Prologue

“Do you take Nancy Hastings to be your lawfully wedded wife?” The priest spoke loudly and clearly, nodding at me with a small smile as he waited for my answer. I stared at him for a second, my voice mute and my heart beating. I knew that whatever I decided to do would mean the downfall of someone.

As I stood there, I thought to myself that the question shouldn’t be what would you do for love? The question should be what wouldn’t you do? What wouldn’t you do, means a whole lot more. Trust me, I know. For love I’d walk to hell and back. I’d climb a mountain. I’d swim an ocean. I’d jump over valleys and swing through jungles. For love, I’d give my life. But that’s not the question upon me now. The question upon me now, is would I walk away? Would I leave her standing at the altar because I love her? Did I love her enough to not marry her? That my dears, is the ultimate question and I had no idea what to do.

I looked at Nancy then, standing in her white wedding dress and I knew in that moment that marrying her wouldn’t be right. It would be the ultimate betrayal of everything I stood for.

Chapter one

Jaxon

There’s a problem with selling your soul to the devil. It often turns out that his terms aren’t as favorable as he leads you to believe. It should be obvious, right? You make a deal with the devil, you’re asking for trouble, right? How do you say no to the devil, if he’s your father? I don’t know a man alive who doesn’t want to win his father’s approval.

When I walked into my room and saw Brandon and Greyson waiting for me, I was worried, sad, and not totally surprised. In fact, part of me wondered what had taken so long for them to arrive. My father had expected them to show up within hours of Nancy’s arrival. Though he hadn’t counted on Nancy being so headstrong. Neither had I.

“Jaxon.” Brandon’s lip curled at me. “You messed with the wrong man this time.”

“I don’t think so.” My voice was low as I stared into his face. His eyes were narrowed and full of hate.

“I didn’t know you were fighting daddy’s battles for him now.”

“I’m not sure why you and lover boy are here.” I turned from Brandon to Greyson, and smirked. “Don’t tell me you guys are ready to publicly declare your love for each other.”

“You’re a punk, little boy.” Greyson’s eyes were cold as he stared at me. “You do know Brandon has a gun?”

“I do have eyes.” I stared at the gun in Brandon’s hard. So cold and small; it was such an ironic thing that such an insignificant object could end a life. One shot, one bullet, one life gone. It was as simple as that.

Greyson shook his head as he stared at me. I could see from his expression that he was furious; though he wasn’t murderous. The murderous look was coming from Brandon.

“So you going to kill me?” I walked towards Brandon and the gun. “You going to take my life?”

“Is that what you want?” Brandon moved the gun up.

“No.” I shook my head and smiled slowly. “That’s not what I want.”

“I didn’t think so.” Brandon tilted his head and looked at me for a few seconds. I swallowed as I saw him adjust the gun in his hand. I guess I was more nervous than I thought.

“What do you want Brandon?” I stared at him with a bored expression.

“I want to know why you brought my daughter into it.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I shrugged and ran my hands through my hair casually.

“Nancy, why is she here?”

“She applied to the academy.” I smiled sweetly. “I guess she wanted to learn about love…” I paused and stared directly into his eyes. “Or maybe she wanted to learn about sex.”

“You son of a bitch.”

“Thanks,” I nodded and smiled, hiding my hate of the man in front of me. The only reason I didn’t deck him was because I knew that wasn’t what my father wanted. I also knew that Nancy would never forgive me if I beat her dad up. I wasn’t sure why I cared so much about what she thought, but I did.

“You really want to play with fire, Jaxon?” Greyson took a step towards me. “You really sure about this?”

“What are you? Good cop?” I rolled my eyes. “Nancy came to the academy by herself.” I shrugged. “She’s into one of our teachers here.”

“Who?” Brandon’s lips curled up in disgust.

“Hunter, he used to teach at her high school.” I yawned. “Can you leave now?”

“Have you touched my daughter?” Brandon’s eyes narrowed.

“Yes.” I grinned at him. “She’s very sweet.”

“You piece of…” Brandon charged towards me and Greyson held him back.

“Careful, Brandon.” Greyson held him back. “You don’t want to do something you regret. He’s not worth it.”

“You wouldn’t want to kill your grandchild’s father would you?” The words slipped out of my mouth easily. The missile had been launched.

“Grandchild?” Brandon gasped and I saw his face pale. “You slept with her?”

“What do you think?” I asked him softly and stared him down, my heart beating fast as I saw his hand tighten on the gun.

“I think that’s the last time you’ll make that mistake.” He moved forward and pulled the trigger back. All I heard next was bang.

Chapter two

Nancy

I was scared to find out who had died. It didn’t seem real to me. In a way I didn’t want to know. I was conflicted about my feelings. Conflicted and confused. I knew that of Jaxon and Hunter, there was one I’d prefer to still be alive. I wasn’t sure if that made me cruel or inhumane. I knew that if it came to it and it was up to me, I’d rather Jaxon still be alive. I wasn’t sure what that said about me.

“Who’s dead?” I whispered to Amber as I followed her into the study.

“You don’t know?” She raised an eyebrow at me and studied my face. “Shit, you really don’t know.”

“That’s right, I don’t know.” I snapped at her. “I just got in, how would I know?”

“Where’ve you been?” She studied my face and I shook my head at her.

“I was walking.” I said and then sighed. My body was beginning to shake and I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to stand the stress of not knowing. “Who died?”

“You mean who was murdered?” Amber’s eyes gleamed at me and a part of me wondered if she wasn’t excited by what had happened.

“Why do you sound so gleeful?”

“What are you talking about Nancy?” She frowned at me. “Why would I sound gleeful that someone was dead? Are you hearing things?”

