Cruel Prep: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Princes of Ravenlake Academy Book 1)

by Nicole Fox

  “I don’t. Well, I do … but I didn’t do this,” I say, gesturing towards the wall.

  He admires it for a second and then nods. “You know, I’m not surprised. You don’t strike me as the rebellious type.” He sounds almost disappointed.

  I really shouldn’t care, but I do.

  For some godforsaken reason, I want Finn Foster to like me.

  “You made me come in a shower stall just over there. How is that not rebellious?”

  “Because you didn’t ask me to. You didn’t beg me to.” Finn takes a step towards me, eyes lowered so his cheeks look even sharper than normal. Deadly. “It wasn’t rebellious because I drew you a map to what you wanted and then held your hand the entire way. A rebellious person would take what they want.”

  “I took what I wanted yesterday.”

  The memory burns in my face and my mind. I did what I wanted with Finn yesterday. I took what I wanted and pleasured him and felt powerful.

  But I’m ashamed of myself. I’m ashamed of what I want and what I did to get it.

  When I look up again, Finn is standing only a few steps away. His blue eyes are sharp and clear as a summer day, and they feel like a hot poker going straight through me.

  “Yeah, but you regret it.”

  I clench my jaw, and he smiles.

  “That’s what I thought.” He shrugs. “If you were rebellious, you wouldn’t have regrets. You’d enjoy being naughty. But unfortunately for both of us, Lily DeVry, you are a good girl.”

  He shoves his hands deeper in his pockets, curves his mouth to the side, and makes to turn away.

  Before I can stop myself, I reach out and grab him.

  I fist my hand in the front of his shirt, yank him towards me, and crush my mouth on his.

  Kissing Finn feels like drowning. It feels like forsaking every good and right and natural thing and throwing myself into unknown territory. It’s exhilarating and overwhelming, and I never want it to end.

  His tongue slips into my mouth, and I arch my back, trying to press our bodies closer. I want more of him. All of him.

  My hand slides down his flat stomach towards his zipper. I can feel his excitement against my thigh, and I know he wants this, too.

  Finn’s hand wraps around my wrist. “No.”

  “I’m taking what I want,” I gasp, my lips brushing over his with every movement.

  “This is what you want right now. But what about tomorrow night?”

  I pull back and frown at him. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean,” he says, raising his brows in annoyance. “Do you have plans tomorrow night?”

  “Saturday night?” I clarify. “You want to make plans for Saturday night? Like, a date?”

  He snorts. “God, no. I just thought it would be a good way for you to prove how rebellious you are.”

  Immediately, a cold sense of dread settles in my stomach. I feel nauseous, nervous.

  “Wow. Never mind. You look like you’re about to throw up.”

  Finn tries to pull away from me, but I grab his shirt tighter and pull him close until we are chest to chest. “What’s happening tomorrow night?”

  His chest rises and falls a bit more heavily than normal, and I wonder whether, under his neutral mask, he isn’t a bit flustered, too.

  “A secret party.” His fingers slide from my wrist down the back of my hand, tracing my middle finger before falling away. “Invitation only.”

  “And you want to invite me?”

  He lifts one shoulder in a noncommittal, silent answer.

  I shouldn’t go anywhere with Finn Foster. Not after what happened at the last party.

  Not after what I’ve seen, the way I react around him, the consequences that have already come from being close to him.

  Still, of its own volition, my head begins to nod.

  “Yeah?” Finn’s lips spread into an understated smile. More than anything, the expression is in his eyes. They are brighter than they were a minute ago, more alive.

  I nod again, confirming my terrible decision.

  “Great. I’ll meet you at the football field tomorrow night at nine. Wear something tight.”

  22

  Finn

  My dad is trying to kill me.

  Not literally. Although that might be preferable.

  But death by bench press is pretty fucking miserable, as far as those things go.

