Tiny Dark Deeds: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Court Legacy Book 3)

Sloane

My night was filled with tubs of rocky road ice cream, a completely cringe chick flick or four, and Rainbow Reed’s spritely laughter. I had really missed her, busy with what seemed like so many other things, and there was nothing like being in Bow’s light. She had an optimistic viewpoint of the world I’d all but been forced to shy away from lately, and though she’d had her own struggles today, she still remained positive. I’d had every intention of bringing up what had happened today at lunch with her again, but in the end, I chose positivity too, and did have a good night. Bow had actually fallen asleep right around the time we started the slasher flick I wanted, but I didn’t wake her up and give her a hard time about it.

I merely covered her up with a blanket. She’d fallen asleep on my bed and her doing that made me sleepy too. It’d been a long day for me as well. Before I turned in too, I decided to clean up my room, and as I was disposing our tubs of rocky road in the kitchen, I spotted Ares.

He was sneaking out.

I actually spotted him swiping his phone off the kitchen counter before easing his way through the dark toward the back door. I flicked the light on before he could, and he cursed.

“What are you doing?” I asked, and he closed the door, brushing past me to flick off the light.

“Keep your voice down,” he growled, but didn’t answer my question. He was obviously going out, had his coat on. He shot his thumb toward the door. “I’m just going out for a bit. I’ll be back.”

Yeah, that wasn’t a good enough explanation, and I stood there while he rolled his eyes.

“Seriously, it’s not a big deal, little. Go back to bed and don’t wake Mom. She had a late night tonight.”

Brielle had ended up wrapping up her duties at Windsor Prep early to head back into the mayor’s office. She’d already pulled a couple late nights this week, but that was okay. I didn’t mind.

I also had no intention of waking her up, but I wasn’t going to let Ares just walk out of here with no explanation. Not to mention, he knew we weren’t supposed to be sneaking around. I flicked on the light again, and when I did, Ares just about lost his shit. He shut the light off over me, and I cut in front of the door.

“If it’s not a big deal, why are you sneaking out?” I asked, basically being that sibling. Ramses and Brielle didn’t need the stress, and though we weren’t restricted from leaving, they did like to know where we went if we did.

If Ares was sneaking out, he didn’t want them to know something, and that didn’t sit well.

Ares weaved his fingers through his hair. “I’m just going to pick up Wells with the guys.”

“Pick him up where?”

“Little…” He said this but laughed a little, hushed, low. He held his curls out of his face. “Fuck almighty, how are you already making me miss being an only child?”

Socking him for that one, I didn’t stop, and he blocked himself, mock pouting.

“If you must know, Wells has been arrested,” he said, skirting away from me, but he didn’t have to. I stopped punching him all on my fucking own. Especially since he was so nonchalant about what he said. He lifted his hands. “Don’t freak. It’s really not a big deal.”

“How is that not a big fucking deal?” I whisper-shouted, and he shushed me. “What the hell happened? Is he okay?”

Ares patted the air. “He will be if you let us fucking go get him. D and Thatcher are out in my truck. I forgot my phone, which is why I came back inside, and you holding us up more isn’t helping the situation.”

His tone turned serious, and his next move was to head toward that door again.

I grabbed my coat.

“The fuck you think you’re—”

“I’m going,” I shot, cutting around him, and he groaned at a volume where anyone else in a decent radius would have heard him. I only hoped Ramses wasn’t working late in his studio tonight.

With me in front of him, Ares had no choice but to follow me, and I finished putting on my coat while he trailed behind me.

“Little,” he started, but I was already at his tank of a ride, the thing humming outside the garage. I spotted the dark prince in the front seat, but before he could get out into the chilled area, I was making my way into the back.

“Uh,” Dorian started before cutting a look at Ares who was also getting in the ride. My twin took the driver’s side. Dorian frowned at him, then me. “What’s going on?”

I tucked myself in next to Thatcher who took up a good portion of the back. The boy was a man-beast, big in the sense where he was both muscular and tall, so that didn’t leave for much room in the back. Upon seeing me, he just about dropped his phone. His lips turned down. “What are you doing? I thought you were hanging out with Bow tonight.”

“I am.” I closed the door, then strapped in. “She’s upstairs sleeping and won’t miss me. I’m going with you guys.”

Dorian’s frown deepened. “Since when?” His tone was curious more than anything. He swung a look to Ares. “You tell her we were going to get Wells?”

“Nah, man. At least not by choice. She just fucking accosted me in the kitchen and bled that shit out of me,” Ares huffed, and Thatcher barked a laugh back here with me.

“Of course, she did,” he said, returning to his phone. His thumbs dashed across his screen. “She’s you but with a vagina.”

