Try To Ruin Me: A Reverse Harem Bully Romance

by G. Bailey

  "Jake, can you take over for me?" my Aunt Linsey shouts into the back, leaning around the door when there is no reply for a second. I haven't met Jake, her new assistant yet, and I barely glance at him as he comes out. I see dark hair and a friendly smile, but three other guys are completely taking over my mind and not in a good way. Only a fool wouldn't be scared of the Hallow brothers when they are angry, and angry doesn't even fully explain the way they were with me. They were cruel as well as angry. Cold and heartless.

  "Of course." Jake is quick to please and happily takes over on the till, serving customers. Aunt Linsey doesn't need to ask me what is wrong, she just knows something is from my expression alone. That's how close we are. Aunt Linsey never married after she lost the love of her life at twenty in a car accident. Instead, she bought this bakery and lived out her life here. She comes over, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and leading me down the corridor to the office. The door is slightly open, and there is a light humming of someone singing coming from inside. Aunt Linsey opens the door, letting me go in first, and in seconds, arms are thrown around me, pulling me into a tight hug.

  "Let her get through the door, Lottie dear," Aunt Linsey suggests with a note of amusement in her voice, but I hug Lottie tighter before she lets me go. A hug from my best friend is just what I need.

  "I needed a hug," I reply with a chuckle, smiling widely at her.

  "I know, you wouldn't be skipping class if something wasn't wrong. What has happened?" Lottie asks, moving back to sit down on the couch in the room where she was doing paperwork for the bakery by the looks of it. The baby monitor is sat on the side table, the blinking light telling us that Lottie's baby is sleeping upstairs. I was there all of her pregnancy and when she had little Noah. He was born in the London hospital, and it was amazing to see. Lottie is a natural mother and adores her little boy. I’m the fun Auntie Trixy who he likes to be sick on or do a big poo when I’m babysitting him. I walk over and collapse on the sofa, huffing as I wonder how to even begin. I know Lottie might not take this well either; after all, the Hallow brothers are her son's uncles. My aunt goes and sits on the edge of her desk, looking at me expectantly.

  "The Hallow triplets all turned up at my university today," I say, and as I expected, there is silence in the room. Lottie looks pale, and I place my hand over hers to reassure her. "They aren't like David, not one bit." I say that, but I can’t be sure. I haven’t seen them in over two years, and a lot can change in that time. Including the fact they must feel anger over David’s death, and they are still mourning him. Mourning makes you do crazy things, and I just don’t want to be in the firing line as they get over the death of their brother. They clearly think it is all my fault. I harbour enough guilt on my own, let alone having to shoulder their blame.

  "I still don't want them to know about me and—" Lottie starts rambling, and I cover her small hand with mine.

  "I promise, I won't tell them your story. That is your choice, and I respect that," I explain to her, because it really isn't my story to tell. It’s her secret, at the end of the day, and it’s far more than a secret. Noah is a baby, a sweet boy with a mother who tries her uttermost best to bring him up. Noah doesn’t need the Hallow name in his life at all. Look what it did to his father.

  "What did they want with you?" Aunt Linsey asks. “If they tried to hurt you like that awful brother of theirs, they will have me to deal with.” I don’t doubt my aunt’s threat. She is a scary woman at times.

  "They said they blame me for David's death and everything that he wrote in his suicide letter," I explain to her. “I don’t think they want to physically hurt me, but emotionally? Yeah, I think that is their game plan.”

  "We all know the real truth, that boy was a monster. I doubt he meant to kill himself anyway. He did it for attention and to get you back. It just went wrong, and there is no taking it back now," Aunt Linsey states. “It was a terrible accident made by a stupid boy who had a long future of being an asshole ahead of him. I will not let you have his death on your conscience, Trixy.”

  "That's what we think, but the brothers don't know that. I have a bad feeling they won't stop until they get revenge," I worriedly say, and Lottie squeezes my hand tight.

  "Maybe I should talk to them...I can't let you suffer because I'm scared of my baby's family," Lottie interrupts with a trembling voice, and I shake my head at her.