  “Why did I spend money on this weight room if you aren’t even going to use it?” he growls as I grunt through what feels like my billionth rep. “It doesn’t look like you’re using the weights I paid for at the school, either. This is pathetic.”

  My face is beet red, and I can feel my pulse in the top of my head. Any second now, the bar is going to fall and crush me. I’m not even that upset by the thought. At least it would get me out of this shit.

  “You should be playing QB, not Cody.”

  “Caleb,” I correct through a grunt. “And I’m a wideout, not a quarterback.”

  He rolls his eyes like he couldn’t care less. “Whatever. You’re good enough to be the leader out there, but just like everything else, you don’t apply yourself. You don’t push.”

  My arms shake as I lift the bar and when my elbows are finally locked, I try to put the bar back on the rack, but my dad pushes it away. “Another one.”

  “I can’t.” My teeth are gritted so hard I’m surprised they aren’t dust.

  “Bullshit. You can, but you don’t want to. You’re too weak.”

  My entire body is trembling. I’m exhausted. Distracted. Practice has been harder than usual because, despite Coach saying we are going to be fine without Nico, he wants us all to step up our game.

  But that’s not the real cause.

  The real cause has a name.

  Lily DeVry.

  Her brown eyes are molten caramel, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t get them out of my head when I retire to my room every night to pump out my frustration from the day.

  My chest and arms are on fire. Shaking, twitching, right on the verge of giving out.

  Above me, my dad’s eyes are black and remorseless. He really doesn’t give a fuck if I die under this bar. He’ll sit here and watch the life drain from my body.

  Fuck him. I won’t give him that satisfaction.

  I squeeze, roar, and push the bar the final distance. It hits the rack with a metallic clang.

  I sit upright, chest heaving from the exertion, and fix my father with a cold glare. He shrugs, as if he couldn’t care one way or the other whether I made it out from there alive.

  The room is silent for a moment. Only the sound of my labored breathing. My father turns away, studies the light overhead in the ceiling of the state-of-the-art home gym he assembled.

  “Where are we at with things?” he asks without turning back to me.

  I ignore him.

  He doesn’t appreciate that. “I asked you a question, son.”

  “Things are fine.”

  He turns around, hands clasped behind his back, and shakes his head. “Not what I asked.”

  I grit my teeth and meet his gaze. “I’m meeting her tonight. It’s under control.”

  “Helping her pack her things, I presume?” He’s got a sarcastic drawl to his voice. One that I don’t appreciate.

  I shake my head. “You’re the one who taught me revenge takes time, remember? This is delicate.”

  “Not anymore. She needs to go.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  He’s on me in a flash. His hands seize the front of my sweat-soaked t-shirt and yank me towards hm.

  Normally, he doesn’t match up in the slightest. He’s pushing sixty and spends his life behind a desk, whereas I’m fit, strong, capable.

  But after the brutal session he’s put me through after dinner, I’m too exhausted to fight back properly.

  “I know everything,” he growls right in my face. His breath reeks of whiskey. “Get rid of the girl as soon
as possible, before she has a chance to ruin you. To ruin both of us.”

  “Get off of me,” I grit.

  He surveys my face for one more moment before dropping me back onto the bench.

  “I checked on the other thing, too,” he says casually, as if that physical confrontation never even happened. “The Martin boy is in the hospital. Medically induced coma, but he’s going to be okay. He hasn’t spoken about anything. I’ll make sure he knows to keep his mouth shut.”

  I nod grimly. So Dallas is going to survive. Lily will be relieved to hear that.

  I’m not upset about it either. He’s a shit-stirring little fuck, and the Hell Princes have been a thorn in my side for years now. But it’s better not to have to deal with the consequences of a dead body.

  Even if the bastard deserved it.

  “Good,” I say simply. No need to let my dad in to all my thoughts on the subject.

  My father turns and heads towards the stairs. He puts one foot on the bottom step, but just before he ascends, he looks back at me over his shoulder and adds, “Finish the job, son. For once, do what is expected of you. Take care of her.”

