focus on school work. Glancing at the clock, it’s still early morning, so I grab my gym bag and head back out. I wasn’t feeling it when I first got up, but maybe a physically exhausting workout is exactly what I need to stop me obsessing over everything.

  Over the next hour, I pummel the shit out of the heavy bag, my arms exhausted and my hands aching by the time I switch over to the treadmill, setting a fast pace so all I can focus on is putting one foot in front of the other. Mason entered the gym not long after I did, but he at least had the decency to stick to our silent agreement of not talking. He went straight over to the weights corner and has barely spared me a glance since.

  The sweat runs into my eyes and I wipe it away with the towel, faintly aware of the sound of Mason putting the bar back on the rack. Instead of starting into his next round of pull-ups like he’s supposed to do, he crosses the floor toward me. It’s clear he’s got questions on his mind, and he looks determined as hell to get answers. His whole appearance gets my back up and I’m immediately on alert as he stops in front of me.

  “What’s your deal?”

  Not slowing my pace, I glare at him. “What’s yours?”

  The wankstain ignores me, his eyes narrowing as he tries to figure me out. I’m pretty sure it’s something he’s been trying to do since that day in business class. He hasn’t managed it so far, so I doubt he’s suddenly going to piece me together now.

  Ignoring me, he runs his eyes over me, taking in the loose t-shirt sticking to my sweaty skin and my tight shorts, his gaze lingering on the flexing muscles of my thighs as I maintain my fast pace.

  Returning his gaze to my eyes, he cocks his head.

  “Poor parents?”

  I don’t give him anything, my face a blank slate.

  “Absent parents, then?”

  Still, I give him nothing, but my silence seems to be enough of an answer itself.

  His eyes narrow and I can see the cogs turning in his head.

  “Foster parents?”

  I make sure my face remains a rigid mask, no part of me giving away any indication of who I am or where I come from to this probing asshole.

  Yet, his lips pinch, and he nods his head.

  “So that’s why you’re here? You’re escaping a shitty foster home?”

  How the fuck does he know any of that? I know my features are unreadable.

  Slamming my hand down on the stop button, I hiss out, “What the fuck do you want?”

  “I want to know what you’re doing with Cam.” His voice is steady, but there’s a slight rumbling in his chest, giving away the fact he’s not as indifferent as he’s making himself out to be.

  “What is everyone’s obsession with Cam?” I snarl, jumping off the treadmill. “He’s a big boy, he can look after himself.” I run the towel over my face and the back of my neck, pushing past Mason to get to my bag. “I highly doubt you all take such a keen interest in every other girl he chases after, so why me?”

  “Because,” he growls out, his hand snatching out, his fingers wrapping firmly around my arm, pulling me back toward him, “there’s something different about you.”

  I stare up at him in confusion, taking in his beautiful baby blues that are swirling with just as much chaos as I feel. What the hell does he mean by that?

  ***

  That afternoon, Cam has a swim meet, and like the love sick idiot I am, I show up, hiding at the back so he, and anyone else, can’t see me. I’m not ready yet to face the backlash from the rest of the school. I just want to be left in peace to see that light Cam had in his eyes when he talked about swimming. I’ve never felt the passion for anything that he has for the sport. I guess I’m curious what it’s all about.

  I can feel the vigor in the air as soon as I enter the room, the stench of chlorine combined with the buzz of excitement and nervous energy. Watching him in the water, he’s like an art form come to life. He’s captivating; mesmerizing to watch. I can’t tear my eyes away from him. I’m not even aware that he’s won—hell, I don’t even register the others in the water—until someone claps him on the back.

  The second his race is over, I slip away, wandering around the empty hallways until I find the entrance to the changing rooms. I’m not sure what I’m doing here, what I’m hoping to achieve. It’s like I’m a puppet being pulled on by a string, some greater force leading me to this moment. Only I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do next.

  Chapter 15

  “Rutherfords are winners. You better not let me down out there today,” my asshole of a father reminds me once again, before stalking off, leaving me to warm up beside the pool. Like I don’t fucking know already that Rutherfords don’t lose. He’s always been a belligerent asshole, but he’s gotten worse the last few months. I have no idea what’s going on with him, but he’s fucking unbearable, and that’s saying something since I could barely tolerate his presence before.

  Thank fuck I hardly have to put up with him, except at these stupid competitions. It’s almost enough of a reason to quit, but swimming is the only release I have, other than sex. Not that I’m getting much of that lately.

  Since Hadley showed up, my dick has been on the fritz. I mean, I get it. She’s hot as sin and that mouth...fuck, I can picture her doing so many things with that mouth. Not only is she hot, but her feisty attitude and the way she talks back is apparently my thing. Who knew? I hadn’t realized how fucking bored I was with girls willing to do anything we wanted. None of the rest of them have any backbone. They are too terrified to stand up to us, or too eager to suck their way to the top that they just don’t care. Either way, I was bored out of my fucking mind, and I didn’t even know it. Not until Hadley showed up and made me realize what I’ve been missing out on. The feisty blonde with combat boots and a snarky mouth is a hot little challenge I didn’t know I needed in my life. Things have been so much more interesting around here since she arrived.

  Just my luck though, that Hawk has gotten himself in a fucking tizzy over her. I don’t think it’s because he’s attracted to her, although sometimes it’s seriously hard to tell with him. I swear, I’ve caught him fucking girls before and, honestly, it’s impossible to tell if he’s actually enjoying himself or hate fucking them.

  When it’s time for my race, I step up to the side of the pool, curling my toes around the edge of the concrete. I cast my eyes out over the crowd, quickly skimming over my father’s sinister presence, spotting the guys cheering me on, like they always do on co
mpetition days. My eyes continue to search the stands, looking for a particular blonde. It’s stupid. I know she won’t be here, especially not after last night. Why would she be? I’m not even sure why I want her to be here. That’s like girlfriend territory. Not something I do. Ever.

  Yet, I can’t ignore the disappointment I feel when I don’t see her. Shaking off the feeling, I focus back on the water. Arching my body into the perfect dive pose, I steady my heart rate, focusing every one of my senses on the race in front of me, preparing myself for the loud blast of the whistle.

  When it finally sounds, I push off with my feet, smoothly plunging into the pool. I’ve spent years honing my body, turning it into a machine that can move effortlessly through the water, barely causing a ripple. Kicking with my feet, I travel half the pool underwater before finally emerging. Gulping down a lungful of air, I skillfully glide through the water, propelling myself forward with my arms.

  As I approach the far end of the pool, I duck under the water, tucking my head and flipping myself around so I’m facing the direction I just came from. Kicking off from the side of the pool, I speed back to the far end. Quickly traversing the distance, my hand slams down on the concrete as cheers ring out from the crowd in the stands.

  Glancing back at the other competitors, I see I won by a decent bit, and, looking up to the timer, a large grin crosses my face as I fist-bump the air. I’m going to the State Championships, baby, and that race was my best time yet. Hell yeah!

  That should keep my father off my back.

  Pulling myself out of the water, I shake hands with the surrounding coaches and other competitors, politely accepting their words of congratulations.

  “Well done, son,” my father praises, his hand squeezing my shoulder, his shitty attitude from earlier now gone, replaced with a proud smile, like my achievements somehow reflect positively on him. I know he’s not actually proud of me. He couldn’t give two shits about me or my accomplishments. He’s barely present in my life, except to dictate what I should and shouldn’t be doing with it. Even growing up, he was barely around, and when he was, his mind was elsewhere. Who the fuck knows where, but it sure as hell wasn’t at home with his family.