Sweet Retribution (Rydeville High Elite #3)(55)

“Have a great day, darling,” Charlie says, pulling right up to the curb at the front entrance of Rydeville High. I know he’s done this on purpose, and any goodwill I was feeling toward him earlier evaporates.

My heart plunges to my toes when I look out the window, spotting Kai, Jackson, and Sawyer watching us from the top step. I quickly turn around before I’m accused of staring at them. Charlie cradles my face between his palms as he leans in, kissing me deeply. I want to die, over and over, with each brush of his lips, and I’m praying Jackson or Sawyer had the good sense to drag Kai inside. I don’t want him seeing this shit, because I know what it’d do to me if I had to watch him locking lips with someone other than me.

It would fucking destroy me.

Charlie pulls back, and I want to pound my fists into his chest, and scream in his face, but I give him my best doe-eyed look instead.

“Enjoy your dress shopping and dinner with Shandra. I’ll see you tonight.” He glances over my shoulder—at Kai, I’m guessing, and my heart lurches at the thought he witnessed our kiss—as he winds his hand into my hair, pulling me toward him and kissing me even more enthusiastically.

Pain infuses my chest, making breathing difficult, and I’m close to losing control. In my mind, I visualize myself slapping him away, but it does little to help. “I’m going to be late,” I murmur over his lips, unable to stand it anymore.

“I will never get tired of kissing you, Abby,” he says, pecking my lips again, and he’s really fucking overdoing it. “And I’m glad you’re giving us a chance.” He looks behind me again, and his eyes narrow as he pins me with a dark look. “But if I find out you’ve had anything to do with him, I won’t be responsible for my actions.”

I shove him away from me. “Are you threatening me?”

“I’m just reminding you of your promises.”

“I don’t need a reminder,” I hiss, curling my hand around the door handle. “Do you?” He doesn’t answer, and I’m instantly suspicious.

Climbing out of the car without uttering another word, I wonder if Charlie is really working late in his office every night or if he’s up to some extracurricular activities. I know he’s at the office, because the tracker Xavier put on my phone shows him there every night. But if he has somehow discovered the tracker chip, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to leave his shoes there and go someplace else in other footwear.

Everything is a mindfuck, and I long for the days when life is simple. When all I have to worry about is what I’m cooking for dinner or whether I need to put another load of laundry in.

Mundane sounds absolutely blissful, but it’s a long, long way off.

Especially with Charlie acting in a way that makes him unreadable.

And that worries me.

He still refuses to tell me who he was fucking the night of our wedding, and I’m sensing there’s more to this story. If we weren’t already too freaking busy with everything else, I might try to investigate it. But, unless it becomes a necessity, it will have to remain on my “like to do” list.

Slowly, I climb the steps, as Charlie drives off, glad the new elite have vanished into the building because I can’t look at Kai after that blatant PDA in the car.

“Do you always let him maul you in public like that?” Alessandra sneers, standing alongside my brother and fixing me with a derogatory look. “Or was that just for shits and giggles?”

“Why don’t you do us all a solid and fuck off back to whatever shithole you crawled out of,” I retort. Unfortunately, Alessandra has transferred here now. She is also staying at my old house and doing her best to infiltrate our lives. She’s a Class-A bitch, and Drew says she’s all up in his business, and it’s driving him insane. “It’s not as if any of us want you here. Least of all my brother.”

At least her annoying cousin has gone back home, and I don’t have to stomach her every day. If I had to show up to school and see Giselle draping herself all over my man, I’d be up on a murder charge in next to no time.

“You’d better get used to me, sister,” she drawls, tossing her dark hair over her shoulder. “Because I’m going nowhere.”

Drew steps right up into her face. The neutral expression he’s wearing gives nothing away, but the lethal chill in his voice even scares me a little. “You will speak respectfully to my twin sister, or I’ll be forced to show you exactly how the elite ensure females toe the line.”

All the blood drains from her face, and she takes a step back. “You can’t threaten me.”

“Oh, honey,” Drew says, his lips curving into a smug smile as he leans casually against the door frame, looking like an angel while spewing venom from his mouth. “That wasn’t a threat. It was a promise.”





“Get over there and bend over the desk now, firecracker,” Kai commands while locking the classroom door and pulling the blinds down. Sawyer and Jackson are keeping watch out in the empty hallway. This part of the building is usually like a ghost town during lunch break, but we can’t take any chances even though I issued a warning this morning, through my network of trusted crew, reminding everyone I hold their dirty little secrets in the palm of my hand.

If anyone spills anything to Charlie, they are going down.