Nefarious Boys: A Dark High School Romance (Broken Saints Society 3) Read online

  “Christ…” It’s a prayer. Because God help me, my head is fucked.

  I’m so fucking lost to her.

  Chapter 2

  Sawyer

  Two lessons my mother tried to instill in me:

  One, always conceal your real emotions; letting people in gives them power over you.

  Two, never fall for a man with an agenda.

  The two morals go hand in hand when it comes to Gage. He’s always had an agenda where I’m concerned. And masking my feelings from him is utmost—especially now.

  His arms encase me as he holds me close to his bare, chiseled chest. Our breathing is synced, the aftermath of our rampant lovemaking settling like a stone in a lake, heavy between us. I won’t lie; I’ve craved Gage’s fiery touch for so long, my climax was earthshattering. Every dirty and vile and hungry need sated within me in this dark tower.

  The cost of finally submitting to my desire?

  My dignity.

  I can feel it in Gage’s embrace, the gears in his head spinning—he’s plotting the next moment between us, how he’s going to use my submission against me.

  As I pull away, I relax my facial muscles, donning a mask of indifference. This is the one moment I can’t slip.

  “Where are you going?” he asks. He eases up onto his elbow, that pale-blue gaze cold in the darkness.

  I fan my hand over the silver dress along the floor. It’s tattered and ripped, destroyed. An omen for this night. I drag it off the ancient floorboards and shake it out before I drape my body in the wasted material. “I need to leave,” I say.

  “Bullshit,” he bites out. “There’s nowhere you need to be. Look at me.”

  My eyes seal closed. Look at me. The same words he said to me as he commanded my orgasm. I traded something here tonight, and it was more than just my self-respect. I pray the return is enough…that I don’t reap a larger loss than just one of sacrificing my body.

  “Gage,” I say his name softly. “I still have to deal with the fallout with my mother.” When I turn to look at him, my features are masked in resolve. “There’s still the issue of my sudden departure to a psychiatric facility.”

  He pushes up to stand and grab his tux pants, slips them on with ease. As he stands before me, I feel the weight of his stare, his eyes assessing me coolly. “I think your mother can be persuaded differently.”

  Yes, she can. She was distraught over her fiancé breaking off their engagement in a heated argument between them. The source: my apparent involvement with a Masters. The shame of Crescent Valley.

  Before love, above commitment and vows…there’s one thing that matters most.

  Money.

  And old money doesn’t mingle with financial criminals. That creates talk, a scandal. Suspicion. With all the secrets and hidden affairs our families’ money has to shield, I should’ve known Gage would find a way to use Roland to his advantage. I just never thought my mother would be so weak as to yield to an Astor man.

  Lesson learned.

  And I take her lessons to heart. Sometimes you have to yield to regain the advantage. That’s what I’ve done here tonight.

  I approach Gage purposely, my hand making contact with his chest, right over his heart. I feel his breath stutter at my touch. “How easily can Marshall be persuaded?”

  He blinks, his head cocking to the side as he studies me. “Is that what you want?”

  I nod deliberately.

  His sigh is heavy. “And the marriage means…?”

  I swallow hard. “Nothing that concerns us, together,” I say.

  He lifts his chin and grasps the back of my neck. “Fine. It’s done. I’ll retract my statement to my father.”

  I huff a derisive laugh. “Just like that? It’s that easy.”

  He pulls me closer, my skin aching so near his body heat. “Just like that,” he affirms. “My father will excuse my…rash judgment. He knows how vexing Van Doren women are, and how you like to fuck with my head. It’s easily repaired.”

  Anger lashes at my insides, but I tamp down my pride. It was all a farce. There may have been some real threat of me being sent away, or the marriage postponed—but it was a mutual endeavor orchestrated by Gage and his father.

  On some level, I knew this, and I could’ve called his bluff—but at what price? Someone has to pay for humiliating Gage. My actions at the football game were not going unpunished, nor was my showing up to homecoming with Roland.

  The pads of my fingers stroke his skin. “We have bigger issues now, anyway,” I say.

