A Hurt So Sweet Volume Three: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Elite of Eden Falls Prep Book 3) Read online

  "I made him come." I cross my arms in front of my body and stare her down defensively. "What more do you want?"

  "I told you to suck him off." She stares me back down. "You didn't do that, did you?"

  "I couldn't have. He was too eager, as I'm sure everyone in here noticed."

  "What a handy excuse." She twirls a strand of platinum blonde hair around her finger. "I don't think we should let you get away with that. You know it's enough if one person says you didn't do enough, right? I see a whole room of people who'd be willing to rat you out to the founding families. Unless you've made some friends who are willing to protect you?"

  The bitch knows where to hit to make it hurt.

  My eyes scan the cafeteria. There's no one here I would consider a friend. The closest to a friend is Minnie, and she doesn't go to Prep.

  "You want me to get whipped?" I ask Audra, and she nods with an almost maniacal smile. "Alright, bring it the fuck on. Better than sucking your loser brother's flaccid cock."

  "You..." She's so pissed off she goes completely white. "Fine. Your fucking funeral."

  "Just give me the time and place. I'll be there."

  "You're a fucking fool, Pandora," she tells me vehemently. "They won't go easy for you. A transgression like this is unforgivable."

  "Well, I'll just have to make it memorable then, won't I?" I grind out at her. "So nobody makes the same mistake I did. You can make an example out of me. Just remember one thing, bitch. Revenge is a dish best served cold."

  "Revenge?" She laughs in my face. "You keep saying these big words, but I think you aren't nearly brave enough to put them into action."

  "Watch me." I turn around, walking away from her while people clap and cheer in my direction. I pay them no mind. I know they're not my real friends. They're going to stab me in the back the first chance they get.

  But that will only make my vengeance sweeter.

  5

  Dexter

  The day of her whipping, Pandora is surprisingly calm.

  I've only had brief moments here and there to speak to her about what's going to go down. I wish I'd been in the cafeteria when Audra decided to punish her. I would've put my foot down, gotten her off the hook. I always did know how to spin Audra right around my finger. But now, what's done is done, and my toy will have to suffer the consequences.

  The whipping is taking place in the town hall, in a large theater-like room with a stage. As a rule, one of the founding fathers is supposed to do the whipping, and nobody was surprised when Pandora's own father stepped up. He's been waiting for his moment to hurt her, and this way, with her in the public eye, he's even more eager to teach her a lesson.

  On the day, I don't get a chance to speak to Pandora. I'm sitting in the front row of the theater room along with the other Firstborns who haven't as much as spoken to me yet. None of them even look at me. I want to kick all of their asses. How they could allow this to happen to my toy is beyond me.

  Audra taps my shoulder from behind, and when I turn around, I narrow my eyes at her. She's the last thing I need right now. "Not now."

  "Now," she demands, her tone threatening.

  "No," I grind out. "Get the fuck back to your seat."

  "But..." She purses her lips. "I did this so we could finally be together. The way we're supposed to."

  Her comment is a whispered hiss, but I laugh out loud at her audacity. "Poor, naive little Audra. You actually thought doing this would make me want you? Nothing could accomplish that after what you've done."

  "But you don't care about her," she argues. "She's no one!"

  "You're the no one," I deliver in an icy voice. "Now fucking leave me alone before I force you to get up on that stage with her."

  That shuts her up, and she returns to her seat. The entire room goes quiet as the lights dim, the spotlights on the stage growing brighter. Pandora is brought out by Easton and Caspian's father, and my hands form fists on the armrest as I stare at her, shaking and vulnerable. As tradition dictates, she's merely wearing a robe, but even that's going to go off in seconds. For the whippings, the one getting hurt is always naked.

  Oakes climbs the stage next, wearing an amused expression and a cruel glint in his eyes as he begins picking from the whips displayed on the wall behind her. I want to fucking kill him.

  "Kneel," he tells Pandora without so much as looking at her. "Get that robe off and wait."

