Page 25 of Triumphant Kings (Boys Of Kingston Academy #3)

Preston

“ W ould you shut the fuck up?” I groan, tossing one of the couch pillows at Grayson. “I swear to god if you give any more details, I’m going to stab you.”

“You're just jealous.” Grayson grins.

“I think it’s bullshit she’s just down the hall from you. We should convince her to move back into her place on campus, that way we all have an equal chance for time with her.”

“Don’t even start.” Grayson leans back into his chair, tossing his feet over the side of the chair. “You’re living with Boy Wonder over there.” He tosses his hand in Declan’s direction.

“I am not.” I glare at him, then glance over at Declan. His cheeks turn an adorable shade of pink, and now all I can think about is making them redder as I whisper dirty things in his ear while fucking his ass until he’s cumming all over his stomach.

“Really?” Grayson asks, looking between the two of us before landing on me. “When was the last time you’ve been home?” He raises a brow.

My glare doesn’t falter as I say nothing. He is right, though. I’ve been spending more nights in Declan’s dorm room than at my house.

Mostly it’s because I want to be near him. This thing between us is new and exciting. I’ve missed out on a lot already, and I’ve promised I wasn’t going to run. This is me not running.

From him at least.

Can’t say the same thing about the very big problems that are still in my life. My father, the bitch he’s trying to make me marry, and while my mom hasn’t been as much of an issue, I’d still like to avoid her as much as I can, too.

Why go home when everyone I want to be around isn’t there?

Dad has been blowing up my phone, and there’s only so long I can avoid him before he decides to come find me himself. And if he does that, I know I’ll have some pretty new bruises to replace the ones that have healed.

“Case in point, P-man.” Grayson winks.

“Whatever. Fuck you. Still, stop giving details of how Sadie cums around your cock, okay? We have our own firsthand experiences that are a million times hotter than yours.”

“If it helps you sleep at night to think that, sure.” Grayson chuckles.

Sometimes I really hate this guy and would kick his ass if it wouldn’t piss Sadie off. Sadly, I’m stuck with the fucker.

“Where’s Preston!?” A voice shouts. Brows furrowing, I get to my feet, ready to go out into the main part of the Host Club room to see what's going on, when I nearly crash into Emma.

“Woah. Where’s the fire?” I’m trying for a joke.

I know, unlike me, but hey, I’m trying, okay?

But my gut sinks when I see the look on her face.

Her eyes are red, wild, and panicked with tear tracks staining her face, fresh ones taking their place when she blinks. “What’s wrong?” I demand, on guard.

“It’s Sadie,” she says on a sob.

I feel my stomach fall out of my ass. “Where is she?” I demand.

“Women’s bathroom, the one just down the hall.” Pure terror fills my veins, and I’m pushing past her when she grabs my arms. “Wait!”

“Let me go,” I snap.

“Emma, what happened to Sadie?” Grayson demands.

“Look, you need to know before you go in there, okay?”

“Know what?” Delcan asks.

“I swear to god, Emma, if you don’t let me go right now, I’m going to force you to.”

“Listen to me!” she shouts.

Ignoring her, I shake out of her hold and take off out of the Host Club room and down the hallway towards the bathroom, Grayson and Declan hot on my heels.

A million different scenarios swim through my head, each worse than the last. It’s not until we reach the bathroom, a crowd of people surrounding it, that I really start to lose it.

“Get the fuck out of my way!” I roar, pushing people out of my way in a panic, not giving a fuck if I hurt anyone or not. I need to get to Sadie, I need to make sure she's okay.

The sounds of people crying are the first thing that I hear when I get inside the bathroom. My eyes dart around the room before landing on something that has my whole world turning upside down.

Flashes of the time I found Sadie in the tower, passed out in her own puke, hardly breathing, face pale. Lifeless.

“Sadie.” Her name comes out choked as my whole soul shatters.

Stumbling over to her, I drop to my knees and pull her off Mia’s lap and into mine.

“Sadie, baby, wake up.” I tap her cold, clammy cheek.

She doesn’t stir. “What the fuck happened?!” I shout, making her friends jump.

I should feel bad, they’re crying too. But I don’t.

I need to know what the fuck is going on.

