Wicked Schemes: an enemies-to-lovers college romance, page 1
WICKED SCHEMES
By Renee Harless
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Copyright ©2022 Renee Harless
This work is one of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to persons, living or deceased, is purely coincidental. Names, places, and characters are figments of the author’s imagination. All trademarked items included in this novel have been recognized as so by the author. The author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.
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I was broken.
Twisted.
Damaged.
No one knew about the childhood that had been stolen from me. I lived my life without trusting anyone and silently questioning every move.
The purple eyes of Haley Sinclair haunt my dreams. One bad decision changed her life, but she single-handedly destroyed mine.
A baby wasn't part of the plan, but I knew that it was my chance to prove everyone wrong. I feared ruining a relationship with Haley and moving forward with her would pave a path filled with regrets.
There was one thing I knew for sure - love couldn't be built on lies.
Contents
Prologue – Haley
Chapter One – Haley
Chapter Two – Rylan
Chapter Three – Haley
Chapter Four – Rylan
Chapter Five – Haley
Chapter Six – Rylan
Chapter Seven – Haley
Chapter Eight – Rylan
Chapter Nine – Haley
Chapter Ten – Rylan
Chapter Eleven – Haley
Chapter Twelve – Rylan
Chapter Thirteen – Haley
Chapter Fourteen – Rylan
Chapter Fifteen – Haley
Chapter Sixteen – Rylan
Epilogue – Rylan
Wicked Secrets Excerpt
Coming Alive Excerpt
Trigger Warnings
This book contains the mention of sexual assault, accidental pregnancy, and suicide. Please consider these warnings when proceeding. While none of the previous mentioned items are detailed within the novel, the author has made note that these topics are present.
Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673
National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 800-273-8255
Prologue – Haley
I had no idea that cocktail parties for college students existed, but there I was, standing in a long black column gown that sashayed between my legs as I walked. The club our advisors rented for the occasion was in Barcelona. Spain had been the last leg of our study abroad program.
I glanced around the dark, wood-paneled space with a dry martini in hand. It gave off a James Bond aesthetic. Maybe I should have asked for my drink to be shaken and not stirred.
About a hundred students took part in the program during the semester, and I was lucky enough to be one of them. The students from their collective majors loitered together in small groups because we had spent the last five months in each other’s company, nonstop.
Walking toward the art majors, I slowed my steps to not slip on the edge of my dress and spill my drink. I tended to be clumsy on a good day, but add in heels and a dress, and I was a disaster waiting to happen. Taking a deep breath, I did my best to hold my head high as I passed the other groups, noting how the men in some of the groups either cowered or gazed appreciatively. It was rare that I wore anything as body-hugging or revealing, but I had promised my father that I would try to come out of my shell more. That was our agreement for allowing me to take this opportunity.
I tried my hardest to ignore the women that narrowed their eyes or turned their noses up at me; females and I had never really got along well. My aunt Maria said it was because my body developed faster than theirs did and they were jealous. As a twelve-year-old, I’d had a hard time believing her and went with my father’s suggestion that it was because I seemed mysterious.
Well, whether it was due to mystery or my breasts, my confidence always took a hit.
I passed the group of students studying foreign relations and then the lively gathering of English Literature majors. They were arguing over some author or book. I wasn’t sure, but they had barely touched their drinks.
I felt the presence of one particular classmate as I walked by. I’d known him through friends and we had been at the same parties; heck, we lived in the same apartment complex, but he had barely spoken a few words to me. His friends, all cocky business majors, licked their lips as I shuffled by. But not him. He didn’t even lift his stare from the whiskey-filled glass sitting on the table in front of him.
But I didn’t want his attention. Right?
Finally making it over to my group, I sipped at the martini, letting the cool, dry liquid slide down my throat, but let the glass linger in my hands as I approached them. They greeted me warmly with smiles and waves as I took a seat, just as they had all semester. I was aloof and introverted and awful at making small talk. Instead, I found myself listening to their conversation flow around me.
The scenario brought me back to the going away party my old roommates threw for me at the end of summer. Everyone went about the apartment as if the Pope himself was leaving the University for good. But I sat on a stool in the kitchen corner and simply observed everything going on around me. The only person that had sought me out was my friend Keeley. I couldn’t fault my friends, though. Their lives were changing and moving forward, while mine seemed stalled.
Pulling myself out of the memory, I glanced at my delicate wristwatch and noted that an hour had passed while I had been lost in my dreamland. Taking the thin crystal stem of my martini glass, I brought the drink to my lips and swallowed the liquid in one gulp.
“I’m going to get a refill,” I told the group, but they didn’t so much as glance up from their riveting conversation about the number of shades of blue. Now I didn’t feel so bad about drowning them out with my internal thoughts.
Waiting at the bar, I skimmed my fingers across the high-gloss top, my deep purple painted nails following the path of the grains in the wood.
