Crowd of Lies (Kingsley Academy Book 2)

by Lisa Helen Gray

I can’t help the laugh that slips free as I push her back down. “It’s okay. I’m not made of glass.”

  She stops trying to leave and looks up at me. “I’m getting that, sweetheart, but they can’t get away with behaviour like that. Why didn’t you come to me?” she asks. As soon as the question slips past her lips, though, her eyes widen at the realisation. “You didn’t trust me to protect you.”

  I shrug, not bothering to lie. “I didn’t know you. You might be my aunt, but they were more of a family to you than I was.”

  “I’m going to prove to you that I’m always on your side. But you need to trust me. Just let yourself trust me.”

  “I’ll try,” I concede.

  “Nova!” Selina yells from the distance. “Nova, Ivy’s gone. I couldn’t find her anywhere at school.”

  “Shit!” I curse, mad at myself for not texting her.

  She comes barging into the room, her face as pale as a sheet of paper. “We need to call the police,” she bursts out. Her gaze lands on me and she trips over her own feet. “You’re here.”

  “I’m sorry. Some stuff happened this morning and I had to leave. I forgot to text you.”

  She rushes at me full force, knocking me back onto the bed. “You’re here,” she cries. I’m stumped at her behaviour. I try to wriggle free but pause when I realise she’s crying. “You’re safe.”

  “Selina, I say this with love, but you have to stop crying.”

  She continues to sob, and I glance up at Nova, who has tears brimming in her eyes as she watches on.

  “Don’t look at me,” she says, holding her hands up.

  I roll my eyes. “Selina,” I call out louder, “stop crying.” I can’t deal with this kind of emotion. I have no idea what to do. Mum used to cry a lot, but earlier on in my life, anytime I tried to comfort her, she would lash out and scream at me, blaming me for all her problems.

  Selina pulls back, yanking out a hanky from inside her blazer and dabbing her eyes. “When I couldn’t find you, I asked around. No one else had seen you either. But then Clarissa Whitmore—who, by the way, is scary as hell—said you ran out of first lesson after what sounded like a horror movie played from your laptop, and that Kai followed you. I thought he had hurt you again.”

  I soften a little at that, also feeling relieved that no one suspected what the sound of the recording was. “It’s a long story, but I’m fine. Why are you back so early?”

  She wipes the palms of her hands down her skirt, looking away. “I told the sports teacher it was that time of the month and didn’t have anything with me. I was worried, okay.”

  “Why don’t we have a movie night later? We can order food for dinner,” Nova offers.

  “Don’t you have work?” Selina asks, looking adorably confused, her lips set in a pout.

  Nova laughs lightly. “I’ve decided to take some time off. It’s not like I can’t afford not to.”

  “True!” Selina agrees. “Movie it is. Let me go get changed, and then we can make some popcorn and pig out on junk food.”

  “Ivy?” Nova calls, gaining my attention.

  Seeing hope shining through her eyes, I can only nod. “I’ll go get changed into something more comfortable and meet you downstairs.”

  “No rush,” Nova tells me.

  *** *** ***

  Stepping into my room, I head straight for my wardrobe, wanting to put on some joggers. A scream slips past my lips when I fall to the floor, tripping over the pile of presents I left in here last night.

  “Seriously!” I growl.

  I sit up on my arse, glancing at the pile. I don’t get why they got me presents; for one, I’m too old for them.

  I’m not going to lie and say I’m not curious as to what’s in them. Sighing, because I know they’ll get offended if I don’t open them, I reach over and grab the first one, tearing open the pale pink paper that looks like Ethan got a two-year-old to wrap.

  I cover my mouth to smother the giggle when a large black vibrator is revealed, a note Sellotaped to the front.

  In case my brother doesn’t do it for you.

  Shaking my head, I grab the next parcel, this one from Selina. I smile at the brand-new Kindle with a hundred-pound gift card attached. I open her card next, a smile still on my face.

