Page 23 of Cruel Prep (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 1)

Back in the bedroom, Caleb is shrugging on his shirt.

“What’s the big fuckin’ deal?” he grumbles.

“You’ll see.”

When J.C. emerges, I lead them both to the bathroom where I left Dallas.

Caleb’s eyes widen when he sees what’s behind the door. “Fuuuuck..” he breathes. “That is… not good.”

“Not good at all,” J.C. agrees.

“I didn’t bring you here to get your fucking input,” I snarl. “I brought you here for your help. We need to get him out of here. J.C., you grab his legs. Caleb, get his arms. I’ll go pull the car up front.”

“Why do we have to do the heavy lifting?” J.C. complains.

“Just shut the fuck up and do what I told you.”

He keeps grumbling, but they both do what I said, hoisting Dallas’s limp body up and carrying him down the stairs.

I go ahead of them, making sure everyone else is either gone or unconscious. No need to add eyewitnesses to the list of problems I have to solve. On the way out, I find Viktor and Noah slumped on the downstairs couches. I wake them up and make them come with me.

I bring the Escalade around and we throw Dallas in the backseat. Caleb climbs up front, while the others clamber into the back. Then I peel out of the driveway.

It’s a quiet drive at first. Each of us nursing our hangovers. J.C., of course, is the one to break the silence.

“That motherfucker isheavy,” he sighs, rubbing at the back of his neck. “You gonna tell us what happened, Finn?”

“Nope.”

“So we’re just accomplices to a crime we know nothing about.”

I tighten my hand on the steering wheel. “I’m handling it.” Even with my sunglasses on against the early morning glare, I feel exposed. I’m not sure why.

“And the girl? What happened with that last night?”

“I’m handling that, too.” J.C. is really starting to piss me off.

And now Caleb decides to chime in. He frowns at me. “What does that mean? We were all there that night. Shouldn’t we have some say in what happens to her? I mean, she deserves—”

I cut him off when I reach over the center console and seize his t-shirt in a fist. “I told you I’m fucking handling it.”

He holds up his hands in surrender. Even Caleb knows not to fight back against me. “For fuck’s sake, don’t get your dick in a twist, Finn.”

“Seriously, bro. Calm down.” J.C. claps his hand on my shoulder from the second row, but I shrug it off. “We trust you.”

They all nod in agreement, but I can see them looking to one another, trying to gauge what they’re each thinking.

I growl and press the accelerator harder. I don’t care if they trust me or not. The reality is that I will be the only one dealing with Lily DeVry, regardless of what they think.

I pity any one of them who tries to stop me.

I stop the car at the exit to the hospital. It’s still a few hundred yards to the actual front doors, but I don’t want to risk us getting picked up on any security cameras.

“Set him up behind the sign,” I order. No one is in a mood to argue after my outburst, so they all do what I say.

We leave Dallas propped up between the hedges on the backside of the sign for the county hospital. I check his pulse one more time before we leave. Still beating.

Too bad.

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