JAMES: A Dark Bully Romance (The Baron Kings Book 1) Read online

  "Let them hate me, so long as they fear me."

  - Caligula

  Contents

  Dedication

  JAMES

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  JAMES

  A Dark Bully Romance

  In a small town of privilege ,

  I shackled a man with a pledge

  Bound and offered as a sacrilege

  In a community poisoned in web

  Where kind eyes and smiles were notoriously wicked

  Rescue was bleak, tainted in red

  For when you wear the albatross, use your head

  What is left to be said

  For the golden crest belonged to everyone

  But the dead

  do you accept the oath?

  THE BARONS’ PLEDGE

  CHAPTER ONE

  To anyone who believed that hell didn’t exist, they needed their eyes checked.

  Annie Howell was staring right at it.

  She looked up from the rain-splattered window of her godmother’s car, straight into the landscape that unveiled her doom. If she squinted her eyes, she could make out the faint bloody writing etched onto the building.

  Barcourt School for the Gifted.

  More like Barcourt School for the Damned.

  That was her sanctuary and curse for the last five years. It was her first year entering Upper Sixth, where she would just be a sweet two years away from entering her beloved Cambridge.

  She needed to meet the grades. And this year was going to grant her that. All she had to do was keep her head down.

  Focus on the grades, Annie. Focus on the music. Ignore everything else.

  “You all set, honey?” Her godmother said. Patricia Adams was a bright, sweet woman who loved Annie like a daughter. The last ten years looking after Annie were everything she could have ever asked for.

  Smiling weakly, Annie responded.

  “Yep, all set,” she replied curtly.

  “You sure? We don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with,” she urged.

  A look of concern etched into her features. As much as she loved Annie, she could never truly understand what was going on in her goddaughter’s mind.

  Anxiety, fear, anger, indifference - they were practically synonymous in Annie Howell’s signature expression.

  She wondered how long Annie felt as though she had to hide her emotions. Almost as though it needed an iron guard with constant supervision.

  “I gotta go to school, Patty,” Annie chuckled lightly, tucking her hair behind her ears. Her glossy, curly hair - thick and vivacious - often obscured her face, hiding her soft, round features. “You wouldn’t want a young girl like me without an education.”

  “I didn’t say that. You can get an education. It just doesn’t have to be Barcourt, you know?” Patricia whispered.

  Recognition dawned in Annie’s green eyes as she gazed in Patricia’s troubled glare.

  “I’ll be fine, Patty,” Annie said reassuringly.

  For extra measure, she gently placed her hand over Patty’s, clasping it tightly. “I can take care of myself and you’ll be the person I’ll call.”

  Patty bit her lip. She wanted to believe her goddaughter. She really did.

  But the terrible tragedy from last year haunted Patty’s mind. She couldn’t lose Annie. She was the only connection she had left of her late best friend.

  “I can’t help worrying, you know?”

  “I know,” Annie nodded.

  “That poor girl...so young. They say she jumped off the main tower while everyone was sleeping. Her whole life ahead of her. Annie, I can’t... I just -”

  The memories flashed into Annie’s brain.

  She cleared her throat, holding Patty’s arms firmly. She looked at Patty softly, with a vulnerability she shared with very few people. “It won’t happen to me. I promise. I’ll be safe.”

  Annie burrowed her head into her godmother’s neck, inhaling the spicy scent of her honey shampoo. She would miss these small things. The scent of home. The reassuring hugs from Patty. Every fiber of her being was screaming at her to stay in the car, to drive away and to never return to the cold, dark place that was Barcourt.

  But she couldn’t leave. It was a luxury she couldn’t afford. Barcourt was her ticket for a better life. A better life she could give to herself and to Patty, after all those years of struggle and hardship with just the two of them. This school was her only chance. Without it, she wasn’t sure if she had a future.

  Annie released her hold on Patty, moving back from their embrace. Plastering a bright smile on her face, she nodded firmly.

  “I’ll grab the stuff from the boot,” Annie motioned.

  “Let me help you,” Patty raised her hand, turning the car off.

  They both got out of the car, carefully unloading the various suitcases Annie brought with her. There weren’t many.

  A lot of her belongings were still at home. A part of her didn’t want to bring her entire life to Barcourt, for fear of someone using her treasured belongings against her. She didn’t need to give ammunition to the unrelenting bullies at Barcourt.

  Once everything was taken out, Patty shut the boot. Turning to her goddaughter, she moved to grant her one last tight hug, holding her even closer than before, as though she was going to disappear if she didn’t grip on tightly.

  “You call me, if you need anything,” Patty gave Annie a pointed look.

  “I promise.”

  “I mean it.”

  “And so do I!” Annie chuckled. The smile didn’t reach her eyes. She hoped Patty wouldn’t notice.

  “Well, alright then,” she nodded slowly. Pursing her lips, she moved back towards the front of the car, ready to drive back home. Back to the only place Annie felt safe from the monsters of Barcourt.

  It wasn’t too late for her to run, Annie thought. She could change her mind.

