Hate So Good: A High School Bully Romance (The Hate Series Book 2) Nina Lincoln (latest novels to read TXT) 📖

my heart thumping hard in my chest at the pained remembrance of one of the many lies Colt uttered in an attempt to keep his game going.

After a dispute over his attitude toward relationships and love in general, he told me in a rare moment of vulnerability that I was the light to his darkness, insisting he needed that light.

And I stupidly accepted his casual insistence that he liked me when he all but shoved the fact that he didn’t plan to get attached down my throat. More fool I. It was all bullshit, as it turns out, but it made me soft and pliable at the time.

With a grimace, I settle into the lesson and concentrate on the teacher's words, all in an effort to block out the past that continues to haunt me.

After, I sail through three more classes, all of which, maddeningly Colt managed to get in, although luckily these all have assigned seating, and to his frustration, the teachers won't budge.

At lunch, I’m expecting it, some sick part of me craving it, so I show no surprise when he corners me, backing me into a wall while students sail past on the tide heading for the cafeteria.

Leaning my head against the wall, I wait for him to speak, my pulse picking up when he presses his arm against the wall by my head, and I’m reminded of the last time I was in this situation.

Ben Johnson, one of Colt's former friends - I thought - who knows now, cornered me after Colt beat the shit out of him. It came after Colt’s game to see me make a fool of myself, setting me up to take a fall by convincing me if I got the goods from a boy at Academy, he’d make the reign of terror at his hands go away.

Of course, as it turns out, he didn’t need the information. It was all a bid to make me look like the rich bitch whore willing to fuck my way into the information he sought. Except, I wasn't a willing participant and barely made it out after Buck tried to force me, and Ben stood outside the door and watched, holding the door closed against my efforts to escape.

It turns out, Colt didn’t appreciate Ben’s lack of intervention and made sure he understood the error of his ways. After which, Ben was sent to South, where I ended up a few weeks later, and of course, he tried to take his rage out on me. I only escaped when Hayden came along, but it was a near miss.

Interestingly, I’m not sure that even Buck wasn't in on Colt’s shenanigans because, as it turns out, he’s Colt’s half-brother.

So much of the mystery left to unravel, should I care to find out. I’ve still got a bone to pick with Buck and perhaps those who participated in the venture to scare me by way of my stalker. After all, we’ve established they have no rules when it comes to me.

Why should I play nice?

Colt pulls me back to the present when he grabs my chin and forces me to gaze into his angry eyes. “You made a mistake, Princess, a big mistake.”

He’s stroking my jaw, and it's distracting because his hand is warm, his fingers rough, but I try to focus on the topic at hand, my revenge, and his big reveal. “Perhaps it's you who made a mistake, Colt. Maybe you shouldn't have messed with me, to begin with.”

He smiles cruelly, running his finger over my bottom lip, “No, Baby, you don't understand, you started something you can't finish.”

“No, Colt,” I say, batting his hand away with a shiver, fuck me, but my body’s on fire at the prospect of what he might do with that damn finger. Jerk.

“You made a mistake. You started this. The depths to which you are willing to sink are fucking disgusting. Did you think I wouldn’t figure it out? You’re lucky I didn’t call the fucking cops. That was only because I like your mom.”

“Cops? What the fuck are you talking about?” he growls, his brows arching over his eyes.

“The dolls, dick. The notes. The fucking note sitting on my pillow while I slept! You fucking tortured me into believing someone was breaking into my home and threatening me. I mean, is there no level to which you won't sink?”

His face falls at the mention of the dolls, and my chest tightens with anger and hurt all over again. Somehow, amongst all the shit he threw my way, including making me think he liked me just to move on to Sarah, the stalker shit hurts most of all. I literally feared for my life and refused to sleep in my bed for weeks after, and he played right along with me, pretending concern, even going so far as to bring a doll supposedly left at his house, posing as a threat to him because of me.

I mean diabolical shit. Right?

“News flash, Finn, yes, I put a couple of dolls on your desk because it was funny, but I didn’t leave any fucking notes, and I didn’t kill a fucking bird and leave it in a box. That shit isn’t funny,” he says, incredulously.

“Right!” I scoff, “As if I’m gonna believe a single word that comes out of your mouth. You’re a fucking psychopath with an ax to grind. Fine, I get it, you hate me. For reasons I suspect I'll never understand. But you drew the fucking line with the notes, Colt and I responded in kind. Leave me the fuck alone, and maybe we can move on.”

Caressing my chin, he smirks, and it’s the curl of his lip I love to hate or hate to love, I guess. Shit, but Colt’s burrowed so far under my skin I still yearn for his touch, and he fucking broke my heart.

“Oh no, Finn. This isn’t over until I get my pound of fucking flesh. You think you can air my family’s