Broken Wings: Dark Legacy book 1 Page 6

  “Miss Riley?”

  I turned to find Stewart in the doorway that I was pretty sure led into a massive kitchen. I wouldn’t know because I was not allowed such privileges as walking outside of my room. In his hand he had two things, one was an expensive looking leather satchel, and the other some keys.

  “This is for you to take the golf cart to meet your friend,” he said, jingling the set. “Mistress approves of your friendship with Eddy, so she has no issue with this arrangement.”

  I blinked at Stewart a couple of times. “How does Mistress know about Eddy?” I demanded, cringing at the fact that we sounded like house elves waiting to be gifted socks.

  Stewart just gave me a don’t-be-so-dense look.

  Eddy was lucky she was so awesome, because knowing Debitch approved of her, almost had me regretting our new found friendship.

  “And the bag?”

  He held it out to me, and with a sigh I stepped forward and relieved him of both items. “The bag has your identification, some cash for essentials, and a few other things that…” he cleared his throat. “Young ladies require.”

  I snorted. “Catherine bought me tampons? Well, look at that, she’s almost a mother now.”

  Stewart looked even more uncomfortable, if that was possible, and I couldn’t help reaching out and patting him on the arm again. “Thanks for putting up with me. I’ll see you this afternoon.”

  “Straight home from school,” he warned as I rushed out the door.

  I waved over my shoulder, too focused on my freedom to pay much heed to his words.

  There was a cart already prepped and waiting for me, so I threw the bag to one side and slung myself into the driver’s seat. I’d never driven one of these, of course, golf was a rich person sport, but I figured it out quickly enough.

  My heart started to beat faster as I took off, leaving the house behind me. By the time I reached the main gate, I was actually smiling. Parking the cart near it, I got out and grabbed my satchel.

  A horn beeped, and I swung to find Eddy smoothly pulling up to the gates. My jaw dropped at the view I caught of her through the window. She looked so … proper. Her hair was slicked back in a demure bun. There was no cleavage or funky adornment to her uniform. I barely recognized her.

  Until she opened her mouth...

  “Come on, bitch, we’re gonna be late!”

  My smile grew, and I rushed through the opening gates.

  When I dropped into the seat, she eyed my outfit. “We’re legit gonna have to do something about that skirt. I can’t even see your ass.”

  Her voice went falsely high, as she rolled her eyes at me. “I mean, how will you show the boys you’re available to them, if they can’t see your vag?”

  I snorted. “I’m not available to them, so I’m giving the exact right impression.”

  She winked at me. “That’s the way to approach it. Trust me. You’re new, and they’re going to be all over you. Fresh meat.”

  She took off in a squeal of tires, and I let out a breathy sigh. This was my shit. Speed. The thrum of a powerful engine. Of course, my thoughts went immediately to my car, my butterfly, and when Eddy pulled out of the second gates and onto the main road, I wondered if we would cross near the crash site.

  “Uh, so … what did those assholes do with my baby?”

  Eddy shot me a sympathetic look. “Your car? I’m not totally sure, but I think Beck had it towed to a junkyard.”

  “Beck…? As in Sebastian?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, they call him Beck. Everyone does.”

  Of course they did. Beck suited the bastard. I was gonna try my best to call him Sebastian from now on. I had no idea why I was even planning out his name in my head, because I was not talking to him at all, so I could just skip the name thing.

  “What’s his middle name?”

  What the fuck is wrong with me?

  I couldn’t seem to help myself. Eddy shot me the sort of knowing look friends had been giving each other since the dawn of BFFS. “Don’t waste your time, girl. Sebastian Roman Beckett is off limits to all of us mere mortals. You don’t want to mess with any of that crew. They’re the elite of our world.”

  Elite. That explained so much. “You’re their sister, though?”

  She laughed, and it wasn’t a happy sound. “Trust me, the old school bastards who run our companies, don’t like ‘silly women’ to mess with their money. Mostly we’re afterthoughts that they can’t quite get rid of.”

