Brutal nights a dark hig.., p.1
Brutal Nights: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Hidden Valley Elite Book 4), page 1
BRUTAL NIGHTS
A HIGH SCHOOL BULLY ROMANCE
HIDDEN VALLEY ELITE SERIES
BOOK FOUR
ISLA VAUGHN
ARROWSCOPE PRESS, LLC
Brutal Nights
Copyright © 2023 Isla Vaughn
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, in or introduced into retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
(p) ISBN-13: 978-1-951919-47-4
(e) ISBN-13: 978-1-951919-46-7
Publisher: Arrowscope Press, LLC; www.arrowscopepress.com
Editing— Amanda K., Line Editor, Virge B., Proofreader, Rashida B., Beta Reader, Red Adept Editing
Cover Design—T.E. Black Designs; www.teblackdesigns.com
Interior Formatting & Design— Arrowscope Press, LLC; www.arrowscopepress.com
CONTENTS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
About the Author
Also by Isla Vaughn
CHAPTER ONE
DAMON
#Busted
“Cheater!” Gia screamed when she and Skylar’s mom opened the door.
Gia’s shriek killed the post-orgasmic high from Sky’s spectacular body as Sky straddled me on her too-small bed. The sensual glow radiating from her faded as she twisted on top of me to see who was in the doorway, then she screamed.
Sky’s arms flailed as she frantically gathered her sheets and yelled, “It’s not like that! It doesn’t mean what you think it does.”
My hands fell from her hips as she jumped off my dick. The look of horror on her face was a direct dagger to everything we’d just done.
“Skylar,” her mom snapped, “your friend needs to go.” Then she turned on her heel and left us with Gia, who stood with her hands on her hips, red-faced and glaring.
“I can’t believe you did this to me,” Gia accused, her big brown eyes wild. Her hands went to her short blond hair and tugged. She looked unhinged.
I would have laughed, but Sky’s reaction didn’t sit well. She still hates me. Instead, I bunched one of Sky’s blankets around me and casually leaned against the headboard, watching the show.
Gia needed to leave so I could get dressed and climb out the window, away from the shit show. Girl drama wasn’t my thing, and the house was full of it.
With jerky movements, Sky yanked on her clothes. Gia whirled from the doorway, stomping down the hall. Sky threw a glare my way then ran after her. I had a bad feeling about the confrontation, so I got dressed, too, then followed.
The door across the hall from Sky’s was shut. It had to be her mom’s room. Only a bathroom and a little bit of hallway separated them. No wonder she’d wanted us to be quiet. I chuckled under my breath—she hadn’t been. Not when she’d come apart in my arms. More than anything, I wanted to go back to that and skip the rejection she’d dealt me.
Heated voices led me to the family room, where I found Sky and Gia. And if looks could kill, both Sky and I would be dead.
“It didn’t mean anything,” Sky said, her voice strained and shaky.
Gia slapped Sky. The crack echoed through the room.
I wrapped my hand around Gia’s wrist before she could do it again. “That’s enough.” I was angry. Gia was a bitch, and I didn’t like her hurting Sky.
When she raised her other hand to hit me, I grabbed that wrist, too, before she could make contact. Then I pushed her away. She stumbled back, breathing heavily. The red staining her cheeks deepened, and her dark eyes glittered with hatred and betrayal.
Furious and disgusted with everything that’d happened, I strode to the front door. It killed me that Sky was upset, though I wasn’t entirely sure why. It wasn’t like I wanted more from her than her body and what she did to mine. I sure as fuck didn’t care about her. Right?
Nothing about the current situation was good. And what I hated most, aside from the way Sky looked at me, was her denying what had happened between us, as if it meant nothing. It was my worst nightmare—I don’t want to be like my father. The situation was too similar to what he’d done, and it made me physically ill.
Sky had glared at me one too many times after we’d gotten busted. So fuck it. I was out of there. That shit wasn’t my scene. I yanked open the front door.
Sky caught it before it slammed behind me, and she followed me to my truck. Hand on the door handle, I paused as she crowded me, her hair wild from my hands, her lips swollen from my kisses. She was so goddammed beautiful, even when she was spitting mad.
“You used me.” Her sensual voice cracked like the weapon she’d meant to yield it as, hitting her target like a heat-seeking missile. “You ruined my life, and now you’re just going to leave so I have to pick up the pieces?”
The fuck? I hadn’t left, but I sure as hell would after the way she’d rejected me. “This was a mutually beneficial thing between us. Don’t pretend otherwise,” I growled. “This is your problem. You’re just some chick I don’t give a shit about.”
