Rebellious Rook (The Kings of Wayward Academy #4)

Chapter 1

SEPTEMBER 9 – TUESDAY 7:30 AM

L iam

Careening out of the last turn toward the school, I floored it. As expected, the cop, who had spent everyday lurking in the trees, went lights and sirens as he pulled out behind me. Too bad for him, I was already down the driveway of the school and through the gates before he even found the gas.

Just past the guard station, at the first light post, I idled and watched in my rearview mirror. The cocky prick drove right up to the gate, but the guards never budged. Some things had changed since Morrison was fired or forcibly retired, whatever way you wanted to look at it. They no longer had jurisdiction on the property without a warrant. Putting my window down, I hung my head out.

“Better luck next time, asshole,” I yelled, flipping Ellis my middle finger. That should do it. Smiling like a grandpa out for a Sunday drive, I continued to the parking lot. Nash leaned against his car, waiting for me. Backing into the spot beside him, I got out and took a deep breath of the fresh morning air.

They couldn’t have picked a better location for Wayward. The wilderness was where I preferred to be.

“You almost ran over my foot,” Nash grumbled.

“Then fucking move it next time.” He was lying, and his miniature rants never bothered me.

“How did it go?”

“Perfect, he’ll be fuming all day. I wouldn’t be surprised if he camped outside the gate waiting for me.” Fuck I wanted a smoke. Instead, I played with the fidget thing in my pocket. I could get away with a few when Nash wasn’t around, but even I wasn’t stupid enough to light up beside him. He’d set me on fire with my lighter.

“Perfect, let’s move the shit over.” He opened the back doors of his car as I popped my small trunk. Nash hefted out two black duffel bags.

“How much fucking room do you think I have?”

“Get out of my way. They’ll fit. You just need to know how to stuff the bigger one in.”

“Are we still talking about the bags?” Nash glared at me over his shoulder, making me laugh. “Come on, that was funny.”

“Whatever,” he grumbled, loading the first one.

“Does that mean you’re still doing the celibate thing?” I dropped the question like a bomb and held back a smirk as Nash glared over his shoulder. The silence that was supposed to intimidate me was all the answer I needed.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said.

“I don’t understand this. You’re not dating Ren, why aren’t you fucking anyone?”

Impressively, Nash managed to get the second bag in, with a couple inches to spare, before he closed the trunk and turned to look at me. “What part of, I don’t want to talk about this, did you not get the first time?”

“I don’t tend to listen to you unless it’s about work. This isn’t work, so…what the hell is going on?”

“Relentless fucker,” Nash swore, locked his car, and marched for the school.

“Why don’t you want to tell me? You tell me everything, even showed me a photo of your father and mother in a very compromising position.”

“Don’t remind me, I still need therapy for that,” Nash said.

He snarled when I grabbed his arm, but it didn’t bother me.

“Tell me.”

“What the fuck? Why do you care?” I stayed silent. “Are you caving to what Theo wants and fucking her?” Releasing his arm, I looked away. “You are? You pussy.”

“Fuck you. I’m at least still having sex, unlike you. She has you whipped, and you can’t even admit it.”

“Me not having sex has nothing to do with Princess,” Nash growled, drawing looks from a group nearby.

“Then what is it?”

“I don’t know, okay? Happy now? I don’t know. I just…I don’t have any interest.”

My mouth dropped open, dumbfounded. Nash was a whore with a capital W and proudly got more than anyone else we knew. Most parties meant two and three girls at a time.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard you. Did you just say you don’t have any interest? Are you sick? Do you have a transmittable disease? Did someone cut off your balls?”

“See, this is why I didn’t say anything. I knew you fuckers would go off on me. Okay, not having interest is not exactly accurate. I’m trying something new,” he said, glancing around and glaring at the people eavesdropping. “What the fuck are you looking at?” The small group jumped and took off for the school. He rolled out his shoulders. “I’m trying for a healthier lifestyle. Less red meat, more exercise, and focusing on my work, school, and swimming. I’m stepping back from girls and the drama in general.”

