Page 42 of Cruel Academy (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 2)

I take note of the critique even as I glare at him. “I’d judge you less if you had an actual reason for fighting. A reason why so much of your life is drenched in violence.”

“Drenched in violence?Jesus, am I in a Shakespeare play all of a sudden? So melodramatic.”

“You are one of the richest kids at Ravenlake and don’t need the money you win at the fights, so why would you do any of it?”

Caleb rolls his eyes and stalks away from me. “All of this from a girl who dated an abusive asshole named Bumper. You say my life is drenched in violence? At least I’m in control of it. You’re just a helpless little sheep.”

His words hit me harder than I expect, and my throat tightens. Angry tears burn the backs of my eyes. “You don’t understand anything.”

Suddenly, Caleb is pacing back towards me, closing the distance between us quickly. “No,youdon’t understand anything. You made shitty life choices that have left you vulnerable and scared. You chose to get involved with the Hell Princes. You chose to date a twenty-something reject named after the back of a car. And you chose to start out at your new school by blackmailing the most dangerous guy in town. So don’t lecture me on what I do and don’t understand, Cochran. I’m not the one in the shitty position here.”

Caleb is directly in front of me, his brown eyes wild. His anger is radiating like nuclear waste and I can’t help but shrink back a little bit. He seems taller, broader, more veiny and muscular.

He frightens me. There’s no denying that.

But for the billionth time since our worlds came crashing back together, I have to admit the truth: part of me secretly loves it.

Caleb says I don’t keep things close to the vest. That he can read my emotions. I thought I’d done a good job hiding the effect he has on me.

But his next words make it clear that I was dead wrong about that. He was right—he understands everything.

“You came to me. You asked for this. For someone who claims to be scared, you sure love messing with the bull. Maybe it’s because you actually like getting the horns.”

His eyes are locked on mine. Furious. Blazing.

Without looking away, I drive my hips forward, lean back slightly, and kick up. My lower shin makes firm and fierce contact with Caleb’s undercarriage, and the anger in his face shifts immediately to pain.

Caleb drops to his knees and crumples forward, hands grasping his wounded member.

I stumble away from him, shocked at what I’ve done. In the moment, it felt like the right thing to do. But seeing the flash of fury in his face, mixed with pain, makes me second-guess that instinct.

“Shit, shit. I’m sorry.” My hands are shaking with the adrenaline coursing through my veins. “I didn’t mean to—well, I did. But only because you were mean. And … shit.”

Caleb presses his forehead into the carpet for a second and then sits back on his haunches to look at me. His jaw is still clenched, a fire still burning behind his eyes, but he gives me a slow, deliberate nod.

“Good move.”

I press my back against the opposite wall, having put as much distance between us as possible. “Excuse me? Are you congratulating me?”

He shrugs and props himself up on his knuckles. “I can acknowledge a well-placed strike, even if that strike will make jerking off without pain impossible for the next few days.”

My face warms at both the compliment and his vulgar confession. “You deserved it.”

Caleb lowers his chin, looking at me from beneath thick lashes. “If you’re waiting for an apology, you’ll be waiting a long time.”

I relax and move back towards the counter to grab my water bottle. That sounds more like the Caleb I’ve come to know over the last couple days.

But as it turns out, relaxing is exactly the wrong thing to do. Before I can process what’s happening, Caleb lashes out like a cobra and seizes my ankle in a vise grip.

All it takes is one sharp tug for him to send me crashing to the ground on my ass. The impact knocks the air out of my lungs in a whoosh.

But I don’t have time to process that either, because Caleb is suddenly on top of me. His legs twine between mine and force them apart, his hands wind underneath my arms and clench behind my head.

I’m stuck, my back to his front, no longer in control of any of my limbs.

Utterly and completely exposed.

My face is flushed and my thighs are tingling. But the weirdest thing of all… is that it’s not such a bad feeling.

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