Savage Vicious Heir: Part Two: A dark high school bully romance

29. Elliot

ELLIOT

Idon’t hear anything from my father.

As far as I know, he isn’t aware that I know about his little visit to Abigail.

My stomach twists, acid spilling through my veins at just the thought of him being anywhere near her.

She’s too innocent, too pure to be subjected to his poison.

I fucking hate that I don’t know what his next move is going to be.

Sure, he threatened to expose Abigail’s secrets in order to keep her away from me. Did he really think that she’d agree with that and turn her back on me?

Who am I kidding, of course, he did.

True love doesn’t exist in the world that men like Johnathon Eaton live in.Everything is a twisted business deal, corruption, and deception.There isn’t space for the kind of connection that Abigail and I have found.

To him, love is a weakness. A distraction from what’s really important.

Girlfriends and wives are just another transaction to him.

It’s what Lauren and I would be.

A plan. A scheme. Probably a deception somewhere within their dark and twisted world.

A world I no longer have any interest in inhabiting.

“Come on, we need to go,” Oak says after stuffing the last of his sweat-soaked kit into his bag.

The rugby season is officially over for us now spring is here. Everything we worked so hard for over the years is behind us.

We might not have ended the season where we were hoping to, but we’ve managed to find so much more than a trophy.

I stare up at one of my best friends, loving the happiness I see glitter in his eyes. In all their eyes.

I always thought they were happy, that as Heirs and rulers of this school, they were happy. I mean, they were, but seeing them now with their girls, it really puts it all into perspective.

We thought that hooking up with different Heir chasers every weekend was everything we could possibly want. I won’t lie. It was good. Fucking epic some weekends, but it all pales in comparison to what we have now.

“Yeah,” I mutter, already dreading what this day is going to hold.

There was a time when I thought that radio silence from my father was a good thing, but those days are long gone. I’ve since discovered that silence is more terrifying than anything else. It means he’s making his moves shrouded in darkness, ready to strike when I’m least expecting it.

Shoving my feet into my school shoes, I shrug my blazer on and fix my tie.

Exams start next week, and despite all the revision I’ve been doing, I don’t feel anywhere close to being ready.The only thing I can think about is Abigail.

Having her struggles out in the open is going to rip her apart.

It was hard enough for her to embrace her newfound fame when she became friends with the girls and began hanging out with us.

She was always the shy, quiet girl who hid in the corner in the hope of being ignored.

Embracing the change of being dragged into the spotlight has been hard enough but throw the loss of her father into that as well and… Fuck. I don’t know how she’s done it.

Sure, she has her vices. Ones that I completely understand. Ones that have helped her through. But they’re meant to be hers. Her secrets, her way of coping with the bullshit life has thrown at her.

The thought of everything she’s been through being public knowledge makes my blood boil.

I will do anything, fucking anything, to protect her.

But I fear that I can’t win against my father.

He always gets his way and if he gets so much as a sniff that she hasn’t followed his bullshit demands and broken it off with me, then he’ll do exactly as he’s threatened.

“Everything is going to be okay,” Reese says, watching from the other side of the bench.

“Easy for you to say, your girl is safe right now.”

“We’re not going to let anything happen to Abi, Elliot,” Theo assures me. “We’re family. And no one, not even your cunt of a father, fucks with our family.”

His words make my heart beat harder in my chest, and as much as I like hearing his sentiment, it doesn’t exactly help right now.

“She’s strong enough to fight for you,” Oak says, just like he did at the weekend at the Chapel when we first learned of his threats.

“That’s not the point. She shouldn’t have to.”

“You know, it might help if you told us what he’s going to expose,” Theo suggests.

And there it is. They all heard what she said the night my father paid her a visit. The threat he made. But we haven’t talked about it, not yet.

I know Abigail wouldn’t mind me sharing the truth with my best friends, but even still, the words refuse to fall from my lips.

Her issues are hers. Ours. No one else has the right to know what happens in our darkest hours.

“Elliot, you know we’re not going to judge” Oak assures me.

“I know,” I say, dragging my hand down my face. “It’s just?—”

“Not your secret to tell?” Reese answers, being unusually perceptive. Liv has definitely been a good influence on that motherfucker over these past few months.

They all study me as the rest of the team who turned up for a morning training session file out of the changing rooms.

“Shit has been hard for Abigail. She’s been alone for a lot of what she’s gone through, and?—”

“She self-harms, doesn’t she?” Oak asks quietly.

My brows pinch as my pulse begins to race.

I fucking hate that anyone knows my girl’s weakness.

She’d hate it too, and all I want to do is protect her in any way possible.

I startle when his hand lands on my shoulder, squeezing tightly in support.

Silence surrounds us, his words echoing in the light breeze from the open door.

Sucking in a deep breath, I force my eyes to rise from the floor to find his. Compassion, understanding and empathy stare back at me.

He knowsa little voice says in my head. He knows you do it too.

My hands tremble at my sides.

So much time and stress has gone into keeping my own secret from my three best friends over the years, it’s been exhausting.