  "No, I can handle them. I grew up as their friend, and really, what is the worst that they could do to me?" I reply, having a sinking feeling I might be biting my own tongue in the future. It seems to settle Lottie a tad just in time for a small cry to come out of the baby monitor.

  "I'll see you tonight, Trixy. Promise me you will talk to me if they don't leave you alone? I owe you so much; I can't see you suffer," Lottie asks as she gets up, but she looks back down at me as I answer.

  "I promise," I say, crossing my fingers behind my back. I know it's a childish thing to do to counter a lie, but it makes me feel better that I'm going to break this promise. Lottie looks a bit worried as she leaves the room to find Noah, taking the baby monitor with her.

  "Lottie is doing better now. It was a good idea to lie. We only just were able to talk about David and the past. It’s hard for her as much as it is you. Now, if those boys do anything, you tell me. I'm not fragile like Lottie currently is," my aunt states, and she is pretty frightening. The Hallow brothers have nothing on her.

  "You are a brilliant woman. Do I ever tell you that?" I ask her, and she huffs at me, standing up and stretching.

  "If you think that much of me, you could help out in the bakery this weekend. There is an American football match on, and they ordered a lot of food to be delivered. I could use the help," she asks me, though she doesn't need to ask. I owe everything to this woman, and for the rest of my life, I am going to repay her however I can. Lottie feels the same way after she adopted her when we turned up here last year. Lottie's parents were happy to sign the adoption papers to get rid of her, and Lottie was still only seventeen when she got here, so the paperwork was easily sorted out. Not only did Aunt Linsey adopt Lottie, but she also helped her with her difficult newborn who cried all night, every night. She gave her a home and was a mom to her when she needed one. Lottie is family now; she was before we got on a plane and came here, and she will be for the rest of my life. We are both lucky to have our aunt.

  "I'd love to," I say, pulling myself up off the sofa. "I should get back to class."

  "Yes, you should. Don't let those guys push you around. You survived being brought up by my sister and brother-in-law; you can survive them easily," she tells me, making me chuckle as she winks at me and walks out of the room. She is right, the Hallow brothers aren't going to destroy me.

  I’m Trixy Ansley, and I’ve survived worse than them.

  "You didn't answer any of my texts I sent you last night, or when I knocked on your door a few times. You okay?" Benjamin asks, sliding into the seat next to me on the bench. I had completely forgotten about him until now, if I'm totally honest, but I don't want to be mean and tell him that. Since I came back from my aunt's yesterday, I've just hidden in a total state of denial and worry about what the Hallow brothers are going to do.

  As kids, they weren't the nice boys on the playground; no, they were the assholes everyone knew not to mess with. If they were challenged, then they would gang up on whoever was stupid enough to mess with them. Even though David and I were a year younger, we saw it all. The Hallow brothers ruled the school—and our town—until they left school and went to college leaving a trail of broken hearts in their wake. The girls whispered about them in the halls, and the boys all knew better than to say a word against them by that point. Even when they left, they still had control over everything. The whispers never stopped. The Hallow brothers were never forgotten.

  I have no doubt it will be the same here once they get their claws in. Wherever the Hallow brothers go, they have to be in control of everyone and every situation. That is t
heir biggest downfall, they can't let anything just go with the flow, and when things go wrong, they go in for the kill. In this case, they can't shout at David about his reckless and heartbreaking choice, so they will go after me. I should have seen it coming, but I didn't. I stupidly hoped I could escape them.

  "Trixy? Hello? Anyone in there?" Benjamin jokes, knocking my shoulder.

  "Yeah, I've just been distracted with all this course work," I say, pointing at my open laptop where I have a word document open, and I’ve only typed two words.

  "You are taking advanced science, you could have gone for the easier course and had more time off," he tells me what I already know. The easy route is not something I will ever take. I went through a lot to get here, and I’m going to work my ass off for my degree.