I got in my truck and headed home, knowing that what I’d said made me an asshole, but her dismissive comments had drawn just as much blood.
CHAPTER TWO
SKYLAR
#MyOwnFault
Everything was ten times worse. Gia wouldn’t talk to me. My mom wouldn’t stop talking to me, and Damon probably wouldn’t ever talk to me again. Not that I cared.
Except I did.
Mom was waiting for me after Damon sped off and I went inside. Gia was gone—probably for the best. I ran my hands through my hair, the pressure of what had happened building to unbearable heights.
I shut the door behind me and leaned against it, reluctantly meeting Mom’s eyes. I felt sick. Things couldn’t have gone any worse.
“Sit,” Mom said. “We need to have a refresher of ‘the talk.’”
God help me. My face flamed with embarrassment, and I sat on one end of the couch while she took the other. I said nothing because what could I say? She’d caught me screwing Damon—while she was home. I was truly done for.
“I don’t know what to address first.” She ran her hands up and down her legs before clenching them into fists. “From everything that happened between Adam and me, I would have thought you would be more careful.”
“What does Dad have to do with Damon?”
“Everything, since you didn’t use a condom. And yeah, I saw that.”
Oh… holy shit. I was in so much trouble. I assumed we had. In the heat of the moment, it didn’t register that he hadn’t used one. What a clusterfuck. I did a quick calculation in my head. I was supposed to get my period any day. I would be fine. Right?
I was far from okay. What the hell will I do—about that, about Gia and Damon?
“I don’t want you to end up married because of one night. And what kind of boy is he? An athlete for sure with that body.”
She did not go there. I dropped my face into my hands and groaned.
“And you let a boy come between you and Gia? While the potential pregnancy and being unsafe bothers me the most, that’s a very close second.”
“Mom—”
“No, Sky.” Her expression closed off. There would be no convincing her of anything at this point. “You weren’t being smart. By sleeping with that boy, you’ve risked your freedom, possibly compromised your health if he has an STD, and jeopardized your friendship with Gia. I’m not even going to address having him over and in your bedroom because I thought you were smarter than that. It seems we’ll need rules.”
Her phone rang, and when she glanced at the screen, a scowl appeared. She stood. “I have to answer this. But our discussion is not over. We’ll revisit it tomorrow. Get some sleep. And no boys in the house.”
Mom went to her room to take her call, and I went to mine. I fell onto the bed, which smelled like Damon. It made me both angry and sad. It only took one touch or kiss from him, and I folded. He had too much power over me, and I had no idea what to do about it.
I grabbed my phone and hit the button to call Gia. I wasn’t surprised when she didn’t answer, but a deep sense of panic and loneliness overwhelmed me, and I called her another eleven times. Then the tears came, and I was helpless to stop them. I cried so much that I passed out on my soaking wet pillow with my phone in my hand.
When my alarm blared from the too-close speaker, since I’d never set my phone on the nightstand, I peeled open eyelids as dry as the Sahara Desert. It took several tries to get any moisture in them. I cringed from the way my scratchy eyelids felt while I blinked a few times. Fuck that. I was sure I looked frightening.
It was Monday morning, and I was ditching school. I flipped onto my stomach after shutting off the obnoxious sound, then I checked to see if Gia had called or texted. My heart sank at the lack of notifications from her. But it wasn’t like that for Damon. He’d texted several times.
I gave the screen a heartfelt fuck-you via my middle finger. He had no hold over me anymore, and I refused to answer. But I wanted to, and that made everything worse.
I tossed the phone on my bed then got up and washed my face, needing some coffee and toast. My head pounded, and my face was swollen and splotchy. When I got to the kitchen, Mom sat on the couch with a cup of coffee, staring out the window.
“Good morning,” I said tentatively, my cheeks on fire and the weight of the world—or the potential topic of conversation—sitting heavily on my shoulders.
When she turned to me, I stopped, a coffee pod in hand, about to drop it into the machine.
Her eyes were dull, and her skin had an unnatural pallor. She didn’t look like my vibrant mom. As she took a sip of her coffee, a tremor ran through her hand, and the tan liquid almost spilled. “Morning, Sky.”
“Are you okay?” I left the coffee pod on the counter and went to sit next to her. Guilt tore through me. I’d done that to her. I was sure of it.
Mom patted my hand then stood. “I’m fine. Didn’t sleep that well. That’s all.” A fleeting, half-hearted smile curved her lips. “I’ve got to get ready for work.”
“Mom?”
She paused in the kitchen. Her barely touched coffee rattled in the sink as she set it down. “Yes?”
“I don’t want to go to school today.” I waved at my face.
