The Blackstone Prep Academy Duet Read online

  I turned towards Patton. “Grace is mine, Patton,” I repeated. “And even if she wises up and realizes she can do better, she’s already made it clear it won’t be moving on with you.”

  You could tell the guy wasn’t used to be put down by a peasant. “Seriously?”

  “Then let’s do this, Patton,” I challenged, and he backed down like the pussy he was deep down.

  He bristled. “You’ll never be able to keep her,” he predicted.

  “Ah, but you’ll never have her,” I flung back.

  He glanced over at Grace and said, “Good luck, Grace. I think you’re going to need it.” No one commented as Patton turned and walked away. And not a word was said as Sterling kissed his sister on the top of her head before walking off, not sparing me another glance.

  I wasn’t sure if I’ll ever understand Sterling Hale.

  When it was just me and Grace, the last warning bell for class rang, but we remained rooted where we stood. After a few seconds, Grace asked, “What about your girlfriend?”

  My brows drew down in confusion, but then I remember Jacko’s. “She’s not my girlfriend,” I told her.

  “But…but she’s someone, right?”

  “She’s a childhood friend who ended up becoming more,” I told her truthfully. “But we were always friends first, and we’re just friends now.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked, and I realized what I was asking of her, should we move forward with what we were doing.

  Whatever she and Seth were, that was over. The proof was in the how Sterling had kicked his ass earlier this year. Even if they had been serious, it was over. I didn’t have to worry about any residual feelings lingering between the two. I didn’t have to worry about him showing up to her birthday party, or seeing them study together, or hanging out.

  Claire was a part of my life, and always will be as long as we’re friends. She was part of the gang and even Brett, Lauren, and Davion knew her well enough to hang out with her without me around. A girl I care about, but have also slept with, was going to be in Grace’s face anytime I had a birthday party or just a random Sunday family barbecue.

  “Is that going to be a problem?”

  Her green eyes looked down, and my heart almost threatened to stop beating. There’s no way I could be this close just to have her slip from my grasp.

  Fate couldn’t be so cruel as to do this to me twice.

  When she looked back up at me, she said, “I don’t know.” And I had to admire her honesty, even if it was tearing me apart inside.

  “I suppose we need to talk, huh?”

  She gave me a sad smile. “I suppose we do.”

  Chapter 19

  Grace~

  Styx and I had decided to skip school altogether. We had a lot to talk about, and as much as I’d love to think it was all going to work out like a perfect romantic comedy, I knew we still had a lot of things to work out between us.

  So, we were at my house, and sitting in my bedroom after I’d given him a tour of the place. I liked how he had taken the tour with a grain of salt. He hadn’t been impressed, but he hadn’t been offended by the opulence either.

  And now, he was sitting on my bed while I sat at my desk that sat right across from my bed. “So, ladies first?”

  I seriously wanted to take the coward’s way out and make him go first, but I didn’t. When Sterling had come home, the evidence of the fight all over his face, he had told me what had happened. He had told me what he had said to Styx, but he had also told me he would support anything I wanted to do. However, he also mentioned how Styx was never going to get away with what he had done to me.

  I loved my brother.

  I cleared my throat, and just dove in. “The Grace that summer was…an accident.” His face betrayed nothing as I spoke. “That was a Grace who had come out because she was free from her life. There was absolutely no judgement at the rec center that summer.” I gave him a sheepish smile. “Well, other than my violin playing.” He gave me a good-natured grin. “I guess the best way to describe it would be that I had felt safe with you. Even when you learned who I was, you still didn’t have any expectations. You gave me a chance that no one else ever has.”

  “So, why?”

  My eyes watered, but I didn’t care. Styx has already seen me at my worst. “There’s no good excuse for what I did to you-to us,” I replied. “Because there isn’t one. I was a horrible person, Styx. I believed in status, and popularity, and money, and all that stuff. I’ve been mean and belittling to so many people, I couldn’t give you a count. When you approached me that day, I’d been in my element. It was our first day back at Blackstone, and I was in my environment.” I let out a sad laugh. “Even as freshman, Sterling and I had…status.”