  His eyebrows pinch together as he cups his hand over mine along his chest. His thumb caresses the silver ring on my finger. “I don’t see how,” he says.

  My eyes widen. “The video of Lesley, Gage. The whole horrific scene of that night broadcast to the entire academy.”

  His mouth slants in a cruel smirk. “I don’t see how that footage made either of us look bad. In fact, it proves how low our tolerance is for disrespect, and that neither of us had anything to do with her death.”

  I remove my hand from him. “Then who did?”

  I watch him carefully, scrutinizing each micro expression. Every twitch of his facial muscles. Does Gage know who was there that night? Has he been protecting or blackmailing that person all this time?

  He stalks toward the corner of the bell tower and grabs his dress shirt off the floor, shrugging it on in a mute action. His silence is infuriating.

  My patience snaps. “You once promised me that if I gave myself to you completely, you’d tell me everything, Gage.”

  He fastens the buttons of his shirt as he faces me. “Oh, I will, Sawyer. I’ve wanted to enlighten you for so long…” His steps are quick as he bounds my way. He takes my face between his palms, his gaze holding me captive. “But have you? Given yourself to me completely?”

  He’s diverting this conversation. I nod against his steel hold. “What else do you want from me? Were you not here tonight? When I submitted beneath you, opened myself up to you, and gave you every last bit of me?”

  He licks his lips, a desperate glint in his callous eyes. “Willingly…yes. But utterly and wholly?” He shakes his head. “Kiss me.”

  My breath shallows as my chest constricts. I need the answers. All of them. I have to know…everything. My throat tightens, my heart banging erratically against my chest wall, as I lift up onto my toes and press my mouth to his.

  His mouth slants over mine, devouring me just as intensely as the first time we kissed. There’s no loss of desire here; Gage yearns to devour me in every way. Physically, mentally. He won’t ever be sated—and hasn’t that always been my fear? That we would never be able to quench this torrid thirst for each other?

  Gage has designed the idea of me to his darkest desires. I’m his holy grail. But the idea of someone is always much more elusive and provoking. I will never be enough; I will never satisfy him. He will take and take until I’m drained.

  There’s only one way this can end.

  I press my body against his and wrap my arms around his neck, drawing him closer. I imbue the kiss with everything in me…giving him every last bit.

  As I pull away, I look into his stone-cold eyes. “Who was there, Gage?” I let a shade of desperation leak into my voice.

  His grip tightens around my waist. “Do you honestly believe I could keep a secret like that from you?” His gaze flicks over my features searchingly. “For all this time?”

  My mouth parts. I try to find the strength to deny it—but yes. Yes, I believe Gage has kept many secrets from me.

  A shadow falls across his face. “I’ve never seen you more beautiful than you are right now… So devastatingly destroyed.” He rips my dress shoulder down my arm. Hearing the snap of the material heightens my senses, and I’m aware of the fire stirring to life beneath my skin.

  “We have to stop this.” I try to pull out of his grasp, but his clasp at the back of my neck holds me too close. Then he’s tilting my head, his mouth ravaging my neck li
ke a vampire trying to steal my essence for himself.

  “There’s no stopping now,” he says, his voice like gravel.

  My defenses weaken, the longing to feel him inside me again coming on too strong. My eyes close at the sensations dancing across my skin, the yearning tearing through me with vicious need and frenzy.

  I reach behind my back to find the wooden guard rail that surrounds the bell. As I peek over, I realize how fragile that wood beam is. My hands move purposely to Gage’s biceps.

  One push… That’s all it would take.

  One sure push…and there’d be another horrible accident just like Lesley.

  Gage backs away from me and his hands circles my wrists. He holds my hand aloft in a vise grip as he studies me intently, then he looks over the railing. “This is a dangerous area.”

  I swallow. “I have to leave, Gage.”

  “You’re not going anywhere,” he says. “I’ve let you torture me for years. Tease me, taunt me mercilessly. Now, I’m going to fuck you until your sweet pussy is raw and fill you until every last drop of me is drained dry.”

