Rebels at Sterling Prep: Cole (Rebels at Sterling Prep Duets #2) Page 3

  “No, I’m fine. Thank you.”

  Unable to resist, I swipe up one of the sandwiches as I leave the room and shove it in my mouth.

  I probably should eat. I don’t remember the last time I had a proper meal. Every day I get invited to our new family meals that James insists on… and every day I refuse. I don’t have the patience for playing happily ever after. It’s fucking bullshit.

  I jog up the stairs, taking them three at a time. I should probably work out if I intend on keeping my place on the team, but I can’t be fucked with that right now.

  Instead, I push through my bedroom door and lift my hand to my shirt to pull it off so I can shower, only the fabric doesn’t make it over my head before I’m stopped in my tracks.

  “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I bark, staring at the girl lying on my bed like she fucking belongs there.

  “Nice to know you missed me,” Hadley sasses.

  “Get out.” I reach back and open the door I’d slammed behind me.

  She pushes from her position and scoots to the edge of my bed. “Um…” She makes a show of thinking about it, which only feeds my anger at finding her in my space. “No.”

  Swinging the door so hard its slam echoes around the room, I take a step toward her. She swallows nervously but doesn't cower away.

  Stupid, stupid girl.

  “What are you doing here, Hadley?”

  “Waiting for you, obviously.” She rolls her eyes. The move makes my teeth grind and my fingers twitch.

  “Why?” I grate out, already bored with this game she thinks she can play with me.

  Hadley’s not stupid, but fuck, she’s got a few things to learn when it comes to me.

  The only games I play are the ones I start. And I never lose.

  “I’ve got a question I need to ask you.”

  Why am I not surprised?

  I take a step forward, bringing us almost within touching distance. Her eyes hold mine, her curiosity and defiance shining bright within her green orbs.

  I close a little more space. Her sweet scent fills my nose, replacing that of the bitter weed I was surrounded by downstairs. My mouth waters, remembering how she tasted the last time I kissed her. Danger and impulsive decisions. Exactly what I’m addicted to.

  “Go on then,” I taunt, knowing exactly what she’s going to ask.

  “Was it you?”

  “You’re going to need to be a little more specific, preppy.”

  “Did you k… did you kill him?”

  A smile curls at my lips. Her eyes drop to it and all the color drains from her face, thinking it’s my admission.

  It’s going to take a hell of a lot more than that to get a confession out of me.

  “How long has this been eating at you?” I ask, reaching out and tucking a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear. She tenses as I touch her, as she should, before she recovers and squares her shoulders.

  “Cole,” she warns.

  “Hadley.”

  “I just… I need to know.”

  “What you need is to mind your own business.”

  She rears back slightly at my words. “Oh, is that why you took me up on my offer Saturday night? To keep me at arm’s length?” I don’t respond, and it pisses her off. Her lips purse and her eyebrows twitch with a frown. “Well?” she asks, lifting her hands to push me away, but before her palms connect with my chest, I catch them.

  She growls in frustration. It’s almost cute.

  “Is that the whole reason you snuck in here? To throw around wild accusations?”

  “Firstly,” she hisses, trying to pull her wrists from my vise-like grip, “I didn’t sneak in. The front door was unlocked, and I strolled inside. Secondly, I don’t think my accusations are so wild, given how I found you that night, do you?”

  My chest heaves as I think back to her stumbling across me Saturday night. Seeing anyone, let alone someone I knew, certainly wasn’t part of my plan.

  “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Cole, I—argh.” Her words are cut off as she falls onto the bed.

  Jumping on top of her before she has the chance to scramble away, I pin her thighs with mine and hold her arms out wide with my fingers around her wrists once more.

  I lower my face to her ear, allowing my lips to brush her skin as I speak. “You need to be careful, preppy. Someone might overhear these accusations and start getting ideas.”

  She shudders beneath me, but it doesn't stop her running her mouth. “Getting ideas?” A bitter laugh falls from her lips. “They’ll have more than ideas, especially when you’re carted off in the back of a cop car.”