  “What changed?” And I thought back to how London had said I needed to leave that girl in the past.

  “Leah Moffet,” I answered, Styx being the only person I’ve spoken to about this outside Sterling and London. I’ve never even had a conversation with Seth about her.

  “What about her?”

  I took a deep breath and proceeded to tell him everything. And even though I trusted Styx, I made sure to reiterate that preserving Leah’s memory was the most important thing to me. I made it clear that only Seth, London, Sterling, and I knew the truth. Well, and now him, but I knew he understood.

  His russet orbs regarded me fiercely as he said, “You know that wasn’t your fault, right?”

  I nodded. “I know that on a mental level, but on an emotional one…it changed me.”

  “You fucking ruined me that day,” he said, not sparing me. But then, I already knew this was going to be a painful conversation. “I had been so in love with you, I couldn’t think straight with it.” I started crying. “To feel that it had all been a lie-a game, had been…” He shrugged a shoulder. “…devastating.”

  “Styx-”

  He held his hand up. “Grace, I’m not telling you that to make you feel bad. I’m…I’m telling you that in hopes that you might be able to find it in yourself to forgive me for what I did to you in the music room.”

  I broke.

  I started sobbing, and I didn’t stop even when I felt a pair of strong, secure arms wrap me up. Styx carried me over to the bed and held me in his lap as I cried for this guy who was too good to be true.

  Me forgive him?

  “I had two years to work through what you had done to me,” he continued. “But instead of dealing with it like a normal person, I had pushed it back somewhere deep inside, and it all came erupting out in a hateful hailstorm of pain when we were in that room. And, Grace, I will regret what I did to you until the day I die.” My shoulders were shaking, and I felt like I was splintering apart. “There were never any other virgins. I was happy as fuck that you hadn’t been with Burns. I had wanted you to stop me. It had always been about love for me. And I would forgive you anything, Grace Hale. Any-fucking-thing.”

  “I…’m so…rry, Styx,” I cried. “I’m so, so sorry. I’m so sorry for a…a lot of things, but mostly, how I hurt you. I…want to be a good person. I…I want t…to t…treat people right.”

  “So, we forgive each other and help each other be better people, Grace” he said simply.

  I looked up at him, not caring how horrible I looked. “Just l…like that?”

  He brushed my hair back from my face. “No, baby. Not just like that,” he whispered. “It’s going to be hard, and there are going to be a lot of people against us.” He gave me a sly grin. “But I’ve been told recently that anything worth my love is worth the fight it takes to keep it.”

  I did my best to pull myself together and took several shuttered breaths. “You think I’m worth fighting for?”

  “I know you are, Grace,” he replied easily. “You’re the fucking love of my life.”

  I hated to bring it up, but we had so many things to discuss. “What about…your girl?”

  Styx’s arms wrapped around my waist to anchor me to his lap. “
Claire’s not my girl,” he clarified. “She’s one of my best friends, and…I understand that, well, that the situation might be difficult for you, but…” He sighed and I knew my feelings were putting him in a tight spot. “Will you just meet her?” he asked. “Meet her. Ask her whatever questions you want, and…just get to know her a bit. I think…I think if you do, you’ll understand why what she and I did doesn’t matter to anything else.”

  I wasn’t sure how I felt about meeting her, but his earlier words dance around in my head. The ones about if something was worth your love, it was worth the fight. So, I nodded, and agreed to meet the girl who was, not only one of Styx’s best friends, but a girl who knew him like I still hadn’t. Oh, I knew what it felt like to be fucked by him, but I still didn’t know what it was like to have sex with Styx. Or what it felt like to make love with him.

