Wicked Lies Read online

  Wicked Lies

  A Reverse Harem High School Bully Romance

  Rogues of Taylor Prep 1

  Mae Doyle

  Contents

  Title Page

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  This is a work of art/fiction. Names, places, businesses, characters, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, actual events, or places is purely coincidental. Any persons appearing on the cover image for this book are models and do not have any connection to the contents of this story.

  All characters depicted in this work are unrelated consenting adults. This author assumes no responsibility for the use/misuse of this material.

  © 2020 Mae Doyle

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  Chapter 3

  “So what do you think of Taylor Prep so far?” Harper sprawled across my bed while Maggie sat in my chair, leaned back, her feet propped up on my desk. They’d both been here for weeks over the summer and have already complete two years. Since they knew everything and were already settled in, they’d been helping me set up my room while filling me in on all of the people and details I needed to know about.

  After lunch, during which I studiously managed to avoid looking at Jackie, Brett, and Kaleb by sitting with my back to them, my two new friends took me around campus to see the sites. If I had thought that inside the main buildings and dorms was impressive, then I was wrong. I’d never seen grounds like the ones they had at Taylor Prep.

  Not only were the new tennis courts that Kaleb’s family purportedly paid for incredible, but there was a huge soccer field, an Olympic size swimming pool, and plenty of walking trails through the woods along the grounds.

  We didn’t tour any of the classrooms of course, but the girls showed me the gym and the student lounge, where a group of students were crowded around some people playing chess. I’d asked if chess was a big deal here at Taylor and was met with dubious stares. “Of course it is,” hissed Harper, “so don’t make fun of it if you want to survive.”

  My legs were exhausted at the end of the tour and I was pretty sure that I was going to sleep like a rock, but bed was hours away, so I scooted Harper out of the way and sat next to her. “I think,” I said, trying to pick my words honestly and carefully, “that it’s really overwhelming. I mean, you guys know that I was homeschooled, right?”

  Harper nodded, but Maggie barked out a laugh. “Really? You’ve got to be in complete shock here then, right? I mean,” she said, catching the look that Harper threw her, “from school at home to here? Why did you decide to switch halfway through high school?”

  I took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling to prepare myself to answer the question. I’d had a wonderful afternoon with these two girls, and I was happy to call them my friends, but it was still hard for me to talk about everything that had just happened.

  “My dad worked and my mom stayed home to teach me,” I began, spreading my hands out on the fluffy white comforter that the school provided. “But he was killed in an accident a few months ago, and she had to go back to work. The money that he left me was for my education, and he’d always mentioned me coming here, but we simply couldn’t afford it. After we got the insurance payout, however, we could.” Plucking the comforter in my fingers, I tried to keep from looking at my friends.

  “You just lost your dad?” Harper sounded small and sad. “I am so sorry, Rose.” She reached out and laced her fingers through mine.

  Maggie jumped out of my chair and sat on my other side, wrapping her arm around my shoulders. “I lost my dad a few years ago,” she said, “and it sucks, but it will get easier, okay? And we’re here now.”

  Leaning against her, I felt some of the stress of the day melt away. This was why my dad wanted me to go to school here. He knew that I would make the friends that I needed to help me through bad times in my life. “Yeah,” I said, clearing my throat, but not pulling away from my friends, “and that’s how I got so hurt. My ribs…and my legs in the accident...” My voice trailed off as I felt tears threaten to choke me.

  “Oh, Rose.” Harper squeezed my hand. “That’s terrible, but you’re here now, where your dad wanted you to be, okay? We’ll take care of you.”

  “That we will.” Maggie stood up and pulled me to my feet. “And if you’ll come with us, we’ll show you one of the ways we will take care of you right now.” She winked at Harper, who stood and pulled until I struggled to a stand.

  “Where are we going?” I trusted them, but that didn’t mean that I wanted to leave my room when I had just started crying.

  “Trust us.” Maggie pulled me to the door. “And I hope you’re hungry.”

  ◆◆◆

  “I had no idea that ice cream could be that good.” My stomach was stretched past the point of comfort and I was thrilled that I had on comfy pants and not skinny jeans like Harper and Maggie. “How in the world is it so good? Is it crack?”

  Harper giggled and nudged me with her shoulder. “There aren’t any illegal substances allowed at Taylor Prep,” she said in a stuffy voice, obviously mimicking the headmaster. The three of us fell to giggling before she continued. “They use local milk, I guess. And organic honey to sweeten it. It’s really good, right?”

  “So good.” I scraped out the last bit of melted ice cream from the bottom of my bowl and then put it on the table. “When do we get more of that and how do we keep it from making us gain all of the weight?”

  “It’s only once a week,” Maggie moaned, putting her bowl next to mine. “All of the other food here is super healthy brain food. Tons of salmon and quinoa, roasted veggies, that sort of stuff. I love it, but Harper thinks it’s gross.”

