Page 55 of Cruel Prep (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 1)

That alone makes her worth more.

Caleb throws up his arm again and again, outbidding everyone as the price gets higher, and Lily doesn’t move.

She doesn’t strut or parade or try to sell herself. She looks at her feet and bites her lip.

If anything, it only makes her more desirable.

Everyone wants to be the guy to lay claim to the innocent girl. If cash wasn’t an option, there’d be a full-out brawl for her.

The only problem is, Lily isn’t innocent. I’ve already soiled her in so many ways … but whoever wins her now, they are going to have her in ways I haven’t yet. In ways I ache to have her.

The thought feels like a shard of glass working itself into my skin.

The price is nearing four digits, far higher than anyone else paid, and Caleb thinks he is going to win. I can see it in the smug smile on his face and the way his eyes scan over Lily’s outline. He is imagining what he is going to do with her once she is his.

Lily still won’t lift her face.

She walked up there strutting and haughty. Thought she could take control of whatever this thing is that’s forming between us.

But now she looks small and terrified, the way she did on the floor of the locker room after Cora slapped her. The way she did standing in front of me after she found Dallas dead.

I should hate her for her weakness. If she were anyone else, I would. I’d be done with them by now.

My father raised me to abhor weakness. To sacrifice the weakest links in favor of the strong.

If you spend all of your time saving the underdog, you’ll never become the leader of the pack.

I hear my father’s voice in my head, but for the first time, I don’t give a fuck about him or his plan or his reputation. Or even mine.

Fuck it all.

I want Lily DeVry.

Before I have any real understanding of what I’m doing, I’m crossing the room, pushing guys out of my way to get to the bench.

I walk up to Lily and hold out my hand much like I did outside the stadium. I offer it to her.

She studies me. Unsure. Assessing.

“What are you doing?” Caleb asks, trying to nudge me aside. “I’m still bidding.”

Without looking away from Lily, I address him. “Not anymore.”

Relief floods Lily’s face. I want to get her away from the heavy gazes in this room. I want to take her someplace quiet and …

Just as Lily is reaching for my hand, I’m knocked sideways.

I stumble into Caleb, who falls to the floor, cursing all the while, and I turn and face the attacker—Rufus Darnell. He is our running back, and we mockingly refer to him as Rufus the Doofus.

Because he is an idiot.

As is evidenced by the fact that he wants to get into a fight with me.

“Don’t be an idiot, Rufus.”

“You’re a cheat,” he spits, jabbing his finger into my face. “You bring her here, she no longer belongs to you. Rules is rules.”

“I don’t belong to anyone!” Lily shouts.

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