  Chapter 3

  Remi

  A chime rouses me awake. I’m groggy as my eyes adjust to the dark bedroom. A flash of light comes from my bedside table. As I reach for my phone, a blurred text message comes into focus on the screen.

  Roland: Where are you?

  I blink hard. The time reads 2:38 a.m. Is he serious?

  I punch out a text: Asleep… Or I was :/

  Between my annoyance over being awoken and Roland’s strange text, a fleeting memory prods my mind. Mrs. de Pont in a Town Car. A deceased grandmother I never met leaving me an insane inheritance. Suddenly, I’m fully awake and not even sure how I fell asleep to begin with.

  Another text from Roland: Have you spoken to Sawyer?

  Me: No.

  Roland: Where is Gage?

  The questions stir an uncomfortable feeling. Gage left me at the homecoming dance. After the shocking video of Lesley’s last moments played in front of the whole school, Gage took off. He just left. I check my messages. He hasn’t sent anything since his text yesterday afternoon.

  Me: I don’t know. What’s going on?

  Roland: I think they’re together.

  My heart stutters at the thought. I look at the diamond tennis bracelet that wraps my wrist—the one Gage gave me just hours ago. I removed the rose that made it the most elegant and expensive corsage. Now it’s a remnant of our night together; a memory—one that was amazing until that video aired.

  What would it mean if they were together?

  I’ve known since the beginning that Gage and Sawyer have a strange relationship. Well, that’s putting it mildly. They have this twisted fascination with each other, and the video of them verbally attacking Lesley together just may have tipped them both over that edge they’ve been skirting.

  Still… Is it my right to be jealous?

  Yes. Fuck yes it’s my right.

  I may have sworn an oath to Gage’s secret sex society, agreeing to give my body freely to him and the members—but he made me believe that we were special. From our first kiss to the moment he came inside me on the yacht, to the bracelet I wear now… He made me believe our relationship was exclusively unique.

  If Sawyer suddenly becomes a true rival…

  I look over at my dresser. The crown I wore home from the homecoming dance sits atop my jewelry box. I had been reluctant to accept the token, insisting it was a mistake. The tiara belonged to Sawyer. It’s her school. Her friends. Her world.

  Only, things change, don’t they? I set my phone aside on the bed and pad over to the dresser. Next to the jewelry box is the business card Mrs. de Pont gave me in parting. I pick it up and run my fingertip over the engraved gold lettering. Then I glance down at the folded letter from my grandmother, Martha St. James.

  I had hoped that her only words to me would reveal answers, but she only left me with more questions. Her missive was just as Mrs. de Pont had described the woman herself; short and direct. She was leaving me the bulk of her fortune, and hoped I would make wise decisions.

  Thanks, Grandma. I’m going to make wise decisions all right.

  Things are about to change. Big time.

  I trek to my bed and send Roland a text: Where do you think they are?

  Roland: I was hoping you would know.

  I want to ask him why he’s so concerned. What, if anything, he’d do if he found them together. They may just be scheming at the penthouse, trying to come up with a plan to discredit the video. Or figure out who leaked it.

  But even as I think these thoughts I know I’m wrong. I remember how stunning Sawyer looked in her sleek silver gown. How Gage’s gaze clung to her at the dance. I recall every instance where Gage watched her, that burning hunger in his eyes, when I was right there with him. Like my initiation. That jealous, hateful gleam in his ice-blue eyes that drilled Sawyer as he fucked me.

  I squeeze my eyes closed.

  With a trembling hand, I type and send the text off: Pick me up in five minutes.

  The loud rumble of Roland’s motorcycle reverberates around the academy parking lot as he coasts toward the curb of the walkway. If our plan was to be stealthy, we’ve definitely failed. At least he parked farther up my street and walked to meet me when he picked me up.

  He shuts off the engine and kicks the bike stand down, letting his bike lean to the side. I scoot off the seat and hand him the helmet.

  “Why do you think they’re here?” Roland asks.