  We may be cousins, but you are more like a sister to me, so it’s my right to tell you what to spend this gift card on. Inside the box is a list of my all-time favourite books. READ THEM!

  Happy birthday, Ivy.

  Love Selina.

  Nova’s present is next, and I open the small box, revealing a silver necklace.

  “It was your mum’s,” Nova says, causing me to scream and drop the box to the floor.

  I gasp for breath, looking up at her. “You scared me half to death. I’m getting kind of sick of people sneaking up on me.”

  “Our nan gave it to her for her Holy Communion,” she continues, ignoring my outburst.

  Picking up the necklace, I take a closer look. Mum’s name is engraved into the heart, a silver cross charm next to it.

  “It’s beautiful,” I admit.

  Nova takes a seat, leaning against the wardrobe door. “I wanted you to have something of hers from before she broke. She would have wanted that.”

  “Thank you,” I tell her around the lump in my throat.

  “I got you these,” she says, handing me a gift bag. Inside are art supplies, and something stirs in my chest. Drawing wasn’t something I did as a hobby. We never had anything for me use when I lived with Mum, but I loved taking art when I was in school. It was my favourite lesson.

  A sparkly blue box sits at the bottom, and I pull it out, unwrapping the paper. My eyebrows draw together when I see a set of keys.

  She smiles. “I know we haven’t gotten around to booking your lessons, but you have a car in the garage waiting for when you do.”

  “Really?” I breathe out, stunned.

  “Yes. But you have to be safe. No galivanting around town joyriding.”

  I arch my eyebrow. “Have you seen your town? It’s so small I’d be breaking every two minutes.”

  She laughs. “There is that. But we are surrounded by a lot of country roads.”

  “Thank you. I can’t believe you all got me something,” I tell her, trying to hide how much this has affected me. I’d pretended I didn’t care about them, that in putting them aside I could forget they were even there.

  “Of course we would, and you’re most welcome,” she tells me softly. “Who is that one from?”

  I blush as I pull the box from Lucca away from my clothes. “I think it might be best if I open this when you aren’t here.”

  She reads my face and laughs. “If I know those boys as well as I think I do, I can only imagine, but you have nothing to worry about.”

  Curious, I tear open the paper, beaming when a black skateboard is revealed. I pull it out of the box, turning it over, and on the bottom of the board, written in a graffiti style font, it says, ‘Monroe’, with a small tag on the bottom of the ‘e’ saying ‘Poison Ivy’. Their geek reference makes me laugh, even if it could be taken as an insult. Still, I love the original Batman movies they made me watch once.

  I frown when something occurs to me. “I have nowhere to ride this. You have gravel on the drive and the patio out back is surrounding a pool I still haven’t learned to swim in.”

  She beams at me, clapping her hands. “Then it’s a bit of a good job that Kaiden’s present is a skateboard ramp.”

  “No way,” I breathe out, dropping the board into my lap.

  “Yes. I’m surprised you haven’t seen it. It’s located in the back, near the tree you love to read under.”

  “How did he even know I loved my skateboard?” I murmur.

  She reaches over, patting my hand. “I guess he paid more attention to you than you realised.”

  “He never let on. We did talk a lot towards the end. It was different between us the night of the fire, but I never realised he cared
enough to absorb the things I told him.”

  “It pains me to say this after I know what they did to you, but he does care. I’m not making excuses for him, but he’s had a hard time letting people in. When he was a boy, not knowing or understanding what was transpiring around him, he was so happy and full of energy. But then his mum overdosed the first time and he changed. I’ve watched him struggle over the years to let people in. He was polite and cordial to me, but to others he was obnoxious and wary. He let you in before he even realised himself. I think he saw a kindred spirit in you.”

  “Why? Because both our mums used drugs to escape?”

  She forces a smile. “No, because you were both neglected by those who were meant to care for you.”

  I lean back against my shelves, sighing. “What am I supposed to do with this? I’m not ready, if ever, to go back to how things were. I don’t know who to trust.”

  “Oh, Ivy, I’m sorry,” she tells me gently. “The only advice I can give you is to follow your heart. What do you have to lose?”

