by Kent, Rina
Join Jason as he explores Mallhaven University
About the Author
L. D. Fox writes deliciously dark and twisted stories for people that, like her, enjoy reading it.
Having grown up on names like Graham Masterton, Dean Koontz, James Herbert, Stephen King, Robert Jordan, and Terry Pratchett, her stories are an eclectic mix of the sadistically twisted, the epic, and the darkly comedic. She strives to create characters that are as immersive as the worlds she raises around them. Expect more than your average amount of plot twists, superb dialog, characters you’ll either love or loathe, and a book hangover that’s guaranteed to last at least few days, if not longer. She doesn’t hold any punches - nor should she, for that’s what she expects in the books she reads and what she offers to her readers in return.
She hails from the four-seasons-in-a-day suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. She’s so busy writing she doesn’t have time for much else except the occasional indulgent Netflix binge. She loves hearing from readers, so don’t be shy to contact her and tell her what you thought of her writing.
Vicious Knight
Nicole Cypher
Vicious Knight Blurb
Everyone has secrets...
* * *
What do you do to the person who learns yours?
* * *
I’ll tell you what I did. I went after her.
* * *
I wrecked her credibility.
* * *
I destroyed her friendships.
* * *
I ruined her reputation.
* * *
And she responded in the most foolish way possible. She fought back.
* * *
My last name might be Knight, but she’s the furthest thing from being rescued.
Also by Nicole Cypher
The Darker Places Series:
DESIRED
DEPLORABLE
DETHRONED
DEMOLISHED
* * *
Standalone Novels:
UNHINGED
* * *
Multi-author Box Sets:
NOBLE SAVAGES
* * *
For a comprehensive list, check out Nicole’s Amazon page
Contents
1. Cam
2. Eden
3. Eden
4. Eden
5. Eden
6. Eden
7. Eden
8. Eden
9. Eden
10. Eden
11. Cam
12. Cam
13. Eden
14. Eden
15. Eden
16. Eden
17. Cam
18. Eden
19. Cam
20. Eden
21. Eden
22. Eden
23. Cam
24. Eden
25. Cam
26. Cam
Epilogue
Thank You
Also by Nicole Cypher
About the Author
Chapter One
Cam
“Do it, Jade!” Leilani laughed so hard she bent over and placed her hands on her knees. Others in our half-circle echoed her amusement.
“Yeah, let’s see ‘em,” Hunter said from my right. I turned my head to glance at him. His eyes didn’t hold a euphoric sheen like most of the drunk idiots standing around the pool. He jutted his chin and stared like he was about to pounce on our far-too-exuberant friend in front of us.
I turned back to Jade and zeroed in on her chest, trying to understand what all the excitement was about. They were a pair of tits. Small ones at that.
“You want me to?” she asked, lifting the flimsy material of her shirt over her stomach. Her giggling cut off as she wobbled in her cock-tease heels, and she flung her arms out to balance herself.
“Yes!” several people encouraged.
Trey, our best asset on the Panthers’ offensive line, shifted uncomfortably on my left. I turned that way and noticed his new girl, Paige, tugging on his shirt and whispering something.
Paige was a good girl. Probably didn’t approve of this kind of behavior. As far as I was aware, she didn’t have much experience with parties.
Now this was interesting.
“Would you fuckin’ relax?” Trey gritted, trying to keep his voice low so none of us would hear. Her face drooped, and her eyes shone, but not with a drunken glaze. They shone with tears.
Jade was still giggling and dragging the attention out as long as she could. Right now, she had the spotlight, and that’s exactly the way she wanted it. She was having the time of her life.
“Jade, I don’t think Trey wants you to.” I said it as if it was a harmless taunt, adding amusement into my voice and giving him a nudge. Paige looked up at him expectantly.
Here we go.
Jade laughed. “That’s not how you felt last night, baby.”
More laughter rang out and a chorus of “ohh’s” mixed in.
I stared at Paige’s face, watching as her eyes widened and lips parted. She pulled herself from him and crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyes pooled more and a fat tear slid down her cheek. I couldn’t take my gaze off the girl, but I could see from my peripheral that Trey wasn’t turned toward her. He was eyeing Jade, a pissed off expression igniting his face at her having tattled on him.
“Can we go talk?” Paige asked him.
Oh, come on, grow some balls.
Jade, sensing the attention leaving her, cackled as she yanked her shirt up, exposing a mediocre pair of tits. Howls rang out through the backyard, along with drunken laughter. Everyone acted as if they were having the time of their lives. Well, not everyone.
When I turned my attention back to Trey and his girl, they were shuffling through the crowd.
I rolled my eyes. What the hell was there to talk about? He cheated on you. Throw your drink in his face and storm home.
Fucking pathetic.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, but before I could reach for it, my best friend’s voice stopped me.