  My other friend wrinkled her nose. “It’s fine, I guess, if you like eating boring meals, but I would kill for some salt and vinegar chips in the cafeteria. There’s not a chance that they’ll ever allow that, though, no matter how much I beg.”

  I laughed. “You’ve only been here a few weeks, right? How in the world are you craving snacks so badly right now?”

  “Oh, just give it time.” Harper stood up and reached for me to help me out of my seat. “You’ll be looking to see who you can shag to get some chips before you know it.”

  I blushed, my face burning at what she said. Even though I hoped that the two of them wouldn’t notice, they took one look at my face and grinned at each other. “Rose,” Maggie teased, drawing out my name, “are you a virgin?”

  I dipped my head, letting my dark curls fall down in front of my face so I wouldn’t have to look at the two of them. “Well, yeah.” Biting my lower lip, I wait for their response.

  “That’s cool.” Harper bumped my hip, almost knocking me over. “Oh, sorry!” She grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back up to standing. “I keep forgetting that you’re a little top heavy. Don’t worry though, about being a virgin. Lots of people here are, but most of them want to lose it as soon as possible, so I’m sure that can change right away, if
you want.”

  “That’s fine,” I told her. “I’m not really looking to…lose it right away.” It’s not that I hadn’t had the opportunity to before, it’s just that no matter how much I was convinced that the guy I was dating was the one, he wasn’t. As much as I liked my new friends, though, I didn’t feel like trying to explain that to them, so I just shrugged as we start walking back to our dorm.

  We rode the elevator up, Harper and Maggie chatting about classes the next day. When we got to my room, I saw that my schedule has been taped up on my door. Harper ripped it off before I could reach for it and unfolded it so that the three of us could look at it together.

  “Looks like you’ll have history and English with both of us, but they put you in smarty-pants math.” She chewed her lower lip. “But we all have homeroom together, so we can walk there in the morning after breakfast, okay?”

  Smarty-pants math? I grabbed the schedule from her and turned it so that I could see it. “I don’t think that I’m prepared for algebra. How do I get it switched to pre-algebra?” Math was definitely not my strongest subject, and I’d prefer not to look like a fool right when classes start.

  “I don’t know that you can. You must have done really well on the pre-test for class placement this summer, huh?” Maggie twirled her hair absentmindedly while her eyes flicked over my schedule.

  The test had been the week after my dad’s funeral, so I had no idea how well I did or didn’t do on it. In fact, I barely remembered filling out the bubble sheet with my name on it, so that’s not a good sign. “I don’t think I did great, but maybe it was just a bunch of lucky guesses,” I told them, taking my schedule back. No matter why I got into some of the classes I did, I just had to look at this as a chance for a new beginning.

  It’s not how I wanted a fresh start or change in my life. I missed being at home with my mom, and I missed my dad like crazy. I had to keep reminding myself that this is what he wanted.

  He always wanted me to have a better life. If that meant that I needed to smile and learn the best I could at Taylor Prep, then so be it. I hoped that pretty soon I’d be walking better again, and then I planned on getting back on the tennis court. Until then I planned on spending time with my new friends and singing.

  And avoiding Brett.

  That was pretty much a given, right? Avoid the first guy I ever loved, the guy who jeered me until I launched myself from a tree, the guy who now looks like he’s made of steel and ice rather than flesh and blood? Seemed like a given to me.

  The only unfortunate thing about that was if I avoided Brett, I’d also avoid Jackie. I glanced at my friends as I fumbled my key in my lock. It would be okay, I told myself. I’m here to learn, not ogle hot guys, and if that means that I hold onto my v-card until after graduation, then so be it.

  Taylor Prep was the best way for me to make my dad proud, make a name for myself, and get the scholarships that I needed to pay for college. Mom worked, but her job at the club wasn’t going to be enough to pay for college and keep a roof over her head.

  No, if I was going to do this, I had to do it right. Nose to the desk, no silly business, learn all that I could. That was what my dad would have wanted, and that was what I planned on doing.

  Chapter 1

  Whoever said that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger is full of shit. I mean, seriously. I guess that they’re kinda right in that I didn’t die in the car accident, and the titanium plates on my broken ribs did help them heal faster, but still.

  I would argue that getting in that car accident didn’t really make me stronger. Physically? Sure, you can now hit me in the ribs all you want and they’ll never break. Never. But emotionally and mentally? Yeah, that’s a hard no. I’m pretty sure that I’m weaker now than I was before.

  Before I lost my dad.

  “Rose, are you sure that you’re going to be okay here?” My mom leaned over to me to look out my window at the school we’d just pulled up to. Well, school isn’t really the right word. Taylor Prep is a behemoth. It doesn’t look like any school I’d ever seen before, and that’s not just because of the way the kids were dressed.

