Page 37 of Cruel Academy (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 2)

I sigh. “No one is accusing you of being poor, rich boy. But people know you like to fight, and it will make sense if you decided to get some extra money by training—”

“I don’t need extra money,” he repeats through gritted teeth. “It’s a stupid excuse.”

Caleb Wilson is the most stubborn man I’ve ever met. I want to pull my hair and scream.

“It’s not. Everyone knows the best lies include a kernel of the truth. Just tell your friends that—”

Before I can even finish the sentence, Caleb is on me again. For the third time in four days, he has me pinned against a wall. It’s happening so often that I’m growing used to the sensation.

What I’m not growing used to, however, is the nearness of him.

His body is strong and hard. He is solid in a way most teenage boys aren’t. More man than boy.

I just barely resist the urge to reach out and massage his pec.

“I will tell my friends exactly what I want to tell them,” he spits, looming over me, blocking out the sun. “We aren’t friends or partners or coconspirators. You asked for this arrangement, but I’m going to control the terms.”

I swallow the lump lodged in my throat. “I thought you said my blackmail wouldn’t work. You said you could destroy my life with just a few phone calls.”

“Then you should also remember I told you I was only going to play along so long as this scheme was less trouble than ruining you.” Caleb leans in, his tone and posture threatening. He smells heavenly. Sharp and warm and rich. “Right now, you’re making me second guess that choice.”

John wasn’t a big man, but he scared me with his violence and his unpredictability. I never knew when some small thing would set him off.

When he would become annoyed with the tapping of my thumbs on my phone’s keyboard and throw the device across the room.

When I’d fail to laugh hard enough at one of his jokes and earn myself a cracking backhand across the face.

Caleb is different.

He has the strength and built to tear me limb from limb, way more so than John.

But when he gets close to me like this, fear isn’t the first thought into my mind.

Instead, I’m terrified because … I don’t hate it.

I don’t hate the way his body feels against mine or the way he smells. I don’t hate that his cold eyes always slip past my eyes to my chest—just for a quick peek—before drilling into mine again.

Caleb terrifies me because, even though he has made it clear that he hates me, I can’t quite force myself to hate him.

I can’t bring myself to believe that he is as terrible as he says he is.

Despite it all, I can’t help but think I could change Caleb if given the chance. And as women everywhere know, that is the scariest thought of all.

“Meet me at Finn’s tonight. At seven.” He pulls away suddenly, shoves his hands in his pockets, and walks towards the glass doors into the cafeteria.

But just before he walks through them, he calls back over his shoulder. “Until then, stay away and keep your mouth shut.”

16

Haley

“You are not leaving this house until you finish all of your homework.”

I’m hanging halfway out the front door, one foot on the porch, the other in the entryway when my mom stops me.

“What?”

Mom moves into the entryway, one hand on her hip. “You heard me.”

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