The Bad Boy's Palything: A Dark High School Bully Romance

by Lannah Smith

  Thinking back, Christopher did pick Rohan from school. And thinking back, I always knew when he did because I was…

  I shook my head to get rid of that last thought. Then I focused on Alec when he continued to speak.

  "Seriously, if it weren't for Leon, John or Rohan, who knows how crazier he would turn out to be."

  I blinked in surprise. "What do you mean?"

  Alec considered me for a brief moment. I didn’t care if he was testing me anymore. I just wanted answers.

  Then he said, "Everyone knows Leon Gage to be the violent one among the four friends, right?"

  I shrugged. "That was what I heard too."

  "No one knows this but when Skull was fifteen, he went into a rampage."

  My body stiffened.

  Fifteen.

  "It was him against a group of guys from West Public High," Alec shook his head. "It would have been a huge problem had his grandfather not stepped in."

  I leaned towards him and whispered, "What exactly happened?"

  "According to what I heard, there were ten or more guys, all the same age or older than him. He gave every single one of them broken bones from head to toe."

  A shiver went down my spine.

  "That's just an exaggeration," I breathed.

  "I've seen the boss in action," Alec murmured, his eyes hard. "And trust me. That was not an exaggeration. I pity the person who fucks him up again one day. Because the boss always goes for the kill."

  Another chill shot through me.

  Fifteen.

  I'd been fifteen when my father told me I was transferring to North High Academy for sophomore year. I'd been fifteen when Christopher and I met briefly in a party where I refused to have him as my escort and rejected his affections again.

  I'd been fifteen when I started to have sexual relations with Leon.

  "You're thinking you were probably the cause, were you?"

  Disgruntled, I gave him a scowl. "No."

  He grinned. "You say that but you don't really believe that. You probably were. Seeing how fucking obsessed he is with you still."

  "I don't appreciate the profanity, Jackman."

  "You've got the boss wrapped around your little finger, Miss Locke. You might want to use that to your advantage. One slip and you might really be sent plummeting straight to hell."

  I lifted my chin. "That would actually be my pleasure."

  "And break your promise with Daniel Grant?"

  This little—

  The sound of water trickling made my gaze drop. The kitten had peed on the floor. I didn’t have any qualms wiping after it but when I glanced at Alec, he was looking at it with a disgusted expression on his face.

  I couldn’t help it. This was too funny to pass up.

  “You’ll clean that up right?” I asked him sweetly.

  Alec shot me a dirty look. “No.”

  “Yes, you will. After all. Your boss asked you to look after both of us.”

  And without waiting for his response, I jumped off the stool and bounded up the steps, leaving him to it.

  Chapter 29

  Christopher and I were working our way through a dinner neither of us were paying attention to.

  His attention was still on his phone and my attention was on how serious and businesslike he looked with his glasses on. The glasses alone were bizarre. Seeing Christopher actually doing any work even more so.

  "Right," he mumbled, putting the phone down. "That's the last of it." Looking at me, he smiled. "I'm sorry for working while we're eating, April."

  I rolled my eyes. "I don't care. I'd rather have your attention elsewhere anyway."

  Chuckling, he picked up his spoon. "You sound sulky. I won't do it again. I promise. Tell me what you want to do tomorrow, I'll be free by then."

  I pressed my lips and turned to finishing my food without giving him an answer. Whatever I say, he would twist them to something altogether anyway.

  He was sitting at the head of the table while I was at his right. Like I had no choice but to eat my meals with him, I also didn't have a choice with the seating arrangement. Alec, on other hand, never joined us when we ate. I would have preferred he did despite his dislike of me. It would have made things less uncomfortable.

  I was drinking water when I felt him part my hair to the side and study my face.

  "You're face still has bruises."

  Without looking his way, I slapped his hand away. "I got hit so of course I'll bruise. It'll go away over time so don't bother yourself about it."

  A strange vibe radiated from my left. I glanced at Christopher to see him smile at me as he shoved a piece of meat into his mouth. I felt all the breath leave me.

  There it was again.

  The chilling smile that was masking what he really felt inside. The smile that was masking how dangerous he had become.

  “Where’s Cow?” he asked me in a mild tone.

  Finding my breath again, I distractedly glanced at the stairs and muttered, “In my room.”

  Where I’d rather be. Because the kitten proved better company than any of the men in this house.

  "You know your grandparents can't be condoning what you're doing right now," I told him.

  "Condoning what?" he asked curiously.

  "Keeping me against my will."

  "They don't need to know about these things, do they?" he said with that stupid smile still on his face.

