Ruthless Rivals (Blackthorn Elite #2)

Chapter 1

WARREN

Three years… three fucking years, I have been trying to get her out of my head.

Fucking my way through the female population, trying to forget she ever existed.

Three years, since I laid eyes on her beautiful face and perfect little body.

Three years since I smelt the flowery scent of her hair or tasted the sweetness that always seemed to linger on her lips.

Three years, and there she stands… right in front of me, in the middle of the cafeteria, on my fucking campus.

I didn’t think it was possible, but she looks even more beautiful than the last time I saw her.

Even from a distance, I can see she’s grown into her body, shapely chest, curves, and legs I could’ve pictured wrapped around my waist.

Fuck that. The thought leaves my mind throbbing. That was before. Now I wouldn’t touch her if she was the last fucking girl on the planet.

She turns to me then, and our eyes lock. Like two magnets drawn to each other in a sea of polar opposites. I hate that I’m drawn to her. Her hazel eyes widen, and I know the exact second recognition sets in. The next second, she looks away, breaking the connection.

In an instant, I become someone else. Just like that, my switch flips. I turn into a darker version of myself, a version that feeds on the pain she caused me. I loved her, trusted her, and she betrayed all of that. She betrayed me.

I’ll never forget the way she looked at me that day, the image is ingrained into my mind.

She looked so sad and confused as her family drove off my parents’ estate.

I wanted to hurt her, crush her like a fly, but I refrained.

Being content with sending her away and never seeing her again.

My silence over her betrayal was enough for me.

She knew what she had done, there was no coming back from that kind of lie. I tried to reason with myself, tried to say there was no way it was true, but the proof was there. In black and white.

“Who is she?” Parker asks, pulling me out of the haze I was in.

“She’s no one,” I snap, showing more of my true colors than I intended.

“Dude, she’s obviously someone. I’ve never seen your face change so quickly. It was almost like you were seeing a ghost.”

I force a smile, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it looks more like a snarl. “That’s because I was. She’s no one, nothing. Forget you saw her.” I don’t want Parker to get involved in this. Not wanting to talk about it with my best friend any longer, I jump up from my seat and head toward Harper.

Everything around me fades away, the clanking of lunch dishes, the gossiping girls I pass on my way over to her. All I can see is her. I zero in on Harper, like she is the only person in this large room.

Just as I get within earshot, she turns again, almost as if she’s sensed me coming. Her entire body goes rigid, and she takes a tiny step backward.

I almost smile. Be afraid. Be very afraid. My muscles burn with energy, and my fingers itch to touch her. Will I hurt her?

“What the hell are you doing here?” I growl.

“I-I go to s-school here,” she stutters, holding onto her backpack strap like her life depends on it.

“No, you’re not,” I order. Circling her arm with my fingers, I pull her out of the cafeteria and through the doors that lead out to the garden, keeping my hold tight.

“Let me go,” she whisper-yells, her eyes darting around the room like someone might see and help her.

Doesn’t she know, no one will save her? That no one in this school can touch me or any of the other guys in our little group?

Probably not, but she will, soon enough.

Ignoring her struggles, I push forward, tugging her through the black double doors and outside.

Eyes burn over my skin as we walk out, but it doesn’t bother me.

I don’t give a flying fuck if the whole school knows what’s going on.

By the time I’m done with her, her reputation, and whatever rumor is spread after this will be the least of her worries.

“Warren, stop, you’re hurting me.” So sweet, so soft, and sing-song like. That voice, it used to be able to get me to do anything, but now, I just want to wrap my hands around her throat and get her to stop talking. Get the memories of us out of my mind.

Tugging her through the grass, I stop once we reach one of the sitting areas next to the vine-covered brick wall.

She trips over her feet, nearly falling to the ground before catching herself.

She looks up at me, her eyes wide, her chest rising and falling rapidly, I can see her pulse throbbing in her throat.

