Page 104 of Cruel Academy (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 2)

“I’ll go ask if anyone has seen him. You stay here.”

The bouncers at the door didn’t recognize J.C., but Felix will, and if I want him to help me find Caleb, I can’t let him know I told another Golden Boy about the underground fights.

I slip between people coming through the doors and jog down the hallway to the kitchen. It’s where the organizers of the fights hang out, and Felix is almost always back there, keeping an eye on the money. He doesn’t trust anyone else with the task.

If John is here tonight, it’s also where he’ll be. I try not to think about what could happen to Caleb if he tries to take on John or any of the Hell Princes outside the ring with no audience.

In the ring, there are some basic rules.

Outside of it, they won’t hesitate to pull out a blade or worse.

Just as the kitchen door comes into view, it opens and Felix walks out. He sees me immediately and frowns. “What are you doing back here?”

“Have you seen Caleb?”

His frown deepens. “Whatever drama is going on, I don’t want any part of it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Caleb is drunk off his ass,” Felix says, shaking his head. “He showed up drunk and asking where Bumper was. When I tried to tell him to leave, he took a swing at me. Luckily for me, he missed. Not too lucky for him, though. If he actually manages to get into the ring tonight, he is going to get his ass handed to him.”

“’If he gets in the ring’? What does that mean?”

Somewhere behind me, I hear the crackle of a speaker and the voice of the announcer letting the crowd know the fight starts in five minutes.

Felix nods. “Caleb has been missing a lot of fights, so I didn’t have him on the roster tonight. Then, he showed up trying to call out Bumper. Despite the fact he is so drunk he can barely pronounce his name.”

“Where is he?”

“Bumper? I have no idea. I haven’t seen him tonight. He is probably with—”

“No. Caleb.”

Felix steps aside and hitches a thumb over his shoulder. “In the pantry. I sent everyone else away when Caleb showed up. I didn’t need him starting fights near the money.”

I dart past him into the empty kitchen. The counters are dented and rusted, worn with age, and neat stacks of cash are arranged across the surface, bound with rubber bands and notes with names scrawled across them.

Turns out I don’t need to look for Caleb because as soon as I walk in, he stumbles out of a room in the back.

“Did I hear the five-minute warning?”

He hasn’t sobered up at all. If anything, he looks drunker than he was when he left. His shirt is sitting crookedly on his shoulders, his hair is sticking up and messy, and his eyes are bloodshot and red-rimmed.

When he sees me, they go wide.

Then, he grins.

“You came to see me after all?”

“No, you idiot,” I snap, too frustrated to be delicate. “I came tostopyou. Everyone can see you aren’t in any shape to fight except for you. Even Felix tried to stop you. Can’t you see how bad things must be if Felix is trying to keep you out of the ring? Imagine the money he could make on a drunk Caleb Wilson fight.”

Caleb tilts his head to the side and waves a dismissive hand at me. “It’s sweet that you’re worried about me, but I’m fine.”

“No, you aren’t.”

He opens his mouth to argue, but rising voices come from the hallway behind us. Felix yells something, and then the kitchen door is thrown open and J.C. is standing next to me.

This time, Caleb’s eyes go wide and they stay that way. His mouth is hanging open, and shock is written in every line of his face.

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