Dirty Truth: A High School Bully Romance (Forrest Grove Academy Book 2) Read online

  Dirty Truth

  Forrest Grove Academy, Book 2

  K. Walker

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  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

  Also By Kylie Walker

  Subscribe & Stalk Kylie!

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Copyright © 2020 by K. Walker

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. K. Walker holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.

  Chapter 1

  Blood rushed to my head, making me dizzy for a moment. I closed my eyes and braced myself against the counter, trying to come to terms with what I had just seen. God, I was never going to get that image out of my head!

  Massaging my temples, I let out a soft groan. As if I didn’t already have enough on my freaking plate! God damn it, my life was turning into a freaking episode of Jerry Springer. What was going to happen next? Was Chuck going to come home and announce he had knocked up someone’s wife? Because with how everything seemed to be going, it really wouldn’t have surprised me.

  I took a deep breath and held it. Then, I let it out slowly. I repeated the act over and over again until I was able to open my eyes without everything around me spinning.

  I did not want to get in the middle of this, but I had to tell Wes. I had to tell Lucas. I couldn’t just let him go on dating this woman, thinking she loved him, and all the while, she’s fucking at least one guy behind his back! And God only knew if it was just one guy. For all I knew, she was fucking every guy on Lucas’s household staff.

  I turned to head toward the hall when a voice spoke up. “Going somewhere, Princess?” Kathy asked in her snide tone.

  When I turned, she was standing in the doorway, arms crossed in front of her bare chest. Christ, she hadn’t even gotten dressed! And yet, she was smirking at me, looking very satisfied with herself.

  “I’m going to go tell Lucas you’re fucking some guy behind his back,” I snapped, the anger building inside me. More than one of Mom’s boyfriends had cheated on her over the years. Each time she found out, she was heartbroken. No, there was no way I could let this skank keep cheating on Lucas, not after everything he’d done for me.

  Kathy snorted, still smirking. Even though she’d just gotten busted and would no doubt be cut off from Lucas’s funds once he found out, she didn’t look even the least bit concerned. “If you’re smart, you’ll keep your mouth shut about what you just saw.”

  “And why would I do that?”

  Hands-on hips, I glared at Kathy. She probably thought confronting me without putting her clothes back on would intimidate me. But, while I had the urge to find a way to bleach that image out of my brain, it wasn’t going to rattle me like she thought it would.

  “You wouldn’t want poor little Sebastian to end up on the streets, would you?” She made a pouty face in a poor attempt at looking sad. “Whatever would he do then?”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” My patience was very quickly running out. She’d been bitchy with me ever since the day I had met her. I was more than fed up with her little games.

  “You think I don’t know he’s fucking Todd? Or about his little pill habit?” Now, she grinned at me as I stared wide-eyed. Then, she started laughing. “God, I have no idea how everyone in this house is so stupid! Lucas and Wes are blind as bats, Sebastian thinks he’s so sneaky, and then there’s you, moving in here like you’re some hot shit and in control of things. Well, guess what, Princess. This is my turf, not yours.”

  I never thought I would meet someone I wanted to punch more than Paisley, but Kathy had just skyrocketed to the top of my list. Not only was she fucking around behind the back of the guy who had taken me in, but now she was blackmailing Sebastian?

  “What does that have to do with me?” I shrugged and tried to act like her knowing about Sebastian wasn’t a big deal. “What Sebastian does isn’t any of my business. You fucking some dude behind Lucas’s back, though? That’s just fucked up.”

  “And what’s Lucas going to say when he finds out his youngest is a drug-addicted deviant? And what will he say when he finds out the girl he’d taken in out of the goodness of his heart had been enabling his youngest son’s immoral behaviors.”

  My urge to punch her was getting harder and harder to control. But she wasn’t wrong. I had no idea what Lucas would say or do if he found out about Sebastian and Todd. Considering neither of them were out of the closet to their parents or siblings, there was a pretty good chance it wouldn’t go well for them if their secret came to light.

  And, while I hadn’t known Sebastian was using pills, I had suspected he might’ve been on something. Lucas definitely wouldn’t be happy about that, and I could only imagine the complications his addiction would add once Lucas found out he was gay.

  That was all without even considering what he would think about me hiding this all from him and not doing anything to put a stop to it.

  God fucking damn it.

  I wanted to call her bluff, to believe Lucas would support his youngest son over his cheating bitch of a girlfriend. But I had no idea if he actually would or not. For all I knew, he’d forgive her and kick Sebastian out. I’d seen guys do stupid shit for women plenty of times in the past.

  “That’s what I thought,” Kathy said sweetly, smirking again. She had won, and she knew it. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I’ve got a sexy man waiting to finish rocking my world.”