  23

  Finn

  Lily is standing under the streetlight just in front of the stadium. The light around her is so bright she doesn’t see me lurking behind her in the shadows.

  When I reach into the circle of light and pull her back with me, she yelps.

  I clap a hand over her mouth and hiss in her ear, “Quiet, before someone thinks I’m kidnapping you.”

  “Are you?” she asks when I pull my hand away and set her on her feet.

  She has on the same sneakers she always wears, but she listened to me on one point—the dress she has on is tight.

  Achingly tight.

  Very similar to what I’m feeling in my jeans.

  The material is a soft gray that pulls tight over her chest and hips, skimming down the seductive line of her ass and tapering off at the top of her thighs.

  In the clothes she wears at school—and even the loose dress she borrowed from Cora for my party—it’s impossible to see the shape of Lily’s body.

  But now, I don’t have to imagine the curve of her breasts and the slope of her hips.

  Lily has a woman’s body. If it were up to me, she’d never hide it away again.

  “That all depends on whether you come with me willingly.”

  I hold out my hand. Lily studies it for a moment, waiting for the trick.

  When she decides there isn’t one, she lays her hand gently in mine.

  I didn’t plan to hold her hand, but letting go seems like a strange thing to do after asking for it so explicitly, so our entwined fingers swing between us as we walk towards the front entrance of the Ravenlake Prep football field.

  It is a large complex with wrought iron fences and built-in stadium seating. My father paid most of the bill, securing his spot as the school’s most generous donor by several million dollars. In exchange, he earned an enormous number of adoring fans. If there is one thing people in Texas take seriously, it’s Friday night football, and my father’s gift made it all the more special.

  “Foster Stadium.” Lily studies the sign above the open gate, and then turns to me. “After you?”

  “My father.”

  “Both of you. You share the name.”

  “And very little else, thankfully.”

  I pull her inside the stadium, and we follow the sidewalk to the left, around the concession stand, and towards the locker rooms built under the ‘Home’ seats.

  “Where are we going?” she asks, looking back over her shoulder. “You said this was a party, but I don’t see anyone else.”

  “That’s because we’re late.”

  I designed it that way. I don’t like to show up to places early. Or even on time. I want people to know I’m worth waiting for.

  And with Lily in that dress, she is worth waiting for, too.

  “It’s at the football field?”

  “Is the good girl afraid of being caught?” I tease.

  I pressured Lily into coming tonight by making it seem like the rebellious thing to do, but I’ve already bought off the cops on patrol at the stadium. Even if we get caught, no one is coming to arrest us. And the worst that will happen to me is getting kicked off the football team, which wouldn’t bother me in the slightest.

  There is no risk tonight. Only reward.

  She tries to pull her hand out of mine, but I squeeze her fingers tighter. Just as we walk into the entrance of the locker rooms—the voices inside growing louder—I spin her towards the wall and pin her there with my hips, grinding myself against the flat plane of her toned stomach.

  “Decide right now who you are.” I bring our entwined hands to my mouth and stroke my tongue over her knuckles. She watches me do it, her eyes growing more hooded with every second. “Are you good or bad? Do you run from what you want or do you take it?”

  She shivers at the sensation of my breath across her wet knuckles, and then licks her lips.

  I want to fuck her right here.

  I want to pull her further into the shadows and have my way with her. Screw the plan. Screw my father and Nico and revenge. Screw everything, including Lily. I want to screw her most of all.

  But I don’t. Because I’m a fucking hypocrite.

  At the same time Lily tells me she’s a bad girl who takes what she wants, I lead her into the locker room to continue the plan of ruination my father set out for me. The plan I wanted at one point … and maybe still do.

  Though, I’m not so sure anymore.

