Page 13 of Broken by my Bully (Lessons in Cruelty Dark Academia #1)

Haven

There’s a haze over the sun. It washes out the colors at the entrance of Agony Hollow College. Like my experience the past week has drained all the color from my world.

It’s one in the afternoon. I’ve been standing in this same spot for over an hour, trying to work up the courage to go inside.

I’ve only been awake since eleven. I hit my head so hard last night that I was terrified I might have a concussion, so I refused to let myself go to sleep…although, honestly, not waking up feels like an easy way out.

I also kept hearing things. Footsteps. Odd noises. Like someone was trying to be quiet so they wouldn’t wake me.

The cap on my head is itching where it rubs against my forehead. It’s yellow, an AHC logo prominent in black on the front panel. It was part of the promo merch they handed out when I attended the Social Grant event earlier this year. That, the tote bag, and a bunch of AHC merch.

My phone died again. No alarm to wake me up when I eventually succumbed to sleep. So, yeah. I missed another of Professor Rooke’s classes .

Strike two.

One more, and there’s a chance he’ll grade me so low that AHC will revoke my grant. All my funding, poof .

Any chance at a new start…gone.

And the fucker to blame for that is probably sitting up there with an arrogant grin on his face, like the cat that got the damn cream on his fucking apple pie.

What he did last night was unforgivable. Unconscionable. And fuck it, downright psychotic. I won’t look at pie the same way…and apple used to be my favorite.

But Kai shoving food down my throat wasn’t what my mind kept on rotation while I fought off sleep.

It was the way his tongue felt against my skin.

The sound of his swallowing.

That tiny murmur of pleasure.

And the way I’d felt his dick grow hard in my hands when I tried to defend myself.

Like he was enjoying it.

…what used to hurt more?…

I shove my drugstore sunnies onto my face with trembling hands and huddle deeper into my hoodie. My hair is scrunched into a short ponytail at the nape of my neck, my jeans as nondescript as the sneakers I chose for stealth. All I have on me is my cellphone and its charger.

You can do this, Haven.

Be that brave explorer’s equally brave wife you pretended to be when you were five.

Except this time, the man at your side isn’t protecting you from ferocious jungle beasts and hungry, hungry cannibals.

He’s trying to annihilate you.

I trot up the steps, pausing just long enough in the doorway for my eyes to adjust to the gloom inside.

The manor they converted into the university’s main building is huge, but whoever built it wasn’t massively keen on windows. There’s an enormous gilded chandelier in the reception area, but it’s struggling to keep back the blurred shadows.

No black cats, and no Nora to greet me. The help desk is empty.

Luck is on my side this morning. Now that my curse has taken physical form by possessing Kai, it doesn’t need to mess with me in other, more subtle ways. As long as I keep an eye out for my tormentor, I should be able to avoid him until I’ve completed my mission.

Need to keep my eyes peeled for Professor Rooke, too. Last thing I want is a ‘I’m not angry, just disappointed’ look thrown my way.

Think of the Devil, and he will appear.

Professor Rooke is coming down the stairs, his satchel slung over one shoulder, his phone in his hand. There’s a deep frown on his face, like he doesn’t like what he’s looking at.

Oh, God. If he spots me, he’s going to chew me out for missing his lesson.

I don’t need that.

My bravery is already evaporating now that I’m inside these halls.

Run, Haven.

Fucking run.