“Yeah…sure, and elephants with long ears can fly.”

“I fucking hate you.” Nash crossed his arms.

“If you’re not going to be honest, then I’m not sure we’re still best friends.” I walked away from him, and he swore under his breath.

“What’s there not to believe?”

“For starters, you’re already a beast when it comes to your health. So much so you could be a science experiment for doctors. You’re not quite as good as me, but damn close. Second, this non-interest only surfaced when a certain silver-haired princess came to Wayward. Huh…she actually is a princess. Good call on that. I don’t believe in coincidences. Your dick no longer working, and her presence every second of the day is too big of a coincidence.”

“There is nothing wrong with my dick,” Nash said as we walked into the foyer.

Everyone went dead quiet. You could hear a pin drop, and I bit my lip to keep from laughing.

“Well, as good as that is to know, Mr. Collier, can you maybe save this conversation for when you and Mr. Hicks are in private? Or with the doctor, perhaps.” Nash smacked a hand over his face as Dean Henry walked around us to his office.

“I think I hate you,” Nash mumbled under his breath at me, and I couldn’t contain my laughter. Nash being humiliated was like a blue moon, and you had to take advantage of the situation. “Look, you can believe whatever the hell you want. It’s the truth,” Nash said as he marched for the cafeteria.

“That’s the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you, God,” I teased, loving this way too much to drop it now.

“Go fuck yourself.”

“Oh look, there is your troublemaker now,” I said as he grabbed a coffee and a plate.

“Don’t care.”

“Sure, you don’t.”

“I swear to god, I’m going to stab you through the eye with my fork if you don’t shut up.” I snickered, and if looks could kill, I would be dead as he held out his plate for Betty to fill. She knew him well enough now to just put three omelets on his plate and hand it back.

I swiped a couple boiled eggs and an orange juice before following Nash to the table. He was eating like a caveman, shoveling the food into his mouth as Theo, Blake, Myles, and Ren stared at him.

Theo looked up as I got closer, and our eyes locked. Fuck I missed him. Having sex and being in a relationship were very different. A lesson that was painfully being taught. He never stayed longer than a few minutes after we had sex, and there was no hanging out or talking anymore. He didn’t tell me when his races were or how he did. We’d drifted so far apart that I could hardly see the shore, and I had no clue how to fix us.

Even though he looked away without so much as a twitch of his lip, I sat down beside him. Meals were the only significant time spent together anymore, and it was driving me insane. I was starved for more, and the person I chose to blame for this was sitting directly across the table.

Popping one of the eggs into my mouth whole, I glared at Ren as she typed away on her laptop. Even the soft clicking of the keys annoyed me. I’d warned her not to try and take Theo from me—a line drawn in the sand—but she wiped it away, not giving a fuck. Now, I daydreamed of wrapping my hands around her throat. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to kill her, fuck her as she begged for more, or fuck her and then kill her. All were excellent options.

“Stop it,” Theo whispered in my ear, and I bit back a groan as his voice hit in all the right ways.

“I wasn’t doing anything,” I said, turning my head to meet his glare. Theo’s green eyes were livid, the look just as hot as his breath along my skin.

“Don’t bullshit me. I know exactly what you were thinking,” he said, and I licked my lip.

“Is that so? What am I thinking right now,” I asked, and he shifted on the bench. “Well? What do I want?”

“Don’t change the topic, you know what I mean, or meant, whatever,” Theo said. My whole body got excited when he was rattled.

“And whose fault is it?” I slid my hand onto his leg. “That I may or may not have unkind thoughts?”

“You two do know we can hear you at this end of the table,” Blake said.

I flicked my gaze over to Theo’s twin and then Nash, who was sitting with a bite of omelet halfway to his mouth, while Myles and Ren stared from across the table.