  Her shaky hands push the smooth silk of her robe down her shoulders, pooling on the floor. My teeth grit together as I watch her, naked and exposed, while her prick of a father picks out his torture weapon. The room is deathly silent. There must be at least fifty people watching this, and none of them will speak out for her.

  Emilian picks out a long, sturdy whip and lays it across his daughter's lap. Pandora sobs openly, breaking down for everyone to see. Any other day I would've thought it beautiful, but not today. Today I'm sick at the thought of her getting hurt at anyone's hand but mine.

  Oakes raises the whip. It's about to crack across her naked back when I stand up. All eyes go to me, but my attention is solely on the man who killed my parents.

  "Stop it." My voice booms and echoes in the room. Everyone is staring. "Don't fucking hurt her."

  Oakes laughs out loud at me, and before I can do anything, he hits Pandora's back with the whip, hard.

  No one could hold me back at that moment. It takes me a split second to reach the stage and start strangling the bastard while she whimpers on the floor. I'm ready to kill him. Ready to end this right the fuck now. But someone pulls me off, and I turn my crazed eyes to Lai's. He merely shakes his head before stepping back down.

  "You've interrupted... a-a formal w-whipping." Oakes is trying to catch his breath, pulling at the collar of his crisp white shirt as he glares at me. "You know what the punishment for that is, Booth?"

  "I do," I grind out.

  "Why don't you tell everyone?"

  "Taking her place." My voice is a hiss, and Emilian smirks at me as I help Pandora to her feet and whisper in her ear that everything's going to be okay. I allow one of the employees of the town hall to lead her away while I turn to face her father. "You're a fucking monster."

  "Takes one to know one." He taps the whip against his palm. "Take her place."

  I kneel in front of him, with my back turned to face him. My heart is pounding. I can't imagine what being whipped feels like. What shocks me is that I'm willing to endure it all... just so Pandora doesn't have to.

  Before I can have another moment, the whip cracks against my back, hard and unforgiving. I swallow the groan on my lips and brace myself against the floor. Another slashing sound slices through the air and the whip hits me again, then again and again. At some point, I can't hold myself up anymore. I collapse on the ground, and Emilian just keeps going and going.

  "That's enough," I finally hear through the fog in my mind, somehow turning around to see Lai leading Oakes off. He's wearing a self-satisfied expression I want to fucking erase off his face. That son of a bitch is sicker than any of us.

  The pain is almost unbearable. The room empties slowly, hushed voices and whispers accompanying people as they slowly trickle out. Not even Audra stops to speak to me. The room stinks of shame.

  After a couple agonizing moments, I realize there are only two people left in the room. Lai, and myself.

  "You should go," I groan, somehow picking myself up and wincing as I wipe the blood off my back with my shirt.

  "I can't leave you like this." He approaches, taking my shirt from my hands and putting it over my open wounds. It hurts so much I'm convinced I'm going to lose consciousness, but I grit my teeth and allow him to help me get up. "I called a doctor to your house. He'll sort you out."

  I nod as a sign of gratitude. I can't offer him much more. He's my oldest friend and he's let me down too much with what he's done to Pandora.

  "Are you going to be okay?" Lai asks.

  "What the fuck do you think?" I stumble out o
f the room. "Look what all this shit has gotten me into. I've lost everything. Every-fucking-thing."

  "You haven't," he says lamely.

  "Thanks for the reassurance." I glare at him. "If only I could trust you with anything."

  He stays stubbornly quiet, but the devil on my shoulder won't shut up. He wants to add more fuel to the fire.

  "I hope it was fucking worth it, betraying me."

  He stares me down, not saying a word. His mouth opens and closes but nothing comes out. There's nothing to say, nothing to add. He knows just how fucked up all of this is.

  "Let me help you get home," he offers, not unkindly.

  "Oh, just fuck off," I hiss. "I don't want or need anything from you. Just get the hell away from me."

  "Calm down." Lai holds his hands up. "I don't want to fuck things up more."

  "More? More?" I advance on him, grabbing the front of his shirt. "Look where your fuck-up brought us. An innocent girl getting hurt multiple times."

