The Princess and The Jester - A.D. McCammon Page 0,78

each of them forced to choose out-of-state colleges as far away from Thatcher as possible. In a few months, they’ll all be gone, and he’ll be free of them. As free as he can be, anyway.

It felt so good to take them down, we decided not to stop there. We made a list of marks. All the people who’ve hurt and tormented others. And we’ve slowly been making our way through that list.

My personal favorite was Shane, though. He got exactly what was coming to him.

I’ve done my best to keep that side of my life away from Gwen. It’s a necessary evil, but the last thing I want is for any of this to come back on her.

I shrug, acting as if her words don’t feel like a knife in my chest. “Yeah, well…sometimes you have to become a monster in order to defeat one.”

“People are terrified of you. The infamous Westbrook Three,” she mocks.

We have no clue who started calling us that, but it stuck like glue. Everyone knows we’re a packaged deal now. A triple threat.

“Good. They should be. Fuck them all,” I spit.

Gwen can’t seriously expect me to feel bad for the things I’ve done to those assholes. Each and every one of them deserved what they got and more. She should know that as well as anyone else. How could she possibly side with the enemy?

“Fear and respect aren’t the same things, Cole. Those people are never going to see you as their equal. They’re always going to look down on you.”

Her statement couldn’t be any truer. Which is precisely why it stings so badly. My peers may fear me, but they’ll never respect me. Even now, they see me as the least threatening member of the Westbrook Three. They have no idea I’m the man behind the curtain.

As the Joker once said, “Sometimes you have to play the role of a fool to fool the fool who thinks they are fooling you.”

“And you? Is that how you feel? Am I not good enough for you? Is that why you’re doing this?” My stomach churns as I wait for her reply. It’s always been my biggest fear that one day, she’d realize I’m not good enough for her.

“You’ve always been better than me. Or at least you were. Before you decided to become one of them.”

My jaw tics as I crowd her, hating the way she shrinks away from me. “That’s bullshit. You know I’m nothing like them.” Doesn’t she?

“Aren’t you?” Her lips twist, her hand landing on her hip. “You’re bullying people to get what you want. The three of you are doing the exact same things you’re punishing them for.”

She’s not entirely wrong. Our methods aren’t exactly honorable. Thatcher hits people, Arwen seduces them, and me…I invade their privacy and then blackmail them.

The difference between them and us, though? We don’t prey on the weak. We don’t hurt people for the sport of it or to feel better about our miserable lives.

I cup her face in my hands, my eyes likely now filled with the same kind of desperation I’d seen in hers a moment ago. “There’s more to this whole Westbrook Three thing than you understand. It isn’t just about me. All of this started for a good reason. The people we’ve targeted have done some truly heinous things. Everything we do is for the greater good. I won’t feel bad about that. I do it for us—for you.”

Her eyelids fall as she places her hands over mine, taking a step back as she pries them from her face. When she meets my stare again, her eyes are empty. “Don’t sell your soul on my account. I’m not worth the cost.”

My dark laughter echoes around us, and she hugs herself. “I can’t sell something that’s no longer mine. You own me, heart and soul.”

“You can have them back. I don’t want them anymore. This is over.” Her words are spoken on a faded breath, her voice no more than a whisper. Yet it feels as if she screamed them, each one hitting me like a blow of a fist.

Mentally, I’m on the floor, bleeding out. But I refuse to let her see it.

“Keep them,” I bite, my tone laced with venom. “A crushed soul and broken heart are no good to me.”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Present

GWEN

My skin is still crawling from Shane’s messages, and Cole hasn’t answered any of my calls or texts since he brought me home this afternoon. Nervous energy buzzes through me