“Think she’ll dump him?” Hunter asked, following my gaze.
I blinked and glanced at him before shrugging. “Couldn’t give a shit.”
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
He wasn’t smiling, so I knew better than to admit it to him. Trey was our friend, and Hunter had loyalty to him. Although, not as much loyalty as he had to me.
I lifted my cup to my mouth and closed my eyes as I downed the rest of my beer. I tossed the cup to the ground and went to walk away.
“Cam.” Hunter grabbed my arm. I glanced down at it, then up to his face. “Don’t do shit like that. We’re brothers.”
“I know,” I said, pulling away. “Honest mistake.”
“Right.”
His face softened some as he turned back to Jade, and I took that as my opportunity to move away. I pulled out my phone and glanced at the message before shoving it back in my pocket.
My heart rate quickened, but no one around was noticing anything but Jade. I could probably slip away. When I made it a foot toward the patio, Ethan, another lineman, stepped in front of me.
“Come on, man. We’re gonna run through some plays.” He had a football in his hands and a goofy smile. Playing while drunk was one of their favorite things to do, and it baffled me. We’d already given it our all at the game tonight. Football was the last thing on my mind.
The sound of someone puking registered, and I turned to see that it was Jade. “I’m gonna take her inside and get her some water.”
“Come on, Cam. We need our quarterback!”
I ignored him and trotted over to Jade. My nose crinkled as the smell of regurgitated beer hit me. “You need to learn how to handle your alcohol better.”
I grabbed her and pulled her to her feet. She slung her arm over my shoulder and let me help her toward the patio. I could feel Hunter’s eyes on me, but by then, he was already part of another conversation. He wouldn’t follow me.
“You gonna take advantage of me?” Jade slurred in an amused voice. Her foot caught on the concrete as we reached the back porch. Her arm slipped from around my shoulder, and she nearly face-planted. I caught her by her waist and hauled her back up to stand.
“Jesus, Jade. Pull yourself together.”
She turned in my arms and dug her nails into my chest, all the while that smile never left.
Ignorance truly is bliss.
“I’d rather pull you, Cammy.”
What does that even mean?
I rolled my eyes and urged her into the house, sliding the door closed behind me as if that extra barrier between me and Hunter would work.
“Fuck me, Cam,” she whispered, foul breath wrinkling my nose. She bit her lip and leaned on me more. Her hands gripped my shirt and she rubbed her chest against me. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and I could feel her hardened nipples through the material of our shirts.
My face contorted and I pushed her backward. Her arms flailed, and she landed on her ass on the kitchen tile. I glanced around to see if anyone noticed us, but everyone was too caught up in the game of beer pong going on. Jade hung her head and covered her mouth like she was about to throw up again.
With a shake of my head, I left the kitchen and headed upstairs. My heart beat faster with each step, and my cock was already hardening at the mental image floating through my mind.
I glanced over my shoulder as an added precaution to make sure no one was following me. Most of my friends would be playing football out in the alley, Hunter with them. I hoped so, at least.
I barged through the door to his parents’ bedroom and slammed it shut behind me. Sherry, Hunter’s mom, smiled, leaning back on the bed with one leg crossed over the other. “What took you so long?”
“It’s a big house,” I joked, my own smile pulling at the corners of my lips. I turned to lock the door, but the lock didn’t engage.
“Gene broke it last night.”
My shoulders tensed, and I tried to hide the anger that ignited, but she could tell. She could always tell.
The bed creaked as she lifted off of it and walked over to me. She wrapped her arms around me and ran her hands over my chest. “It’s fine,” she whispered. “It was just a small fight.”
“Did he hurt you?”
“No.”
I turned in her arms and studied her face. She was good about hiding the bruises under makeup, but I didn’t see any hints of one.
“Was Hunter here?”
She shook her head. “You know Gene’s better about his temper around him.”
“Right,” I said, averting my gaze.
She cupped my face and brought it back to her before standing on her toes and brushing her lips against mine. “Let’s make it quick.”
I smiled before threading my fingers through her hair and pulling her head back to expose her neck. Her breath hitched as I trailed my tongue over her throat and kissed up to her ear. “Yes, ma’am.”
Eden
“So, why don’t you like parties?” Joshua Nixon’s beer-scented breath drifted into my nostrils each time he spoke, reminding me that he was too close.
I inched back to create some distance between us, but he casually closed it a moment later. “I don’t know… It’s just not really my scene.”
Not really my scene was the understatement of the century. Paige had to beg, plead, and ultimately bribe me to come here tonight. So far, two weeks of her doing my trig homework didn’t seem worth it. But she was happy and safer with me there… I think.
I glanced through the mob of football players and cheerleaders, sprinkled with a few out-of-place individuals such as myself. This was definitely not my scene.