  Lai raises his eyebrows at me. "Since when do you have a problem with that?"

  His words render me speechless, and I stare him down before groaning and pushing him aside. "Forget it."

  "I mean it," he speaks up again. "That pussy may be tight, but it sure as hell ain't magic. What's got you so fucking whipped for Pandora Oakes?"

  I wish I could answer his question, but my silence says everything. Without saying another word to him, I walk away, wincing with every step.

  It takes weeks for the wounds to hell. By then, Anders is back at work, but has also officially handed me his notice. Soon enough, I won't have anyone to help me with the situation at home. I'm going to need to find a different solution.

  Over the past month, I've been wondering whether I still love Lily Anna. The affection is still there. The need to take care of her. But there's no passion, no lust, no deep love anymore. She isn't the girl I fell in love with. Maybe she never was.

  At school, things have started running smoother, though not being at the top of the food chain has proven to be a problem for me. Easton runs Prep now. I'm just a bystander to his actions.

  Lily Anna grows wilder by the day, making me miss day after day of school. Audra never stops hurting my toy, practically following her around with humiliating tasks. Pandora spent weeks being Audra's maid, for lack of a better word, because the blonde took offense to one of her answers in class. There's no way for my toy to fight it now. She just has to take what's doled out to her, grit her teeth, and pray she gets through it okay.

  By the time I return to school, my back is scarred and my head is filled with ideas of revenge. I'm not only going to take down Brantley and Oakes, I'm going to bring this whole damn town down. And there's only one person I want by my side.

  I pull Pandora aside in the hallway. She's wearing a thick black choker - a sign of the town that signifies she's disrespected someone above her in status. She looks beaten down, tired and pissed off.

  "Where were you?" Her first words to me are accusatory. "Where have you been, Dexter? Do you see what they're doing to me?"

  "Remember what I did for you," I grind out. "I had to heal. Get better."

  "I don't think that's the whole truth," she mutters, and I can't even argue with her. She knows something's up. She may not figure out the Lily Anna situation, but she can sense my lies. "I think you're avoiding me."

  Because you scare me, I want to tell her, but I hold my tongue and shake my head. "We need to get you the fuck out of Eden Falls."

  "Don't you think I know that?" Her voice is bitter as she sighs and rubs her temples. "It's all I want, to go back home, to get away. But there's unfinished business I have to do first."

  "Like what?"

  "I need to go see my mother."

  My eyes widen. "You aren't..."

  "Supposed to know she's alive?" She smirks. "Tough luck. Brantley found her address for me. I've been saving money. I'm eighteen now. I'm free to leave. As long as I can get out of Eden Falls, I'm fucking free."

  "Let me come with you." The words leave my lips on an impulse, and she knits her brows together. "Please. I'll come."

  "What good will that do?" She eyes me suspiciously. "I don't need another burden."

  "I'll help," I grit out. "I'll help you get away from all of it."

  "I don't have time to talk about this now." The school bell rings and she snatches her hand away when I try to take it.

  "Please, Pandora."

  "Why do you want to get away, anyway?"

  "Because this town is fucking poison," I mutter. "I need a fresh start. What's keeping me here? Fucking nothing and no one."

  Especially if you leave, I add in my mind. Especially if I find a way to deal with Lily Anna.

  "I'll think about it." She gives me another long look. "I have to go now, this already looks suspicious. You still got my number?"

  "Yeah."

  "Why haven't you called?" Her tone is accusatory, and it dawns on me what I've done - or rather, not done - has somehow upset her.

  "Why do you care if I call? I thought you hated me."

  Her lips purse and she stares me down. "I don't have anyone else."

  It's so fucking sad. She's as alone as I am. And we can't even be there for each other.

  "Look, I'll call you tonight, we'll figure something out." I search for warning signs in her face, but come up empty. "Your dad treating you okay?"

  "He just ignores me most of the time," she mumbles. "Maybe he hopes if I get ignored enough, I'll just cease to exist."

  "No such luck," I chuckle.