  The thoughts lingered heavily on her consciousness, urging her to go back. There was still time.

  Move, Annie.

  It’s not too late.

  The moment was short-lived.

  The auto ignition revved to life, the worn-down red Volvo carefully reversed out of the premises. She glimpsed Patty’s smiling and waving before she became an insignificant blip in the landscape, driving further and further away into the distance.

  It was just her now. No more hiding.

  She had come back to her other life.

  Welcome to hell, Annie.

  ◆◆◆

  The suitcases were heavier than expected. Despite packing her clothing, uniform, and books, she’d underestimated the weight of her luggage. Sweat dripped down the corner of her brow. She lifted her belongings up the grand stairs, to the side of the second floor and finally, just outside the ladies’s tower.

  This wasn’t the usual tower that she had spent most of her formative school years in. This was now the senior tower. She had officially entered the Upper Sixth, joining the ranks of her classmates as they ascended into the last stage of Barcourt education.

  The large oak doors were looming over her, taunting her tiny presence. She just had to push through that door. That was the only thing stopping her from entering the last chapter of her education.

  Annie mentally prepared herself for the step she was about to take. Pushing thro
ugh the heavy doors, she released a shocked gasp at the grand beauty of the Barcourt ladies’ tower.

  She could do little but admire the vast, purple and gold design of the girls’ common room; it was a shadow of the junior room she had lived in.

  She already knew they would tuck her bedroom further back behind the common room, up the stairs.

  “So this is it,” Annie sighed, dropping her luggage.

  “You bet it is, Howell,” a bemused female voice said to her right. Annie turned to find one of her senior classmates already in the common room with her. Anchal Bhavra was the girl’s name.

  She didn’t really care for Annie much, ignoring her insignificant presence during their junior years. Although, one silver lining was that Annie had never felt victimised by Anchal. Whether it was indifference or boredom, she didn’t really antagonise Annie; which had to count for something?

  Annie remained quiet, unsure of what to say. Instead, she pursed her lips, observing Anchal move around the room.

  “Talk about an upgrade,” Anchal dragged her manicured finger across the mahogany table before lifting it up to her vision, scanning for dust. “They really go all out for the seniors. Almost as though we weren’t going to graduate.”

  “I guess so,” Annie said.

  “You’re early. Why?” She grimaced.

  Annie shifted somewhat. “I go in a day before everyone else does. It’s...part of the scheme.”

  Anchal lifted her eyebrows up. A faint mist of understanding dawned on her. “I forgot. Your scholarship.”

  “That’s the one,” Annie murmured.

  “Aw, cute. The welfare kids coming in a little earlier than the rest. I suppose you guys need the meal and bed, don’t you?” She pondered sarcastically.

  There it was. The familiar, acidic taunts typical of her school experience. Annie gritted her teeth, but she kept a composed face. Anchal was doing it out of habit. Nothing more.

  Don’t rise to it, Annie.

  And just on cue, as though Annie could predict the future, Anchal shrugged, bored with the conversation. “I guess it’s an act of charity. Barcourt could do that, at least.”

  Annie wanted to ask her why she was here, but she thought better of it. The last thing she wanted to do was run afoul of the school’s dominant group of popular girls, right before the term started. Anchal tilted her head slightly, glancing at Annie’s contemplative expression.

  Rolling her eyes, she sighed. “Look, I’m here because my parents had to travel for work. Figured I would save the journey here, if you must know.”

  Annie didn’t, but she nodded faintly.

  Clearing her throat, Annie leaned down to her forgotten luggage on the floor, making her way to the senior bedrooms. Thankfully, there would be no fighting over which girl would get each room; Barcourt rooms were all allocated beforehand and paid for.

  With Annie’s situation, it was a little different.

  Her status at the school was entirely ordinary. No generational wealth, no new money, no old money - she was a welfare student. Plain and simple.

  That wasn’t to take away her stellar academic credentials or the talent that afforded her the prestigious Barcourt offer. It didn’t. She was a talented, bright student who deserved Barcourt’s education.

  But it was a simple fact that Annie was an outsider. They made this clear in the allocation of her specific bedroom. The lodgings given to scholarship students were always the same; the bedroom on the upper floor, right at the top. It was unofficially labelled as ‘The Roof Room’. The coldest, the smallest part of the tower.

  “I suppose you’ll be heading up to your Roof Room?” Anchal smirked.

  “It’s not a secret, Anchal. I know that I’m a scholarship student.”

  “As long as you remember,” she sniffed. She turned away from Annie, moving towards the window as she played with her phone.

  The rest of the students were due to arrive tomorrow. Term officially started tomorrow, but lessons didn’t begin until Monday. Annie wondered if she could hibernate in her room the entire weekend.

  Annie lifted her bags, heading straight to the stairs. She mounted up the spiral staircase, the never-ending piece of architecture intent on wearing her down.

  As she climbed each step, little by little, she could feel her joints ache, tearing at her resolve to move forward. She was too young for arthritis. Barcourt’s scholarship - as generous as it was- it wouldn’t exactly pay for physically challenged ailments from a flight of stairs.