  Her hand shakes in mine as we walk down the hallway, the sounds of laughter and whistling growing deafening. When we finally turn the corner into the locker room and see the fifteen other football players assembled, their dates standing on the metal bench between the lockers, Lily turns to me, confusion etched on her face.

  Before she can say anything, I grin and hold our clasped hands in the air. “Let the bidding begin, fuckers!”

  Chaos erupts immediately. A dozen things happening at once.

  The team roars in approval.

  Bidding kicks off, one of the other seniors standing on a bench with a megaphone with his arm around the waist of a sophomore in a bikini top shaking her ass.

  Beers are cracked open. The smell of weed, sweat, testosterone filling the air.

  Lily digs her fingers into my wrist. “You son of a bitch! How dare you? I’m not going to be bid on like fucking cattle,” Lily shout-whispers.

  I barely hear her over the clamor of J.C. and a linebacker fighting over Caleb’s date. And even if I could hear her, I’d ignore her.

  All the girls here—with the obvious exception of Lily—are willing and enthusiastic participants.

  They strut up and down the bench as the football players wave stacks of cash in the air. Pushing their tits out and blowing kisses at potential bidders. It’s a fucking madhouse.

  Not a single one tempts me, however.

  I don’t mind if I leave with no one. I didn’t come here to find someone to fuck. I came here to fuck with Lily.

  J.C. hoots in joy when his bid is accepted.

  The linebacker is still getting loud, though, because he thinks it’s unfair that Noah is the auctioneer.

  Lily is still hissing angrily in my ear. “This is inhumane.”

  “Does it look like people are having a bad time?” I ask, gesturing to the corner where some of the players are already enjoying their “prizes.”

  The party won’t officially start until everyone is paired off, but that never stops anyone from getting started on foreplay.

  I turn to Lily and lean down, my lips brushing against the back of her ear. “It’s a night where your most depraved thoughts are realized. All of your fantasies become reality. I thought you’d enjoy it since you’re such a bad girl. Isn’t that what you said?”

  She jerks back and glares at me. “You thought I’d enjoy being sold off to the highest bidder?”
>
  “Based on all of our encounters so far, yes, I thought you’d enjoy a night of sexual debauchery. Was I wrong?”

  Her cheeks flush a delicious pink color.

  “Or,” I say softly, whispering against her neck, “do you only do bad things when you’re with me?”

  Her silence is all the answer I need.

  If I thought I wanted to fuck her before, now I know what need is.

  Because I need Lily. Now.

  She won’t admit it, but I turn her on. Our sick, twisted chemistry revs her engine.

  And I want to see how fast she can go.

  Need throbs in me like a physical ache, desperate to be touched and soothed, and I’m thinking about the fastest way out of the locker room when Noah calls my name.

  “Now for Finn Foster’s offering.”

  The auction goes in alphabetical order. I fall somewhere in the middle of the pack. Things must be moving quickly.

  Still, it’s too soon. I’m not ready.

  I grab Lily’s wrist, trying to figure out what I’m going to do, but she wrenches her arm out of my hold, stiffens her spine, and stares straight into my eyes.

  “I’ve only done bad things with you, but maybe that’s the problem. Whatever sick hold you’ve got on me, I want it to end now. Here.” She flips her hair over her shoulder, revealing her smooth neck. I want to take a bite out of it. “Plus, everyone already thinks I’m a slut, anyway. Might as well lean into it.”

  She walks towards the bench, and the guys part for her.

  Caleb offers her a hand up, and she takes it. The dopey expression on his face makes me want to punch him in the dick.

  Noah starts the bidding higher than previous girls because, like Viktor said, my offering is a hot commodity.

  Even though the other girls are wearing more revealing clothes and are more eager, Lily came here with me.

  That alone makes her worth more.

  Caleb throws up his arm again and again, outbidding everyone as the price gets higher, and Lily doesn’t move.

  She doesn’t strut or parade or try to sell herself. She looks at her feet and bites her lip.