“Oh no, continue. It was awesome. You just don’t have to whisper.”

Myles and Nash laughed. Fuck this. I quickly chugged my juice and got the fuck out of there.

“Aw, come on, don’t be like that,” Blake called after me, but I chose to ignore him.

“How do you like the shoe on the other foot,” Nash asked, then laughed. Prick.

Putting space between me and Ren was safest for everyone. Teaching her how to box was going to be annoying enough, so the less time we spent together, the better.

Marching outside, I took the path to the park and swore as I remembered that I’d left my smokes in my glove compartment. This fucking place. One more year and then freedom. It couldn’t come fast enough.

“Hey.”

Theo’s voice made me turn my head, and I rolled my eyes as he marched toward me. Not bothering to stop until reaching the picnic tables, I sat down and pulled the fidget spinner from my pocket.

“What do you want, Theo?”

The argument looming was a waste of breath for both of us, but we couldn’t seem to quit each other. We danced around the subject again and again. He didn’t understand where my anger was coming from, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t figure out how to express what I was feeling in a way that got through to him.

Taking me completely by surprise, he grabbed my face and crushed our lips together. We never kissed in public, and I stiffened with shock. Theo stepped back slowly, shaking his head at me. Silently, he turned and walked away.

“What the hell was that?” I yelled after him.

His eyes were sad as he looked back, and I had no idea what I’d done. “You just proved everything I’ve been saying.”

My hands flew up in total confusion. “What do you mean? I didn’t do anything. You kissed me.”

“And you stiffened.” Theo shook his head. “You didn’t even kiss me back.”

Wanting desperately to dispute the claim, I opened my mouth and realized he was right. I hadn’t. I’d been too freaked out that someone would see us. Shit.

“You’re the bravest person I’ve ever met. So imagine how hurtful it is that when it comes to us, you’re scared for anyone to find out. Maybe one day you won’t…stiffen. Hopefully, I’m still here.”

I jumped up, hands balled, furious that he called me out like this. But there was some truth to what he said.

Theo wasn’t the problem. I wasn’t embarrassed by him, never him, but I was brought up in a traditional home. If this got back to my parents…it was a fight I didn’t want to have, yet. He was all about needing heirs and passing on the family name. It was worse for me because I had two sisters who would take their husbands’ names. There were other ways to have a child these days, but that wasn’t the point, I just didn’t want to explain my life or lifestyle to anyone, ever. I hated anyone knowing anything about my personal life, not just where Theo was concerned.

“I gave you my class ring, and you practically threw it back at me,” I growled. “I was trying, and you shot me down.”

Theo spun around and pulled off his glasses, his eyes wild with rage.

“No, you tried to put a second collar on me and make a statement to Ren. Giving me that ring wasn’t for my benefit. And tell me, how was anyone ever going to know that you gave it to me? It looks just like mine. But that’s the point, right? I’d know, you’d know, but no one else would be the wiser.” He poked me in the chest. “That ring, that gesture you’re saying was done out of love, was just another way for you to impose control. It was your way of creating a symbol that said, ‘I am yours’ without you ever having to be vulnerable.”

I crossed my arms, my teeth grinding together.

“Next, you’d try to placate me with lavish gifts and trips away to secluded islands that, on the surface, were romantic until you looked closer. Then, you would ask me to move into the penthouse you purchased downtown. You’d want to keep me down there away from your family, making me the perfect plaything. I’m not that. Either you treat me as your partner, or you can fuck off. I’m so tired of waiting for you to open your eyes and see what we could have if you just let go, but you won’t. You’re scared. Too fucking scared.”

He looked me up and down and it was like he’d just folded his hand and left the game after he pushed all his chips into the center of the table.

My heart raced, panic choking me as he stepped back. We stood there staring at one another, neither saying anything until the bell rang, and he walked away.

So many things ran through my mind to say, to call out and tell him, but none of them left my lips.

“Fuck!”