The Broken Note: Dark High School Bully Romance (Redwood Kings Book 3) by Nelia Alarcon

Author:Nelia Alarcon [Alarcon, Nelia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-11-29T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CADENCE

I’ve got my back to him, but I can feel Dutch watching me as I step into the middle of the gorgeous treehouse. This place looks like a five star resort hoisted into the air. It took everything in me not to gawk, and I think I failed that mission.

But how could I not marvel?

My whole life, I’ve lived in my crappy neighborhood, seeing crappy sights. My head was bent toward the ground, nose to the plough as I tried to eke out a living. I had no time to look up, much less point my gaze to such extravagant heights.

If not for Redwood Prep, I wouldn’t have the chance to sniff the air up here.

Every lavish experience I’ve had these past three months—playing piano at expensive parties, doing a private concert for Jarod Cross, and today, my sister getting first-class treatment—it all happened because I got the opportunity to study there.

But Redwood didn’t give me those things without taking its pound of flesh.

I had to suffer.

I had to clamor for survival.

And he was in the center of the torture.

Dutch Cross.

The dangerous, prowling, ruthless boy who became the center of my universe. He took that spot without asking and demanded it without apology. The last thing I want to be is trapped in him. Especially when I don’t really know who he is.

But I plan to find out tonight.

“The rules are simple,” I say, sliding my purse over my head and tossing it into the hammock. There’s a basket of M&Ms and snickers between the pillow forts. A candy wonderland.

Vi would have loved it.

“I ask you a question. You answer it. Honestly. If you don’t, you strip.”

“How will you know if I’m being honest?” I feel him behind me. The warmth of his chest. The coolness of his breath. The air changes. An all-consuming darkness that I both despise and desperately crave at the same time.

It gets hard to swallow, but I pretend that I’m unaffected. “I won’t.”

He’s silent.

I turn and find him staring down at me with that dark, animalistic gaze of his.

“But if I feel like you’re lying, you’ll get a penalty,” I add.

“What about you?” His voice is low and seductive.

“Same game. Same rules.”

“I decide the penalty?”

I peel my eyes away. “Yes.”

Why do I keep finding myself here, playing dangerous games with Dutch Cross? Why does it excite me rather than terrify me?

There’s no other option.

I would have preferred truth or drink. That way, none of my clothes would need to come off, but I’m willing to dance close to the fire to get answers.

“Deal.” Dutch sticks out his hand.

I stare at it. Slowly, I reach out. He clasps on, his fingers swallowing mine whole. My breath catches as he tugs me forward. I can smell him, the expensive mint scent. All male. All Dutch.

His eyes narrow slightly. His stare is edged in violence but, when he speaks, his voice is gentle. “You started this, Cadey. Don’t even think of backing out later.”

I know this is his extension of mercy.

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