  And then Styx broke my heart more when he said, “Grace, I can’t give you anything right now. I go to school full-time and still work at the auto body shop every day after school except Thursdays. I fill in on the weekend a lot, and I have little time for my friends, and only really see my family because we all live in the same house.”

  “Styx-”

  He continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “All my money goes to my tuition at Blackstone, and even with scholarships, all my money will go to college.” His face was pure, naked honesty. “I won’t have money or time to take you to the movies or buy you things. I won’t have-”

  “Stop,” I bit out. “Just…stop.” My heart felt like it was going to explode into a million pieces. “You just said we’ll work together on making each other better people. That means…that means I support you while you’re at work and not throw a tantrum because you can’t take me to go see a movie. A movie I can drag London to go see with me, by the way. That means…I cherish the little time we do have together, and not waste it arguing about stupid shit. Right?”

  His smile completely transformed his face. “Right.”

  I turned around in his lap to straddle him. “And as far as money-”

  His hands tightened on my hips. “Grace-”

  I shook my head. “No, Styx,” I said, interrupting him. “It’s something we need to talk about.”

  “Grace, I’ll be able to take care of you-”

  “Styx, I have money,” I told him firmly. “It’s a fact, and I’m not just talking about my parents’ money.” He looked sick with that news. “Sterling and I both have trust funds that were made available to us on our eighteenth birthday last month. We’ll have full access when we graduate college.”

  “For fuck’s sake,” he muttered.

  I grimaced. “Is that going to be a problem for you?” He stared at me a bit too long for my liking. I knew Styx was going to go on to do something great in his life, but until then, I worried if my money was going to be just another battle we were going to have to fight.

  Finally, he said,” You only spend your money on me for holidays, birthdays, and shit like that,” he stated. “Your money will not support us, and…we’ll figure it out more once we get to college.”

  I draped my arms around his neck. “We’re going to college together?”

  He wrapped his arms around my waist tighter. “You’re damn fucking straight we are.”

  I nodded and told him my truth. “I’ll follow you anywhere, Styx.”

  “Good,” he whispered. “Because I’m not going anywhere without you. Ever.”

  I couldn’t help it anymore. I leaned in and captured his lips with mine. This was our moment, and everything about it felt right. And when Styx let out a deep groan, I knew we were about to erase everything dark from our pasts, and I couldn’t wait.

  Chapter 20

  Styx~

  I was losing my mind.

  I was goddamn. Losing. My. Mind.

  Being inside Grace without all the hate and regret was almost more than I could take. When her kiss had turned into something hotter, I had to pull back, so that we could talk. Regardless of my carelessness the last time, I really didn’t want to hurt Grace. But when she had assured me that she was protected, all bets were off. She’d been the only girl I’ve ever been with unprotected, and it was something I wanted to keep experiencing with her. And now, as I had every inch of my cock buried in her tight pussy, it was important for me to mark her with my seed.

  It was important that she was claimed by me.

  “Fuck, your pussy feels so good, baby,” I panted as I slid into her over, and over again. “I don’t think I’ll ever get enough.”

  “Harder,” she begged, and her whimpers and moans were enough to turn me stupid.

  I braced all my body weight on my elbows as I loomed over her and crashed into her body harder. “Open those legs wider for me, Grace,” I instructed between thrusts. “Take every inch, baby.”

  “Styx…”

  That was another thing.

  The way she said my name when I was inside of her was every-fucking-thing in the world to me. She said it like a prayer. She said it like I was her oasis in the desert. She said it like she’d never get enough of me.

  She said it like she loved me.

  “Say my name again,” I demanded as I crashed into her harder.

  “Styx…oh, God…”

  “Again,” I growled.

  Grace was reaching her climax and this time she threw her head back as she screamed my name. “Styx!”

  “Fuck,” I hissed as her body started to tighten around my cock. I wanted keep Grace cumming on my cock, fingers, and face forever. If I weren’t a real man, I’d say to hell with our futures, live off her money, and spend every goddamn day fucking her into oblivion. “Cum for me, Grace. Cum for me, baby.”

