Devils' Day Party: A High School Bully Romance - C.M. Stunich Page 0,10

some poor boy and left him with broken limbs.

Of course, I don’t know for sure that that’s why they hate me. My complaint was anonymous, so they’re not supposed to know. I just always assumed they’d found out somehow.

“Report us?” Calix asks, his voice like a cool winter night. When dark first starts to fall, when the sun first sets, and the quiet and cold set in, you convince yourself you can last until first light. But slowly, hour after hour, it just gets colder and darker and quieter until you find yourself shivering, half-frozen, and counting down the minutes until insanity, frostbite, or death. That’s Calix, in a nutshell. “You’re not going to report us. Karma, ne fais pas l'idiot.” Don’t be a fool. “You hit my car this morning—on purpose. I’m just going to assume you don’t have insurance. And we both know you don’t have any money.” Calix reaches out and runs a finger down the side of my face. I consider biting it, but that won’t make my day any easier.

I’m surrounded.

I settle for glaring, my hands balled into fists, my body quivering with unspent rage.

“Consider us even—for now.” He smiles at me again, and then leans forward, putting his lips near mine. “But tonight is the Devils’ Day Party. We both remember what happened last year.” I haul back and slap him in the face as hard as I can, and he rears back, a sharp frown curving his lips as his cheek turns pink.

“What a feisty little kitty-cat,” Raz growls, grabbing me by the hair and yanking my head back. The crowd around us hisses, as if they’re as wild and fae as the masks they’re wearing. “Do you like pissing us off? Because you’re so damn good at it.” He looks up, glancing to Calix before running his tongue over his lips—hungrily. “What do you think we could do with her this year? If I confess my love, do you think she’ll fuck me, too?”

I jerk my hair from Raz’s grasp, despite the pain in my scalp, but when I make a run for it, Barron grabs me, folding me up in strong arms and yanking me back to front against his hard body. The sleeves of his white hoodie envelop me as he sucks on a lollipop and clinks it against his teeth.

Raz peels bits of purple hair from his fingertips in disgust and gives Calix a look. Just then, the bell rings, and one of the administrators appears on the front steps, watching us with an expectant look.

Nobody at Crescent Prep gives a shit about what the staff has to say, but—despite their bravado—they sure as hell care about news of their disobedience getting back to their parents. Most of them have a lot to lose, after all—trust funds, inheritances, monthly allowances worth more than my parents’ yearly wages. They’re always very, very careful to keep their games hidden.

“Let’s tie her to a tree and leave her there overnight, see what happens when the devils come out to play,” Raz suggests, fingering the edge of my now-dirty academy jacket. His red eyes gleam as he rakes his other hand over his dirty blonde hair.

“Mm. We’ll deal with her later,” Calix says, cupping my face in a cool hand and looking at me with crow-black eyes. “That is, if she’s brave enough to show for the party tonight.”

“I think I’d rather deal with her now,” Raz says, reminding me that they might be called the Knight Crew to the rest of us, but that Calix Knight is hardly in charge of either Raz or Barron. No, I have no delusions that if Raz made up his mind to hurt me here and now, the other two would do little to stop it.

Calix looks bored as he stands up straight, the wind ruffling bits of dark hair around his black devil mask. He turns away, pausing just once to glance over his shoulder, a magnificent halo of cruelty in his cold half-smile.

“Do whatever you want. I’d rather keep to my family’s good graces.” He turns away, leaving me to Raz and Barron as he walks across the parking lot in his royal purple slacks and matching jacket, as if the academy uniform is a set of plush robes and a scepter, like he’s some sort of king among princes.

Barron shoves me forward, knocking me back to my knees on the gravel. I turn back to glare at him, fisting my hands in the