  We’d entered the small town, and I was surprised to see how nice everything looked. This wasn’t like a lot of villages I’d seen over the years. Everything was shiny and new, no run down slummy areas, at least not in the parts we traveled.

  “School is just over there,” Eddy said, still driving fast through the nearly empty streets. “I’ll drop you near the office, because you can’t walk in heels for shit.”

  I groaned, dropping my head back against the smooth leather of the seat. “I should have brought flats with me. Boots at least.”

  “Unless you have a medical reason, you’re wearing heels. Refer back to my comment about your ‘availability to the dudes.’ ”

  I waved my cast at her. “I’m broken.”

  “Next time aim for your leg and you might have a shot.”

  The worst part was she didn’t even sound like she was kidding.

  I shut up then because the school was suddenly in view, and I was suddenly freaking the fuck out. “I am not designed for this,” I whispered, dread coiling in my chest.

  It looked like those Ivy League colleges, the ones for the best of the best. Red brick buildings, immaculately designed with greenery trailing up and down intermittently, giving it an almost whimsical vibe. Buildings sprawled out as far as I could see, and I was wondering why the hell it was so huge. This town couldn’t sustain a school this size.

  I must have muttered something like that, because Eddy replied, “They have a waitlist of over five thousand,” she said, slowing to enter the parking lot.

  “What?”

  “Yep.” She nodded, only half focusing on me. There were a lot of kids getting out of cars, and I guessed she was trying not to kill anyone. “People from all over the world want to send their kids here. We have a boarding facility in town for those who don’t live locally.”

  She said we, like the school was owned by her… or her family.

  For all I knew, it was.

  Eddy continued to weave in and out of the massive lot, which was legitimately filled with the sort of cars I could only dream of owning. And of course, my absolute top dream car was there, with four rich fuckers standing beside it.

  “Holding court, as always,” Eddy murmured lightly, but with undertones I wasn’t even going to try and unravel.

  “You hit any of them?” I asked, and she actually shuddered.

  “God no! Discounting the fact that I grew up with all of them, they never bring chicks into their inner circle, and I wouldn’t want to fall for someone when I’d always just be a screw in the back room.”

  No chicks? “Are they gay?”

  I was trying to get their story, but it was as confusing as everything else in this town.

  Eddy laughed loudly. “Holy shit. Not even remotely; they go through women like you wouldn’t believe. But it’s always just fucking them, you know?”

  Yeah, I knew the type very well.

  Eddy flipped her brother off as they passed, and I really wished she hadn’t done that, because suddenly four sets of eyes were on me. Swallowing hard, I tried not to drool at how good they looked. Every tailored line of their suits were molded to their muscular frames, and somehow they looked less like students at school, and more like rich playboys, heading to work in some big business venture.

  Lifting my eyes, I flinched at the darkly captivating gaze that caught me. Beck’s eyes were locked on me, the icy stare sending shivers down my spine. I turned away from him with a jerk, because he was making it hard to breathe. Jasper, who w
as at his side, caught my stare instead. He gave me a smirk and small salute, like we were old friends now. Only I didn’t trust anything about the look on his face.

  There were two others there I didn’t recognize, but they had to be Evan and Dylan.

  “You already know Jasper,” Eddy said, slowing even more. She shot me a sly grin. “Jasper Eugene Langham, since you seem to love middle names.” I tried not to blush, because I couldn’t quite make myself care as much about Jasper’s middle name.

  “Eugene,” I said with a laugh.

  She laughed too. “He hates it, and it’s totally not worth the stress to use it. Trust me.”

  Advice I probably wouldn’t be taking.

  “The one with the facial hair is Evan,” Eddy continued as she stopped near the front steps of the impressive building. “Evan Lincoln Rothwell. His family owns half of Europe, and they fund most of the big businesses in the world.”

  Evan was a little shorter than the other three, but still well over six foot. His hair was blond and brown, streaked together and styled messily. He looked like he hadn’t shaved in a few days, rather than was trying to grow a beard, and he wore the look well. He was almost as broad as Sebastian, his thick muscles near exploding out of his white button down. Just like his friends, he was watching us closely, and I wanted to scramble out of Eddy’s car to escape, but that would require me to walk in heels in front of all of them.

