Page 72 of Cruel Academy (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 2)

“My parents told me we were moving, and I was going to be at a new school, and I just … I realized I was actually going to get away.” Haley’s voice breaks on the words, her blue eyes going glassy with emotion. “I didn’t think it would ever happen.”

“So why didn’t you just leave?” I run a hand through my hair to push it back from my forehead.

Haley thinks about it for a long time and then shrugs. “I should have, but I couldn’t. Not after everything he put me through. I knew I would regret just walking away and acting like it was a normal breakup. It wasn’t. I wanted him to understand on some level what he had taken from me. So, I took something from him.”

“What did he take from you?”

The question comes out as little more than a whisper. I realize as soon as I speak it that I don’t really want to know the answer.

This time when Haley looks away, I don’t force her eyes back to mine. Her lashes blink quickly, brushing against her cheeks, and I can see moisture gathered on them.

“You saw more of it than most people ever did. John was smart. He only hurt me when no one was around. In places where people wouldn’t see the bruises. That night you saw us was one of his few mistakes.”

“I tried to help.”

I still remember turning the corner and seeing John with his hand around her throat, Haley gasping for air.

For a second, I thought it was some kind of joke or a weird kink. Then, he let her go, and she crumpled to the ground like a doll.

Lucky for him, he disappeared inside before I could rip his limbs from his body.

“I know you did.” Haley lifts her eyes to mine. They are red-rimmed and sorrowful. “Even when I tried to tell you it was nothing, you wouldn’t believe me. You were going to go find him and beat him up, and I was scared.”

I stand still. Say nothing.

“No one had ever helped me before, and the only thing I could imagine is what John would do to me if he found out that you knew. Somehow, it would be my fault. He’d think I told you or tried to get him in trouble. I would pay the price for that. So, before you could find him, I told him you attacked me.”

To her credit, Haley looks ashamed.

But for the first time since the incident occurred, I don’t want her to feel bad about it.

I’ve been holding the unfair beatdown I got from the Hell Princes over Haley’s head for weeks—longer, actually—and now I can’t muster up anything but sympathy.

“It was such a shitty thing to do.” Haley swipes angrily at the tears rolling down her cheeks. “You tried to help me, and I got you jumped by four guys.”

“Five, actually.”

A self-loathing sob shakes her shoulders. “Fuck. I’m sorry, Caleb.”

“It’s fine. It was a long time ago.”

“It’s not fine because I blackmailed you and brought you back into this and you don’t deserve any of it and—”

Her words are lost in a torrent of tears and sobs.

I can’t help but reach out and pull her into my arms. I smooth a hand down her back.

“It’s fine, Haley. You’ll pay Bumper back, and once he has what he wants, he’ll leave you alone.”

Haley goes stiff in my arms, and I worry I’ve given her another flashback or something. I pull back and look down at her, and she isn’t panicked. Though, she does look afraid. “What is it?”

“I can’t pay him back.”

“I know what the top people at Barber Engineering make. Your dad is making enough money to—”

“It’s too much money to just ask him for,” she says. “Yes, we have money now, but my parents are still careful with it. I get a fifty dollar per month allowance. If I asked for more than that, they’d want to know what I needed it for, and what am I supposed to tell them? That I stole drugs from my ex-boyfriend? They’d call the police on me themselves.”

“Shit. How much did you flush?”

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