  “There’s no reason for that to happen though, is there, preppy?” I ask, releasing one of her wrists and trailing my fingertip up her bare arm. Goosebumps prick her skin and her entire body tenses beneath me as she tries to fight how I’m making her feel. “If you believe what you’re saying, then you know how dangerous I could be. The last thing you’d want to do is make an enemy of me.”

  My fingers find her throat, and I squeeze just a little harder than necessary, although I’m a long way from actually cutting off her air supply.

  “Cole, please,” she mouths.

  “Please what? Please shut you up, or please make you feel good?”

  Her eyes narrow in anger, but I know it’s fake. I can see how fast her chest is heaving. I can feel her thighs tensing between mine, and fuck if it doesn’t have me rock hard.

  “You’re wet for me again, aren’t you?”

  “Fuck you,” she spits.

  I nod at her, thinking just how easy it would be to lift her skirt right now and do exactly that. “Is that what you want? Me to fuck you?”

  I drop my head once again, sinking my teeth into her earlobe.

  She hisses in pain.

  “You’re even wetter now, right?”

  “Bite me,” she hisses.

  So I do, biting down on the smooth skin of her neck and sucking hard enough to leave a mark.

  “Ouch.”

  “What? I was only doing what I was told,” I say, sitting back up and inspecting my mark before looking into her dark emerald eyes. She looks fucking stunning like this, all splayed out beneath me and ripe for the taking.

  “Since when do you do that?”

  “When it means I get my way.”

  “What is it you want, Cole?”

  “I don’t remember wanting anything. You were the one waiting for me in my bedroom. Were you thinking of the last time you were up here?” I drop my lips to her neck once more, sucking on the soft skin and biting my way down until I hit her collarbone. She squirms beneath me but never once tells me to stop.

  “Who says that was the last time?” My eyes flash up to hers. “There’s a reason I had Conner’s clothes in my dorm, after all.”

  “You’re lying,” I state, full of confidence that the only time either of us have touched her was that night.

  “Am I? Would you bet your freedom on it?”

  I shake my head as I stare down at her. “Oh, preppy. You’re going to regret playing with me.”

  She arches her back, offering herself to me despite the fact that she’s fully clothed.

  “Do your worst, asshole. I’ve dealt with bigger monsters than you think you are.”

  A low chuckle falls from my lips as I look down at the swell of her breasts. It would be so easy to reach out and expose her, to suck one into my mouth and make her cry out in pleasure. “I really, really doubt that, Hadley.”

  “Try me.”

  A smile curls at my lips and she attempts to swallow her apprehension. Hadley tries to look like nothing will affect her, that I don’t scare her, but I see deeper.

  “Oh God,” she cries as I take her breasts in my palms and squeeze. Her hips thrust as she once again arches for me.

  “Not God, preppy. The Devil.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Hadley

  A low growl rumbles in Col
e’s chest as I rub shamelessly against him, desperate to relieve the ache building deep inside me.

  But I didn’t come here for this.

  Or maybe part of me did.

  Cole Jagger ignites something inside me, something I thought I’d long buried.

  “Fuck, preppy.” He massages my breasts in the palms of his hands, dragging his thumb over my hardened nipple.

  A needy whimper spills from my lips. Cole’s long fingers work the buttons of my blouse open, his hot mouth closing around the lace shell of my bra. “More,” I cry, the contrast between his wet tongue and the scratchy lace making pleasure race through me.

  My hands go to his head, desperate to feel his hair, but he snags my wrists and pins them above my head. “No touching.” He growls the words around my nipple, making me cry out again.

  Cole works me into a writhing mess. His teeth graze and scrape, tease and taste, scratch and mark.

  “I need more...” The words are caught somewhere between a moan and a plea.

  “So fucking needy.” He rolls off, glaring down at me with so much intensity, I’m pinned in place.

  “What are you waiting for?” I challenge. I know he wants to touch me—it’s right there, etched into the dark expression on his face, the torment in his eyes.