  “The last one is Dylan. Dylan no-middle-name-because-his-parents-are-assholes Grant.” Eddy’s said that really quickly before her voice softened. “His family is also involved in finance and banking.” She shot me a wry smile. “And if I was ever going to love one of those fucking assholes, it would be him. He’s not a bad guy, actually, and he has a soft spot for women. Which is a nice change.”

  Dylan was tall, like uber tall and beside Sebastian, he was the one which made me feel the least at ease. There was nothing in his dark stare that told me he was a lover of women, except if they were naked in his bed—all dudes loved that. His hair was as dark as Sebastian’s, and his skin was darker than the other three, speaking of a mixed race background. I didn’t touch on the asshole parent thing, just gonna assume he had a pair of Catherines raising him too.

  “I appreciate the heads up on them,” I said softly, like they could hear our conversation in the car. “I’m going to go out of my way to avoid all four.”

  Eddy patted my arm. “You and me both. And we’ll be the only chicks in the school to do so.”

  As if to reiterate her point, I noticed that on both sides of them, there were groups of girls, all of them inching as close as they could in the hopes of being noticed. I narrowed my eyes on one in particular, who was doing her best to catch someone’s attention. Her skirt was definitely signaling the available thing.

  When she turned, I recognized that swing of flawless hair, realizing it was the one Beck had in his car that night.

  “That’s Brittley.” Eddy sneered. “She’s their pass around girl when they have nothing better to do. She’s been trying to claim one of the guys for years, but they just use her like the whore she is.”

  Brittley. I added her to the list of people to avoid in this school. Pretty soon I was going to have to hide every second I wasn’t in class.

  A bell rung in the distance, and Eddy straightened. “You better head into the office,” she said, her hands on the wheel again. “Text me your schedule when you get it, and if we don’t have any classes together, I’ll meet you at lunch.”

  Lunch. Shit. Would be hard to hide in a room filled with students, but at least it looked like I wouldn’t be alone.

  “I’ll text you soon,” I promised, and then taking a deep breath, opened the door and swung myself out. I made sure I was steady on the heels before I stood, bringing my bag with me. “It’s the first door on the left when you step inside,” Eddy said loudly as I closed the door.

  I waved and then turned to face my new school. Nothing like starting second term of your senior year at a new school. I mean, what could be easier?

  As I walked forward, I tried my best to ignore the stares I was getting. Eddy hadn’t been kidding about the new girl thing, and if it wasn’t for the fact that I’d already suffered through the worst tragedy of my life, I’d have been feeling very intimidated.

  It was all about perspective. I really couldn’t give a fuck what a bunch of rich kids thought of me. What did I have to lose now?

  The inside of the building was as fancy as the outside, with marble floors, and the sort of decadent downlights one usually didn’t see in a school. No metal detectors in sight; it was clear no one was worried that a disgruntled student was going to shoot up the place.

  Following Eddy’s instructions, I poked my head into the first door on the left—and almost turned around and left. It was nothing like any office I’d ever seen. But there were no other doors nearby, so this had to be the place.

  I ventured in, heading toward the glass topped desk. Behind it was an immaculately dressed woman. She was typing away on a fancy computer, only glancing up when I stopped before her.

  “Yes,” she said, not warmly.

  “I’m new here,” I started slowly. “I’m supposed to get … my stuff.”

  She barely even looked at me. “Name?”

  “Riley Jameson.”

  She hit a few keys on her computer, and then glanced at me before hitting a few more keys. “I don’t have you in the system.”

  This time there was outright hostility and judging by that look, I wondered if she was planning on yanking the uniform right off me. I let out a sigh. “Try Deboise.”

  Debitch.

  That caught her attention, and wariness washed over her features. She was suddenly very interested in her computer again. A moment later: “Yes, we do have a Riley Deboise in our system.” Well, at least she hadn’t changed my first name yet.