  I stood frozen in place as she sauntered back outside. It didn’t take long before the squeaking and grinding sound resumed, and I shuddered. Turning, I stalked upstairs, doing my best to keep from stomping the whole way. But while I was more pissed off than I’d been in a long time, I didn’t need Wes questioning my mood.

  Even lying against Wes while we watched a movie didn’t improve my mood. I hated the position Kathy had put me in. Either I had to risk hurting the guy who had bent over backward to befriend me since I had arrived here or I had to keep lying to the man who had taken me in.

  Neither of those were good options, and I had no idea which one to choose.

  That evening, Wes offered to watch another movie with me, but I declined, telling him I was too tired from surfing and just wanted to go to bed. Instead, I just lay in my room, staring up at the ceiling, trying to wrap my head around the whole situation.

  I loved Sebastian. Even though I hadn’t known him for too long, he was already like a little brother to me. When Wes and everyone else at school, except Adrian, had been complete assholes when I first moved in, Sebastian had been there by my side. He had let me hang out with his friends, had shown me around, and had helped me get settled here.

  I couldn’t hurt him. And if I told Lucas the truth about Kathy, there was a very good chance it would hurt him. Which m
eant, in the end, Kathy had won. I couldn’t out her without her outing Sebastian, and I wasn’t willing to take that risk.

  Even when I made up my mind, though, I didn’t feel any better about it. I still didn’t like hiding this from Lucas, even if it was to protect Sebastian.

  Letting out a sigh, I sat up and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. I needed a hot shower to help clear my mind. Or, at the very least, it would help soothe my tense, aching muscles.

  Wes’s door was cracked when I stepped out into the hallway, voices filtering out into the hall.

  “I told you, I’m keeping an eye on her!” Wes’s voice was clear and persistent, making me freeze in place. “You don’t have to be on my ass about it all the time!”

  “Well, considering what happened at that party, apparently I do!” Lucas sounded angry. He wasn’t quite yelling, but he wasn’t talking calmly either. “You never should have let her out of your sight. What if that guy had gotten her away from the party before you had noticed?”

  “She was with Sebastian!” Wes insisted. “Christ, what am I supposed to be up her ass every minute of the day? Come on, Dad. I’m watching out for her, all right? So back off already.”

  “Fine. But I swear Wes if anything happens to her, I’m not going to be fucking happy.”

  Quickly, I slipped back into my room, not wanting to be caught eavesdropping. I waited until I heard Lucas head back downstairs, then slipped down the hall as quietly as possible, locking myself in the bathroom.

  Tears streamed down my cheeks. No matter how hard I tried to stop them or how many times I wiped them away, they just kept coming.

  God, I was such a fucking idiot. Here I thought Wes had actually started to like me. Not only that, but I thought we were on the verge of an actual, romantic relationship with each other. Of course, that was too good to be true. What would a guy like Wes see in me anyway?

  He wasn’t any different than Paisley, just another stuck up, rich, asshole.

  I couldn’t believe I’d fallen for his stupid act. I’d never been this naive before. But then, I had never met a guy like Wes before either. At least I knew the truth now, though.

  The only reason he wanted anything to do with me was because of his father. I really should’ve seen that coming. Why else would he have gone from being a complete and utter asshole to wanting to be my best friend all of a sudden? God, I had even heard Lucas bitching at Wes for not looking out for me the day after the party.

  Stupid, stupid, stupid!

  More annoyed than anything now, I brushed away the tears and turned the shower on. Standing beneath its hot spray helped take some of the sting out of my revelation, but I was still angry—angry at Wes for lying to me and mad at myself for believing his damn lies.

  I wasn’t going to make that mistake again.

  I had gotten so wrapped up in the idea of having a family again; I had let myself become blind to reality. Wes wasn’t like Sebastian, though. He wasn’t like Chuck or Lucas either. Wes was an asshole, plain and simple. He had shown me that time and time again since I had gotten here. Just because he had defended me against a potential rapist and started being nice to me didn’t change anything.

  He was only looking out for me because it was his job.

  Which was fine. He didn’t have to like me. It wasn’t like I was here just to have a relationship with him. But I wasn’t going to sit around and let him lie to me either. I didn’t need him to pretend to be my friend. I may not have had a lot of them around here, but I had enough.

  I didn’t need Wes.

  Chapter 2

  “What’s got you so pissy today?” Jax asked, smirking at me as he leaned against the locker next to mine. A couple of girls giggled and batted their eyes at him as they walked by, but Jaxson didn’t seem to even notice them. But then, why would he? He wasn’t any different than Wes. They were both just rich playboys more concerned with how many girls they could stick their dicks into than anything else.

  “Go away, Jax,” I said, fighting down my annoyance. He hadn’t actually done anything wrong, at least not to me, and it wasn’t quite fair to be a dick to him just because he and his friends were man-whores.

