Page 78 of Cruel Academy (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 2)

He is right. Besides, for reasons I can’t really explain, I want to tell Caleb.

It’s probably just because I don’t have any other friends, especially now that Estefania has obviously turned her back on me, and I need someone I can talk to.

Caleb is as good as any other option, I suppose.

“My best friend from my old school texted when we were in the truck and asked where I was, and I told her I was going camping. We haven’t spoken much since I moved away because she feels like I abandoned her, so I thought maybe she wanted to reach out and reconnect. But now I’m guessing she was only asking so she could pass the information to John so he could ride out here with his friends.”

Caleb listens intently and then raises his brows. “Damn. Girls are ruthless.”

His response surprises me, and I laugh. “Says the guy who fights to survive.”

“Fair point, but I prefer fighting to backstabbing. When guys have a problem, they face it head-on. Like Bumper, for instance, rolled up here with his enforcers to get what he wanted from you. Meanwhile, girls, like your friend, pretend to be loyal, all the while betraying you. That is cold.”

“That’s also a fair point.”

I’d rather Estefania just come out and tell me she is upset, but I also don’t really want to have to get into a fistfight every time I get in a fight with a girl. If I did, I’d spend most of my life fighting.

Caleb and I clean ourselves up and head back towards the campsite. It’s fully dark now and the hum of bugs fills the air all around us, but Caleb grabs my hand and leads me slowly back down the overgrown path to the campsite.

As soon as we break through the tree line, he drops my hand and walks casually over to the cooler to grab a beer.

Noah and J.C. are sitting in lawn chairs around the faintly glowing embers of the fire—they’ve pulled out two battery-operated lanterns to give the campsite some light—and they are staring at us expectantly.

I stare back, waiting for them to say something, but Caleb moves around the site like he doesn’t have a care in the world. He cracks open his beer and takes a long drink.

Then, he grabs the bug spray from his duffel bag and gives himself a generous spray before offering some to me.

I reach out my hand to take it from him, but instead, he walks a circle around me, coating my arms and legs in the mist.

When he is done, he throws the can back towards his bag and drops down into a third lawn chair with a sigh.

His friends look from me—still standing near the opening of the trail—to Caleb and back again, waiting for one of us to say something.

And when we don’t, J.C. finally throws up his hands and lets out a frustrated shout.

“For fuck’s sake,what is going on?”

Caleb has the audacity to look surprised. “What do you mean?”

J.C. takes a measured breath through his nose and closes his eyes, glancing to the heavens like he is praying for patience. “You may have forgotten after the sexual encounter I know you just had in the woods, but a group of bikers just crashed our campout, and I’m wondering if either of you can explain to me why.”

I realize all at once that Caleb and I didn’t discuss what we would say to the Golden Boys. We could tell them the truth, of course.

Or, at least, most of it. We could tell them that I got myself into trouble with the Hell Princes, but then they’d be free to decide that hanging out with me isn’t worth the trouble it could cause them.

Like Caleb said, the truce between the Golden Boys and the Hell Princes was forged in blood and death. Why would they want to throw that away because of one vengeful ex-girlfriend?

And if Caleb defended me, they’d want to know why, and what could he really say? He can’t tell them I’m blackmailing him without revealing what I have over his head, which would then make the blackmail moot, anyway.

He also can’t blame it all on my miraculous fucking. Because as good as it was for me, I have no doubts that Caleb is having sex like that on the regular.

As much as I wish I was, I know I’m not special to him.

All of these thoughts are filling my brain, crowding each other out until I can’t differentiate one from the other.

But then, like it is simple, Caleb shrugs and responds.

“Haley used to date Bumper, and he is pissed she is hanging out with us now.”

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