Tormented Kings (Boys Of Kingston Academy #2)

Chapter 14

Declan

My lids start to droop as I struggle to keep my eyes on my phone screen. Preston should have been here a while ago, and he’s not answering my texts. Maybe I should call him?

No. I’m sure he’s fine. He was only looking for a place to crash. That's it. He said he had to do something before coming here, so whatever that is must be keeping him.

I shouldn’t have been so excited to get his text asking to stay the night. I have Sadie, I shouldn’t be pining after someone who doesn’t want me.

But then Sadie’s words come back to me, the way she talked before Grayson and I took her together, asking me if I wished it was Preston and me that was about to fuck her together.

The idea of that has me harder than I think I’ve ever been. The amount of times I’ve fantasized about that exact scenario is too many to count.

Was that just her playing around, or would she really be okay with Preston and me being something more? Not that it would ever happen.

Preston has shown no interest in me, and I’m not about to make a fool out of myself by admitting my feelings.

Eventually, my eyes close, sleep winning over.

They don’t open again until I hear the sound of keys unlocking my dorm room door. Sitting up, I rub the sleep from my eyes, frowning.

Panic that someone is breaking in fills me until I see Preston walking through the door, and I let out a little sigh of relief.

“What time is it?” I ask, voice cracking as I look down at my phone.

“Late,” he murmurs, shutting the door and locking it behind him. “Sorry, I’m so late.”

“Is everything okay?”

He stands by the door in the shadows. “Not really. But when is my life ever okay?” He lets out a humorless laugh, and my heart hurts for him. I wish I could take the pain away from him. Give him a safe place to be himself. Because while he might not want me, I know he wants Sadie. Even if he can’t see it himself. Or maybe he can and he’s choosing to play ignorant.

He sighs heavily, running a hand through his hair before stepping into the moonlight streaming through my window.

That’s when I get a good look at his face. I’m on my feet and over to him in a second. “Fuck, Preston, what happened?”

My hand reaches out to touch his black eye, but I hesitantly lower it again.

“It doesn’t matter.” He looks away, pain clear in his eyes.

“Your dad?”

He looks back at me. “Who else?”

“You can’t go back there,” I insist, anger filling me. What his father does makes me sick.

“It’s not that easy, Dec,” he sighs heavily, stepping past me. I watch as he kicks off his shoes and yanks back the covers without bothering to take any clothes off. Part of me is disappointed. “If it was, I’d just get a place of my own.”

“Why don’t you? You’re old enough.”

“Because he would lose his shit. Today he told me that I’m to be married to Tina before the end of the school year.” He makes a disgusted sound. “I’d rather chop my own fucking dick off and feed it to an alligator than marry her.”

He climbs into bed, groaning as he lays down.

Swallowing hard, I slowly get back into bed and join him. Rolling to my side, I fixate my eyes to his face. “You can stay here any time, you know.”

He’s staring up at the roof, but I see his lip hitch into a smile. “Thanks, man. That–that means a lot.”

Warmth fills my body, at the same time, a smell fills my nose. My brows furrow. “Why do you smell like my girlfriend?” I ask, his clothes smelling an awful lot like the perfume Sadie wears.

His body goes stiff. He blinks, licking his lips. “I was at the chapel, that’s why I was late.”

Oh. Understanding dawns on me. “Is she okay?”

“I think so? Shouldn’t you know that?” he asks, rolling onto his side to face me. “She’s your girlfriend.”

“It’s new. She’s still getting used to everything. And I’m not her keeper, I don’t keep tabs on her every second of every day. If something’s wrong, she knows I’m here for her. If she doesn’t want to talk about it, I won’t force her.”

“Maybe you should,” he murmurs. “Sadie shouldn’t be left alone, not while my father has his sights set on her.”

“That’s what Collin and Grayson are doing,” I chuckle, and he grins.

“Yeah. I suppose so. Still doesn't change the fact she was alone in the tower. She might be on school property, but anyone could have attacked her up there.”

My face falls. “Did you make sure she got home safe?”

He licks his lips. “No. I–ah–Shit,” he curses, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. “I fucked your girlfriend, and we fell asleep in the tower. When I woke up, I was alone. I did text the others, Grayson says she’s safe at his place and will explain why she’s there later.”

“Y–you and Sadie had sex?”

It’s not the actual act of it that surprises me, I know they’d been together during the arrangement we had with Sadie. But he’s shown no interest in taking things further with her, even though we all know he wants to. He’s just holding himself back.

“I did. And I want to say I’m sorry, but I’m not. I’m just sorry if it hurts you. Don’t blame her, I’m the one who initiated.”

“I’m not mad,” I whisper honestly. If anything, the idea of the two of them has my mind drifting to dirty places. I shut that down right away because I don’t need a boner while I lay next to Preston. “Sadie, and you have something.” He starts to open his mouth, most likely to deny it, but I continue before he can say anything. “And don’t you try to talk your way out of it.” I narrow my eyes at him, and he shuts his mouth. “If Sadie wants to be with you, none of us are going to stop her. We don’t have any issues with it. The only problem would be if you did something to hurt her. Because I can’t just sit back and watch that. She doesn’t deserve it.”

“No, she doesn’t,” he sighs. His eyes drop to my lips, and my dick twitches. I really wish he wouldn’t look at me like that; it’s killing me. “I don’t want to hurt her. I know I was an asshole in the past, and I hate myself for it. She didn’t do anything to me to deserve the way I treated her then. I was just...” He sighs heavily and moves to his back. “I was just angry with myself, with the world—that I wanted so many things I couldn’t have. A life that wasn’t this one. I was pissed that it wasn’t even a possibility.”

I want to tell him it is. That he could have everything he wanted, if he was just willing to deal with the backlash that might come with it. But I know out of all of us, it’s the hardest for Preston. My parents aren’t going to be happy, but they’re not going to disown me. Grayson’s grandfather might throw a fit, but he doesn’t hold as much power as Mark does. Grayson isn’t afraid to be cut off, he will have his father to fall back on. That is, if his father doesn’t kill him for dating his stepsister. One problem at a time with him.

Collin might share a father with Preston, but he has his mother, who clearly is all for whatever choices Collin makes.

That just leaves Preston with two monsters for parents who only care about themselves, the power they can get, and how much money they have in their pockets. And they’re not afraid to do whatever it takes to keep it that way.

Including threatening the life of the woman we all love.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, breaking on the inside for him.

He rolls back over and smiles sadly at me. “You have nothing to be sorry about. You’re the only good thing in my life, you know?”

Fucking dagger to the heart.

Emotion clogs my throat as he stares into my eyes. I don’t know what to say or how to respond. There’s this electric current between us, the tension thick in the air. His eyes drop to my lips again. Why does he look like he wants to kiss me?

I wish he would. I want him to lean over and press his lips to mine so badly it hurts.

But then he clears his throat, rolling all the way over to face the wall, and my heart crashes, filling with disappointment and rejection. Things I don’t have the right to feel hitting me. “We should get some sleep. We have school in the morning.”

“Yeah.” I hope he doesn’t hear how my voice cracks. “Night.”

He doesn’t say anything for a moment before he whispers back. “Goodnight.”

I don’t get a wink of sleep for the rest of the night, feel like death the next morning.