FURY: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Rosewood High Book 6) Read online

  I walk for hours as the sun gets higher and higher in the sky and the city comes to life.

  I have nowhere to go this time in the morning. The few friends I do have will either be passed out or heading to school—probably more likely the former as they attended school about as much as I did.

  When I finally feel like I’ve run out of energy, I turn back around, make one quick stop, and head for home, or more specifically, my bed.

  Every muscle in my body aches as I climb the stairs. I might have been asleep when Ruby drove us into the city, but it couldn’t have been much before that I drifted off. I laid there for hours, thoughts of where I was going and what I was going to have to do spinning through my mind, not to mention the memory of having Ruby pinned to the car only a few hours before.

  I need to stay away from her, that much I know. What I can’t figure out is why I’m unable to let her go. I should have taken her back to the hotel and let her get comfortable with Dad and Lisa, but instead, I took her to the one place I don’t want to be, let alone have a visitor, and then I bloody left her there after she offered to...

  I shake my head. I can’t allow myself to think about her on her knees before me. That can’t happen. Not because it’s forbidden or whatever bullshit I’m sure people would spew at us if they knew, but because I don’t trust myself with her. She brings out this crazy side of me, one I don’t even recognize and I’m sure that if she really experiences the things I want to do to her, to hurt her, to punish her, then she’ll never look at me again. Not that that would be a huge issue, but we are going to have to put up with each other somehow seeing as we now live under the same fucking roof.

  I push the door open, closing my eyes as I step into the apartment. The memories that flooded me the first time I stepped in here a few hours ago threatened to floor me, I have no reason to think it’ll be any different this time.

  Closing the door behind me, I keep my eyes on the floor, that is until a noise has me lifting my eyes and scanning the room. I expect to find her standing somewhere staring at me with a furious expression on her face but instead, I find her curled up in a ball on the couch snoring softly.

  My breath catches at the sight of her. This apartment is freezing, to the point I can see my breath in front of my face, yet she’s there without so much as a blanket covering her.

  Walking over, I drop down to my haunches in front of her.

  “Ruby,” I whisper, but she doesn’t so much as stir.

  Knowing that I can’t leave her there freezing, I slide my arms under her body and lift her into my chest. The second she feels my heat, she curls into me and nuzzles her cheek against my shoulder.

  My heart rate picks up as I stare down at her, but I don’t allow myself time to really think about my reaction because I march toward my bedroom, ignoring the couple of images of Mom and me when I pass.

  The second we’re in my room, I lay her down on my bed, pull her sneakers off, and cover her up.

  Taking a step back, I stare at her curled up in my bed. I have no idea how I feel about it. I want to hate it, but I’m not sure I do, and that only makes me want to hate it that much more.

  Turning my back on her, I make my way to the bathroom and quietly close the door behind me.

  I strip out of my clothes, trying to ignore the chill that bites into my skin, I know it’s about to get a lot worse. I don’t bother waiting after turning the shower on, I know it’s not going to get any warmer. Instead, I brace myself and step under the ice-cold stream.

  I make quick work of washing the last few days off me before stepping out, drying off as fast as I can.

  With the towel around my waist, I head back to my room, pull on a clean pair of boxers and sweats, and crawl into bed.

  Do I want to be in here with her? No, not really. But like fuck am I going to be the one shivering on the couch when there’s a perfectly good bed here with thick covers.

  Sleep comes easily, not that I’m surprised after the past two days. With the help of her warmth beside me, I allow the darkness to come and hopefully with it, a little peace. Being back here, seeing Mom’s things, being where she used to be, it’s fucking with my head. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want Ruby here. But at the same time, I can’t imagine either of us anywhere else right now.

  When I eventually wake, it’s the kinds of city commotion that I’m all too used to and have almost missed in my short time away. But it’s not the sound that alarms me, it’s the hot little body in my arms and the burning stare I can feel.

  “I know you’re awake,” she whispers. “So you can let go of me now.”

  I wish I could, but with my limbs still heavy with sleep, my arm and leg stay exactly where they are, wrapped around her, pinning her to me.

  “You’re warm,” I murmur, keeping my eyes shut and wishing I could drift back off away from this bullshit reality.

  “Ash.” She chuckles, trying to pull away from me but finding herself stuck.

  I should release her, I know that, but fuck.

  Ripping my eyes open, I find her awake green ones staring back up at me. Seeing them is like a bucket of cold water over me.

  I release her immediately and roll onto my back.

  “Sorry,” I mutter, staring up at the ceiling. “You were just... warm.”

  “Yeah,” she sighs, following my move and shifting to her back. “Where’d you go?”

  “Out.”

  “Riiight.” She pushes to sit up and grabs her cell from the nightstand.

  “You were really cold when I came in, so...”

  “Thank you,” she whispers. “Jesus, it’s late.” That much is obvious from the fact the sun is dropping in the sky once more.

  She taps around for a bit, I assume replying to messages, but I leave her to do her thing.

  “Our parents want to know if we want to meet them for dinner.”

  “No.”

  “O-oh.”

  “Tell them you can’t either.”

  She glances over at me, but I don’t return her stare.

