Page 74 of Cruel Academy (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 2)

“Because it’s remarkably accurate!” Her blue eyes are electric. It doesn’t seem like it should be possible, but they seem brighter than they were just a moment ago. “Like I said, I thought about asking you for the money, but I didn’t want to blackmail you for it. I genuinely only approached you so I could learn to fight. And even then, I didn’t plan it. I only thought of doing it once I realized you wanted it kept secret. It wasn’t some intricate plot.”

She sounds earnest, and the anger inside of me begins to ebb away, making way for the flow of regret and shame.

“But I didn’t realize you were keeping your fighting secret because of money issues,” she continues. “I figured you were afraid of being arrested since underground fighting is illegal, but this is—”

“Embarrassing?” I suggest. “Pitiful?”

Haley twists her lips to the side and tucks a loose curl from her ponytail behind her ear. “I was going to say ‘humanizing.’ It makes you seem like a real person.”

“You didn’t think I was a real person before?”

She raises a dark brow. “Can you blame me? You look likethatand can fight and are rich. You’re basically a real-life vigilante superhero. You are Batman.”

Even with my confession hanging in the air between us, I can’t help but curl the edge of my mouth into a small smirk at the compliment.

“But now, you’re poor, so some of that unapproachability is gone.”

The smirk disappears. “My parents divorced, and my dad took most of the money with him. He pays for my school and my truck, but everything else falls to my mom.”

Haley kicks the toe of her boot into the ground again. “Okay, well thatisa little pitiful.”

I bark out a laugh. “Thanks for your sympathy.”

Quickly, she is in front of me, no more than a few inches away so the fruit musk of her overpowers the damp earth smell. She reaches out and grabs one of my hands between both of hers.

“I do sympathize, Caleb. A lot of people would. Do you know how many kids’ parents get divorced? This isn’t a secret you need to be ashamed of.”

“I’m not ashamed. I’m just—”

I stop to really think about it. I want to explain it in the right way. It feels important to make sure Haley understands.

“I’m not ashamed, but it isn’t anyone’s business. I don’t want this one thing that I had no control over to have any sway over what people think when they look at me.”

“That’s just it,” she says. “You had no control over this. No one will judge you for something you had no control over.”

“Yeah, right,” I snort. “People get judged for things they can’t control all the time. I spent most of middle school making fun of my lab partner for his dick-shaped birthmark. He couldn’t control it, but I still made fun of him every time his lab coat sleeve pushed up a bit too far.”

Haley frowns. “Well,nicepeople wouldn’t judge you for something like that.”

“Unfortunately for me, I’m not friends with nice people,” I say. “So, secret double life for me it is.”

“Caleb, I think—”

I reach up and press a finger to her lip before she can finish. “I’ve made up my mind. No one can know.”

Her breath is warm against my finger, her lips silky soft and dewy. Her eyes are pinned on mine, and I watch as her lashes flutter with a sudden onset of nerves.

We’ve been this close together before—we’ve been a lot closer than this, in fact—but something about so recently offering our confessions makes this feel different.

Haley takes in a raspy inhale and whispers, “But I know.”

I can’t remember the last time I’ve experienced so many different emotions within a ten-minute span, but all of those emotions are gone now and have been replaced by one.

Desire.

“So, does that make me no one?”

My finger is still on her mouth, so her lips move against my finger as she speaks. It’s so hot, I’m not sure I have the ability to know who anyone is anymore, myself included.

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