  Cole wants to touch me.

  He just doesn’t want to want to touch me.

  But I’ve never been very good at being told no.

  Yeah, and look where that got you. I shake off the little voice of reason.

  Cole’s brows furrow, the muscle in his jaw clenched impossibly tight.

  “You’re scared of me.” It isn’t a question.

  “You think I’m scared of you?” His lip curls with disgust. “I’d destroy a girl like you.”

  “All I’m hearing are empty threats. You got me all worked up and now you’re too scared to get me off.” I use his momentary surprise to my advantage and tear my hands free from his. “If you’re not going to finish what we started, I’ll go find someone who will. Is Conner home?” I start to move, but Cole is on me again. He flattens his body against me and ghosts his lips over mine. “You’re going to regret this.”

  Then he’s kissing me, plunging his tongue into my mouth and consuming me. One of his hands wraps around my throat, pinning me in place as his other one slides between our bodies and dips them into my panties.

  “Fuck, preppy, you’re soaked.” He pushes two fingers inside me without warning, and I smother a moan.

  It feels so good... why does it feel so good?

  Cole watches me with those dark orbs of his as he works me with his long, skilled fingers. His thumb draws circles over my clit as his fingers fuck me into boneless submission.

  I hook an arm around his neck, needing his mouth again, and to my surprise, he complies, curling his tongue around mine and kissing me so hard I can barely breathe.

  “I want to ruin you,” he whispers against my lips.

  It’s a threat. But the haze of pleasure clinging to my skin, my every thought, twists it into something tender, something addictive.

  I want Cole to ruin me.

  I want this broken, brooding boy to mark me and claim me.

  But I also want him to keep me... and that’s a problem.

  Because Cole is different. I see it every time I look into his dark grey eyes.

  He rubs at my clit harder, stealing my breath and making my legs tremble.

  “Cole,” I pant. “It’s too much.” His touch is borderline torture, but he doesn’t let up.

  His lips trail wet, sloppy kisses down my jaw until he’s sucking at the skin along my collarbone. “You wanted this,” he taunts. “You wanted to play with the devil...”

  “I know... God...” I cry out as he spears his fingers deeper, scissoring them inside me.

  Pain and pleasure crash over me in rapid succession, until I fly off the edge, and Cole swallows my moans with dirty kisses.

  Silence settles over us. I want to feel shame at what just happened, at what I let happen. But I can’t find it in me to care. Cole isn’t the only one who feeds off the darkness. My soul was dirty a long time before Cole Jagger came into my life.

  I’m wrung out. Breathless and sweaty. Cole drags his tongue up my cheek before rolling away and leaving me cold. I fix the buttons on my blouse and clamber off his bed. I know I’m flushed and heavy-lidded, but I don’t want to stick around and let him ruin the lingering bliss I still feel coursing through my veins.

  Making a beeline for the door, I don’t stop until his voice cuts through the tension crackling around us.

  “What the fuck are you doing, Hadley?”

  “Me?” I glance back at him. “I’m going to hang out with my friends.”

  “You mean you didn’t—”

  “What? Come here just for you?” I shake my ass, unable to fight the smile lifting the corner of my mouth. “Remi invited me.”

  His teeth grind together as he watches me. “This, me and you... don’t get any ideas.”

  “Wouldn’t dream of it.” I slip out of his room and inhale a ragged breath.

  But Conner chooses that exact moment to duck out of his room across the hall. “Hadley, baby, this is a surprise.”

  “I was just giving Cole some... notes.”

  “I bet you were.” Amusement glitters in his eyes as he approaches. “You heading to see Remi?”

  I nod, and he slings his arm around my shoulder. “Let’s go then.” Conner steers me toward the stairs, but I can’t resist glancing back at Cole’s room one more time.

  Only he isn’t watching.

  And I don’t know if I’m relieved or disappointed.

  “Seriously?” Conner barks the second we enter the pool house. Ace has Remi pinned against the wall, dry fucking her.

