Crowd of Lies (Kingsley Academy Book 2)

by Lisa Helen Gray

  He hadn’t even seem bothered at the hospital. When he walked in after Grant, my heart nearly burst from my chest. I wanted to forget how angry Grant was, how angry I was, and just have him hold me. But he seemed aloof, not at all affected by my condition. He’d had no reaction to the news that his dad was a rapist, or that he had tried to kill me. It just cemented the fact he knew all along, no matter what he tried to tell me.

  I shove the last of my clothes into my duffle bag, shaking thoughts of Kaiden away.

  A floorboard creaks behind me, and I turn to find Ed leaning against the doorframe. “You could stay another week,” he grouches.

  I grin at him. “Are you going to miss me?”

  He rolls his eyes at me, but he can’t hide the twitch of his lips. “It’s definitely going to be different without you here.”

  I look around the guest room that has been mine for the past three weeks, and sigh. It’s going to be hard not being here. They didn’t treat me like I would break and had me helping with chores after just over a week of being here. I liked that they didn’t look at me with pity and just got on with their lives, not overcrowding me.

  “I’m going to miss it here too,” I admit.

  “I’ve not asked why you didn’t go back to your aunt Nova’s, but I will ask if you’re okay going now.”

  I tilt my head, beaming at him. “Aww, are you worried about me, Mr W?”

  “Just want you to be safe, kid.”

  “Nova isn’t the reason I was run off the road,” I tell him.

  Nova couldn’t lie about the accident; it was already in the paper and Carter’s cousin didn’t keep his mouth shut, telling all his mates we were run off the road.

  But to keep Elle and Ed safe, Nova didn’t disclose who had ran me off the road. Or our suspicions.

  Nova had told them someone deliberately ran me off the road, but we didn’t know who as of yet. I agreed to the lie, knowing it would keep Elle and Ed safe.

  “I didn’t think it was,” he explains, then pauses, watching me closely. “Was it the Kingsley boy, Kaiden?”

  “Kaiden?” I ask, looking away. Just hearing his name hurts. “Why would you think it was Kaiden?”

  “He showed up a few times the first week you arrived, looking for you.”

  “What?” I practically screech.

  “Don’t be dramatic. We sent the boy away. What I want to know is whether you’re safe in going back there.”

  I soften a little inside at his affection. “I will be. And it wasn’t Kaiden.”

  He doesn’t look like he believes me, but after a moment, he makes a gruff sound before stepping further into the room. “Let me take your bag downstairs.”

  I let him pick it up before following him down the stairs.

  Elle is rushing around the kitchen, shoving containers into a bag. She spins, startled when she hears us. Her gaze goes down to the bag in Ed’s hand and her eyes glaze over.

  “You’re really going?”

  “You know I need to start school. I’ve already had enough time off. I don’t want to be there longer than I have to.”

  “I’m going to miss you,” she tells me, getting teary.

  “Don’t you dare cry on me,” I warn her, making her laugh.

  She wipes under her eyes before grabbing a bag off the counter. “I’ve made your favourites. I know you have that fancy schmancy cook up there, but I couldn’t let you go without them.”

  “Meatballs?” I ask, licking my lips. Elle is the best cook and puts Annette to shame.

  She chuckles, handing me the bag. “Of course. And chocolate cake for later.”

  She runs her hands down her apron, and I laugh, putting the bag on the floor before stepping forward and pulling her into my arms.

  I’m not a hugger, and if anyone else tried this shit, they’d get a broken nose. But it’s Elle, and living with her the past three weeks has been what I imagined living with a real family would be like. I’ve never felt so at peace. She helped stem the anger boiling inside of me.

  “I’ll be back Saturday morning to help you in the garden.”

  She pulls back, clearing her throat. “No, we have the church market Saturday.”

  I swallow the lump in my throat before talking. “How could I forget. I’ll be here bright and early to help with loading the crates.”

  “Does that mean I get to go to the cider stand?” Ed asks happily.