“W-we were walking to lunch when Tina s-started making mean comments to Sadie,” Mia answers, stumbling over her words as she continues to cry.

“She was saying nasty things to Sadie like she always does. But this time it was bad. Sadie looked like she was going to be sick and took off to the bathroom. She started puking and she just wouldn’t stop,” Alice says, breaking into sobs at the end of her sentence.

“Fuck,” I choke out, cupping her face. “I’m going to kill her,” I growl low, a promise I feel with every ounce of my soul.

“She just kept puking, even when there wasn’t anything left, until she passed out,” Mia cries. “We tried to help. I swear.”

“Shut up,” I whisper, not taking my eyes off my girl. “Shut up.”

My fingers tremble as I brush her sweaty hair off her forehead. She looks so fragile, so weak. I fucking hate it.

I’m so fucking done with others hurting the people I love.

“Kitten. Baby. You need to wake up. Please.” I’ve never sounded so desperate in my life.

But I don’t care. I just need her to open her beautiful blue eyes.

“Don’t leave me, baby. I need you. I just got you back.

You said you wouldn’t leave me. You promised.

” I’m crying now, tears spilling down my cheeks.

Grayson and Declan are shouting, demanding to get inside to see Sadie, when I see EMTs enter the bathroom.

They kneel down next to me, asking Sadie’s friends what happened.

I ignore them as I focus on my girl, brushing my thumb back and forth over her cheekbone the way I know she likes it when we’re cuddled in bed and the world around us is peaceful.

Right now, the world is in chaos, and I need it to stop.

“We’ll take it from here,” the female EMT says. She goes to reach for Sadie, but my hold tightens on my girl.

“Don’t fucking touch her,” I growl, eyes wild and lethal. I’m three seconds away from losing my fucking shit right now.

“We need to help her. You want her to get help, right? You want her to be okay, don’t you?”

My eyes drop to Sadie. “Yes,” I whisper.

When she goes to take Sadie again, this time, I let her. And it feels like she’s ripping my soul clean out of my body.

They work fast, checking her over before lifting her onto a stretcher.

I’m on my feet and following them out the door, only stopping when Collin steps in front of me.

“Don’t you even fucking try to stop me from going with her,” I snarl in his face.

He leans down in mine. “Only one person is allowed to go with her. And that's me.”

“No,” I snap.

“Yes. Legally, I'm her husband. I know you don’t like that, but it’s how it’s going to be right now. Call a town car, because you're in no shape to be driving.”

“I fucking hate you,” my voice breaks, trying not to break down into a fucking mess right now.

“I know you do. And I’m sorry. But I love you anyway. She’s going to be okay.”

“How do you know?!” I shout.

“Because she always is.” There’s something he knows that I don’t, and I fucking want to know what that is. He turns to his mom, who’s standing near us. “Tina is to be expelled today. She will not be at this school when Sadie comes back. Don’t fight me on this, Mom. I won’t back down.”

“I know,” Carol whispers, tears filling her eyes. “I know.”

Collin looks at me again. “I have her, brother.” He puts his hand on my shoulder. “She’s going to be okay.”

I watch him run after the EMTs as they bring her out of the school. I’m about to take off after him when Grayson and Declan come running over to me. “What happened to her?” Declan asks.

“Fucking cops wouldn’t let us past,” Grayson growls. “As soon as we went to follow after, they grabbed us and told everyone to get back.”

“She puked until she passed out,” I say numbly, looking at the crowd of people until I find her friends standing nearby, crying.

“What!?” Grayson growls. “Why? Fuck. Fuck! We have to go after them.”

“We will,” I say, eyes still on her friends. “First, we need answers.”

I stomp towards her friends, stopping when I am in front of them. “Start talking,” I demand, their frightened eyes on me.

They tell me everything. How Sadie has been downplaying the bullying Tina has done because she didn’t want to worry us, or stress us out.

How she wanted to just enjoy the good we had and didn’t want Tina to have any more of her happiness, and she thought if she could ignore her long enough, she would go away.

They also mention how Sadie hasn’t been eating much, and they have been worried she was going to start having another eating disorder.

“Hold up. What the fuck are you talking about? What eating disorder?"

“Oh, shit,” Mia whispers, eyes widening. “You don’t know? She didn’t tell you?”