  Jax let out a sigh and then shook his head. “Well, since I know I didn’t do anything to piss you off, and you’re being snippy with me, I’m guessing it either has something to do with Wes or Todd. So, which one pissed in your Cheerios this morning.”

  I groaned and fought the urge to hit my head against the locker. Why couldn’t guys just take a hint and leave me the hell alone? Couldn’t a girl just brood in peace for once?

  Turning, I glared at Jax, hoping that would be enough to make him go away. Of course, it wasn’t, though. This was Jax I was talking about, after all. No one had ever accused him of being the brightest bulb in the box. “I guess Wes, judging by that glare. What’d he do this time? Sleep with Paisley again?”

  “It wouldn’t surprise me,” I said as I rolled my eyes. Considering his interest in me was obviously fake, I wouldn’t have put it past him to have been sleeping with Paisley still. She was certainly all over him at lunch every day.

  “Ouch,” Jax said with a wince. “So, if that’s not why you’re pissed at him, then what did he do? Come on, Bella. Spill the beans. Get it off your chest.”

  “He lied to me, okay? He made me think he was interested in me when in reality, the only reason he’s had anything to do with me is because his daddy told him to. And I’d thank you to keep my chest out of your thoughts.” I slammed the locker closed, then turned and walked away from Jax, too annoyed to deal with him anymore.

  You would think that would’ve been an obvious clue to fuck off, but apparently, Jaxson missed that memo. He jogged over to catch up with me and then walked alongside me. “Do you really think he would do something like that?” Jax asked with a raised eyebrow. “I mean, I know he can be a meat-head sometimes, but he’s never tried to string along a girl before. He’s always been upfront with his intentions, no matter how sordid they might be.”

  “Did you really just say sordid?”

  “What, I’m not allowed to have a vocabulary?” Jax smirked, and then winked at me. “Just because I look good doesn’t mean I’m not smart, too. I actually passed my SATs, thank you very much.”

  “You can’t fail the SATs.”

  “Tell that to Hunter.”

  Okay, that I actually laughed at. If there were one person I could imagine finding a way to fail the SATs, it would be Hunter. He was the very definition of “it’s a good thing you’re pretty.” If he did end up getting into college, it was going to be either because of his skill in wrestling or because his daddy wrote a nice fat check.

  “What did Wes say, exactly?”

  I let out a sigh. Jax was like a little terrier. Once he got his teeth into something, he just kept pulling at it. Knowing him, he was just going to follow me into his next class until I told him what he wanted to know. Figuring it was the easiest way to get rid of him, I told him about the conversation I had overheard between Wes and his father.

  Jax listened quietly as I spoke. When I finished, though, he smirked at me, and I so badly wanted to hit him. “And let me guess, you didn’t even give him a chance to explain, did you? I bet you just got all huffy and have been ignoring him ever since?”

  I glared at him, only partially because he wasn’t wrong. I hadn’t confronted him about any of it. But why should I? If he was just stringing me along so he could watch over me for Lucas, I doubted he would actually tell me that. And I really didn’t want to stand there and watch him lie to my face again.

  I had better things to do. Thank you very much.

  “Give him a chance,” Jax urged. “He’s a fuck-head, but he’s not a bad guy, I promise. If he’s said he likes you, then he means it. And trust me— Wes doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to, even if it is his father asking him. He’s not going to hang out with you just because he was told to.”

  Part of me wanted to believe th
at. It certainly sounded like Wes. He had never come across to me as the kind of guy who let anyone boss him around. But Lucas wasn’t just anyone. He was Wes’s father and I doubted Lucas took shit from anyone, especially not one of his sons.

  “Look, I get it. He’s your friend. You want to defend him. But I’m not interested. I just want to focus on school, get decent grades, and see if I can graduate without going completely fucking insane.” I looked over at Jaxson, my lips drawn into a tight line. I appreciated his loyalty to his friend, I really did, but I wasn’t going to go running back to Wes. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have class.”

  I picked up my pace and left Jaxson behind. This time, he didn’t try to catch up, thank God. I mean, it was cool he was willing to go to bat for his friend and all, but I just wanted to put Wes out of my mind as best as possible and move on. I wouldn’t be able to completely ignore him, since I still had to live with him, but that didn’t mean I had to think about him at school.

  “I. Am. Starving,” Adrian said, practically moaning as she stared at the cheeseburger on her lunch tray. Her eyes shimmered, and she licked her lips. I had a feeling if anyone got between her and that burger, they were liable to get a chunk bitten out of them. “My alarm didn’t go off this morning, so I missed breakfast to get here on time.”

  “Did your alarm not go off, or did you forget to set it?” I teased, smirking at her.

  Adrian grinned in response as she shrugged. “Does it really matter? The point is I’m so hungry I could eat this danged tray, too!”