I sighed before returning my attention back to Joshua. “Have you seen Paige?”
He leaned down and angled his ear toward my mouth, making my grip on my cup tighten. I loosened it when the crinkling sound reached my ears.
It’s possible that he couldn’t hear me past the excessively loud hip-hop blaring through the speakers, but my guess was that he wanted to close some more of that much-needed space.
“Paige,” I said, raising my voice. “Have you seen Paige?”
He stood up straight and shook his head, and sure enough, we were miraculously a few inches closer. “I’m sure she’s having fun. You should too.”
He lifted his red Solo cup to his lips and downed the rest of it. A peek into mine revealed the same amount as when Joshua had brought it to me.
Right, like I’m gonna drink something I didn’t pour for myself at a party.
It was kind of sweet, though. Before he came along and decided I was worth talking to, I’d been awkwardly standing by myself, counting the seconds until I could leave. I’d been about twenty of those seconds away from bailing and waiting in my car when Joshua had sauntered up, two beers in hand.
I could at least try to be nice.
“So what colleges are you thinking of applying to?” I lifted the cup to my mouth and let some liquid splash against my lips without swallowing a drop.
“Oklahoma State scout’s gonna be at our next game, so we’ll see what happens.” He trailed his eyes down the length of my sweater, stopping at the zipper of my jeans. He lingered there too long before his gaze returned to my face, a smirk tugging his lips.
Was that supposed to be flattery?
“You should come.”
I stared at him confused for a moment before I realized he was talking about the game. “Oh, yeah... maybe.”
Not.
Before he could press, I continued. “So, OSU. Do you know what you want to major in?”
My genuine effort at making conversation died when Joshua chuckled. “Seriously?”
I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Of course he didn’t have a major picked out. He was going to go to college to play football, not to get an education. Silly me.
I forced a smile and shook my head. “Never mind. Listen, I need to check on Paige.”
He gripped my wrist as I went to step away, slushing some of the beer from my cup. My eyes widened as I peered down at the dark spot on the rug. The Persian rug. This was Hunter O’Reilly’s house. No way did I spill beer on Hunter O’Reilly’s ten-thousand-dollar carpet.
“She’s fine, Thompson. Damn, don’t you ever relax?”
My veins heated and I was struck with the urge to dump the rest of my beer on his perfectly styled pretty-boy haircut. The same one most of the other jocks in the room had. Did they all go to the same barber? I mean, really, how about some variety?
“I told you, this isn’t my scene.”
I jerked my wrist from his bruising grasp and managed to get a few feet away when he spoke to my back. “Oh, right, you’re more the band geek type. My bad.”
A couple people within earshot laughed, and I paused, barely resisting the temptation to spin around and lash out. First of all, I was in orchestra. Second, yes, I much preferred my friends’ meaningful conversations over having to spend any amount of time listening to these assholes talk about throwing a ball to each other. Yay, we get it, you’re so incredible.
I can’t believe I thought for a minute that Joshua Nixon might be sweet.
I continued through the crowd, scanning the faces for my once very innocent friend. She’d only been dating Trey Langston for three weeks and already she’d lost her virginity, attended three football games, and been invited to a party at Hunter O’Reilly’s house—the party I could not leave fast enough. Never would I have imagined us here, with me watching her fawn over her new football-player boyfriend, but here we were. Before Trey had infested her life, we’d joked about these people and their arrogant lifestyles… now she wanted to join them.
“Paige?” I called, but got no reply. A game of beer pong was going on in the kitchen. Letter-jacket-wearing meatheads were too busy chanting at one of them chugging a beer to give me a passing glance. I was invisible to these people and had been since moving here sophomore year.
A groa
n came from my right, and I snapped my head in that direction. It was Jade Kinsley, sitting on the kitchen floor with her head in her hands. She looked worse for wear and minutes away from passing out… or vomiting. If she hadn’t already. I glanced around for her pack of cheerleading friends, but every single one of them was either on the arm of a jock or nowhere to be found.
“Hey, are you okay?” I stepped further into the kitchen and bent down next to her.
She lifted her head and flicked a piece of hair over her shoulder before wiping the back of her hand over her mouth. An acrid odor wafted into my nose—stale beer and stomach acid. Gross.
“I’ll get you some water.”
“Fuck off band geek.” Her words were slurred and carried no bite with them. I stood and stepped over her to open the fridge. I glimpsed the contents before spotting the bottles of water and grabbing one.
Jade’s eyes were closed when I peered down, her head resting on her bare knee. The thigh-length skirt she wore had ridden up to her hips.
I crouched next to her and prodded her arm. “Here, drink this.” I glanced around, in vain, to see if any of her friends appeared capable of operating a motor vehicle. Of course not. Turning back to Jade, I sighed. “Do you need a ride home?”