  It was hard to admit but he was right. He was a grown man. He didn't have to answer to them for anything anymore.

  "Don't you have any more questions to ask me?" he asked when I grew silent.

  I looked at him.

  "Ask me. If it's me that you want to know about, go ahead. I'll tell you anything you want to know about me."

  No.

  He was twisting my arm. It would seem like I was thinking about him all these years. That was probably what he was aiming for.

  "I don't have questions to ask," I mumbled, cutting through the steak.

  "Really? Not even about Emmy?"

  My heart dropped.

  "She told me that you were close."

  Emilia. My beautiful sister. She had always been on my mind and my prayers for years. I adored her and the friendship she offered but didn't have it in me to show it enough to her. The last time I saw her, it was on my graduation. And she had come to me despite everything I told her and warned her about. She had come to me.

  "Don't worry. She's still alive." Christopher's cell phone vibrated on the table but he paid it no mind. He was watching me carefully. "Rohan just proposed to her. She's over the moon about it."

  Good.

  Thank God.

  I let out a small sigh.

  Emilia deserved all the happiness in the world. And if that was with Rohan, then so be it.

  Then I glared at Christopher.

  This dirty playing bastard. He was playing with me. I had already known that she was well, I had Dan check. But the way he shaped his question made me think something had happened to her.

  "Emmy misses you too,” Christopher went on to say. “She'll be the happiest person in the world when you meet again."

  "Don't use her to get to me," I replied tartly.

  His brows lifted. "I'm not using anyone, April. I'm telling the truth. And she's my friend. I want her to be happy too."

  "I could have met her again if you didn't take me away from home."

  "How?" he asked drily. "Is she going to climb trees again to get to you? Are you going to sneak around behind your father's back just to meet her? Are you both going to risk your lives just to see each other?"

  I gritted my teeth.

  "As long as you live under your father's roof, as long as you live with your father, you'll never be free to meet people. Free to go places you want. Free to be yourself. And that's what I'm trying to do."

  "Don't give me that crap," I demanded, adding in the same breath, "You just care about yourself. If not, you wouldn't be locking me here and letti
ng me go so I could meet other people."

  He chuckled. And that made my blood boil.

  "You're not even sorry?"

  "Why would I be? I'm keeping you safe. I'm keeping you away from your asshole father. And we have a bet going on, April," he lifted a glass and took a sip, "Remember?"

  "I didn't agree to that bet."

  "But you don't have a choice but to take it."

  "All my life I never really had a choice," I said bitterly. "This shouldn't come as a surprise but I didn't expect this from you of all people, Christopher."

  I shouldn't have said that.

  As soon as those words left my mouth, I knew I shouldn't have said that. Because instead of feeling regret over his actions, a smile curved up his lips. A smug smile. Coupled by the arrogant glitter in his eyes.

  He leaned over his elbows and asked, "What else did you and didn't you expect from me, April?"

  "None," I bit out, bristling under his scrutiny and the smug expression still on his face. He wasn't even ashamed of it.

  "So did I surprise you? By not being the man you expected me to be?"

  "There's nothing I expected from you."

  He suddenly inclined his head. "I'm not certain if it's because you lost your touch from your eight years of exile but everything shows on your face now, April."

  I clenched my jaw.

  "But if you don't tell me yourself, I'm going to pretend I don't know, either."

  He wasn't doing a good job at pretending, the bastard. He was toying with me. He was enjoying my discomfort. And he was being too smug for my pride.

  Leaning back, he said, "If you're upset about something, tell me. Only then can I keep from hurting you."

  My eyes turned to slits and my voice was filled with venom when I told him, "I hate you so much."

  His response was a grin. "There's a very thin line between love and hate, honey."

  "Honestly, I wished I'd never see you again."

  He continued to grin at me. Angry, I stood up abruptly, knocking my chair to the floor. I whirled around to leave but his words stopped me cold.

  "I thought you were dead."

  This confession struck home. Ice crawled through my blood and my muscles clenched and froze.

  "I thought you were dead, April. When no matter how hard I tried to find you, I couldn't."

  Hesitantly, I glanced back. He was staring at me with a face that saw it all again. I could see it clearly too, his sense of loss and misery when he realized I was gone. Possibly forever.

  "Sit down and finish your dinner." He dropped his gaze and his focus was back on cutting his meat. "Please."

  I could have just left.

  But the please and the brief flash of agony that crossed his features stopped me. Stiffly, I bent down to pick up the chair and sat down. He didn't speak to me anymore and continued eating. We continued to eat dinner in silence, both absorbed in our grim thoughts.