  No, Taylor Prep definitely looks like a school for super villains out of a comic book. It’s perched high on a hill that our old beater almost didn’t make it up and has a huge gate all around the grounds. We had to stop and get flagged through by security, which took five minutes because mom was so frazzled that she couldn’t find her driver’s license at first.

  That meant that there was a long line of cars waiting behind us by the time we finally made it through, but just like the school itself, these cars looked like something from a story. Pretty sure I recognized BMWs and Lamborghinis, but most of the cars I’d never seen before, which makes sense, because these kids and I lived a totally different life.

  Not only have I never seen a school like Taylor Prep before, but I’d never really seen any school up close and personal. My mom had homeschooled me from the time I was born, but when my dad died in the accident then she knew that she’d have to go back to work.

  Neither one of us were thrilled about the arrangement, but I have to admit that being in school with other kids my own age had a certain excitement to it, especially since I’d never really made close friends. In fact, the only reason I had a cell phone was to be able to keep in touch with my mom if something happened. There wasn’t anyone back home waiting to hear from me. It was just me and my mom and now…well, now it was just me.

  “I’m going to be fine, mom.” I tried to keep my voice as strong and steady as possible, even though I felt like I was going to throw up. The last thing that I wanted was for my mom to turn the car around and head back down the winding driveway without me, but that’s exactly what had to happen. I signed up for this, not because I wanted to be sequestered away from my mom with a bunch of rich students, but because it was what my dad wanted.

  Even thinking about my dad made me cry, and I sniffed hard while looking out the window. My mom, to her benefit, did her best to pretend that she didn’t hear me, although we both knew that she was on the verge of tears, too. We both were, especially since it had only been a month since we lost him.

  Before I could say anything else to her, though, a student strolled up to the car and pulled on my handle. I unlocked the door and let him swing it open, but before I could get out, my jaw was on the ground. I don’t know that I’d ever seen someone who looked like him before. He wore low-slung jeans and a dark sweater than clung to his body and showed off all of his muscles. His face was chiselled and strong, and underneath a mop of dark brown hair, his bright blue eyes bored into me. I knew immediately that I could easily get lost in those blue orbs, and I sat and stared for a moment.

  “You okay?” His voice cut into my reverie, and I shook my head, my cheeks flaming. “Did you need help getting out?” He allowed his eyes to rake over me and I wished more than anything that I had worn something at least a little sexy. Leave it to me, though, to wear baggy jeans and an old t-shirt on move in day. Taylor Prep was supposed to have uniforms ready for us in our rooms, so I didn’t put a lot of thought into my outfit.

  Now I wished that I had.

  “Yeah, I’m good.” Carefully, I grabbed my right leg and swung it out of my car, trying to ignore the pain that shot up into my back and the way my mom hissed behind me with displeasure. I knew that I should wait and get some help, but there was no way I wanted to wait and get help in front of this guy. This…god.

  He watched in silence as I swung my left leg out and then stood. Grabbing the door, I was able to slowly stretch out and get my feet under me. Physical therapy had been an utter nightmare. I hated every second of it, and when Taylor Prep called to let me know that I had been accepted, I was all too happy to leave my therapist in the past. Maybe I was a little rash, though. The pain in my legs throbbed and I had to force a smile.

  We stood so close to each other that I could catch a scent of him. He smelled like something deep and musky, and I instan
tly wondered what type of cologne he wore. It was probably really expensive, and organically sourced, fair trade stuff. The type of stuff that I couldn’t afford before dad died, but probably could now, if only I had access to the money he left me.

  “You okay?” The guy glanced past me into the car at my mom. Turning around, I saw her shrug a little, and my face burned. Instead of answering him, I bent down and grabbed my backpack, swinging it around to land it on my back, but before I could slip my arms through it, he took it from me. “Why don’t I carry this for you? We have staff who will help you get moved in, so you won’t have to try to navigate the stairs.”

  Stairs? I thought that I’d be on the first floor here, but looking again at the imposing building behind the guy, I could see that the old buildings had multiple floors. No, it looked like I was going to be doing a lot of walking and stair climbing here. Shaking my head, I turn to the guy. The god. Whatever. “I’m Rose. Thanks for your help.”

  “You look like you could use it.” He snapped his fingers and an older man in a black suit immediately appeared at his side. “Rose here needs a little extra help getting to her room. Grab the bags from the bag of the car and let’s go.”

  I didn’t realize at first that he meant for me to follow him, too, but he whirled around and started walking away from the car. Panic squeezed my heart and I turned around, leaning into the side of our car. “Mom, I love you,” I whispered, reaching out and taking her hand. “I’ll be fine, I promise. Thanks…thanks for letting me do this.”

  “I’m just a phone call away. I love you too, sweetie.” I could tell that she was dying to get out of the car and hug me, but I’d made her promise not to make a scene once we got here, so she got all of her tears out when we left the house. Smiling at her one more time, I shut the door and started after the guy with my backpack. He was moving quickly, and I had to struggle to catch up.