Bully King - J.A. Huss Page 0,57
days. All that humiliation. All that… meanness. From all of us. “Then why didn’t you just… leave? Why are you doing this? You don’t need the scholarship. Hell, you don’t need this school, Cadee. If I wasn’t forced to go here, do you think I would?”
“You say that because you have choices.”
“I don’t have choices!” I laugh. And it’s a real one too. Because this is so funny. “I have zero choices, Cades.”
She looks at me when the nickname I gave her all those years ago slips out. “Don’t do that, Cooper. Please. Just… don’t.”
I stare at her. And then, without thinking, I say, “You make me sad.”
She huffs. “Right back at ya, Cooper.”
“Will you go home with me tonight? And stay home tomorrow?”
She doesn’t answer me.
“Cadee, it only gets worse.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“And regardless of what you think, I’m not in charge of anything. It’s just a job I was ordered to do. And even though I don’t want to do it, I have to. Because if the wrong people get through into Fang and Feather, bad things will happen.”
“Well, that’s not cryptic. You’re very dramatic tonight, Coop.”
I shake my head at her. “You don’t get to call me Coop if I don’t get to call you Cades.”
“Fine with me.”
I throw up my hands. “I give up. You win. Do whatever you want. It’s none of my business. But if you show up tomorrow, expect the worst, Cadee. Because that’s exactly what’s going to happen.”
And then I start the boat, ease out of the slip, and take us back across the lake.
CHAPTER TWENTY - CADEE
Cooper and I don’t talk as he drives us back across the lake. I don’t even look at him, so I’m not sure if he looks at me. But I get the feeling he’s done.
Done with me. Done with rush. Done with Fang and Feather. Maybe even done with this life at High Court.
Right.
None of them ever walk away. Plenty of them bitch about their stupid, worthless, pointless lives. Lots of them, actually. But they don’t walk away.
Cooper’s question was legit though. I have money. I can leave. I could start a whole new life in a whole new place. Forget all the bad things ever happened. Be an entirely different person.
But why should I have to leave my home?
If his father is using me—and let’s be real here for a moment, I know what that check really was. Hush money—what does he want me to be quiet about? Why does he feel the need to pay me off?
There’s only one thing I can think of. The pregnancy and subsequent abortion.
And this just pisses me off.
Because they all get to pretend it never happened. And it didn’t. Not really. Because it didn’t happen to them. It happened to me.
I didn’t walk away today because my truth matters.
I’m not sure I really understand how this all relates back to the Glass House, or the secret society thing they have going in that tomb in the woods, or the scholarship. Especially the scholarship, because if the Chairman wants me to walk away and never come back, why bother offering me this opportunity?
Why offer me a brighter future if he’s just planning on ripping it away from me in the end? Is he just cruel?
From the way Cooper talks about him, he is. But how would I know? And don’t most of these rich kids have complicated relationships with their parents? I mean, Ax is sleeping in the boathouse, for fuck’s sake.
Cooper eases the boat into the slip and cuts the engine.
We look at each other for a second. Then he says, “Just say you’ll think about it, Cadee.”
“Think about what? Quitting?” I scoff. “I’m not quitting.”
“Why?” He’s pleading with me now. “Tell me what you need, Cades. And I‘ll get it for you. Anything you want, it’s yours.”
“If I walk away.”
“Why would you want to stay here? We’re going to ruin your life, Cadee. And I’m not being dramatic. I’m being real.”
I stand up and walk over to the steps, then look over my shoulder. “Well, you can try, I guess. We’ll see how far you get.”
Then I step out of the boat and walk down the deck. He follows, catching up with me. But when we get to the path that leads to the main door of the mansion, I veer to the right, heading for the side entrance to my room.
“Really?” Cooper calls. “You’re really just gonna walk away from me?”
I don’t answer and I