  “Bloody hell, who built these stairs?” Annie huffed.

  Breathing heavily, she looked up to find that she had finally made it to the residents’ wing.

  Here there were private rooms for the senior Barcourt female students. She didn’t need further prompting. Her room was near the far end of the corridor, right up the small set of stairs leading towards the loft area.

  She pushed through the creaky door, surveying her small room. It was definitely not huge, by any means. The Roof Room was the smallest and less... embellished room of the tower, but Annie didn’t mind; she rather enjoyed the simplicity of the space. It made her feel like home. Small pillow forts and tiny, cozy rooms were a staple of Patty and Annie’s home life.

  Dumping her bags on the soft bed, Annie sat near the windowsill, watching the view. One saving grace of the bedroom was that it had a wide arched window, overlooking the Barcourt gardens.

  It was a little pocket tucked away from the rest of the harsh world, and Annie loved it.

  Her eyes drifted around the gardens, watching the odd few students who had arrived early. They were being dropped off in their state-of-the-art cars, by their wealthy mommies and daddies. Most of them were juniors. Barely teenagers and already, they were being trained to become the elite.

  A black Range Rover pulled up to the front of the school, followed by two other security SUVs as they tailed the main car. Their presence overshadowed the rest of the cars lined up. Annie knew who it was. She didn’t need further prompting; her instincts flared as soon as that the security entourage.

  A tall young man stepped out of the car, sauntering past the underlings that were carrying his luggage. He stopped for a moment, surveying his surroundings. Annie’s heart pounded erratically.

  Why did she have that horrible sinking feeling in her gut?

  He would not see her, she thought. She was in the highest tower in the east wing. It would not happen.

  Shit.

  With a stroke of cruel fate, the man’s stare headed straight to her direction. She quickly whipped her body behind the pillar, obscuring herself from his sight.

  She prayed to God that he hadn’t noticed her. The last thing she would need was to make eye contact with him. Annie didn’t dare move from her spot for a good two minutes.

  Counting to a hundred was exactly what she did. It took awhile for her to even think about moving from her spot.

  The man was no stranger.

  The tall, intimidating frame - the perfectly styled thick dark hair, styled at the top, the straight roman nose, the chiseled, hardened jawline and those watchful, haunted green eyes - there was only one man in this school who looked like that; a man that oozed sex appeal and dangerous confidence.

  James Knightley.

  A man completely out of her realm.

  The leader of the notorious Barons. A group of boys who owned the school.

  Annie licked her lips, counting to ten. He would have left by now. Moving around the pillar, she found the area empty. The cars had disappeared. The gardens were as they were.

  That would have been too close. Keeping a low profile was paramount in a place like Barcourt. Everyone was out for blood. In a ruthless hierarchy of privilege, one had to know their place in a jungle like this. Right at the top of the food chain, there were people like James Knightley who unequivocally were the elite. No questions asked. She knew who he was. Son of a minister, descendant of a royal bloodline - untouchable.

  Below that, there wer
e students like Anchal. New money. With slightly less established lineages, their new status earned them a place in Barcourt. But more than that, they were gifted with a place of respect. They were free to mix and roam amongst the students without ridicule. They weren’t outsiders.

  For Annie, she knew where she belonged.

  Right at the bottom.

  There was no place for her here. Aside from the obligatory scholarship status that she belonged to, there was no sisterhood amongst her classmates. Her very first year taught her that harsh lesson.

  Naive and hopeful, she had struck a conversation with another Barcourt student and the response was met with disdain and barely concealed repulsion. There was no place for her in a hell like Barcourt.

  Unless she wanted to be chewed and spat out, then she had to remain invisible. Annie had no trouble with that. If it meant avoiding a painful confrontation with the beasts of Barcourt, she would bite the bullet and survive. Patty needed her.

  Suddenly, Annie felt her stomach growl. She hadn’t really eaten anything for breakfast. She was too busy - nervous - to do anything but pack for her return to Barcourt. Now that she was here, she could head down to the eating hall.

  One perk of attending a prestigious boarding school like Barcourt meant that she never had to suffer through a pile of cold, inedible sandwiches. She shuddered at the memory of her previous school lunches.

  Annie rubbed her tired face. Changing into her casual jeans and purple jumper, she took a quick look into her wall mirror. The bags under her eyes were still visible under her light sheen of concealer. She gently touched the area, stretching the skin. Did she always look this exhausted?

  Annie tied her hair back, moving her gaze away from the mirror. It was better this way. Not looking too closely at the surface. She didn’t think she could handle any more mental breakdowns.

  She moved out of her small loft room, walking down the stairs. Tilting her head, she tried to get a better look of the hallway. It was practically empty in the ladies’ lodgings. Was it just her and Anchal?

  The thought crossed her mind of asking Anchal if she wanted to eat together, but she thought better of it. A peace offering - as kind as it was - was something that was frowned upon. Kindness was a weapon for manipulation. Nothing more. That was a message she learned very early on.