“How can I help you?” a deep voice bellowed across from me.
Glancing up, I stared into the darkened features of the bartender. He eyed me appreciatively and I felt myself tense up until he smiled warmly. Something about him put me at ease as he smiled and I gave him my order, watching him expertly pour the ingredients into the shaker.
My body tingled as the air thickened around me, making it difficult to breathe. At first, I thought the effects of the martini I had downed earlier were making itself known, but then I felt the gentlest touch against my elbow. Swallowing my gasp, I turned my body just a smidge to find Rylan resting his large frame against the bartop, facing me.
With a cocky grin and an air of self-assurance, he leaned toward me just as the quickly forgotten bartender placed my drink on the counter.
“Hi, Haley.”
Chapter One – Haley
Falling.
I was in a freefall, spinning wildly out of control, plummeting closer to the ground with each passing second. Nanoseconds. Life flashed in a blur as the clouds parted and brought me closer to my impending crash.
That’s what losing my virginity had been like. . .a looming piece of my innocence that I willingly gave, not imagining the pain or aftermath that waited for me.
I knew that the man I had been with hadn’t been of the same mind. He was known around campus as a playboy, but I thought we’d had a connection. At least, he made it seem that way.
Except, naïve little me should have known better. I was barely good enough to sit next to him on the plane as we flew back from Spain. The fact that I had been so easily forgotten was the crash and burn of my poor decision.
I should have known better. Bad things and I were like two peas in a pod.
“Haley?” a voice called out and I jerked my head toward the professor, not realizing that I had been staring at the wall to my left for the last ten minutes thinking about my last day in Spain.
I felt the blush rushing up my chest and cheeks in embarrassment as my classmates chuckled. Tucking my chin to chest, I let my hair fan around my head in a veil. That was my least favorite part about being pale.
“I’m sorry. What was the question?” I asked bashfully.
“I didn’t ask one. You have the pile of syllabi on your desk to finish passing out.” I glanced down and noticed that the stack of yellow papers rested haphazardly on the edge of my small desk attached to my stadium-style seat. Quickly I grabbed one copy and then passed the rest on to the guy two seats down from me, who chortled under his breath.
Great.
This was not the way I wanted to start the new semester. Traveling back from Europe, almost missing the connecting flight, and having classes first thing this morning was probably an accurate foreshadowing of the chaos in my life.
I was hopeful that things would slow down and that I could focus on finishing my senior year, starting a graduate program in the fall, or looking for a job. Dad had even agreed to let me travel across Europe this summer for non-academic purposes even though he was weary of my safety.
Tugging the edges of my open hoodie across my chest, I sank against my chair and tried my best to hide in the room of a hundred or so students.
I needed to focus on the information that the professor was saying about the course for the semester, but my mind kept wandering, and I was getting annoyed.
Men rarely captured my attention, to the point I wondered if my destiny was to live my life as a spinster. But this man had been different; my body jolted awake whenever I was in his presence, something that was utterly foreign to me. Even thinking about him left my body aching in places it shouldn’t be, even though he wasn’t in the room. I’d become accustomed to this reaction since I saw him two years ago. This wasn’t a recent discovery.
Rylan lived on the floor above mine in our apartment complex, and when we landed yesterday, I was sure he’d want to share a ride back to school. It made the most sense, but when I approached him about it outside the luggage corral, he sneered at me and joined a group of women on the other side of the area.
My heart wasn’t broken, there had been no love lost between us, but my ego may have taken a bruising. What little of it remained after years of teasing from fellow classmates.
Still lost in my own world, I jumped when someone nudged my leg to pass by. The class was letting out and I hadn’t absorbed a single word the professor had said. I could only hope that there hadn’t been a lecture.
Exiting the classroom behind the mass of students, I dove my hand into my cross-body bag when I felt vibrations against my leg. My palm connected with my shaking phone and I pulled it free. There was a message from Jolee, my old roommate, asking if I would be available for lunch. Checking the clock at the top of the screen, I smiled, mimicking the smiley face reply I sent back to her in the messaging app. I missed her while I was away for the semester study-abroad program. Catching up with my friend would be a nice reprieve from my daydreaming.
When we lived together, there had never been a dull moment. Wine nights, movie binges, and baking fests; the girls and I always had a blast. Willow was my other roommate and she was Jolee’s cousin. They never treated me differently than any of their other friends. There were never any side-eyes or questionable glances. Those girls were honest to a fault. And I loved them dearly.
Willow was now living in Carson, North Carolina with her man, Eric, and Jolee was shacking up with Ford in their fixer-upper. Ford was a member of the Wellington University Ridge Rogues, a notorious group of playboys quickly reforming as they met the women who brought them to their knees. Three of the six rogues were already snatched up: Ford, Archer, and Chance. Link, Tyler, and Rylan made up the rest of the gang of adopted brothers. Dr. Tracy Fincher was their mother and a professor at the college. She was a force to be reckoned with on the Wellington University campus.
