APRIL Each time I thought that Nick couldn’t possibly outdo himself, he proved me wrong. Even after all the amazing ways he’d had my back of late, realizing that he’d paid off my debt was the most flooring realization. I knew that he would go to endless lengths to make me happy, but I never thought anyone could spend thousands of dollars on me and keep quiet about it. He truly did it from a good place because anyone else would have flaunted it and held it over my head. The burden of being indebted to those loan sharks for years and being treated like a literal slave just so they could keep mooching of me was something that kept me up at night and had made me cry several times. The fact that he’d finally relieved me of it was literally the best thing anyone had ever done for me. When he said that he was now my family, he truly meant it, and he’d been proving it at every turn. However, when he admitted to being the one that had paid my debts, I wasn’t sure how to react. I just fel
APRILApril! April! The sound of my name being called from a distance made me shift in my sleep, wondering who dared to disturb me. “Wake the hell up, April! You need to see this!” the alarm in those words made me practically jump out of bed to find an awfully worried and pitiful look on Natalie’s face. “Wha… what’s wrong? Do you need something? What happened?” I rushed out, failing to see the cause for the alarm she’d raised. Natalie’s lips dropped open in horror and then she placed her phone right in my face before hitting a play button that was over a blank video. I frowned in confusion at first, but when the video buffered and began to play, I was shocked at what was staring right back at me. I opened my mouth to speak but it was too heavy and no words came out. My heart was drumming in my chest and I felt sweaty in all the wrong places. “No,” I muttered in disbelief under my breath before pinching my arm, praying to all the gods in existence that this was just a really bad
APRIL I couldn’t believe my ears. It was taking everything in me not to lose my balance while the hateful words abound.Some of those nasty comments were whispers, but most of them were said right in my face as I tried to maneuver through the crowd and each of them was a blow to my reputation that I knew could ever be reversed. But I tried my hardest to soldier on and keep a neutral expression until I was safely in the backseat of Nick’s car. “Baby,” he sighed once he got in and shut the door behind him, “I’m so so sorry my baby,” he sounded like he wished he could turn back the hands of time for me. And frankly, I knew that he would if it was possible. “I… why? I ju… there’s no… I don’t… it’s not…” I tried to speak but I ended up choking on my words and losing my train of thoughts each time. “Come here,” Nick pulled me into his arms and immediately my head made contact with his chest, the floodgates opened and I found myself wailing like a widowed woman who’d just lost the love
APRIL In the blink of an eye, it’d all gone to dust. My reputation had been dragged through the mud so brutally and it didn’t take a soothsayer for me know that the damage that had been done was beyond repair. Everyone had turned against me and I felt like dying each time I saw the influx of hateful and derogatory comments targeted at me on the school’s website. Usually my student profile was filled with people clamoring to be tutored by me, or they were gushing about the several trophies I’d bagged for Enigma college. But now? It was just a complete mess of degradation and heartless taunts. My heart shattered completely when I started to stumble across the provocative edits that were being made using clips from that strip video. The sexual comments from guys were crude and disgusting, while the slut shaming from ladies was harsher than being left to freeze to death on a winter night. The more I looked, the more new edits seemed to be popping out of the blue. It felt like someone
APRILIt was the strength I got from Nick’s encouragement that allowed me freshen up and decide to acknowledge the meeting. He made sure that there was a formal wear laid out smoothly on the bed when I stepped out of the bathroom, and when he noticed how weak and down in the dumps I was while I dressed up, he stepped in and helped me dress up faster so I didn’t get to the meeting late. If I was hoping to appeal to the judges on the disciplinary board, arriving on time wouldn’t hurt my chances of getting a light sentence. Luckily, there was no groping or sexual acts being flaunted on the screen so I hoped that would help my case. I knew how much they frowned on their students being openly sexual, so I thanked my stars that that’s the video that had been chosen. Trust me, with the way men used to go crazy over me at that strip club, there were much worse scenes where they repeatedly groped me or spilled cum on any parts of my body that was in their line of view when they jerked off
BROOKESince the very first moment I met Ace, I’ve always known he hated women. It was in the way he treated every woman around him, he never hid the fact that he didn’t give a fuck about any of them, including me of course. It’s not the best thing learn that about the man you’ll be shackled with for the rest of your life, but I decided somewhere along the line that I could tolerate it. I mean, all I needed to do was tell myself that his hatred for women meant he’d never develop feelings for anyone of them that would jeopardize this engagement that my mom valued more than my life and hers. And for a while, that sufficed and I was never jealous of the women that flocked around because he just used them for sex and never recalled their names, barely ever saw anyone twice. That was I felt like my position was somewhat secure. Well, until…He jerked off and came hard in the shower while repeatedly saying the name “April.” I’d felt so horrible, especially since he was just unable to ge