  "Why take the easy route? I much prefer the complicated route that makes you feel like you earnt it when it's over," I retort. He laughs off my serious comment, though I don’t know what I expected from him. Benjamin got into university because his parents are rich and paid his way. Now he does a sports degree, which is the easiest degree to pass for someone like him whose teachers take pretty little tips from his parents. You only need muscles and half a brain to pass it.

  "Whatever you say, sexy," he replies, and I roll my eyes at him before looking down at the laptop in front of me. I pull out my notebook from my bag, finding the paperwork that the professor gave us to study and said would help, but Benjamin keeps talking. "There was some big news today. Remember how last week the coach gathered the team around and said there would be changes soon?"

  "I vaguely remember," I mutter, trying to read the paperwork.

  "The changes were three new members, and one of them is now captain. He is incredible, won a ton of matches in the states, and we might finally have a chance with these brothers now," he says, and from his voice alone, I can tell he idolises these brothers. I freeze when it all clicks in my head. Three brothers. American football. Idols.

  "What are their names?" I quietly ask, but I already know the answer. There are only three brothers I know that could buy themselves into any team and make one of them captain so they are in charge.

  "Hallow. Gage, Garett and I can't remember the other one's name," he says, and he almost sighs with how much he likes them already. Everyone likes or loves the Hallow brothers though. It’s how they are.

  "Griffin," I fill in for Benjamin, my hand squeezing the pencil harder in my hand as a drop of sweat slides down the back of my neck. They make me so nervous, and now it looks like they are here for good. I hoped they wouldn't be sticking around after they "ruin" me, but it seems like that isn't the case. I did wonder how they got into the university.

  "Do you know them? I should have guessed, you guys have the same American accent," Benjamin asks. It’s such an innocent question, and he has no idea what he is asking. I look up as two girls walk past my table, smirking at me. I never made any girlfriends here since I accidently pissed off the head girl. They are like little clans here, and unless you are an airhead bimbo, you don’t fit in.

  "We went to the same school," I tell him, and he grins like that is the best thing in the world. His girlfriend knows the new cool guys on his team. Gosh, he is so clueless.

  "Cool. I like them," he tells me, but I already know that.

  "I bet you do," I sarcastically reply because honestly, anyone that doesn't actually know them would like them. They are rich, with pearly white smiles and gorgeous features. They are trained to easily put on a happy face and make friends while keeping their true natures hidden. It's a trait all rich people teach their kids, knowingly or not. I sure as hell know how to hide my emotions. Like currently, I want to cry or beat something up. I'm not sure which one, but I have to keep my cool. The brothers are here to destroy me, and I can't let that happen. I've spent a long time getting over that night with David and what he almost did to me. I grieved him, despite the monster he became, and wished I could have helped him somehow. I just couldn't have predicted he would do what he did. "I'm sorry, I need to get going. I will text you later," I tell Benjamin, lightly kissing him on the cheek before getting up out of my seat.

  "Okay, sexy," he replies, and the simple fact he can't sense there is anything wrong says everything about my relationship with him. Or the lack thereof. He would be much better as a friend than anything else, and I'm sure somewhere deep down, he knows that too. I push my chair out, gathering my books up and pushing them into my bag before making my way out of the study hall. I keep my eyes down as I head through the corridor, but I still hear the chatter from everyone about the brothers. If it was any other new person, they wouldn't be noticed, but not the brothers. Everyone notices them, no matter where they go.

  I move quicker, darting out of the doors and into the fresh air outside. The air usually calms me down as I close my eyes, looking down, but this time it does nothing as I head to my dorm. Thankfully, everyone is in class, and it is silent around. There is no one to see me have my breakdown. Only a few feet away, I stop, hearing an unusual noise before I come around the corner to see my building. I just don't expect what I see when I lift my head and open my eyes.