  Elle smacks his chest lightly. “No, it doesn’t. You know what the doc said about your cholesterol.”

  He grunts. “There is nothing wrong with me. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He’s barely out of nappies!”

  I giggle lightly at his gruff tone. He loves his wife, which is the only reason he went to the doctors in the first place a few months ago. He’s had to go every two weeks since, and each time they tell him his cholesterol is too high, he hates it, because Elle has him on a diet, and the man loves his grub.

  She rolls her eyes at him. “Don’t make me book you in early,” she threatens.

  He swallows, looking away. “I’ll go get these bags outside.”

  I reach forward, taking my bags from him. “I’ve got this. I’ll wait outside for Nova to arrive.”

  He scrunches his eyebrows together. “We can wait with you.”

  I feel my cheeks heat. “If it’s okay with you, I’d rather wait on my own.”

  I’m too embarrassed to tell them I’ve never had to say goodbye before, not like this, and it’s hard. What they’ve done for me—practically a stranger—means the world to me.

  “We can—”

  “Ed, let the girl leave,” Elle interrupts, giving him a pointed look.

  He sighs, giving me one last look over before nodding in agreement. “Don’t be a stranger.”

  “I won’t, I promise,” I tell him, hefting the duffle bag over my shoulder and lifting the bag of food with my good hand.

  I swallow past the ball in my throat and give them a small smile that probably looks more like a grimace.

  “Be good and take care of yourself,” Elle warns softly.

  “I’ll see you both soon. Thank you—for everything.”

  “You’re welcome,” she tells me.

  Ed makes a sound under his breath before turning away from us. “Get with you, girl. I’m going to check on the chickens.”

  I smile at his retreating form. “He’s such a softy.”

  “It’s why I snagged him. Big enough to make grown men piss themselves but a teddy bear where I’m concerned.”

  I laugh at her apt description of Ed. “I’ll be seeing you, then,” I murmur, still struggling to find the strength to leave, and not just because I love being here. It’s also because I know once I step outside, what’s happened will become real again. I’ve been able to pretend it didn’t happen, that missing Kaiden was okay because really, we’d only had a disagreement.

  Leaving here… it’s going to be a slap of reality and I’m not ready for it.

  And yes, I’m going to miss Elle and Ed.

  “You won’t get far standing there, girl. Get going,” she orders, though her expression is soft.

  I nod, clearing my throat. “See you Saturday,” I tell her, before turning and leaving.

  The second I step outside, I tilt my head up to the bright blue sky and close my eyes, basking in the heat of the sun beaming down on me. I suck in a lungful of fresh air, and the weight of reality, of what I know, what I had, and what happened, hits me. There’s no more escaping, no more hiding.

  “Looking good for someone who was roadkill a few weeks ago.”

  I snap my gaze to the end of the path, relaxing when I see it’s Carter Remington leaning against his bike, his shades covering those deep, piercing blue eyes of his.

  I smirk, eyeing the shiny black motorcycle behind him. I don’t remember much from that day, but I’m pretty sure his bike was red.

  “Nice bike. You sure are brave bringing it around me,” I tease him, walking to the end of
the path to meet him.

  His expression breaks out into a smile, and he laughs. “The bike was totalled, but I’m good with the new one.”

  “What brings you out here?” I ask, watching him warily. My first encounter with this guy wasn’t the best, but then again, none of my first encounters with the people in Cheshire Grove have been great.

  “I’ve been looking for you, wanted to see if you were okay. Any word on who ran us off the road?”

  I place my bags down on the floor before shrugging. I don’t gossip, and I don’t trust Carter Remington to be here for anything other than that.

  He won’t be getting answers from me. I tell myself it’s because it’s none of his business—which it’s not—but I know that deep down, my loyalty is still with Kaiden.

  “Why have you been looking for me?”

