Page 46 of Cruel (Brutal Academy)

"One, two, three, four, five, six… Seven," Hunter counted. "That's more than half of the thirteen board members. Looks like the Academy is expanding."

"Reuben looks smug as fuck," I remarked.

"When does Reubennotlooked smug as fuck?" Hunter asked.

I pointed a finger gun at him. "Good point. But he looks particularly smug right now."

"Well isn't this cosy?" Chloe drawled from behind us. "You know you're not supposed to be spying on the school board meetings, right?

"There's a lot of stuff we're technically not supposed to do, but do you see that stopping any of us?" I asked without looking back.

"It certainly doesn't stop you," she agreed. She walked down until she was standing beside Lila. "I'm sure you're pleased to see me alive and well."

"I don't think pleased is the word that comes to mind," Lila told her dryly. "Anyway, shouldn't you be having this conversation with Zachary? He was the one who drugged all of us at one time or another. That sounds like the behaviour of a psychopath to me. Thank fuck you found out now and not when you were in deeper."

"Zachary was in pretty deep from what Hunter and I heard," I remarked. "Balls deep."

Chloe gave me a dirty look. "We'll deal with Zachary when the time is right. He…misjudged."

I wanted to laugh in her face for really believing Zachary went after her. It's true what they say. It's hard to gain trust, but as easy as fuck to lose it. I had no doubt Zachary was working on some way to worm himself back in with her. If not, that was his problem. Personally, I didn't give a shit.

Lila did laugh. "Misjudged? He set you up. I'd call that a whole lot more than a misjudgement. What sort of person does that to a woman? Ah, right. Someone like you. You're lucky you didn't wake up in the back of a truck."

Chloe shrugged. "You don't seem the worse for the experience. You know what they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

"It makes you a whole lot more than stronger," Lila said. "It also makes you pissed off and vengeful. What you did was…disgusting. Cruel."

"You wish you'd thought of it?" Chloe asked with mock sweetness.

"I do," I said before Lila could respond. "But if we had, we would have been more successful. No one would have seen you ever again. Except whoever bought you." I looked her up and down deliberately, as though appraising her value.

"You're sick," she told me.

I grinned. "It takes one to know one. You were the one who came up with it. And the one who wanted to use Hunter and I as… What was it? Leverage. Did you really think Reuben was going to give you anything in return for us?"

"Who said anything about Reuben?" she replied easily. "He has plenty of enemies who would love to get their hands on you.Youhave plenty of enemies who’d like to get their hands on you, too. It's a very long list."

"You know what they say about needing to break eggs to make omelettes," I replied. "We do what we have to do, the same way anyone else in this world does. No one can blame us for that. And if they can, too fucking bad. At the end of the day, we're the ones still standing. Us and Lila. We'll be the ones standing at the end too."

I was tempted to push her down the stairs and be done with it, but I suspected the fall wouldn’t be enough to end her. She'd break a bone or two at worst. Then go crying to daddy, no doubt. Pity.

"Keep telling yourself that," she replied. "That doesn't make it true. Honestly, I'm surprised you haven't given up yet. You can still do that. Make it easier on yourselves and walk away now. It will be a lot easier for you if you do." She gave Lila a filthy look before heading away, down the stairs.

"I can't believe we just accused Reuben of being smug," I remarked. "If anyone is smug, it's her."

Not for much longer.

CHAPTER18

PARKER

"She's got balls, showing up here," Hunter muttered.

He drank a gulp of beer and toasted Chloe and Dane as they made their way through the bar and sat on one of the couches. "How nice of you to join us. Kink or Drink wouldn't be the same without you."

"Of course it wouldn't," Chloe said. She wore a pale pink T-shirt that matched her nail polish, and a short black skirt that fell to mid thigh. The side of her short hair was held back by a bright pink hair clip.

I didn't know who she was trying to fool with the innocent exterior, but it wasn't fooling any of us. We knew how acidic her heart really was.

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