Bully King - J.A. Huss Page 0,75

under one of the thatched-roof huts and start telling me things.

Things like how the boys have no idea what’s coming. And how Dante won’t make it to the end because Cooper hates him and will make sure of it, but even if he does, he’s in for a big surprise.

Little hints like that.

It makes me worry about the girls. Mostly Sophie. Because even though I thought I knew these High Court Prep girls, and didn’t think a single one of them possessed a gentle soul, I was wrong.

Sophie is gentle. She is sweet, and good, and just wants out.

And she is one of two who can’t leave.

I’m actually surprised that Maddie and Natasha don’t walk out before the end of the two weeks. They’re not invested. They do not care. I think they are happy with the booty they collected from the auction. I think the only reason they’re still here is because Jamie and Roland asked them to stay.

But if challenge two gets intense, I have a feeling they will bail.

Anyway. Dante tries hard, every day, to make me pay for whatever crime he thinks I committed against him.

His parents, as well as his brothers and sisters, are all home when we go there every night. They don’t seem to think that Dante bringing home a strange girl from an auction in the woods is a big deal. Or the bodyguard who comes with her.

The first night we had dinner with them and they asked me a lot of questions that ran the gauntlet between Who the hell are you again? and Why isn’t Mona here? None of which I answer because—wait for it—Dante has forbidden me to talk to his family. Told me I’m just a stand-in and no one cares what I think.

His parents don’t find that weird either. His mother doesn’t stop sipping her apple martini and his father—a slightly better-looking, but shorter and older version of his son—actually winks at him when Dante reveals my no-talking rule.

I can practically hear Mr. Legosi’s words of wisdom to Dante the night before the first auction when he had to beg for all that cash. You lay those rules down hard, son. Put them in their place right from the start.

Such a catch. I wish I could spend all my time with the Legosis.

Gag.

Of course, the bodyguard can’t be watching all the time. The one Cooper calls Meat—and Meat doesn’t mind, because he starts identifying himself to the Legosi security as Meat on day two—he is on top of shit. I’m talking spectacular.

But my other guard—the one Cooper calls Chatter because he doesn’t talk, the one who watches me from seven AM to seven PM—is not quite as invested as Meat. So Dante did actually corner me in the butler’s pantry on day seven while Chatter was taking a bathroom break.

I let him kiss me. Because Dante was counting on a fight. He’s so predictable. He wanted to catch me off guard and steal that kiss against my will. And I’m not going to give him that kind of satisfaction.

So I kissed him back. It was a long, slow, sloppy kiss that grossed me out and made me want to hurl. Luckily Chatter opened the pocket door with a bang and Dante backed away.

But he was smiling. Like he won.

He didn’t win. I threw the fight.

I’m not dumb. I had one week left and to be honest, that week went fine. He didn’t try to kiss me again. Though he did walk around naked in his bedroom apartment the entire last four nights.

I pretended to be impressed with his cock. But come on. I got a good long look at Cooper Valcourt’s big, fat cock that first night I stayed at his house.

Dante’s prick didn’t even come close to living up.

I expect Dante to make one more attempt to get to me the last day of the first challenge, so when he doesn’t, I’m surprised.

Did he learn his lesson?

Maybe.

Or maybe he just figured I’m not worth the trouble?

I’m really not, if you think about it. Mona is the girl he needs to worry about. I’m just the stand-in.

Cooper has been watching me all day out at the pool. He’s kept a wide distance from me the past two weeks.

I guess he figured Ax and Meat had the problem of Cadee Hunter covered. And Mona wouldn’t need all this coddling. Mona will have bodyguards on her all the time. I wonder if Dante’s parents will be able to ignore