Mom was a big believer in mental health days. I had straight As in school and a perfect GPA, so she didn’t worry about me academically.
“Okay. I’ll call you in, but no boys over.”
“I know. I have a dinner shift that starts late afternoon. I’ll go to that. Otherwise, I’ll be home alone.”
Mom came over and hugged me. “Okay, honey. I love you.”
“Love you, too, Mom.”
When she left to get dressed, I made my coffee and toast and took them back to my room. I spent the day reading and even watched an action movie. What I didn’t do was think about how I’d lost my best friend.
By the time I arrived at work, my face wasn’t puffy or blotchy like it’d been when I woke up. One good thing. Maybe the only one. Because when I started my shift, Gia and her new friends came in and sat in my section.
The restaurant was filling up, and after waiting on a lovely couple who were out for a date night, I approached Gia’s table. Her hair was shiny and flattened, curving just under her chin. Her makeup was on point, and her clothes accentuated her abundant cleavage. She’d changed so much that I hardly recognized her as she laughed loudly with her fake-ass friends.
No point in introducing myself. They knew who I was. “Hi, everyone. What can I get you started with to drink?” I waited, pen poised over my notepad. I’d addressed Gia first.
The smirk curved her red lips before she even turned fully toward me. “I don’t know what he saw in you other than a cheap fuck.”
I pressed my lips together. That was what Damon would have thought of her from the barbeque she had made me go to over the summer, the one where she’d spilled a drink on Damon before falling to her knees to scrub his crotch. If I hadn’t saved her, then and after, she wouldn’t have experienced anything she’d dreamed of for her senior year. I wished I could go back and change that day. But I couldn’t.
I couldn’t do anything at the moment, and what I wanted to say to her would be in private.
Her brown eyes filled with hatred as she dropped her gaze to my chest. “No idea what he saw in you with that flat chest. But it was dark. Must’ve been a quick screw where anyone disposable would do.” She tossed her menu at me. “I’ll take a water and a side salad.”
“Bring me a Diet Coke, and don’t touch the straw.” Rebecca grinned like I was the best form of entertainment. “Who knows how many diseases you might have after screwing half the guys in our class?”
Tina delivered another equally demeaning insult as she ordered. I barely kept my composure as I took their menus and left them to it. After putting in their meals, I grabbed Sarah’s elbow and asked her if she would take my table. We swapped, and I got an elderly couple instead who had a ton of questions about the menu and ended up special ordering. Sarah wasn’t the most patient, and I was overjoyed to help anyone who didn’t attend our school, so it was a good trade.
I felt the glares from Gia’s table the entire time they were there. Their food came, and I counted down the minutes before they would leave. When I thought they were close, I made sure I was in the kitchen. It was weak, but having my best friend belittle me and stand by while her fake friends did the same was more than I could handle.
When I went back on the floor, they’d left. The rest of my shift was uneventful and passed quickly. It wasn’t until I went outside at the end of the night that the tears came again. My car was once again undrivable—last time, it wouldn’t start. It currently sat in the parking lot where I’d left it, lopsided from two flat tires.
CHAPTER THREE
DAMON
#IDidntDoIt
I drove by the restaurant where Sky worked at the exact moment she came out. It was a coincidence, nothing more, and I pulled into the parking lot. As I parked next to her, she swiped angrily at her cheeks.
Is she crying?
Then I noticed her car had two flat tires. “Do you need a ride?”
She whirled around, her long hair swinging behind her in a midnight wave. I grinned as she stomped to the passenger side and yanked open the door before throwing herself inside. She was cute when she was angry. And to be honest, I was still upset over her comments from last night.
Arms crossed and eyes flashing fire, she snapped, “Perfect timing. But I’m sure you planned that when you tampered with my car. This way, I have to spend time with you.”
I snorted as I reversed then drove out of the lot. “A shitload of girls would kill for me to bring them home. I don’t need to tamper with anything.”
“You’re arrogant and full of yourself.”
“Yet you’re in my truck anyway.” I sighed. We wouldn’t get anywhere like that. “I didn’t tamper with your car. And I wanted to give you a heads-up that while you weren’t in school today, Gia and her new friends told everyone what happened.” I wouldn’t take the time for any other girl.
I didn’t care about the girls I slept with—something I suspected I’d inherited from Dear Old Dad—and Gia was a front. I could easily squash her like a bug in front of the entire school. The only thing that held me back was how it would affect Sky. For some reason, Gia meant more to her than she should. I didn’t see it. The girl had dropped her best friend and stabbed Sky in the back, who Gia didn’t even know had gotten her everything she currently enjoyed.