  “O-okay.” She turns her attention back to the screen and taps away, assuming, turning down their offer. I have no idea what they must be thinking right now about all of this, but to be honest, I don’t really give a shit.

  I regret my actions the second I flip the covers back and the coldness of the apartment hits my skin. I shiver, but it’s not enough to force me back inside. I’m almost at the door when she speaks.

  “Ash?” Her voice is so soft and unsure that it makes me turn around.

  “Yeah.”

  Her eyes drop down my bare chest, lingering on where I know my morning wood is pressing against the fabric of my sweats. She swallows nervously and it does nothing to help it go down.

  “About last night...” she starts hesitantly.

  “Forget it. It was...” I blow out a breath, remembering just how she looked on her knees before me. “A mistake. Won’t happen again.”

  “O-okay. G-good.” I swear I see disappointment cross her features, but I don’t hang around long enough to find out. Instead, I turn my back on her and head for the bathroom for a shower that is sure to put pay to the hard-on I’ve had since waking to find her in my arms.

  When I emerge, I find her pulling open the few cupboards we have in the kitchen.

  “What are you doing?” I bark and she startles as if she’s just been caught robbing the place.

  “Oh shit, I... um... I’m looking for something to eat.”

  “Good luck with that. You might find some crackers.”

  I continue toward the bedroom with a towel around my waist, but I pause halfway across the room when she speaks again.

  “Is this really how you lived?”

  “Yeah, little one. It was,” I say sadly and continue forward before she has a chance to say anymore. I’m not ashamed of how we lived, it was our reality. If I didn’t want her to see it, then I could have just dropped her at the lavish hotel Dad booked and kept her away from
it.

  You probably should have done that, a little voice screams in my head as I walk to my dresser and pull out a pair of boxers.

  I drop the towel when a gasp sounds out in the doorway. Thankfully, she waits until I’ve dragged them on to speak.

  “I’m going out,” I say, reaching for some clothes.

  “Take this, please.”

  Not knowing what she has for me, I turn around.

  “No,” I spit, seeing the credit card in her hand.

  “Why not? You deserve it, Ash. Your dad pays for it,” she admits with a wince when my face hardens with anger. Of course he fucking pays for her credit card, why wouldn’t he?

  Fucking asshole.

  “I don’t want anything from him.”

  “I... I get that—”

  “No, no, you fucking don’t. You don’t have a clue. You think seeing this place means you understand anything about my life. You fucking don’t.”

  She backs up into the doorframe as I take a step toward her, backing away like a scared little animal.

  “I don’t want his fucking money. If he wanted me to have it, then he’d have done so, and this wouldn’t have been my life.”

  “Ash, this place is freezing, there is no hot water, no food. If we are going to stay here, then we need to fix it.”

  “Why? Can’t Princess Ruby cope with a little cold?” I raise my brows at her.

  “I can cope perfectly fine. But we don’t have to.” She forces the card my way again. “I’m not some prissy little girl who’s going to scream when I don’t get my way, Ash. But why suffer when we don’t have to?”

  I step toward her and she once again presses her body against the doorframe in her need to keep some space between us.

  “Trust me, little one. I know exactly how to make you scream.” I look at her from under my lashes as I close the space between us. The heat from her body seeps into mine and for a second I almost reach out and hold her to me as if she’s a fucking heater. But I don’t. I hold my arms at my sides and stare into her quickly darkening eyes. “And you know I could do it again in a heartbeat if I wanted to.”

  “Ashton,” she warns, although all I hear is a plea for me to do just exactly as I said.

  “Is that what you want? You want me between your thighs again, licking your pretty little pussy until you scream my name?”

  She swallows as her eyes shutter at my words.

  “You’re wet for me again, aren’t you?”

  “Ash.” Her chest heaves, her breaths almost coming out as pants.

  Reaching out, I slip my hand under her hoodie and tank until I find the smooth skin of her belly.

  “If I were to push my hand inside your panties right now, I’d find you dripping for me, wouldn’t I?”

  She shakes her head almost violently in denial, and all I can do is smile at her attempt to deny what’s crackling between us.

  It’s the perfect distraction and one I’m not sure I’m going to be able to put off diving headfirst into very, very soon.

  Her entire body tenses as I slide my hand into her sweats and panties.

  “Oh God,” she gasps when I graze her clit.

  “You’re a really shit liar, little one. You feel that?” I ask, dipping my finger inside her and coating my finger in her juices.

  This time she nods, her eyes closed and her head resting back against the doorframe.

  Leaning forward, I brush my lips against her ear and delight in the shudder that rips through her at my simple touch.

  “Soon, I’m going to fucking ruin this. I’m going to make sure you remember forever who took away your innocence, make sure every other motherfucker who dares try to take what’s mine pales in comparison.”

  She gasps at my words but her body defies her because a flood of wetness drips down my hand.

  “So fucking desperate for it too, aren’t you?”

  She shakes her head once more.

  “Don’t fucking lie to me, Ruby,” I bark, making her lift her head and open her eyes.

  I circle her clit once more and she has to fight to keep eye contact with me.

  “Tell me you fell asleep last night thinking about what it would have been like to suck my cock into your mouth.”