A punch from Ares, and more than one from Dorian who just about climbed in the back seat with us. I literally thought the dark prince was going to climb over the center console, half his body in the back seat, before he finished with Thatcher.

“Shit, man. What the fuck?” Thatcher gritted when Dorian slapped a final hand against the side of his head. Thatcher basically looked like he’d been mauled by a tiger at this point, his dark hair askew, his face flushed. “The fuck? It’s true!”

Dorian raised another fist, but this time, I punched Thatcher. I got him so quick and hard the large boy actually rubbed his arm after.

He grinned at me. “You really are Wolf’s sister.”

“Shut the fuck up, bro.” Ares’s head touched his seat, his eyes to the ceiling. “Anyway, yes, I told her Wells was arrested. She wants to come, but this truck isn’t moving until you get out of it, little.” Ares turned in his seat. “You don’t need to complicate things. We got this handled.”

“How so?”

“You don’t need to worry about it. Just know we got this.”

This sentiment seemed to be shared by Thatcher, who nodded, but Dorian still had a well-placed frown on his lips. I expected for him to state the same, but when he strapped in and told Ares to get driving, he had everyone darting a look up front.

“We do have it handled, so it won’t be a big deal if she comes,” he said, flooring me and everyone else in the truck. He waved them off. “We’re wasting time. We need to go, so are we?”

Ares still had his head angled in Dorian’s direction, but with a huff, he put his Hummer into gear. Next thing I knew, we were on the road, and I was still at a loss for words.

He was letting me go?

I thought, out of everyone, he might fight my decision the most. We hadn’t even had a full conversation since that day in my bedroom.

When you kicked him out.

I’d had good reason, always a thing between him and me and that stuff he said… about me being manipulated by his grandpa…

I hadn’t liked a lot of what he’d shared that night. Especially when I found out Callum had threatened Dorian’s mom. I didn’t think the dark prince was lying to me about that, but there could have been a miscommunication with his grandpa or something else.

I hated I even had to question that.

But I did, and it was because Dorian always ran hot. He blew his top at the littlest things, and sometimes, only saw things the way he wanted to see them. He’d shown me this more than once with miscommunications with me.

The whole situation made me sick, and when he’d gone into details about that night he had poisoned his grandpa, the sickness had only worsened. He’d really felt he had to do it, and what that had done to him made my stomach turn.

He thinks he’s a monster.

Our gazes clashed through the side-view mirror, and I nearly forgot why we were both here until Ares huffed beside him.

“If Mom and Dad find out I snuck out and took you with me, they will literally light my ass up,” Ares ground out, his Hummer cutting through the slush and snow. It hadn’t snowed for a few days, and we might not even see a white Christmas this year with how quick it was melting. He studied me through the rearview mirror. “There’s really no reason you need to be coming with us to do this.”

“And what exactly are you doing?” I asked, the truck suddenly silent. “And why in the hell was Wells arrested?”

This day just kept getting weirder and weirder, and none of these boys seemed to want to say anything about it. Surprisingly enough, the dark prince turned in his seat, and when our eyes connected, it always hit me in a certain way. It made my body flutter, made me weak. My mouth closed, and he sighed.

“He hit someone.” Dorian scanned the others. “Assault.”

The fuck?

“He’s in the next county, but Ares knows someone on the force who will let us take care of Wells’s bail without getting his parents involved.”

Right. Because he’s a minor, and they’d normally call them. “Who did Wells hit?”

The boys were silent again, and Thatcher’s jaw clicked. I thought he’d say something, but Dorian, once again, did first.

“He just stepped out of line and did the wrong thing,” Dorian started, and Thatcher scoffed.

“Fucker deserved that shit, D,” Thatcher growled, and Dorian frowned. Thatcher tipped his chin up front. “Asshole got lucky tonight. It could have been me who hit him, and best believe I wouldn’t have stopped at a broken jaw.”

My jaw dropped. “He broke someone’s jaw?”

Thatcher’s tongue came out, the dual crosses in his ears dangling. “Yeah, he did. Wish I could have been there and seen that shit.”

Jesus Christ.

Both Dorian and Ares shot Thatcher a look that popped his tongue back into his mouth. Whatever was going on tonight definitely didn’t sit as well with Dorian and Ares as it did Thatcher.

“It didn’t have to come to that,” Dorian continued, his expression grave. “He knows that, and all tonight did was get his ass arrested.”

“Are you guys going to tell me who he hit?” I was between the seats at this point and just got a bunch of averted eyes. “Come on. I’m here to help—”

“Actually, you’re not here to help, and if you want to be here and not back at the house, you’ll just let us do our thing.” There was nothing playful about Ares’s tone, and normally, I wouldn’t have let him talk to me like that, but he did have control of the truck.

