Chapter 1

*** Authors note: Content Warning - this story contains scenes that some people may find uncomfortable. These include sex, drug use, violence, torture, mention of rape (no actual rape scenes). This is a dark romance. *** 

1.

"If you could pinpoint the exact moment your mental barriers broke, would you stick a plaster over the hole... or let the crazy seep out?" Dylan whispered.

Caleb moved his ear away from the wooden door and turned to Dylan, taking in the lad's wide eyes and crazed smile. Last Tuesday the school had assigned him to Caleb after he transferred, probably hoping the boy's intelligent politeness and 'stand-up behaviour' would rub off onto Caleb. So far, all Caleb had picked up were tips on better methods to hide his delinquency.

The pair huddled on the floor outside the teacher's office, listening to the teachers discussing his family. It was all Caleb could do not to burst in there and bust-up their smug little faces. If Dylan hadn't been there, he might have. 

As he rocked back and forth, doing his best to suppress the urge, he felt Dylan's hand over his own, staying him. "If you storm in, they win."

Caleb, although his instincts were screaming at him to rage, knew Dylan was right. He steadied his ragged breathing and put his ear back to the door, trying to figure out which of those vile witches was the one causing trouble for his family.

"Those poor children," he faintly heard one of them sigh. She sounded old, so Caleb figured it was Mrs Rodgers. "If they had a decent start in life, maybe the oldest wouldn't be in prison right now."

"I blame their junkie of a Mum," a brassy, high pitch voice agreed. "I've reported that woman to the social so many times, but do they ever listen?"

"Miss Simmons," Caleb hissed through gritted teeth. "I knew it."

He shifted away from the door, having gathered the intel he needed. Dylan followed suit, having no interest of his own in the teacher's natterings.

"That bitch," Caleb seethed.

"Calm down," Dylan advised gently, placing his hands on Caleb's upper arms. He looked into Caleb's eyes with such intensity that Caleb let out a small giggle, despite his foul mood. "You've had dealings with this woman before?"

"Hmm," Caleb nodded. "She's one of those upper-middle-class snobs who thinks her kids are too good to hang around with my scumbag family, but I've seen her precious son snorting coke off the mirror in my living room."

"Okay," Dylan said, dropping his hands and pacing the corridor. Caleb knew from experience what this meant. He was formulating a plan. 

Caleb leaned back against the lockers and let him do his thing. The kid was smart. Book-smart, as opposed to street-smart. Yet, his smarts did lend over to the world of crime.

"Miss Simmons' son... is he clean now your brother is out of the picture?" 

"Yeah, right," Caleb snorted. "He's been buying drugs off me since Wayne went down. Imagine if Miss Simmons knew about that, she'd blow her top."

"Where are you? On the supply chain, I mean?" 

"Just a runner," Caleb shrugged. "I buy off a bloke called Scotty."

He watched Dylan's face darken as the cogs turned. Somehow, he knew what the lad was thinking.

"Don't go getting any ideas of grandeur. This bloke also deals guns, and we're just a couple of school kids," Caleb warned.

"Oh, please. Like any of these criminal types are a match for me," Dylan teased with a smile.

Caleb could never tell if he was being serious or joking. He had to be joking about his, surely. He couldn't genuinely be considering going head-to-head with bonafide criminals. Even putting the obvious danger aside, what would be the point? There were easier ways for smart guys like Dylan to earn money. Just last week he'd made thousands in bitcoin transactions.

"Can we just focus on Miss Simmons?" Caleb pleaded. "I need to take that bitch down."

"Oh, Caleb, Caleb, Caleb," Dylan smiled, draping an arm around his shoulders. "I'm way ahead of you."

As they continued down the corridor, making their way to the exit, Caleb shook himself free from Dylan's arm.

"Aww, are you scared of looking gay?" Dylan teased.

"No," Caleb scoffed. "But I do like getting laid."

"What about those?" Dylan said through the side of his mouth. Caleb followed his gaze to the group of girls gathered just outside the girls' toilet. Why they always met in such an unfortunate place, Caleb would never understand, but at least it didn't give off the faint but unmistakable whiff of urine like the boys' toilets.

"Those are the popular girls," Caleb rolled his eyes.

Krissie Henderson, Alice Ryder and Carla Deacon. The queen bitches of the school. 

Alice's brother, Eddison, was also a customer of Wayne's, and like Miss Simmons, she blamed Wayne for her brother's addiction. Wayne, though, had a different theory about the origin of Eddison's addiction, and the cause was closer to home. 

