Page 51 of Cruel Academy (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 2)

No matter how bad I want Haley Cochran, I need to steer way the fuck clear of her.

When I pull away, Haley stumbles forward slightly. Her lips are swollen with kisses, her eyes sleepy, and her hair is teased from my fingers.

This can’t happen.

It won’t.

She bats long lashes at me. “Is everything okay?”

“Time’s up.”

“Oh.”

Her shoulders drop in disappointment, but she hides it well, bending to pull on her shoes while I flip off the lights.

I move past her in the dark, ignoring the nearly magnetic tug I feel towards her.

She and I have an arrangement. If I uphold my end, she’ll keep her mouth shut about my fighting. She doesn’t know why I fight—why I have to keep going back to the underground week after week—and I don’t want her to know.

It’s safer for both of us if she stays in the dark, which means this arrangement can’t progress to anything more.

I open the front door and hold it open for her. She walks towards me with her head down, but stops in the doorway, looking back at me over her freckled shoulder. “Are we still meeting this weekend or—?”

“Yep.” I cut her off with a quick nod. “Nothing has changed.”

I repeat those words silently to myself after she is gone, hoping I can take them to heart.

Nothing has changed.

What a load of bullshit.

19

Caleb

Everything has fucking changed.

I kick a rock off the side of the rickety old dock, letting it plunk into the mostly stagnant water below.

But it isn’t enough to ease the burning tension under my skin.

I crush the half-full beer can in my hand, barely noticing the cool liquid dripping down my arm, and fling the can into the middle of the pond.

“Ease up before I have to stage a citizen’s arrest,” J.C. yells from the bank. “No littering!”

“You can’t citizen’s arrest someone for a misdemeanor. It has to be a felony.” Noah is sitting in shadows, only visible because of the glowing embers at the end of his joint.

I don’t need to see J.C. to know he is rolling his eyes.

I shouldn’t have even come out with the boys tonight. I’m not in the mood for joking around.

Plus, pot makes me paranoid, which I certainly don’t need right now. Still, I had a few hits so it wouldn’t look suspicious, and I can’t seem to stop scratching the back of my neck.

It has been one week since I kissed Haley, and everything has changed.

Despite my misgivings, I’d told Haley I’d train with her over the weekend, so we did. I kept the sessions short and simple, mostly focusing on weight lifting in Finn’s private gym, and left a safe six feet of space between us at almost all times.

Much to Felix’s dismay, I skipped the Saturday night fights. He texted me a few times to make sure I really wasn’t coming before he scheduled another match.

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