  I look up at her, blinking rapidly to stop the tears threatening. “You. I have all of you to lose. And although I know I’ll survive on my own, I don’t want to. I’m fed up of trying to be tough. I’m tired of fighting.”

  My admittance brings tears to her eyes. She dabs under them with her sleeve. “I really wish you’d let me hug you.”

  I carefully slide my arse back a bit, worried she’ll hug me anyway. And I can’t be hugged right now, it makes me uncomfortable. “Let’s not go getting mushy.”

  “All right. But you aren’t going to lose me. We’re family. I wish to God every day that things were different. I hate that even though you accept being here, you are still on the fence. All we can do is prove our loyalty to you,” she explains, taking a deep breath. “I learn from my mistakes, Ivy. You can push me and push me, but I’m not going anywhere. I’m not going to give up. And it’s fine, because it’s no hardship showing you.”

  “Thank you,” I tell her, looking to the floor.

  “Why don’t you go out and try your new skateboard? I’m sure Selina won’t mind delaying dinner and a movie. She’s on the phone to someone anyway. I think it’s the boy I heard her flirting with.”

  Ah, so there is a boy.

  I look down at the board once more and grow excited. “You sure you don’t mind?”

  “No. Go! Have fun!”

  We both lift ourselves up from the floor, and I want to squeal with excitement. I’ve not been on one in so long. I can’t wait. Nova laughs when I rip my shirt off, opting to change into a tight tank.

  When I hear her leaving, I remember my manners and yell, “Thank you,” over my shoulder.

  I squeal, jumping up and down. “This is going to be awesome.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  KAIDEN

  “This is going terribly,” I hear Ivy curse.

  My lips twitch into a smile as I watch her brush away the dust on her arse. She told me once that she was good at skateboarding, but for the last thirty minutes, I’ve watched her fall on her arse more times than not.

  Sweat glitters over her chest, and I can’t help but be drawn to the soft globes of her tits. She’s fucking hot; curves in all the right places and an arse I love to dig my fingers into. But watching her on a skateboard has got to be the hottest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. The way her body bends at the waist as she balances on the board, the twist of her hips when she spins at the top of the ramp, and the way her entire face lights up with happiness… it’s captivating. That is, until she falls and starts cursing at the board like it’s going to reply.

  “Having fun?” I call out, gripping the lowest bar at the top of the ramp and pulling myself up and through them to take a seat on the platform at the top.

  She screams, falling down the slope once more, cursing a blue streak as she glares up at me. “That’s it! I’m buying fucking bells for you all to wear around your necks.”

  Laughing, I watch as she gets up, getting a great clear view of her cleavage. I inwardly groan, readjusting my dick as it begins to get hard.

  “Sorry?”

  “Stop sneaking up on me. I won’t be surprised if I go into heart failure soon.”

  “Sorry,” I reply.

  Her lips twist and a crease forms between her eyes. “You aren’t really sorry, are you?”

  “Nope,” I tell her through a chuckle.

  “Prick!”

  “I thought you could skate?”

  “I can—well, I could. It’s been a long time,” she explains. “Thank you for getting me this.” She looks up at me and flinches, like she’s only just realising who she’s talking to. “What are you doing here, Kai?”

  “I went to see if Nova was okay and heard you out here.”

  Exhaling harshly, she runs up the ramp and grabs the edge, before pulling herself up and taking a seat across from me, leaning her back against the bars.

  “She’s doing better. I’ve spent so much time disliking her that I didn’t stop to think how she was truly feeling. It was always a case of: she betrayed my mum, and she betrayed me by not helping me whilst I was growing up.”

  “She didn’t do it on purpose. I know you don’t trust me, but trust that Nova, no matter what went on between her and your mum, would have done right by you. She’s a good person. She’s been there for me and the twins a lot over the years.”

  “She said she was best friends with your mum,” she murmurs, and I hate that she feels like she can’t ask anything personal. I hate that the old Ivy is gone, the one who didn’t care what came out of her mouth.