  She drags her bottom lip into her mouth, her teeth sinking into it until I’m sure it must hurt. Then after a beat, she nods.

  “Good girl. If you’re lucky, you might just have to do it soon.”

  Ripping my hand from her, I lift my fingers to her lips.

  “Open.” She hesitantly does as she’s told, and I push my wet fingers past her lips. “Now suck them clean.”

  She does as she’s told, my cock weeping as her tongue laps at her juices.

  Fuck me.

  “Good girl,” I repeat. “Now, don’t even think about finishing yourself off because this...” I cup her over the fabric of her sweats. “Is mine. Your pleasure, your pain, from here on out, is mine. You understand that?”

  She nods once more, and I pluck the credit card from her fingers and walk away from her.

  “Code?” I call over my shoulder and she quickly rattles off the numbers before I rip the door open and storm out of the apartment.

  17

  Ruby

  I once again find myself with my ass on the cold, hard wooden floor watching Ashton walk away from me. My chest heaves, lust races through my veins and my head spins.

  I was so close. So fucking close. And then he ripped his fingers away. Asshole.

  Climbing to my feet, I walk back to the kitchen on shaky legs. My core throbs with my need for release and the temptation to go against him and finish myself off in his bed, surrounded by his scent is almost too much to ignore.

  But I don’t. Instead, I walk toward the bathroom.

  “What the hell?” I mutter as I round the couch and find something I wasn’t expecting to see. My case.

  I lift it onto the couch and flip it open to find all my things exactly as I packed them.

  I pull out my toiletry bag and a clean set of clothes and take them through to the bathroom.

  I already know there’s no hot water, so as I strip down, I brace myself for the blast of ice.

  “Oh my God,” I squeal as I dance around under the water. If I weren’t awake before then I certainly am now. I wash my hair, cursing Ash out during every second of the torture.

  By the time I step out, my teeth are chattering and my skin is covered in goose bumps.

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” There’s no towel.

  I pull the door open and peek out, making sure he’s not already returned before running across the apartment, aware that the windows look directly into someone else’s. The second I’m in his bedroom, I reach for the towel he dropped earlier. It’s still damp and now freezing, but it’s better than nothing.

  I wring out my hair and whip the towel over my body, soaking up the ice-cold droplets.

  In minutes, I have my clean clothes on, but I’m still shivering despite pulling my hoodie tightly around myself.

  I fill the coffee machine that’s sitting on the counter in the kitchen, praying to anyone who’ll listen that it works before returning to Ashton’s bedroom to retrieve his sheets.

  With a steaming mug of black coffee—not my favorite, but I’m not exactly in a position to complain right now—and the only packet of crackers I could find, I huddle up in his sheets and hug the mug in front of my face in the hope it’ll take the chill off.

  The sensible side of me knows that I should walk out and go and find our parents. But there’s something that stops me from leaving. I know what it is, it’s the pain in his eyes, a pain I don’t want to make worse, and I have a feeling that me walking out that front door will do that. So I torture myself in here as the sun begins to set outside, turning the entire apartment a murky orange. I guess I should just be glad there’s still electricity and that I have light.

  I scroll my way through social media, catching up with everything I’ve missed while slee
ping today before I shoot my dad, Harley, and Poppy a message catching them up on what Seattle is like. In other words, I lie. I also, somewhat reluctantly, return the missed call I have from Mom. I know she’s worried, probably for a very good reason, but I force some happiness into my voice and convince her that everything is fine and that we’ll be at the funeral in plenty of time tomorrow.

  I’ve somewhat warmed up a few hours later when a key is pushed into the lock on the other side of the door. My heart jumps into my throat as I wait for him to slip inside.

  I have no idea what kind of mood he might be in, and I brace myself for what might be about to come my way.

  The second he emerges, the breath I was holding rushes out of me at the sight of the bags in his hands. He bought food.

  “Well, don’t just sit there, help me unpack.”

  I scramble out of his sheets and rush to the kitchen with him.

  “We’ve got hot water and heating too,” he says.

  “Thank you.”

  “I didn’t do it just for you,” he admits, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye.

  “I know, but I appreciate it. Coffee?” I ask, my lips twitching with a smile when I see him pull some cream out of one of the bags.

  “Please. Black, no sugar.”

  “Why am I not surprised.”

  “Because I’m a bitter motherfucker,” he jokes, making my smile grow.

  “Yeah, something like that. So I can have another shower with hot water now then?”

  “Yeah, but you’re going to need to be quick.”

  “Why?”

  “We’re going out.”

  “Out?”

  “Yep, and you’re wearing this.” He throws a bag at me that I catch while narrowing my eyes at him.

  “W-what is it?”

  “A dress, little one.”

  “I have clothes,” I sulk, unsure how I feel about the fact he’s been shopping for me. “Thank you for picking up my case by the way,” I relent after a few seconds.

  “Your mom left it at the hotel reception, I just picked it up.” He shrugs like it’s no big deal, which I guess it isn’t really, but it shows he does actually have a heart because he thought of me and did something nice. “We’re leaving in an hour. You want a sandwich?”