Broken Empire A Reverse Harem High School Bully Romance - Callie Rose Page 0,22

dirt on the four boys, even if she’d never been officially reprimanded by the school.

And now everyone wanted to see what would happen next.

“Well, well, look who it is.” She smirked, her heart-shaped face and delicate features a strange contrast to the harsh ugliness I knew lived beneath them. “Four fucking losers and their white trash girlfriend.”

Preston’s grin was vicious, and Sable had a smug look on her face as all three of them took another step closer.

“You know,” Adena added, cocking her head as she pretended to consider something, “I always heard people start to look like their pets after a while. And I guess it’s true. You took this piece of Idaho trash as a pet, and now you all look like trash too.”

Mason didn’t move, but I could feel his body tense beside me. When he spoke, his voice was low and dangerous. “You better watch your fucking mouth.”

“Or what?” She laughed, too loud and long for it to be real. It was a show. A performance. “What are you gonna do? God, you’re all so pathetic.” She jerked her chin toward Elijah. “Look. This fucking drug addict is perfect for the trailer park already.”

My jaw clenched so hard it hurt.

Goddamn this fucking bitch.

None of the guys beside me moved. Fury radiated from them like a palpable force, but I knew they’d already been sent to the dean’s office for losing their shit at Adena once before—and given the thin ice they were all on at home, I didn’t want them to risk getting in trouble for going after her again.

We needed to be smarter and more strategic than that.

When she got no reaction from Elijah, Adena turned her gaze on me, her lips curling up in a cruel smile. “Nice cast. I heard about your little accident. Didn’t they teach you how to drive in Idaho? Or are you really so desperate for attention that you’ll—”

Before she even finished speaking, the Princes moved. The tension that’d been held in check by a thread snapped, and all four of them stepped forward, the movement so sharp and synchronized that for a moment, they truly did seem like one being.

None of them spoke or even lifted their hands, but the action was so full of veiled threat that Adena unconsciously stumbled back a step, almost running into Preston and Sable as she did. Preston grabbed her shoulders to steady her, but I noticed with a grim sort of satisfaction that he stayed behind her.

He may have chosen her side, but he wasn’t exactly willing to put his neck out for her.

Not that I blamed him. I’d seen the beating Cole had given him last time they’d fought.

The conversation in the entry hall around us had died almost entirely by now, and everyone watched in silence as the Princes faced off with Adena.

“I said, watch your fucking mouth,” Mason told her, his voice low and smooth. “And that includes talking shit about Talia. In fact, it includes talking to her at all. It includes looking at her. I’ve told you already to back the fuck off. Do it, or we’re going to have a serious problem.”

Real fear reflected in Adena’s baby-blue eyes, but she scoffed to cover it up, yanking herself out of Preston’s grasp—although she didn’t actually step forward. “You don’t get to run this place anymore, Mason.” She squinted at him. “Your family has money problems, right? Damn. For all I know, you’re as poor as she is. Maybe that’s why you like her so much.”

Cole’s back tensed, making his uniform blazer look too tight, and I saw his hands clench into fists.

I had always wondered, when I was at the height of my battle with the Princes, where their line was. I’d never been completely sure, but I had taken some comfort in my belief that whatever else they might do, they wouldn’t hit me.

They wouldn’t beat up a girl.

I still thought that was true… although Adena seemed to be determined to make herself the exception to that rule.

Shifting my grip on my crutches, I hobbled forward. The four boys had all stepped in front of me, but as soon as I put myself in their midst again, I saw some of the tension bleed from their bodies, as if they were remembering where they were.

This wasn’t the time.

It wasn’t the place.

“I’m serious, Adena. Go after Talia again and I will wreck you.”

Mason’s voice was low and controlled and full of a simple promise that made