I sat back only because of that, watching as Thatcher went back to his phone, and Dorian proceeded to do what he normally did these days. I got casual glances through the side mirror instead of across the lunch table, and he was letting me be here.

He’d even fought for me to be.

*

The drive to the Corrington Meadows county police department was long and quiet. I didn’t ask any more questions because I knew they’d be shut down. These boys were being stubborn for some reason and remained tight-lipped all the way to the precinct. When we got there, Thatcher immediately stepped to get out, but both Dorian and Ares told him to sit with me. They apparently didn’t trust him not to do something stupid.

I had no idea what that meant, but it could have been his age. He was younger and tended to come off a little less responsible than the others. In any sense, it was Ares who had the contact inside, and while he and Dorian were away, Thatcher let me know how that came about. My twin brother had apparently fucked one of the cops, but to her credit, she hadn’t been a cop at the time. She’d been in college, and they were both at a party or some crap.

Even still, that shit made me thoroughly gag, and I’d try not to give Ares a hard time anymore about Dorian and me. It was fucking weird and just… ick. Anyway, sitting next to Thatcher, I moved my thoughts on to Wells, who I hoped was okay. I’d come to care about the joker, just like the rest of these boys. I knew right away when he was released because he flew from the precinct and yelled, “Freedom!” so loud in the parking lot he had cops coming back out of the precinct to check things out.

Dorian and Ares hit him on the head in response, all the boys in their thick winter coats. Wells was jumping up and down between Dorian and Ares when Thatcher and I got out of the running truck, and I’d never seen Wells so amped. He was like excited or some shit, and when Thatcher zoomed over and picked him up, swinging him around, he was even more so.

The two were a couple of characters, and I suppose always had been. My hands in my pockets, I stood there, my head shaking.

Thatcher dropped him, fake-punching at him before sliding his meaty arm around him. “You okay, man?”

“Yeah, bro, and you should have seen that shit tonight.” Wells locked his hand with his friend. “Dude’s nose exploded like a fucking gusher. It was awesome—” His smile wiped away when he saw me, and he let go of Thatcher’s hand. His dark eyebrows descended. “The fuck you doing here?”

Okay, so prison Wells wasn’t fun, and next thing I knew, he was stepping up on me.

“You’re supposed to be with Bow,” he gritted, and Dorian tugged him back by the jacket. I realized, at this point, Ares was tugging me. I must have looked like I’d been about to do something because he held on.

Dorian put a finger in Wells’s face. “Watch how you talk to her. You’re already on thin ice for not listening to us. You didn’t have to do that shit tonight, and you’re lucky Ares knows people in there.”

Dorian shoved Wells for good measure, but I didn’t need him fighting my battles for me.

“Whatever,” Wells said, and Ares came forward.

“Not whatever,” Ares cut in, his hands still on me, and I got why now. I was tugging to get up in Wells’s face for speaking to me the way he had. I’d come all the way here because I’d been worried about the asshole, and for what? This? Ares pushed his hair back. “You messed up. You lost your shit, and now, you’re running your mouth like a cocky son of a bitch. You continue to do that, and I’m gonna let her go and let you handle yourself while I watch.”

This made Dorian laugh and surprisingly me too. We noticed right away when we both did, and Dorian rubbed it away before facing Wells. He put a hand on Wells’s shoulder. “In all seriousness, you okay? They treat you all right in there?”

“I’m good.” He put his hands in his pockets, and apparently without the high of discussing carnage, his glee shifted. His eyes averted, and when he asked if we could leave, I wondered if he really was okay. I mean, he’d hit someone. What the fuck?

This, like other things today, didn’t seem like him, and though the others let him head toward the truck, I noticed Dorian speak to him first. The two remained outside while the rest of us got in. They stayed out there for quite a few moments before suddenly, Dorian pulled Wells in for a hug.

I didn’t know what to make of that, but seeing Dorian do this and how he always showed up for his friends, I definitely noticed.

He did the same thing with me.

If I needed him, the dark prince would always be there, always. He loved so hard.

Gazing away from the hugging brothers, I exchanged a glance between Ares and Thatcher. “So, is anyone going to tell me what happened tonight? Who Wells hit, and why he didn’t have to?” They’d all made it sound like he had an alternative.

Ares merely started his truck while Thatcher raised a hand.

“Doesn’t matter,” Thatcher said, glancing out the window, and when Wells got inside, Thatcher put his arm around him. He whispered something to Wells, and though I think he tried to keep it low, I heard it. I heard Thatcher tell his friend one single word…

He said thanks.