Page 111 of Cruel Prep (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 1)

But as soon as I turn, I see movement from the corner of my vision.

I don’t even have time to turn and see fully what it is before I’m slammed into the ground, pinned down by a heavy weight.

Nico weighs a ton. “You’re fast,” he breathes, nostrils flared.

I scream and try to roll out from under him, but he presses my arms down into the dirt and pins my legs down with his shins.

“Screaming doesn’t help,” he growls. “It’s why I hit you that night at the park. Because you wouldn’t shut up.”

I scream again, hoping for anyone to hear me and come help, but the sound is cut off when the back of Nico’s hand slams across my face. My head whips to the side and the copper taste of blood fills my mouth.

“Enough,” he growls. “Haven’t you realize you are all alone out here? No one is coming to help. It’s just you and me. Finally.”

He gathers both of my arms in one of his hands and uses the other to reach down for my shorts. I know where he is headed, what he is trying to do, and I wriggle my hips to try and get away from him.

“You ruined my life, you know that?”

He is still smiling, but the edges are frayed. He looks more deranged than anything as he struggles with the waistband of my shorts.

“I didn’t even do anything wrong. That girl wanted what we were doing to her, but you showed up and started screaming. Then you wouldn’t stop. I just wanted you to stop screaming.”

As he talks, the memory comes back to me, full and clear.

Nico on top of me just like this. His fist lifting into the air before coming down again against the side of my skull in a blinding burst of pain.

His hand slides into my pants. I scream again, twisting my body out of his reach.

“Hold still,” he growls. “It’s going to happen, so you might as well enjoy—”

The sound of Nico being hit in the face is loud and sudden. His weight falls away.

I scramble to my feet, too desperate to escape to question how it is I’m able to escape.

Then, I stand up and fall immediately into Finn’s arms.

“Are you okay?”

His eye is swollen and there is a deep gash across his cheekbone, but he is alive and breathing and standing. And here.

Thank God, he’s here.

I open my mouth to answer, but a hand clamps around my calf, and I scream.

Finn grabs my arm and yanks me forward before Nico can pull me down. He kicks out at Nico’s head, but he dodges the blow by rolling into the foliage and then jumping to his feet.

Finn pushes me behind him, but I can tell by the hunch of his shoulders and his labored breathing that he is tired and hurt.

He has already been through a fight, whereas Nico is still mostly fresh.

“How did you get away?” Nico asks. His smile is gone now, replaced by an obviously annoyed grimace.

Finn spits blood on the forest floor. “The guys woke up when the fighting started. Unfortunately for you, the Hell Princesses aren’t as tough as they look.”

“And here you are,” Nico says, throwing his arms wide to gesture to Finn. “Abandoning your friends, yet again, for some pussy.”

“No one abandoned you, Nico. You made your choices.”

“We were all there that night,” he growls.

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