“Tell us what?” Grayson demands.

Emma bites her lips together and shakes her head. “You can yell at us all you want, but that’s something Sadie needs to tell you herself.”

“Wait....” I pause as everything runs through my mind, and things slowly start to click into place. “Is that what happened a few years ago? When she was out sick for a while?”

The girls look at one another, not saying a thing, but their silence says it all.

“Fuck!” I roar, punching my fist into the wall. Pain shoots up my arm, but I don’t care, I’m too worked up, too pissed off.

“What we can tell you is that Tina is the reason for everything,” Mia says softly.

“Sadie was fine until Tina started messing with her back then. Then things started getting worse. It got better for a while after you guys came to the college side of Kingston, but then once she made that deal with you guys, she was on Tina’s radar again. ”

I knew Tina was giving her a hard time. I thought I put an end to that. Clearly, I was fucking wrong.

I’m done. I’m more than fucking done with this stupid bitch and her fucked up ways.

Spinning around on my heel, I storm down the hall, vibrating with pure murder. If I had a gun on me right now, I don’t think I could stop myself from pressing it between her eyes and pulling the trigger without an ounce of remorse.

Shoving the lunchroom doors open, I find her sitting at her regular table.

She’s with her friends. Not giving a damn that she’s a heartless bitch who is ruining people's lives as she tosses her head back and laughs without a fucking care in the world.

Fuck that. And fuck her. “Tina!” My voice booms through the room, and everything goes silent.

I’m over to the table in seconds. “Hi, baby.” She smiles up at me, and it takes everything in me not to puke all over her vile face.

“Don’t you fucking ‘baby’ me,” I snarl, leaning down until I’m an inch from her face. “Listen to me, and listen to me fucking good, Tina.” My voice is a deadly warning. “You’re fucking done. Do you hear me? In my life, at this school, all of it. It’s over.”

“What are you talking about?” she frowns.

“I hate you,” I growl, whole body vibrating as I grab her by the shirt and yank her to her feet.

She shouts, real fear in her eyes now. Good. She better be afraid. “Preston, let me go!”

“You are nothing to me. Do you hear me? Nothing. I was never going to marry you. I’d rather drink bleach than spend even another moment in your presence.

You’ve gone too far, Tina, and now you can’t come back from this.

I will ruin your life. The Taylors, Killians, and Harris will bring you and your family down.

You fucked with the wrong people one too many times, and none of us care about doing this quietly now.

You fucked with our girl, and now you’re going to pay. ”

“You don’t know what you're doing.” Tina is breathing heavily now. She’s angry, trying to act tough, but I can see the panic in her eyes. “This isn’t going to go how you think it will. Your dad–”

“My dad can eat shit and die for all I fucking care. He’s dead to me and is done controlling my life. You have no power over me. No one does anymore. Because it’s not just me you’re up against.”

“You're willing to risk everything for that whore?” Tina spits, and her back is slammed down against the table hard the next second, taking her breath away.

“The only fucking whore around here is you!” I shout.

“Sadie is a million times better than you will ever be. You’re not even on the same fucking planet as her.

And if you even think about fucking with her again–” I lean in close so only she hears me.

“I will kill you, and I’ll take your life with a smile on my face. ”

Stepping back, I leave her lying on the table with a horrified look on her face. Good, let’s hope she got the message because I plan on keeping that promise if she even thinks about going against me.

“Sadie Killian is mine, as well as Declan Harris. Mess with them and you mess with me. Do you all fucking hear me?!” I shout at the whole lunchroom. “If anyone fucks with them, I will come after you. I’m fucking done with this school and its bullshit!”

Storming out of the room, I leave them to whisper and gossip, something they’re best at.

I’m a man on a mission, and no one else is getting in my way. I’m going to see my girl and get some answers. But first, I just need to hear it with my own ears that she’s going to be okay. If she’s not, I don’t even want to think about what that's going to do to me.

I told myself not to love anyone, that it was only going to cause heartbreak and pain in the end. But loving Sadie and Declan was never an option; it was inevitable.

They changed my life irrevocably, and there's no going back.

“Come on,” I tell Declan and Grayson when I reach them, slipping Declan’s hand into mine as I go. They’re quick to get in step. “Let’s go see our girl.”