  “She was. They all were; your mum, Grant’s mum, mine and Nova. My mum called me earlier,” I admit. I’ve not even told the twins she called, not wanting to get their hopes up. Legally, we are old enough to look after ourselves, but maturity in regards to the twins is still debatable. Which is why we need her back. We need her to deal with the fallout Dad has caused before we lose everything.

  “She did?” she asks, raising her eyebrow.

  I let out a dry chuckle, shaking my head. “She’s soft yet strong, so I never know which mum I’ll get. She wanted out of the marriage before it ever really began, but Dad wouldn’t let her. She was worried about what he would do if she ran. Grant’s mum, Flora, tried and died doing it. She planned to follow her that night and leave, but the call about the crash came in and she panicked. That night she started drinking.”

  “Is it true that she’s been sober for a few years?” she asks softly.

  I run my fingers through my hair, growing frustrated. “Yeah. She’s been in the background, fixing the messes Dad has been making, slowly giving him less control over everything. It doesn’t matter though. He has our name and that alone holds power.”

  “Is she coming back?”

  “Honestly?” I ask, and she nods. “Not for a while. She doesn’t feel it’s safe yet. She wanted me to pass on a message.”

  “A message? For who?”

  “You,” I admit.

  “Me?” she asks, sitting up straighter and crossing her legs.

  “She wanted you to know that when your mum left, she had her followed. After a few months, she went to her, and it was then she found out she was pregnant with you. Mum got her help.”

  My heart squeezes at the pain in her expression. I can see it as clearly as I can see her. She pales, sitting forward. “Did she get it?” she chokes out.

  “Your mum begged her for it. She said she would tell you the rest when she’s back.”

  “But that could take forever,” she yells, and I hold my hand up, stopping her from killing the messenger.

  “Mum won’t make you wait long. She said you’ve waited long enough to hear the truth.”

  “Did she tell you?” she asks, her eyes narrowing.

  “No. That was all she would tell me.”

  “This is so fucked up. How did my life get to this? I never cared about anything my mum did or said, nothing. It was all the same
. And now, since I’ve been here, I’ve wanted to know more, to uncover the truth. She wasn’t born the way she was—I get that now—but it doesn’t hurt any less to hear it could have been different. I have your dad out for blood, your ex wanting to kill me, and yet this is still the safest I’ve ever felt.”

  “That’s because you are. I won’t let him hurt any of you again,” I vow.

  “You can’t promise that. He’s your dad.”

  “He’s nobody to me right now, Ivy. And it’s not because of you—even though you are the main reason I got my head out of my arse. But it’s been a long time coming. I’m your best chance of finding him.”

  “You?” she asks dubiously.

  My lips twitch into a smirk. “Yeah. I’ve got someone looking into his whereabouts. And if anyone can find him, it’s the team I hired. They’re good at what they do.”

  A solemn look passes over her face when her gaze locks with mine. “I don’t think you’ll have to look far.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because he’s Royce. He won’t let me get away with destroying his life. I made an enemy of him the day I was born and I didn’t even know it. He’s not going to stop until I’m dead.”

  A sense of foreboding slivers through me. “He won’t get the opportunity.”

  Her phone, which is lying on her jacket, beeps with an incoming message. She picks it up, reading the screen and sighs. “I need to go.”

  “Stay,” I plead, but she gathers up her things before looking over at me.

  “I need space. I’ve had so much thrown at me since the day I arrived, I’ve not known what’s left or right. I might have come across like I had my shit together, may have even told myself I did, but I’ve been a fucking mess inside. I’ve been conflicted over everything, so right now, I need to get my head straight. I’m eighteen and need to grow the fuck up, stop playing childish games, and do something with my life,” she explains, rubbing at her chest. “When I woke up in that hospital, everything changed once again. It wasn’t about being categorised as the rich or the poor anymore. It was life. Our worlds exploded into one and I’m no longer the girl who had nothing. I need to get to know who she is and what she really wants.”