BROOKE News of April’s suspension reached me even before she was summoned by the school court. It was that easy to get information when your mother had countless school officials on her payroll that reported back to me. I’d also been able to watch the footage of the entire ruling process and I got to see how broken she looked when her punishment was read out, especially when she was told that she’d lost the presidential title. The pain in her eyes was raw, like she’d faced a destruction too much for her to stomach, and I couldn’t help but feel bad for her. After all the horrific and lewd comments I saw under the video I posted, I felt like I took things a notch too far. Ace wasn’t the kind of guy that anyone should suffer for, he was too much of an asshole for that, but I’d still caused her that much pain despite knowing that. And now, I was feeling guilty in all kinds of ways. But all it took for that guilt and pity to fade away was being reminded of the kind of mother I had and
NICKTears had been the order of the day since April returned from her meeting with the disciplinary committee. She walked out of the school court with dry eyes, but as I watched her from the parking lot where I was waiting, I could tell that she was using every last ounce of her strength to keep herself from crying while others were watching. My strong princess, I thought as she made it through without shedding a tear. But once the car door was shut behind her, she cried a river, and no matter how much I tried to console her, those tears didn’t dry for days on end. It hurt my heart and even my wolf so badly to see her in such pain, it made me wish that I could control time and somehow avoid this entire situation. I couldn’t just be a sitting duck, I tried every trick in my arsenal to get her some good news from school, but they were unwavering in their decision. While I knew it would be delusional to try and restore her position as president, I knew it wouldn’t hurt to try and r
APRIL Nick looked clearly wounded by my refusal to go with him and I hated that whenever I made a decision about the guys, someone always ended up hurt. However, I was making the right decision this time around, and while I hated that Nick was caught in the crossfires, I had to stay back and cater to the man who literally got caught in a firing for me two days ago. As much as I wanted to catch up on everything that happened between when the police barged into his home to arrest him and now, that wasn’t high up on my list of priorities until I was able to nurse Ace to health for saving my life even when I didn’t deserve it. So, for now, Ace’s full recovery was my main focus. But I couldn’t help how horrible I felt about Nick’s hurt expression that I was clearly responsible for. “I’m really sorry, Nick. I know this doesn’t make you feel good, but I think it’s best if I stay with Ace for now,” I apologized in a solemn and sincere tone.He stepped closer to me and leaned in, his feat
ACEI stirred slowly, gradually opening my eyes to find a head of flowing hair beside me that was buried in a copy of Pride and Prejudice.April’s pretty face was undoubtedly the best of sight to wake up to, especially after being unconscious for a quite a while. Even in my state of mind, I knew that I was constantly worrying if another bullet has hit her despite the one I’d taken, so it was a huge relief to see that she was hale and hearty.For a few beats, I was simply content with watching her, pleased that the bullet had hit me instead of taking the life of a woman whose beauty rivaled that of goddesses and renaissance paintings. “Is Darcy worth your attention more than I am even though I’m on a hospital bed?” I finally broke the silence. “You’re awake,” she turned to me with a huge smile on her face and was throwing her hands around me in a hug before I could process anything. But as quickly as her hands wrapped around me, she withdrew like my skin had burnt hers. It’s either
APRIL I’d been in the shower for a few minutes now, and my phone had rang countless times during that period. No one called me these days, so I always felt like doom was once again lurking close by whenever my phone rang. It would either be someone bringing me bad news or someone who’s more than eager to rain more insults on me since that’s all I got from people these days. I wasn’t eager to find out who was calling me, so I took my precious time in the shower and only stepped out when I was done with my twelve step bath routine and no sooner. When I headed to where my phone was on my bed, it started ringing again and I grabbed with the speed of lightning when I read the caller ID.The relief that hit me was instant and overwhelming and I had to pause for a second to realize how silly that was before I hit the answer button. “Ace, hi! How’re you doing?” I asked immediately, realizing how awfully worried I was about him even after my unpleasant run-in with his mom. “It’s his mothe