  "Did your father's men struck you too?" he asked just as I was about to climb the stairs. Although his eyes seemed pleasant enough, his voice was low and frightfully menacing.

  My hand on the handrail, I stared at him, startled at the question that came out of nowhere. "What if they did?"

  "They'd lose their lives."

  My fingers tightened around the handrail.

  "Are you kidding...?" I trailed off when I saw how serious he was. Stunned, I could only stare back at him.

  He suddenly smiled. "So did they?"

  The way he could quickly change from pleasant amusement to a cold murder-like demeanor always fazed me. I didn't know which one was more frightening anymore. His smiles. Or his frowns.

  "No," I muttered, growing confused. "Only my father. And I don't understand why you need to know about it. It's over and done with."

  "No, April." His voice was just a whisper now. Anger was seeping through him, trickling like acid through his veins. "It has only just begun."

  The kitten had done what Christopher couldn’t do.

  And that was to help April sleep through the night.

  Dawn was breaking and April was still sound asleep. She was lying on her side with her arm wrapped around the kitten’s body, as though she was trying to protect it. The kitten was also sleeping, cuddled up against her, its head resting on her shoulder.

  Lucky cat.

  The words drifted softly through Christopher’s mind that he didn’t notice at first where his directions were leading to.

  Her profile was relaxed in sleep. Her thick, silky hair was strewn across her pillows. Her wonderful scent was a distraction, smelling faintly of flowers, which he found alluring and arousing that he had to fight the urge to move closer to her. And her face was beautiful with long, lashes laying against her pearly fair skin.

  Christopher stared at her mouth, his eyes tracing the shape of her lips.

  She looked like an angel. A beautiful angel sent from heaven to torture him.

  His eyes honed on the remaining bruises on her face.

  An angel who also looked like she had just been to battle.

  Christopher was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to hold and kiss her. Realizing that he was lusting after April as she slept, he furiously shook his head and decided to go out of the room to cool both his heads off.

  Alec was just about to knock on the door when Christopher pulled it open to leave.

  “You have a phone call, sir,” he said, handing over a cell phone.

  The tensed expression on Alec’s face as well as the urgency in his tone raised Christopher’s hackles.

  Closing the door behind him, he asked in a low tone, “From who?”

  Alec clenched his jaw.

  Then he answered, “Leon.”

  shit.

  Christopher pulled in breath.

  They both knew what this meant. They also both knew what Leon wanted. He wouldn’t call at five in the morning if not for this.

  So far, they’d been lucky but their luck had finally ran out.

  And they knew this was going to get ugly.

  Resigning himself, to the inevitable, Christopher moved several steps away from Alec and answered the call.

  “Hey, Leon.”

  His friend didn’t waste time in pleasantries and went straight to the point.

  “You lied to me, Skull.”

  Christopher closed his eyes and exhaled through his nose.

  Then he murmured, “I can explain, Leon.”

  “Save it,” Leon clipped. “I know what you’re going to say anyway. All I want from you is to answer my question right now.”

  “What question?”

  “Where are you?”

  “I can’t tell you my location.”

  “Where are you?”

  He bit back a curse. Behind him, he felt the tension leaking out of Alec. Leon had shouted so loud Christopher knew Alec heard him.

  Turning to look at Alec, he muttered, “You’re going to wake Sophia, Leon.”

  “I won’t,” he said in a quieter tone. “So fucking tell me where you are right now.”

  Alec looked away, shaking his head in frustration that mirrored Christopher’s. There was no way out of this, they both knew.

  “A safehouse,” Christopher finally answered. “And being in that profession, you do know how safehouses work right?”

  Silence then, “With April.”

  He gritted his teeth. “Yes.”

  “fucking hell, Skull!” Leon exploded and Alec’s eyes sliced to him.

  Christopher took several more steps down the hall and stopped outside his bedroom door, muttering, “Jesus Christ, Leon. Lower your voice.”

  “Why did you lie about April?”

  “You know about her father.”

  “Yes, I fucking know. fuck, Skull, fuck.” Leon exhaled angrily over the line. “You took her without her father’s permission.”

  “She’s a grown woman. She doesn’t need his permission.” Christopher didn’t even ask her permission.

  “Chr
istopher, you got to keep your shit together. This is Edward Locke. We know–”

  “I know, Leon,” he interrupted, his voice clipped. “I know. Why do you think I took April away without his fucking permission?”

  fucking hell.

  They didn’t get it. They probably couldn’t. Because they weren’t him.

  Leon let this sink in then he started, “You know her father won’t let this slide, right?”