Kings of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #1) - Caroline Peckham ,Susanne Valenti Page 0,67

rose its head again and he tackled me with the force of a charging bull.

I laughed as his knuckles slammed into my stomach, my ribs, my chest and the pain of the blows poured through me like rain.

I didn’t even try to fight back for once, letting him have this, letting him unleash a drop of the endless ocean of rage which writhed inside him now.

As his eighth punch landed, he was suddenly hoisted off of me and I barked a laugh as Coach Monroe wheeled Blake around and threw him back down in his chair.

“Do we have a problem here?!” Monroe bellowed and for half a second Blake looked like he was considering punching him in his frowning face.

“No, sir,” I said loudly, as I got to my feet and straightened my blazer. “I just fell down and Blake was trying to help me back up like a good friend.”

“Is that so, Bowman?” Monroe demanded.

He knew it wasn’t true, Miss Pontus knew it wasn’t true, every fucker in the room right down to the big ass fly buzzing around the light fittings knew it wasn’t true. But that didn’t matter. Everyone knew the only truth which ever really mattered was the one spoken by the most powerful person in the room. And ninety nine times out of a hundred, that asshole was Saint Memphis.

“Yeah. Saint’s a clumsy fucker,” Blake growled, folding his arms as he leaned back in his chair.

He had a petulant look on his face like a little bitch but the fire in his eyes was back, just like it had been last night. And I was ready to stoke that flame whenever he needed me to for as long as it took to burn that grief right out of him. Because fuck letting him drown in pain when I could help him bathe in vengeance.

Monroe gave us a long look which said he hated us and everything we stood for which was tough luck for him because the whole world stood for what we did. Money was power. And we were money. Cut me open and I’d bleed green…or gold…or fucking platinum.

He was obviously satisfied that our brawl had come to an end and he stalked away with a contemptuous snort, pausing at Miss Pontus’s desk to speak with her. No doubt he was checking she hadn’t just pissed in those big Bridget Jones panties of hers. She sure as shit hadn’t come wading in to try and stop us and I was willing to bet she’d been doing her Hail Marys with vigour, just praying for a miracle to come save her from having to deal with us. And there he was, her Viking warrior come clad in sweatpants to save the day.

The look our English teacher was giving Coach told me she’d be more than willing to drop the Bridget Jones’s for him, but it didn’t look like he was taking the bait.

Monroe gave her one of those bullshit smiles he reserved for the rest of the staff then turned and beckoned to someone outside the door.

Tatum Rivers stalked into the room with her jaw tight and her hair devilishly un-styled. She was wearing a clean uniform, but she hadn’t taken care over the way it sat and there wasn’t a scrap of makeup on her tanned skin. I normally hated seeing people like that, with less than zero effort put in to anything at all about their appearance. But something about her being dressed like that was captivating. She looked fierce in her disregard for the social requirements – not like she was trying to act like she didn’t give a shit, but like she genuinely gave no shits.

“Miss Rivers seemed to have forgotten what time class started, so I took it upon myself to help her find her way here,” Coach Monroe said in a firm voice which told me he’d gone banging on her door to drag her here. And the look of venom Tatum shot him as she lingered by the door said she didn’t appreciate that at all.

My little Barbie doll had dusted herself off and picked herself up and come back swinging. Hell, it had barely been an hour since we’d torn her apart in front of the entire school and here she was, that chin lifted in defiance and war flashing in her eyes.

I was going to enjoy breaking her so much more than I’d ever even imagined and my pulse spiked as I waited to see