In most cases, the cause of addiction was traceable to some trauma or damage, or so Dylan had explained, but then, Dylan was obsessed with the effects of past trauma.

'Maybe that's why he's stuck with you thus far,' the cynical part of his brain piped up. 'You've got trauma for days.'

Caleb shook his head, dislodging the thought. He didn't want to focus on his past traumas as much as Dylan encouraged him.

"New kid," Alice smiled, stepping out into the corridor in their path, blocking the exit. "You know, you don't have to cling to that scumbag just because the school assigned him to show you around. There are other, more appropriate groups."

Caleb stiffened at the word 'scumbag', balling his fists and tightening his muscles. The group of popular boys approaching did the same, preparing for a fight they had to know they would lose. They always lost, hence the reason the school's Populus knew them as the 'popular kids' and not the 'hard kids.'

His gang were probably outside smoking already but were bound to be on the scene within seconds if a fight did break out, sniffing out violence and trouble with the keen vigour of bloodhounds. Not that he needed their help to mess up the three lads currently eyeballing him.

Dylan raised a hand and placed it on Caleb's chest, gently pushing him back while flashing one of his signature looks. A look that said, 'I got this.'

Caleb relaxed his stance and stepped back as Dylan walked up to Alice.

"Wow, that's a nice offer, but I've been into the school's system and seen all of your IQ test results. I mean, it's slim pickings. I was lucky to find one other person close to my level."

"Are you saying Caleb's actually a genius?" Krissie asked and laughed. 

"Maybe he's like rain man," Alice piped up.

Caleb wanted to kill her. Grab her by her dumb skinny neck and squeeze the life out of her. As he imagined the life fading from her eyes, a memory popped up as clear as day. 

His brothers faded red notebook with all his dealings and the name 'Eddison Ryder' with the number -600 scrawled in his brother's handwriting. Caleb remembered glancing down at it, wondering why he couldn't have a cool sounding name like Eddison Ryder. Caleb Spencer didn't have the same ring.

"Your brother got the six hundred quid he owes my brother?" Caleb asked, keeping his tone calm and relaxed. He spoke slowly, observing the way she blinked and swallowed before summoning a response.

"Just stay away from my family," she warned, narrowing her eyes. "Eddison doesn't need your shitty drugs. He's been to rehab."

"Oh," Caleb laughed. "I guess that's why he hasn't been begging me for more H on tick in a while. You know, one time he offered to blow me for a ten bag."

This revelation caused Dylan to chuckle, and everyone else to stare in open-mouthed disbelief.

"You're lying!" Alice screamed. 

The other lads approached warily, asking Alice if she was okay. 

She ignored them.

"That never happened. You're lying," Alice insisted.

Caleb shrugged and sucked his teeth. He didn't particularly care if she believed it or not. It had happened. At the time Caleb had found the offer so amusing he'd let Eddison have the bag for free. What was one more tenner on top of what he already owed?

"My brother isn't gay," Alice added, a tad defensively.

Caleb figured Eddison was gay, after some of the stories his brother had told him but wasn't about to out him. That was a real dick move, even for a guy like Caleb.

"Wayne sold your brothers debt to Caleb, and unlike Wayne, we know how to work out interest rates. Tick tock, tick tock," Dylan piped up, tapping his finger against an imaginary wristwatch. It was a blatant lie, but Caleb smiled, nodding gently. Whatever Dylan was planning, he was happy to go along with it.

The look on Alice's face was worth it. He glimpsed the seething rage that rippled beneath her mask of decorum, taking satisfaction in the knowledge they had gotten under her skin.

With no further argument to offer, Alice spun on her heels so fast her long hair almost whipped Caleb in the eye.

Her little gang of 'populars' followed like sheep, flashing back angry glances as they exited, the boys holding the doors wide for the school's self-appointed princesses.

"If I come up with a plan to make her your slave, will you let me fuck her?" Dylan asked.

"Huh?" Caleb frowned. "If you wanted to fuck her, why didn't you just take her up on her offer and hang out with them?"

"Eww, no, I don't want to have to talk to her or pretend to like her until she deems to grace me with some shitty vanilla sex. I wanna fuck her up," Dylan said. He spoke the words 'vanilla sex' with a shudder of disgust, giving Caleb cause to wonder what kind of sex he did want. It wouldn't be too surprising to learn Dylan liked it rough and involving whips and chains. If he'd learned anything about Dylan's inner workings over these past few weeks, it was the way he liked to make other people squirm.

"Whatever," Caleb shrugged. "I don't care what you do to her."