  His lips twist into a smirk as he pushes his shades up on the top of his head. “All right, so you won’t tell me who was after you. That’s okay. I really did come here to check if you were okay. When we arrived at the hospital, you went into cardiac arrest.”

  “What can I say, not even the devil wanted me,” I explain. “But I’m good. You didn’t need to come here.” I pause, thinking about it for a moment. “How did you know to come here?”

  His smirk spreads, and he really is a good-looking bastard. I can see why Selina has a crush on him. “I have my sources.”

  I brush his comment off, not needing to know. “How are you? They said you were pretty banged up yourself.”

  “Good. I’ve had worse.”

  I inhale, putting my pride aside, and say, “Thank you—for what you did.”

  I was really grateful. He didn’t have to stop that day. For all he knew, I was just a piece Kaiden was fucking. I meant nothing. And yet, he stopped, risking his own life.

  “It’s not your fault,” he tells me, rubbing the back of his neck. “I need to get going, but if you ever need anything, let me know. You know where I live.”

  “Thank you, but I won’t.”

  He shrugs as he swings his leg over the bike. “Offer’s there, babe.”

  I step forward, holding my hand out to stop him putting his helmet on. “I really am sorry you got hurt, and about your bike.”

  He stares, searching for honesty, before shaking himself out of it. “Like I said, not your fault. Do you have a phone?” he asks, resting his helmet in front of him.

  “Um, yeah, why?”

  He holds his hand out, and I reach into my back pocket for my phone before giving it to him. He types something in before I hear a beep coming from his pocket. “Call me if you need me. Be careful, Ivy, not everyone is who they seem to be. You can’t trust anyone.”

  Before I have a chance to argue, he hands me my phone back. He puts the helmet on with those parting words, revving his bike. He speeds off, and I watch, wondering how much he knows about what really happened.

  A car pulls up behind me and I turn, greeting Nova with a small wave. She gets out of the car, pulling her sunglasses up.

  “You okay?”

  I nod, grabbing my bags off the ground. “Yeah, I’m good.”

  She continues to survey the area, her lips twisting together. “You really shouldn’t be out here alone.”

  I don’t bother putting my stuff in the boot. Instead, I throw my duffle in the back and keep the food safe in the front with me. “I’m fine. And if you haven’t noticed, Ed is peeking from behind the curtain.”

  She looks over to the house and waves. She gets in the car after me, shutting the door. When she doesn’t drive, I look over at her, arching my eyebrow.

  “Are you sure you want to do this? I feel terrible for everything that has transpired. Maybe going to the Academy isn’t the best idea.”

  “Now you tell me,” I groan, but I know this is something I need to do. I don’t break my promises. “But no, I’m fine. You were right in the sense that I need a better education, and Kingsley Academy can give me that.”

  “I’m worried it will be too much for you. I know what some of the girls can be like. I was once amongst them. They are horrid to the girls they think don’t belong.”

  I give her an evil smirk. “Then they are in for a rude awakening. I’m not going to let some uptight skank tell me what to do.”

  “Then there’s the Kingsley boys. You know you won’t be able to avoid them. They attend the school and their mum owns it.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  I look out of the window when she pulls off, not saying anything else. It’s hard to imagine that nine weeks ago we followed this same road. A lot has happened in such a short amount of time.

  Tomorrow will be a completely different challenge, one I plan on conquering.

  I’m not going to let the Kingsley’s get to me. I’m going to turn up at that fancy-arse school and get a fucking degree in something so I can get a high-paying job and get the hell out of here.

  No one is going to stand in my way.

  CHAPTER SIX

  KAIDEN

  I’ve been slowly going out of my mind for four weeks, punching anyone who’s dared to look at me wrong.

  I’m angry at everyone, at the world.

  Dad is still MIA, but I couldn’t give two shits at this point. He can stay gone. We found papers proving he had been stealing and selling land owned by our companies. The second I got back from the hospital, I trashed his office, trying to look for anything that could prove whether or not Ivy was telling me the truth. There was nothing, but it didn’t mean what she’d said was true.