“You think this hurts?” I squeeze her arm a little tighter before shoving it away. Then like a lion, I stalk toward her. She, of course, takes a step back until she’s reached the wall, leaving herself nowhere to go. I hold back a bitter laugh. She’s making this too easy.

“W-what are you doing?” Her lips quiver as I place my hands flat against the wall behind her.

Caging her in, I invade her personal space, giving her no room to breathe.

No place to hide. Nowhere to run. She shivers, and I love the sight of her scared and weak.

Her sweet floral scent assaults my nostrils, and I force myself to breathe through my mouth.

“You made a big mistake coming here. This is my turf. You need to leave and don’t fucking come back. One warning, Harper, that’s all you’re getting.” I shouldn’t even give her that, but I’m feeling generous, feeling like giving her an out.

She shakes her head, and silky brown strands of hair fall into her face, “I have a scholarship to go to this school. I can’t just leave. And what does it matter? How was I supposed to know that you would be here?”

My jaw ticks, she has a fucking backbone. Yet, another thing I’ll take pleasure in breaking if she stupidly decides to stay.

“I don’t give a shit about how you got here; all I care about is making you disappear. You need to leave. Now.”

Shoving against my chest, she tries to push past me. “Get out of the way.” Even through the shirt I’m wearing, her touch burns my skin. Her push just moves me closer to the edge. Determined to get my point across, I grab both her wrists and shove them against her chest, holding them there.

“Leave, and I’ll forget that you ever showed your face here. Stay, and I’ll break you so badly you’ll leave a shell of the person you are now. Either way, you’re going to leave.”

She visibly gulps, her throat bobbing, and I want to trace that delicate throat of hers, feel the flutter of her heartbeat under my fingers.

Digging deep, she stands a little straighter and fights against my hold. “You’re insane, I’m not leaving, and you can’t make me. We don’t even know each other anymore, and me being here has no effect on you. Now let go of me before I report you to the campus police.”

I laugh right in her face, “Do it. That would be hilarious.”

“What happened to you?” she whispers the words so soft I’m sure she didn’t intend to speak them out loud.

Leaning into her face, I keep an inch of space between our faces. “I don’t think I’m required to tell you a single fucking thing. But because you asked so nicely, I’ll tell you. What happened to me was you. I want you gone.” I bare my teeth. I want to bite her and mark her skin.

“I’m not leaving, Warren.” The way she says my name, all breathless and shit, it does something to me. It’s like she is poking the monster inside of me. Awakening it with nothing but her voice.

I don’t even think, all I do is react. Releasing her hands, I slam my fist into the brick beside her head, nearly hitting her in the process, and I use my other hand to grip her chin between two fingers.

I pinch hard, and the blood swooshes in my ears when I see her wince.

I should feel something, anything, but I don’t.

The idea of hurting her...it only makes my cock harder, makes the blood in my veins heat.

“You know what this means then, don’t you?” I seethe, barely restraining myself. Her full bee-stung lips are right in front of me, begging to be kissed.

Wide-eyed, she shakes her head once more, and her chin wobbles in my grasp, giving away her fear.

Good, I want her to be afraid. I want her a trembling mess beneath my feet.

Looking at her once more, I memorize her body, dragging my predatory gaze over her.

I want to strip her bare and fuck her until she screams.

No. I roar internally. I can’t let her get under my skin. I can’t give in to my weaknesses.

“I’m going to break you, crush you until you’re begging me to take mercy on your pitiful body.

” Releasing her chin, I turn and stalk off, knowing that if I don’t, I might do something I’ll regret.

I want to scare her, hurt her, but not physically.

I fist my hands so tightly that my fingernails dig into my palm, probably piercing through the skin.

I don’t care though. The pain is just what I need to continue onward.

With each step I take away from her, my blood cools a little more, and my mind clears. Slowly, I return to the Warren everyone knows me as; the all American boy with a panty-melting smile and enough charm to leave the ladies dazed and confused.

Revenge. I’ll get my revenge, but first, I need to get some information on her. Find out what will make her disappear as fast as she came here.