The roommates that had taken Jolee and Willow’s spots in my apartment were fine, nice even, but I was happy when they didn’t renew their sublease when I returned from my semester abroad. Instead, I took over the entire rent for the last semester of school until I figured out what I wanted to do with my life. Luckily, I had a trust fund and savings that I could tap. Music majors were pretty limited in what they could do after graduation. And teaching was not the career path for me. In front of a group of people, I clammed up. So, I knew I needed to use my money wisely.
There were still two hours until lunch, so I trudged across campus with my jacket zipped up to my nose and hands tucked deep into my pockets. The outskirts of Boston, Massachusetts, suffered through another bitterly cold winter, leaving a bite in the air as it nipped at your cheeks. By the time I made it to the social arts and science building, I had lost the feeling in my nose, and I was sure that my cheeks were painted red.
Fortunately, this course was entry-level and the professor was notorious for giving the answers to the exams in the study guides, so I had little worry about my daydreams affecting my work.
I sat through my philosophy class without distraction this time. Well, as little distraction as my sore muscles and triggered memories would allow. Except when the professor called Rylan’s name, and there was no answer, I had to work to stifle my groan. Of course, he would be in this class; it was a newly added requirement for all graduating seniors. So, it seemed Rylan was never going to be too far from my mind. But I kept telling myself I would have to work at it.
As the professor droned on and introduced his TA for the semester, I thought back to my conversation with my father last week. He wanted to know if I had applied for the graduate program at Wellington or if I had decided on another route. He had dreams of me playing in an orchestra or symphony somewhere. But my stage fright would most likely nip that in the bud. I probably should have taken him up on his offer to enroll in public speaking classes over the summer. But I knew that my nerves would most likely stick with me for life. It would have been a waste of money as I tried explaining to my father.
As I glanced around the class, the stadium seats were almost filled, which meant that if Rylan stayed in the class, he would be lucky to find a seat. Though, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a gaggle of undergrad females that seemed to be his cup of tea. They were clad in short skirts and cropped tops despite the cool weather. Those were the women that I’d noticed him with before.
Finally, class ended and I hurriedly packed my bag with the papers and office hours that the professor handed out, along with the business card the TA passed around, for whatever reason.
Jolee had messaged while I was in class that she and Ford were on campus at the sandwich shop and that she was ordering me my favorite turkey sandwich. She was in graduate school while she worked on her Master’s degree in business to open her wildlife sanctuary. Jolee originally planned on moving back to Alaska, but that was until she met Ford and they opted for staying in the area for now. She had already secured grants and financing for the sanctuary, and construction would begin this spring on the buildings. Volunteers from the animal shelter Jolee worked at had promised to help until she had things running smoothly.
Making my way through the masses of students and bodyguards, I trekked toward the food hall across campus. Wellington University was a strange place. Royals, social elites, and mafia heirs were among the scholarship recipients and regular enrollees. If there was a school that catered to and protected the echelon of society – it was Wellington. And the University had only been founded in the 1980s, but had been used for other “business” before then. Rumor was that a Mafia kingpin had founded the complex of buildings, but there was no documentation of such a rumor. Chance’s girlfriend Keeley found a hidden room in the library last semester, so there may be some truth.
The school was on the outskirts of Boston, a small town that existed solely for the university. It was filled with gothic buildings that reminded me of old vampire novels.
As I entered the open area filled with tables and different dining offerings, I found the recognizable blonde hair I had grown accustomed to when she lived with me. Then I noticed the large group tucked into the seats surrounding her.
It seemed as if the small lunch date had blossomed into a full-fledged Ridge Rogue reunion. Luckily, Rylan seemed to be absent, and though I could breathe a sigh of relief for not having to humiliate myself in front of him again, I couldn’t deny the way my heart fell to the pit of my stomach with a thud.
“Haley!” Jolee cried out cheerfully as she launched out of her seat, startling the other parties in the dining hall as her chair screeched loudly.
Jolee was by far one of the most naturally beautiful women I had ever met. When she flounced into our apartment two years ago, I couldn’t help but immediately feel jealous of her blonde hair and big eyes. But I quickly learned that while she was gorgeous on the outside, she was equally stunning on the inside. She wrapped her arms around me, squeezing me tightly as if she hadn’t seen me in years instead of a couple of months, but I couldn’t deny that the warmth of her embrace left me with a hint of a smile. Jolee had one of the biggest hearts that I knew, which made her relationship with Ford all the more confusing at first. Ford was, if nothing else, an asshole to most people. But as their relationship blossomed, we all quickly learned that Ford was reserved for personal reasons and he loved Jolee fiercely. They shouldn’t have worked, but they did. And I loved seeing my friend happy.
