Page 15 of Cruel Academy (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 2)

“Caleb?”

I don’t answer and instead cut through the dining room and into the kitchen. Mom is at the island with a stack of opened envelopes in front of her.

She gently pushes them aside when I walk in, as if I don’t know what they are. As if I haven’t been paying half of those bills for the last twelve months.

“How’d it go tonight?” she asks with a smile, though the expression doesn’t reach her eyes.

In answer, I pull the cash Felix handed me out of my pocket, split it in half, and push the bills across the table to her.

Her shoulders relax noticeably at the sight. Before I can pull my hand away, she lays hers over mine and squeezes.

“You’re a good boy, Caleb,” she says in a choked-up voice.

Haley’s words ring in my ear.Doing one nice thing doesn’t make you a good person.

I wince. Haley wasn’t wrong, but I keep that to myself. Mom doesn’t ask the details of where I get the money, and I don’t offer them. It’s an unspoken truce between us.

I wish I could count on my friends to do the same. But the Golden Boys still at Ravenlake Prep—J.C. and Noah—wouldn’t get it.

They think I’m still rich, like them.

They think my family is doing just fine. Ski vacations, second homes on the beach, that kind of shit.

The truth is we’re hurting. Hurting bad. I’m doing everything I can to keep our heads above water.

So if Haley Cochran poses even the merest threat of shoving me and my mom underneath, I’m going to do whatever it takes to eliminate that threat.

I’ll keep her silent no matter the price.

I pat the back of my mom’s hand. “Get some sleep, Mom. It’s late.”

Then I head up to my room. Eager to release the tension burning in my core.

If Haley is on my mind while I do that, it doesn’t mean anything.

It’s just more proof that the bitch doesn’t know when to leave me alone.

8

Haley

For one brief moment when I wake up the next day, the events of last night feel like a bad dream.

Then I look down at the bruise on my wrist where Levi grabbed me, and I remember how very real it all was.

Going to the fights was a stupid mistake. I was looking for Estefania. Hoping for… shit, I don’t know. Forsomething.For us to run slow-motion into each other’s arms while a symphony played in the background, maybe.

Dumb. Sentimental. Never, ever gonna happen.

She’s forgotten about me. Time for me to forget about her.

I just wish that didn’t hurt my heart so badly.

I also wish that there I had something to look forward to today. But my first Monday at Ravenlake Academy looms in the distance like a prison sentence.

This is going to be very, very bad.

Heaving a sigh, I get out of bed and take a quick shower. I’m sweating practically the second I get out—thanks a lot, South Texas humidity—so I don’t even bother trying to straighten my hair since it’ll frizz up as soon as I’m done.

---