I never wanted them to know that I wasn’t as strong as them. I was meant to be their leader, and yet I was crumbling under the pressure.

I should have been leading from the front. Standing tall and strong like my father requires of me. But while it might have looked like I was doing that, inside, I was dying and the second I got alone… Well…

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Oak continues.

“He’s right. She should be proud of everything she’s overcome,” Theo adds.

“I’m scared,” I confess. “Scared of what the world knowing will do to her.”

“She’s fighting for you, Elliot,” Reese states. “That is far more important to her than what a bunch of posh wankers think of her.”

“Careful,” Theo teases, “You’re one of those posh wankers.”

“Fuck off, I love Abi like a sister. Family, remember?” Reese says, reminding us of what Theo said only minutes ago.

“Yeah,” Oak agrees. “Family. So shall we go and find them, support them?”

“Yeah, let’s go find our girls,” Reese agrees, looking like an excited little puppy despite only waking up to Liv less than two hours ago.

I shake my head, but as much as I might want to laugh at them, I’m exactly the fucking same.

Hiking my rucksack onto my shoulder, I follow them out and across campus to where our girls are having breakfast.

Just like always, almost every single student in the vast dining hall turns our way as we enter.

It’s something that has become so normal to us now that I can’t help but wonder what it’ll be like when we embark on our new lives at uni.

Sure, we’re all set to join the Scions at SCU, but we’ll be at the bottom of the ladder. No one will give a shit about who we are until we prove ourselves.

Dread seeps through my muscles making each step forward harder than the last. I don’t want to go through all that again.

I should. I should be fired up for the challenge, be ready for the stupid tasks and initiation bullshit that Scott and his elders will have concocted in an attempt to put us in our place.

But I’m not. I just… I don’t care about any of it.

I want uni, sure. But I don’t want the games, the expectation, the pressure.

I just want to be with my girl.

I want us to have a place where we can spend our spare time together studying. I want to hang out with friends. I want… I want to be a normal student. I don’t want to be judged because of my surname.

I just want to be me.

Us.

The girl’s faces light up as we move closer, but while Abigail might smile brightly at me, it doesn’t meet her eyes and it only makes the dread coursing through me worse.

“Hey,” I say, dropping onto the seat beside her.

We’re still hiding our relationship, but honestly, it’s getting harder and harder to do.

“Hi, good session?” she asks as the others fall into conversation around us.

“Missed you,” I whisper, dropping my face closer to hers and studying her closely.

“Elliot,” she chuckles, but still, it’s not quite right.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, my concern growing.

She smiles brighter, but it doesn’t cover the darkness lingering in her eyes. “Nothing. Everything is fine.”

I frown, searching her eyes for the truth.“My father… He hasn’t?—”

“No, Elliot. If he tries to contact me again, I’ll tell you,” she promises.

“Fuck,” I sigh, letting my head fall back. “I fucking hate this, Red.”

“It’ll all work out,” she says, sounding a lot more confident than I know she feels. “I refuse to let him win.”

“I love you,” I say under my breath so no one but her can hear the words.

“I love you too. You trust me, right?” she urges.

“You know I do.”

“Come on, Eaton. I need fucking food,” Theo says, dragging me from my seat so we can fill our stomachs.

My skin prickles with awareness as Abigail watches my every step towards the counter, and when I look back, she doesn’t even attempt to hide her appraisal of my body.

Heat burns through me and I instantly wish I’d spent longer in bed with her this morning instead of going to train with these knobheads.

“She’s got it bad for you, bro,” Oak laughs.

“It’s cute,” Reese says before ordering one of everything available.

“Fucking pig,” Theo teases, punching him in the arm.

I don’t turn to look at them, I’m too enthralled with my girl, but she’s no longer aware that I’m watching and the way her expression drops causes pain to slice through my chest.

She’s more worried about this than she’s letting on and I hate that she feels the need to be strong for us.

Unable to talk to her alone before our first class of the day, I’m forced to watch her go, being led away by Raine and Tally, while I go in the opposite direction.

All my morning classes pass as a blur. They’re all last-minute revision sessions that I need to be listening to, but I can’t get the image of my girl’s sad face earlier out of my mind.

The second the bell rings for lunch, I stuff my things into my bag and storm from the room.My phone immediately begins vibrating in my pocket, but I don’t pay it any mind. All I need is my girl.

“I always knew she was fucking weird,” someone says as I pass. “Probably looks like a monster in the daylight.”

The gossip continues as I make my way towards our table in the dining hall.

“Elliot,” Oak calls when I’ve got the doors in my sight. “Wait.”

I don’t slow, but he still manages to catch up with me before I burst into the dining hall.His hand lands on my shoulder before he forcefully spins me around.

His frantic eyes find mine and it makes my heart kick up pace.“Fuck. Are you okay?” he asks, barely able to catch his breath.

“Y-yeah, why? What’s happened?”

“She did it,” he pants.

“Who did what?”

“Abi—”

“Did. What?” I spit.

“Released her own story. She beat your father to it. Everyone knows, Elliot. Everyone knows the truth.”