  I feel frozen as I watch Garett press Ariel, a classmate of mine, against the side of my building, right next to the door. Ariel is the head girl, the leader of the clan of girls in this university, and she really hates me. Which is why this is so much worse than it already is. His lips are glued to hers, one of his hands is under her top, pulling her closer. Ariel's long black hair is pulled to the side with his other hand, and she lets out a moan from her red lips stained with her lipstick that is so good it hasn't smudged at all as he devours her. I want to say I didn't watch for more than a second...but I did. I watched how he held her, how he kissed her...and I liked it. I shake my head, tightening my hands on the straps of my bag as I try to walk past them, but Garett's hand reaches out, grabbing my wrist. I turn and watch as he very slowly finishes his kiss with Ariel before looking at me.

  "Running off again, Trixy?" Garett growls, and his deep voice makes me shiver as I lock my eyes with his bright blue ones. They might be picture perfect blue eyes, but they are empty of emotions, so the blue seems as cold as ice. “Haven’t we got the message across that we don’t like you running from us?”

  "You know Trixy? She has a boyfriend, Garett, baby," Ariel purrs, running her lips up his jaw, while watching me. In the blink of an eye, he steps away from her, still holding my wrist so I can’t escape. He isn’t hurting me, but I know he wouldn’t let go if I tried to pull away. We glare at each other, neither one us giving in anytime soon.

  "Go and wait for me in my car," Garett commands Ariel like she is a dog that does his bidding.

  "But—" she goes to protest, but even she isn’t that brave.

  "Question me again and you can forget tonight. I will find someone else in two secs, doll," Garett warns, keeping eyes locked on mine as Ariel takes the keys, and we stay silent until the sound of her heels clicking on the ground disappears.

  "Let me the fuck go. Now, Garett," I snap at him, and he instantly lets my arm go, a playful smile gracing his lips.

  "Chill. I only wanted to talk to you, Trix," he says, almost sweetly. I’m not that stupid though.

  "Right, I don't believe that for one sec. So just leave me alone," I say, shaking my head and going to find my keys in my bag.

  "We are having a party at our new house just outside of London. Come on Saturday, everyone is invited," he says, and I pause, gripping my keys before I pull them out of my bag.

  "No," I tell him. There is no way I’m going to their house.

  "I wasn't asking. You want my forgiveness—" he starts off.

  "Who said I want you to forgive me? You said you wanted to ruin me, go fucking ahead. There isn't anything left to ruin anymore. I'm not the Trix you knew as a girl," I tell him, and I can see it surprised him for a second. If anything, he seems more interested in me than he was before. That wasn’t the idea, and I really don’t kn
ow how to feel about the way he is looking at me. His black hair frames his eyes, looking like a clear ice lake that you’d walk across and not care one bit when you fell into the dark depths.

  "But you are, and some parts of you are not. You are fucking beautiful now," he states, running his eyes very slowly over my body before meeting my eyes once more. "I never saw it before. You were always the girl my little brother wanted, so I didn’t look."

  "You're crazy. Do you even know what you're doing here?" I ask him. "This isn't going to get David back. Can't we just talk like adults rather than all this?"

  "Yeah, I know exactly what I'm doing. I'm here for you. We all are," he says, and this time the flirty tone is gone, and it is back to the hard, cold tone I heard the last time we spoke. He isn't the good one at hiding his emotions when it concerns the past. That is a big flaw in his plan. I only have to mention David and the walls come down with a bang.

  "To ruin me?" I sarcastically ask.

  "Yeah, baby," he says, chuckling low. "You have no clue what we have planned. If you don't come to the party, Trix, we will come for you."

  "Is that a threat?" I ask, crossing my arms.

  "Just a friendly warning," he tells me with a wink before turning and walking away. I stay very still as I watch him go, feeling like I can't breathe. I can act strong all I like in front of them, it doesn’t mean I’m not breaking down inside. The request to come to the party wasn't really an invite, it was a demand. It didn't take long for the Hallow brothers to be making demands and ruling the university it seems. I hate myself that, for some insane reason, it makes me mad that he is going off with Ariel, the known slut of the university. She has slept with nearly everyone, including Benjamin at some point, and everyone knows it. Her friends are just as bad as she is. Why do I care anyway? They can all sleep with whoever they want.