APRIL If I thought I was the connoisseur of bad luck before, now I was certain that I was the embodiment of evil luck. There’s no other reasonable way to explain the horrible things that befall everyone that was unfortunate enough to be around me. Ace, like his best friends, was now suffering for the sin of ever having his life intertwined with mine.He’d gotten in the way and taken a bullet that he didn’t deserve. It would’ve been best if I’d gotten shot and wiped out of their lives so that could finally experience good fortune instead of an endless streak of bad luck. Now, Ace was unconscious and in the Intensive Care Unit, and I heard his father yelling at the doctors to get his only son out of ‘that lousy coma’ before he burnt the hospital’s reputation to the ground and then he stormed off. I swallowed fearfully after watching that scene unfold, but I still gathered some courage and forced myself to walk to the nurse’s desk and make my presence known. “I’m here to see Ace Jac
APRILIn my next life, I’d either come as a monarch’s favorite tea cup, or not come at all. All because this life was started to feel far too gloomy and devastating to live through. If my first life was this tedious, why would I consent to another one? No bloody way. Aren’t you being a little too dramatic? came my subconscious’s snarky interruption. I wasn’t being a little too dramatic though. This wasn’t even adequate drama for someone who just came to terms with the fact that she’s a bad luck charm. Everyone around me always met their unfair share of tragic events, and once the bad luck dice started rolling, it wouldn’t stop until I was back to being deserted and alone. First, it was my father who died. Then, my mother who abandoned me right after and lost every ounce of motherly care for me. Then, every best friend I’ve ever had was cursed with a shitty love life until they moved on from me. And now, I’d single-handedly crushed a friendship that had been carved in stone from w
“Isn’t the prophecy already manifesting?” Those words echoed in the underground office that had been the secret meeting place of the three most influential and powerful Alphas in existence. There was an unsaid weight crushing on the shoulders of all three men as they processed that dreadful question.The prophecy which must not be repeated by the gods’ messenger who relayed it to them.That was the prophecy they were cursed with the responsibility of crushing to dust, and they’d been working tirelessly to achieve that for over a decade. That’s the reason why that question was a slap in the face to the two Alphas it was posed to. Alpha Bright, Nick’s beloved dad, turned to Alpha Jackson, Ace’s least favorite parent, who posed the question.“You called an impromptu meeting and made me fly several miles to get here, just to throw around odd speculations?” he frowned while Alpha Davenport snorted derisively beside him. “Odd speculations, you say?” Alpha Davenport laughed bitterly, “do
APRILI nodded obediently, biting down on my lower lip and looking down to drink in the beauty of him pumping in and out of me and the addictive hot slams that followed. Every moan, every kiss, every bite, every flirty eye contact, every lick and every stroke was mind blowing. It felt like our souls were synced and the pleasure made us a little crazier by the second. “You’re so responsive, so tight,” he tightened his grip that was now on my ass while my legs were locked behind his neck. I just moaned back my response and let myself float in bliss as he hit every stimulating spot in my core. He was buried so deep inside me and from the way he was throbbing uncontrollably right now, I knew that he was seconds away from exploding inside me. The thought of that made me clench around him, aiming to milk every last glorious inch of his cock. “Good girl,” he kissed me and held me so tightly to himself that we were breathing the same air. Then, he started to pound into me so recklessly
APRIL Every ounce of anger he was holding unto faded as he grabbed me.Now, his eyes were filled with vulnerability and all that rage from before was no where to be found. He looked like he was seconds away from breaking down completely at my feet.“Please don’t leave me, April,” he pleaded for dear life, “I’d hate to hold you here against your will, so please, stay with me of your own accord.”I looked away from him, unwilling to agree to his ask so easily. “Nick, we need some space away from each other, we really do. So, just let me go,” I sighed heavily, trying to gently pry my arm out of his grasp.He didn’t let me get away from him, because soon he had both hands gripping my arms and he nudged me so I was looking at him again. It was hard for me to hold his gaze because he was now looking at me like his entire world was crashing before him. Was I the reason his world was crumbling? I desperately hoped not, because I wasn’t worth it. “I’m so sorry, but I can’t respect that,” h
APRILWhen he reappeared in the living room minutes later, he was dressed in shorts, scenting of mint and grapes and I couldn’t even believe he was the same man that had beaten Xander like a mad man. The man smiling at me right now and ruffling a towel through his damp hair was nothing like that beast I’d encountered earlier. “April,” he breathed and threw the towel aside and blocked my path. The next thing I knew, his arms were enveloping me whole and he sniffed in my scent like he’d been dying to do that for far too long. I tried to step away from him but then he pulled away from the hug and started to inspect every corner of my skin worriedly. “Are you hurt anywhere? Did he harm you in any way? Were you restrained with chains at any point?” he asked as his hands continued to roam my body.Something snapped in me and I was suddenly enraged.“Really?” I let our a sarcastic laugh, “are you really going to pretend that you can’t bear to see a bruise on me after nearly killing your