  I comb my fingers through my tangled tresses, then situate my jeans and gray hoodie. “It’s just a feeling,” is all I say. But I remember Sawyer’s story. About how she and Gage met in the academy bell tower and came so close to sharing their first kiss.

  It’s more than a feeling. It’s nostalgia. If Gage and Sawyer were to ever be together, this is where they’d choose. Some kind of sick homage to their missed connection. I want to roll my eyes, but the sting clings to my tear ducts.

  As Roland and I check the front doors, he mutters a curse. “Locked. Like I said it would be.” He gives me an impatient glare.

  I glance around. “What about the bell tower?”

  His brows draw together, he bites his lip ring. He doesn’t answer as he takes off toward the side of the gothic building. I follow him toward the backside. I’ve only ever noticed the entrance to the tower from the courtyard, but as we move alongside the wall of stone, I see the tower coming into view against the dark sky.

  A wooden door with black hardware dons the outside of the tower. It looks as if it’s been sealed up, the wood having been painted over to match the stone encasing it. But upon closer inspection, I notice a large padlock hanging from the door hinge.

  Roland meets my eyes in the darkness. “Are you sure?”

  That question is loaded, and could have different connotations. Am I sure Gage and Sawyer are in there? Am I sure I want to commit a breaking and entering felony? Right now, the only thing I’m sure of is that I need to know; I need the answer about where Gage and I stand.

  I nod once, decided.

  Roland’s mouth presses into a hard line before he looks at the ground. He uses his phone as a flashlight and locates a lose stone along the wall. He tweaks it out, then uses it to smash the lock. The loud whack echoes against the stone as the lock snaps open.

  He makes quick work of removing the lock and pries the door open. I follow closely behind him, a sick dread cording my muscles, my stomach in knots. And then…I hear a sound that tangles my insides even more. My heart kicks my rib cage as it knocks heavily in my ears.

  I recognize that throaty moan.

  Paused on the first stair landing, Roland stares ahead blankly, as if he’s questioning whether to continue on. I’m sure he recognizes Sawyer’s voice, too. Until this moment, I didn’t realize how much he cared for her.

  I touch his arm. This one action spurs him forward. He takes the steps two at a time as he climbs toward the
top level. I try to keep up, but the winding staircase is old and it’s dark, and I have no idea if I want to see what awaits us at the top.

  I don’t have a choice, though, it seems. It’s like a sick compulsion dragging me up the tower. And when the proof is right in front of me, there’s still a part of me that wants to deny what I’m seeing—that’s begging for this to be a bad dream.

  Gage has Sawyer up against the wall. His slacks are around his ankles, her beautiful silver dress discarded to the floor. He thrusts into her with vicious abandon, his groans heavy as they echo around the dark stone-encased room.

  It takes only a moment, but when Sawyer’s eyes open and she sees Roland staring right at her, panic flares across her features.

  “Gage…stop.” Her voice is clipped, broken by a mix of desire and fear.

  Gage ignores her plea as he continues to drive into her, his hips pounding against her spread thighs. I admit, the sight is arousing. For all the heartache clogging my throat and preventing me from speaking, there’s a heated pulse throbbing between my thighs at the elicit sight.

  Roland doesn’t need to find words, however. He’s all action. He marches toward the couple and latches on to Gage’s shoulder. Shoving Gage backward, Roland leaves a naked Sawyer staring up at him in alarm.

  There’s a suspended moment of confusion where Gage stares at Roland, then a devious smile twists his mouth. He grabs his still-hard cock. “I’m hardly finished with her,” Gage says. “Why don’t you run along, do-boy. Your services here are no longer needed.”

  Roland glances at Sawyer, his expression mostly masked by the dark, but I can see the strain around his eyes, the hard crease of his mouth. “So this is what you want?”

  She pushes off the wall and approaches him, but Roland throws up his hands, takes a step backward. “It’s not what you think, Roland.” Sawyer bites her lip and glances at me. There’s a heated ember there, a spark of blame. As if this is all my doing.