  “Styx…” That was all she got out before her entire body started trembling, and she was flooding my cock.

  I rode her through her climax and pulled another one out of her before I erupted inside her precious body. I collapsed next to her, and we drifted off to sleep, no aftermath conversation needed. A shitload of hours and two more desperate, passionate fucks later, I knew I had to leave her. My grades were good enough to have ditched school today, but I had to work.

  Grace was asleep again, and I didn’t want to wake her. So, I grabbed a notebook and pen from my backpack and wrote her a note. I knew she wouldn’t jump to the wrong conclusion when she woke up alone, but I wanted to guarantee that she wouldn’t.

  After I was done, I re-read the note because I had problems when it came to Grace Hale.

  Grace,

  You looked so peaceful sleeping, I didn’t want to wake you. I have to go to work, but I will call you on my break. I get off work at around eight. If I could stay, I would. I’d stay with you every second of every day if I could. I love you, baby.

  Love,

  Styx

  I made sure to wrap the note around her phone, so there was no way she could miss it. And after placing a soft kiss on the side of her face, I gathered all my stuff and headed out. Luckily, I had good observations skills, so I wouldn’t get lost in this fucking place.

  But as I hit the bottom of the staircase, I realized I had bigger problems than getting lost in this goddamn mansion.

  Sterling Hale.

  Grace’s brother had been walking out of the kitchen and past the foyer, then stopped in mid-stride at the sight of me coming down the stairs.

  His green gaze shot upward towards the landing of the stairs. “Where’s my sister?” And it looked like I was going to need to put my backpack down.

  Again.

  “She’s asleep in her room,” I answered. Sterling gave me a small, resigned nod and it pissed me off. “Is it because I don’t have money or an influential last name?” And do you know why Sterling Hale was going to rule the world?

  Because of that look right there.

  “Let’s get something straight, Reinhart,” he said coolly. “I’m not my father. I don’t give two fucks if you have money or if your name is influential.” He nodded his head upwar
ds. “All I give a fuck about is that girl asleep upstairs.”

  “So do I,” I told him.

  He huffed. “Really?” he asked with a sneer. “Because you’re doing a shit job of showing it so far, Reinhart.” And that stung because he was right.

  “We’ve both made mistakes,” I conceded, not really sure if he knew the details or not of how badly I had fucked up. I suspected he didn’t, or I’d be dead already.

  “And that’s the only reason you’re standing in this house and you’re still in Grace’s life,” he shot back. “Because she loves you and she’s the one who initially fucked up.”

  “I’m not giving her up,” I told him, not caring if we came to blows again.

  “Lucky for you, Grace’s feelings mean more to me than my own.” It was weird hearing Sterling Hale speak about his feelings. “I love my sister, Reinhart. She’s probably the only person in the world I truly care about.” He took a few steps towards me until we were up close and personal. “I don’t care if you have a million dollars or six pennies in your bank account, Styx. All I care about is that you make Grace happy. That’s it. That’s all.”

  He was laying all his cards out on the table, so I could do no less. “I love her, Sterling.”

  The same green eyes that sat on Grace’s beautiful face narrowed on Sterling’s. “You had better,” he threatened. “Because my sister loves you. And if you ever, and I do mean ever, mistreat her again, I will fucking kill you.” He leaned in closer. “I don’t care if you’re already married with three kids, Reinhart. I will make her a widow and make my nieces or nephews fatherless. You got that?”

  “Yeah, I got it.” I didn’t like being threatened, but I believed him. And it was all coming from a place where he put Grace first, so I really couldn’t be offended. “Are we good?”

  He stepped back from my personal space. Sterling stuck his hand out, and I took it in mine. “We’re good,” he said.

  After we shook, he turned to glance back upstairs, and that’s when I saw it. “Is that…are those scratches?” I didn’t fight like a little bitch, so I knew the marks weren’t from our fight.