“I’m not hearing anything you’re not saying.” I muttered. “Your tone sounds like…”

“Nancy, there you are.” Louise rushed out of the door and up to me. “The police want to talk to you.”

“To me?” I frowned. “Why?”

“There’s been an unfortunate accident.”

“That was no accident.” Amber spoke up.

“Amber.” Louise cut her off with a frown and Amber turned away with pursed lips.

“What’s going on exactly?”

“It appears that he’s been shot.” Louise looked at me with downcast eyes. “I’m not really sure why.”

“Her name was on a note in his hand.” Amber muttered and I could feel my hand itching to slap her.

“Who is dead?” I shouted out. I’d had enough of the cat and mouse game of knowing. Who was dead?

“Hunter.” Louise looked devastated. “He was one of our best teachers.”

“Hunter.” I felt my shoulders sagging as I realized Jaxon was safe. I knew that I had issues. I knew that everything wasn’t right. And a part of me wondered if Jaxon had killed Hunter. I didn’t even know what he was capable of doing. He’d acted kind of crazy in the club. He’d acted as if he were capable of punching Hunter or hurting him badly. He’d acted jealous and mean and I knew that he wasn’t thrilled that I’d had a crush on him. However, I wasn’t sure why he would kill Hunter for that? It didn’t make sense. Hunter was no threat to him. Hunter was just an innocent man who got a job at the wrong place. I bit my lower lip as I realized that nothing was coincidental in life. I’d learnt that from my time at the private club. Not only that though. I was starting to wonder if Hunter was so innocent after all. Things weren’t really adding up. The look in his eyes and the comments he’d made to me, didn’t make sense. Part of me felt like he’d never really recognized me, though I didn’t understand why he would lie. What was the point?

“Are you okay, Nancy?” Amber put her arm around my shoulder and gave me a sympathetic glance. “I know you loved him.”

“I didn’t love him.” I stood there, still in shock, and wanting to throw her arm off of my shoulder. “He was someone I had a crush on in high school.”

“Yeah, he was your first love right?” Amber continued. I knew at that point that she was trying to dig it in. She was trying to make it hurt more. She had no idea that I wasn’t as soft as I appeared to be.

“What really is love?” I tilted my head and looked at her. “There are many types of love, aren’t there? Self-love, love of money, love of fame, infatuation, lust, love of sex.” I stopped then and looked her in the eyes. “I had a school girl crush on Hunter and yes, I’m sad about his death, but no I didn’t love him.”

“I see.” Her eyes narrowed and I could see her thinking. She wanted to hurt me and yet, I didn’t know why. She’d seemed so open and friendly the first time I met her, but now, I could see that was all an act. She wasn’t a nice person. She was jealous and vindictive. I just didn’t know why.

“I hope Shannon is okay. She’s the one that knew him better than me. He was her teacher, after all.”

“Shannon’s fine.” Amber frowned and I saw her looking at Louise. I looked down and pretended that I hadn’t seen the almost imperceptible shake of Louise’s head. Something was going on here, something deeper and darker than I already knew. I just wasn’t sure what. I followed them into the study and wondered if I was going to have to talk to the police and identify the body. I shuddered at the thought. I didn’t want to do either. I just wanted to go home. I just wanted to go back to a time before I’d met all of these people. Though, that would also mean I’d have to forget meeting Jaxon. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I was happy he was still alive. In fact, my heart soared at the thought. However, I felt confused and lost at my feelings. It wasn’t like he was any sort of Prince or savior. The door creaked as it opened and I froze. I knew exactly who was walking into the room. I could sense it in my body.

“You’re here?” I whispered as I turned around and watched him walking through the door.

“I’m not sure if that makes you happy or sad.” His familiar eyes searched mine and I shrugged nonchalantly, as if my heart hadn’t leapt for joy at the sight of him.

“You’re alive.” I spoke again, not sure what to say.

“Hunter isn’t.” His eyes darkened as he studied my face. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” I swallowed hard, suddenly feeling uncomfortable at just how okay I felt.

“You came here for him.” He spoke quietly. I knew that Louise and Amber were standing behind me trying to listen in to our conversation.

“I came here for you.” I answered softly and he froze. I could tell that he hadn’t expected that response. “Isn’t that what you came to hear?”

“What about…” His voice trailed off and he looked away. I knew he was confused. Ultimately, I was confused as well. The whole thing seemed bigger than me.

“I meant to say, ultimately, it was you that sent me the invitation, not Hunter. So ultimately, it was because of you that I came to be here.”

“I thought you were going to say something else.” He ran his hands through his hair and closed his eyes for a few seconds. When he opened them again, his expression looked tired and I could see a bruise on his cheekbone.

“How did you…” I started to ask him a question and reached my hand up to his bruise. I stopped as I saw him flinch at my touch. I pulled my hand away and sighed. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know the answer to my unfinished question.

“Come with me.” He grabbed my hand and I let him lead me out of the room and up the staircase. I knew I was making a mistake as I went with him. There were still too many unanswered questions, but I knew that in that moment I didn’t care. I just needed to be with him. After the stress and worry of the last hour, I needed to just soak him in and memorize his every feature. I knew that I needed to leave the academy. This was no longer fun and games. This was serious. I was in over my head and I knew that I had to leave. Even if that meant saying goodbye to the one man I never wanted to forget. I knew that this was more than I’d signed on for.

***

“Where were you?” Jaxon pushed me into his bedroom.

“I went out for a walk.”

“By yourself?”

“Who else would I be going with?”

“I don’t know? Your dad perhaps?”

“My dad?” I frowned at him. “What are you talking about?”