  Leaving the way he did makes him guilty in my eyes. I’m not some naïve little boy who only wants to see the good in people.

  There are a lot of snakes in our world, all out to get what they can or seek out who they can use to get where they want.

  Mum still isn’t home, even though Nova told me she was making plans for her return. The whole situation is fucked up. She’s been gone for years, making us believe she was this broken woman who couldn’t be trusted to look after her own kids. Instead, she’s been hiding, okay with leaving her sons with a man who only cares about himself.

  Do I believe my dad, who’s been a money grabbing, power hungry knob for most of our lives, or the girl I have known for only a short amount of time?

  I want to believe Dad didn’t do it, that he wasn’t sick enough to do something so degrading and twisted, but I can’t. The doubt is there and it’s eating away at me. I’d seen how ruthless he could be, how cruel when it comes to his own sons.

  The twins aren’t handling it much better either, both drinking and partying when they should be concentrating on their first year at the Academy.

  If they don’t calm down in a few weeks, I’m going to step in and put a stop to it, or at least warn them to slow down.

  “Have you seen her yet?” Lucca asks, sitting on the picnic bench beside me.

  I know he’s asking about Ivy, who got back last night from wherever Nova had been hiding her. I’d looked in hotels, at Sam’s house, and even Elle White’s, the old lady who lives near the outskirts of the gated community. She wasn’t anywhere.

  I’ve never been attached to anything, even sports I can go without, and the only people I care about are my brothers and Grant.

  Then she walked into our lives, and slowly, I questioned everything I ever believed was true. And it wasn’t even her natural beauty; it was her, the way she saw the world, our world. It had been refreshing. She wasn’t some chick who wanted to bed a millionaire, hoping one day I’d wed her. She didn’t have an ulterior motive. She didn’t want or need anything from me.

  She was real, and it was hard to find that in our world.

  I’m addicted to her, there is no other way to put it.

  I wanted to go around last night, to question her further about what she found, but a part of me was scared about why I really wanted to see her.

  Did I want to hurt her or fuck her? I blame her for what my brothers are going through. It’s driving me in
sane from the inside, so I’ve left her alone. I’m torn in a way I can’t describe. I’m loyal to my family, and even though she might be telling the truth, that damn loyal part of me wants to say she’s wrong anyway. It’s messing with my head.

  It still doesn’t stop me from looking for her as I scan the field.

  The school is surrounded by forests, hidden well into the trees, and if you don’t know where to go, you probably won’t find the entrance.

  The place is built on acres of land, spread out and divided into sections. They have a medical department, science department, and even a sports department. Whatever career you want to follow, you can learn here.

  Most students who attend Kingsley Academy come for the business course. It’s one of the best in the UK and can teach you to run a multimillion-pound company and then some. It helps young minds start up their own businesses.

  The school is different from your average college or university. It has a variety of courses and teaches you more than the basics. You leave here with connections, with partners, but only the best of the best or the richest can attend. It’s exclusive, invitation only, apart from a selected few who make hefty donations to get their son or daughter in.

  We even have scholarships, but they are only granted to those with the highest grades and glowing recommendations.

  Me and my brothers are legacies, along with a few other attendees this year. I didn’t care. I didn’t thrive off a name like many others do. I might use it to influence people. I always get what I want. But I didn’t care for the attention that came with our name.

  Ethan steps up to the bench, rubbing his temples. “Grant is fucking some random in the front seat of his car.”

  “How’d that happen?” Lucca asks, and when Ethan arches his eyebrow, he puffs out a breath, continuing. “Not the fucking part. I meant him being with someone.”

  “He talking to you?” Ethan asks me, ignoring the ridiculous question.

  Grant hasn’t been himself, drinking more than the twins. The only difference is, he’s not been fucking everything in sight. He hasn’t even touched any of the new girls. He hasn’t done much of anything and gets angry at anyone who tries to approach him.