  “Oh my God,” I chuckle, although I’m hardly surprised. They can’t keep their hands off each other.

  “Hmm, sorry.” Remi presses her hands into Ace’s solid chest and forces him to back up. “You’re going to have to wait, big guy.”

  He lets out an irritated sigh. “Fine, I need a smoke then.” Ace drops down on the couch and Conner joins him.

  “Hey.” Remi approaches as I hover. “Thanks for coming.”

  “Of course. I’ve been so worried about you.”

  “You don’t know the half of it.” Her eyes darken. “Come on, I’ll fill you in.”

  “Babe,” Ace says as we sit down, “James said to keep the details on the down low.”

  “It’s only Hadley. She won’t tell anyone.”

  His cool gaze lands on me, and I hold up my hands. “I’m a closed book.”

  “Fine, yeah... whatever.”

  “Ignore him, he’s just pissed we didn’t get to finish what we started.”

  “Damn straight.”

  She rolls her eyes. “So, it turns out Bexley wasn’t the one texting and stalking me.”

  “He wasn’t?”

  It was no secret that Bexley Danforth wanted Remi. I’d watched for the last two years as he tried everything in his power to get her to give him a chance. But Remi wasn’t most girls.

  “It was my mom’s ex.”

  “Hold up,” I frown, “I’m confused.”

  “You’re not the only one, Hads.”

  “He broke into the house and attacked me. Tied me to a chair—”

  “Oh my God, that’s horrible.”

  Her expression fell. “It gets worse.”

  “You’re killing me, Princess,” Conner chimes in. “The short version: we thought our dad was dead. He isn’t. I mean, he is now... but he was the one texting and following Remi.”

  “I thought it was her mom’s ex...”

  “It was.” Conner gives me a pointed look, waiting as the truth falls into place.

  And when it does, I’m speechless.

  “Your mom’s ex is your dad?”

  “No, James is our dad.”

  “You might have to write it down or something.” A strain
ed chuckle escapes my lips.

  “It really doesn’t matter now, anyway. He’s dead. Ace stabbed him, but he got away. The police found his body the next morning. They think it was suicide.”

  Everything slams into me at once.

  Remi’s story.

  The conversation I overheard in the girls’ locker room.

  Finding Cole that night, bloody and in shock.

  “Hadley?” Remi’s voice pulls me back into the room.

  “I... uh... shit. I really don’t know what to say. Sorry, I guess.”

  “Nah, that piece of shit doesn’t deserve your sympathy,” Ace growls. “The way I see it, the world’s a better place without him.” His eyes flick to Remi, and she nods.

  “There’s more to the story, isn’t there?”

  “Yeah.” She looks me dead in the eye, and I see the pain behind her gaze. “There is.”

  “Whoa, it’s like something out of a soap opera,” I say, accepting the beer Conner just fetched from the refrigerator.

  “I know, it feels like waking up from a bad dream.”

  Ace pulls Remi into his side and kisses her head. “He’s gone, babe. And that fucker Bexley is across the country by now. You’re safe.”

  “Yeah, I know.” She stares up at him with so much love in her eyes it hits me square in the chest.

  I had that once. Or, at least, I thought I did.

  Now I have a hole in my heart and darkness in my soul.

  I was a mess.

  “You’re a survivor, Remi,” I say.

  “Not really.” She shrugs, as if everything she’s been through is nothing. “Some girls experience much worse than I did.”

  I avert my gaze, scared that if she looks into my eyes she’ll see the truth. Uncover my secrets.

  “Where’s Cole?” Ace asks out of nowhere. “I thought he’d be down here by now.”

  “Ask Hadley.” Conner smirks, and I scowl at him.

  “Something you want to tell us?” The eldest Jagger brother pins me with an icy look.

  “Lighten up, Ace. Hadley knows better than to get tangled up with Cole.”

  “Yeah, Hadley, baby.” Conner moves closer, throwing his arm around my shoulder. “You should stick with me.”