  "Shut up." The smallest of smiles passes her lips and I grin in relief.

  "Look, I know I've fucked up too many times to count," I tell her. "But I want to help you. Make up for everything."

  "Why?"

  "Why?" I ponder her question. "I'll... feel better."

  "Good old selfish Dexter Booth. Do you ever think of anyone other than yourself?" I don't answer her, and she shakes her head before finally pulling away. "I have to go before you get me into more trouble. Let's talk tonight."

  "I'll call you."

  I watch her leave, my heart pounding in my chest like I'm some lovestruck teenager. Pandora fucking Oakes. Who would've thought she'd be the one to uncover the soft side I never knew I had.

  6

  Pandora

  I feel fucking exhausted as I sit in front of the vanity table in my bedroom. The black choker is still around my neck, marking me forever, and Minnie's brushing my hair with long, gentle strokes. She must've gone through it a hundred times now. All the tangles are gone, but I dread the moment she stops. It's a welcome reprieve from my reality, the pleasant feeling of the brush going through my hair, the rhythmic rise and fall of my own chest as I try to catch my breath.

  But I know it's going to end soon, and sure enough, Minnie puts the brush down and leans down next to me so we're staring at each other's faces in the mirror.

  "You're so beautiful," she whispers.

  "I'm not." I close my eyes tightly, unable to bear the weight of the pain in my eyes. "Everyone says I'm plain."

  "That's a lie if I ever heard one." Minnie puts a hand on my shoulder, and I snap my eyes back to hers in the mirror. She's never affectionate like this. Nobody is. I must be really obviously fucked up if even Minnie's trying to comfort me. "Miss Pandora, I..."

  "Yes?"

  "I spoke to Mr. Oakes, your father," she says softly. "He offered to pay for my scholarship at Prep. He said I could start in the fall."

  I manage a weak smile. I'm happy for her, but I also know my father's offer is a bribe. Minnie will get to go to Prep in exchange for keeping her mouth shut about Father's dirty advances on her. I feel for her, hurt for her. But I can barely handle my own mess.

  "Do you want me to speak to Brazen again?" I ask, my voice barely above a whisper. "I could ask him to get Father off your back. Maybe if we work together..."

  "No," she shakes her head. "You know as well as I do it's hopeless,
Miss. I just need to last a few years, until I finish school. And then I'll be free. Free as a bird."

  Her pretty smile blinds me, and I fight the urge to laugh bitterly. She'll never be free. Not here, in Eden Falls, and not until my father is around. He's eager to make her his victim, and I don't think he'll ever stop.

  "You'll need to be careful at Prep," I tell Minnie. "The other kids might pick on you. These boys and girls are vicious."

  The thought of Minnie getting hurt like I have been pains me. I need to warn her about the cruelty of the people of Eden Falls. This town's fucked up.

  "I know," she nods. "I heard what they've been doing to you, Miss Pandora, and I... well, I think it's absolutely terrible. You shouldn't treat another human being the way they're treating you."

  I shrug. Of course I agree, but there's nothing I can do about it. I'm well and truly powerless without my status. I've become the town's punching bag, and there's not a goddamn thing anyone can do to change that.

  "Miss, if you don't mind me asking..." Minnie bites her full bottom lip, her eyes averting mine. She's nervous, and I mentally prepare myself for her next question. "What happened that night at the Brantley house?"

  My hands form fists in my lap and I close my eyes tightly as the events of that night play out in my head, over and over again. I haven't told anyone the truth. I haven't been honest with anyone, not even Dexter. And now, the desire to finally come out and say it, to admit what they did to me - what I let them do - is too strong to fight. I want Minnie to know. I want her to understand.

  So I open my mouth, and I start telling her the truth with my heart hammering wildly in my chest, and alarm bells going off in my head. I shouldn't trust the maid, but I do. I trust her more than anyone in this fucking city.

  One by one they come into the room, and one by one, they get what they want.

  As I lay in bed after the last time, Lai buttons up his shirt and smirks at me. "You happy now, Pandora?"