Hate So Good: A High School Bully Romance (The Hate Series Book 2) by Nina Lincoln (best fiction books to read txt) 📕

brows lower over his eyes, and he steps into Nate with a dark look, and a shiver rolls down my spine at the hostility. They genuinely hate each other. So why the game then?

“Fuck off, you little shit. You think you’re immune? You liked the game more than any of us. Poor Portia couldn’t get enough until she found you fucking her mother,” Colt snarls.

My mouth drops open. I mean...what?

“Oh yeah?” Nate sneers, “And what about Sarah? You fucked her up so badly that she’s never been the same, bitch is fucking crazy.”

At the mention of Sarah, my heart sinks. I never liked her, but whatever happened to her is not something I would wish on my worst enemy.

“Sarah fucking came here to start trouble. I’m not proud of what I did, but she knew what she was doing and caused her own shit.”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that!”

Nate turns back to me with a heated expression, “This dick was gunning for you since he heard of your existence. He wanted to destroy you, and still, you chose him! He’s never cared about you. Did he tell you that you were special? His fucking light?”

Flinching, I glance at Colt to find his gaze icy cold, a void where human emotions should be.

“It doesn’t matter, Nate,” I say wearily, “because you chose to play the game too.”

Walking away, I avoid the masses and get in my car, wiping the tears away as I head home. It’s only when I’m pulling into the driveway that I realize Colt’s followed me, and with a weird spasm in my chest, I let myself inside simultaneously confused and disappointed when he doesn’t come to the door but keeps going.

*****

The week passes uneventfully. Colt continues to ignore me but follows me home every day, and I suspect it’s to make sure I make it inside safely, which creates a small seed of hope I cling to even as I rage against it. When will the kaleidoscope of emotions end?

Over the weekend, I invite Melissa over, and we sit in front of the television chatting. I’m still emotionally hungover, but sitting alone is feeding my pain, and I need someone to be here. Melissa is one of the few I trust.

“It sucks that you can’t go to the party tonight,” she mutters, glancing around the room.

“Yeah, well, I’m not up for a party anyway,” I say dryly.

She nods and turns back to me. “What are you going to do, Finn?”

“My aunt wants me to leave.”

“Where to?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you want to go?”

“Yes, at least the sane part of me does,” I say glumly.

“And the insane part of you?”

“Hurts at the thought of leaving Colt,” I whisper, sadness pulsing in my chest.

I refuse to believe everything was a lie. Maybe this started as a game, but I do think Colt came to care about me. The problem is, I’m not sure it matters in the face of his betrayal.

Melissa gives me a piteous look and nods, a flash of hesitation crossing her face before she looks away.

“What?” I ask.

“It’s just...well...I know what they did is wrong. It’s fucking horrible, but it’s clear to see Colt really likes you, and I don’t know, do you want to lose that?”

“I don’t know,” I muse, gratified her words confirm mine.

I can’t explain away his current behavior, and I’m a little hurt he hasn’t tried to get back in my good graces, but I know he’s as fucked up as me when it comes to unhealthy expectations. Maybe he needs time? Or perhaps he’s truly done. Fuck.

“He is or was my everything, but every time I turn around, something more horrific happens.”

“So, maybe you give him one last chance to spill whatever and try to move forward?” she says.

“Maybe. But he’s been cold and distant. I...maybe he’s well over it. Me.”

She chuffs out a laugh. “Colt’s not over it. I’ve never seen him so caught up, but he’s a dude. He probably doesn’t know what to do.”

“Yeah. But also, my fan,” I say bitterly, “doesn’t want me near him, and now that I know just how crazy he is, Colt’s safer this way.”

“Fuck! I wish I knew who the fucker is so I could beat the shit out of him!”

My chuckle turns to a full-on laugh, and pretty soon, I’m giggling so hard tears roll down my face. Melissa rolls her eyes but smiles.

Wiping the tears away, I say, “I still think it’s someone we know.”

She nods grimly, “Which is even more fucked up.”

“Yep. I’ve got nearly everyone I know on the list, but I can’t narrow it down.”

“Like who?” she asks.

“Nate, Hayden, Dirk, Tiffany, Sarah, Ben…I guess I can rule out Sarah. And Ben and Tiffany are in on it somehow.”

“But why? Why would they help him or her?”

“It’s definitely ‘a him’,” I say with a shudder. “I’ll never forget his voice. It’s was pure fucking evil. I’m thinking he must have dirt on them.”

“Which means it’s someone who knows everything about everybody…” she says.

“Yeah, and that could be any of those dicks. They all know shit about each other.”

With a pause, we both contemplate my fan. Whoever the fuck he is, he has enough power to command others to do his bidding.

“So, what do I do? I can’t wait around for something to happen, and it’s not like whoever this is, is going to turn themselves in,” I say with despair.

“Well, maybe we go to the source,” Melissa says grimly.

“Huh?”

“Ben knows who it is. Tiffany knows. We need to find them and pry it out of them.”

Shivering at the sparkle in her eyes, I whisper, “What about the cops?”

Her head swivels my direction, her eyes fierce, “What have they done so far?”

“Nothing,” I gulp, supremely grateful this chick staring at me with the cold eyes didn’t do more harm than she did when she vowed to fuck up my world. She looks positively fierce right now.

“Exactly. But we’re going to need to include a few peeps. I can’t suss these dicks