  Office lady smoothly stood, and she clearly had no problem walking in her heels, hips swinging as she strolled over to a massive filing cabinet and drawer system behind her.

  When she came back, she was carrying a black leather case and eight USB sticks. “Your class guides are on the drives,” she said, holding them out to me. “Each is labeled. And your computer is in the case.”

  She dumped the leather bag into my hands, and I was surprised by how light it was. “What about textbooks?”

  She shook her head. “Seniors are mostly online. The books you have will work for reference at home, but here, everything is guided electronically.”

  She held her hand out then, long red nails glinting in the lights. “Give me your phone?”

  I stared at her hand before lifting to see her face. Hell no, lady. I wasn’t giving my phone to anyone; it was my lifeline when I was at the Deboise Estate.

  “I need to upload your schedule to the calendar,” she said with a huff, like she was embarrassed by how backward I was.

  Bitch. I thought as I reluctantly handed it to her.

  She ignored me, pressing a few keys on her computer and then keying something into my phone, and with a series of beeps, I once again had my phone in my possession. “Your classes were selected by Catherine Deboise,” she told me, her voice quivering on the name. “You are not allowed to change anything.”

  Of course I wasn’t.

  She dismissed me then, turning back to her screen, and I fought against the urge to plant my ass right on her desk, just to bother her a little longer. Instead, I turned, juggling the computer as I tried to shove the USB’s into my satchel.

  Exiting the door, I wasn’t watching where I was going, and before I could think about the stupidity of that, it was too late. Two steps into the hall, my face slammed into what felt like a brick wall, and I went flying, landing hard on my ass. Thankfully I managed to keep a hold of the new laptop, but I lost my dignity completely.

  Awkwardly, using my broken hand, I pushed my hair back from my face and almost groaned. Beck, flanked by the other three, stared down at me.
His expression was similar to the night he’d stared down at me after the race. Eyes that cut right through me, rigid jaw, flawless fucking beauty that hid the asshole inside.

  “The last two times I’ve seen you, Butterfly, you were on your ass.” Beck’s grin was not nice.

  “And while it’s a fine ass,” Jasper cut in. “It’d be better if you were on your knees, at least then there’d be a point to your existence.”

  Evan let out a low husky laugh, but Beck and Dylan remained impassive. Narrowing my eyes, I flipped Jasper off, adding a “go fuck yourself” to it. Close up, Dylan was even more intimidating than he had been across the parking lot, but Sebastian still took the scary cake. If, you know, scary cake was a thing.

  He crouched down until he was on my level—seeing as I was still sprawled on the floor—and flicked that penetrating gaze over me. Slowly. Holy hell, his eyes were a gray so light they were almost silver. Intense. Scary.

  Fucking hell, why are the hot ones always psychopaths?

  I bit down on the inside of my cheek to squash the burn of arousal his gaze dragged from me, and glared back. One thing I had going for me, I gave a mean glare.

  “You think a Ducis uniform makes you one of us, Butterfly?” he asked me in a low, quiet voice. Somehow I sensed this question was a hell of a lot more loaded than it seemed on the surface, so I tightened my jaw and said nothing in response. “You’re less than nothing. You’re just the child that Catherine Deboise threw away. A girl. Utterly useless in our world except for spreading her legs or sucking cock.” He reached out and traced a finger over my bruised cheek, pressing hard enough that I winced. “Maybe you can’t even do that right. Your gangbanger boyfriend do this to you?”

  There was a menacing darkness to his voice that made me shiver with fear. Or, I was pretty sure that was fear. Yeah, let’s go with fear.

  Jerking my face out of his reach, I glared harder. It was all I had in my arsenal today. “Dante would never hit a woman. I suspect he has more honor and decency in his left shoe than the four of you combined.” I cast my disgusted glare over the other three standing over me in what was clearly intended to be a threatening way. Of course it was. Why else would they be doing this? “Just leave me the fuck alone, Sebastian,” I continued, snapping the words at Beck. “I don’t want to be here any more than you want me here. It’s only two months until my birthday and then I’m done.”