Game Changing Rules: The Elites Of Weis-Jameson Prep Academy Book 3 Read online

  But his mom and sister had something else in mind, and the Hendersons were whispering in their ears the entire time. Waiting in the sidelines for their chance to pounce and take away everything. They backed Emmett into a corner and gained control over every aspect of Jameson, both as a town and as a company. Now the Hendersons and the rest of Emmett’s remaining family sit on the town’s throne, leaving him with nothing.

  I can see all of this rolling through his mind as we sit and eat, but Bernadette looks pleased with herself without a care in the world. Not an ounce of guilt, regret, or shame. I marvel at the new faces sitting around them, already looking comfortable in their new roles. It makes it all feel more impossible. When one round of them are taken out, a whole new bunch pops up in their place practically overnight, like daisies.

  “Who are they?” I gape, shaking my head. “Where did they come from?”

  “Liam and Malcolm fired most of the old executives and key players in the company after they took everything from me,” he explains through lightly clenched jaws. “They probably thought they couldn’t trust them. So they brought in new people from all over the place.” He tips his head to the guy sitting on the other side of Malcolm. “That’s Skye Liang. One of the youngest, self-made millionaires in the tech world. He’s been working on the sidelines of the Hendersons’ software company for years now.”

  Sitting across from Skye is a smarmy looking pale guy with slicked back blonde hair. His cheeks are round with bright red lips, making him look much younger than he probably is. Everything about him spells out spoiled, rich brat.

  “Who’s that one?” I snarl.

  “Miles Hartford,” he replies, rolling his eyes slightly. “They’re like the Jamesons of Connecticut. They were always big competitors of ours on the stock market. I guess Liam decided they’d be better off joining forces.”

  “How amicable of them,” I huff bitterly.

  Emmett smirks, but it quickly fades. I see a wave of heaviness wash over him as he stabs into his food without taking a bite.

  “They’re having a grand opening,” he says softly in a pained voice.

  “For what?”

  “Jameson Automobiles,” he answers.

  “But…it’s been open,” I stammer in confusion. “It never closed. They can’t even have a re-opening. Definitely not an opening.”

  His face tightens, but he doesn’t say anything else. For as messed-up as his father was along with everything his family has always stood for, Jameson Automobiles was still his family’s legacy. One he was born into believing he would inherit. With his father out of the way, not only did he think he would inherit it, he thought he’d finally have a chance to make it a clean business, free of the dirty underbelly full of things like rape, murder, and the sex trafficking rings the rest of the old Elites went down for.

  Not only did Emmett lose his chance at turning his family’s legacy into something clean and decent that he could finally be proud of, but he also has to watch the Hendersons take over everything that had always belonged to him. The money and power hurt to lose, but for the first time I can see the deeper side to it. Emmett was prepared to work hard and make Jameson Automobiles a success that was built on honesty and ethical operations. That’s gone now and being flaunted in his face. And the Hendersons are even more greedy and corrupt than his father was. It’s like Emmett has lost his chances at redemption.

  He lets out an uncomfortable grunt and digs back into his food. Our silence is overshadowed by the cackles of the Elites echoing through the cafeteria. An outsider might think we’re making too much of their whole display, but we know how they work too well, Emmett better than anyone since he used to play the same games. They’re being obnoxious on purpose, to rub everything in his face. It’s a show of dominance.

  Once lunch is over, we walk slowly and quietly through the crowded halls towards our next class. That’s when things get worse. It’s as if Malcolm has sent out the pecking order and everyone has to be sure to reinforce it.

  “I can’t believe he bothered to show his face here again,” one girl whispers to her friend as we walk by.

  “I heard he lost his mind and tried to kill his mom and sister and pin it on Malcolm,” her friend hisses back. “He was too mentally unfit to take over Jameson. He had to turn everything over to them.”

  “Just as well. Malcolm is better looking anyway. And smarter.”

  I can see the rage boiling under Emmett’s skin, so I quickly grab him by the arm and yank him into an empty doorway. I pull him into a deep kiss. He’s stiff at first, but soon melts into it, letting everything else fade away.

  “We’re in this together,” I remind him as I pull back. “I’ve always been at the bottom of the totem pole around here and I’ve made it by just fine. You can too.”

  Some of the tension escapes his face as he loosens into a smile. Slowly a sense of revived hope begins to show through, and he leans back in to kiss me again. Once he walks away for his next class and is out of sight, I break into a determined march for the hall we just passed through. I go right up to the pair of whispering girls.

  “Hey,” I bark, catching them both by surprise. “If you’re going to talk shit behind his back, at least get it right. Emmett isn’t crazy, and he didn’t try to kill anyone. Malcolm and Emmett’s backstabbing sister stole everything from him.”

  Their eyes grow wide, amazed that I would dare to question whatever story WJ Prep’s new king has sent into rotation.

  “Are you crazy?” one of the girls asks, almost as a warning. I can see her secretly pleading with me to shut up for my own sake. Everyone knows what happens to people who are dumb enough to question the Elites.

  “I’d be careful what you say about Malcolm,” the other girl adds, taking on a snarkier tone to save face. She says it loud so the others around her can hear. She wants no mistake about who she’s aligning with.

  “Malcolm can go fuck himself,” I declare confidently. I have my own story to set straight. I’d like to think I’ve established my own gray area in this whole order of things. They’d like to think I’m blacklisted, but I only have five months left here. And even when I was the Elites’ number one target, I survived. I’m not backing down to them anymore.

  My defiance terrifies them. One girl leans in close, grabbing my arm. “Shut your fucking mouth,” she begs. “Do you have any clue what they’ll do if they hear you talking like that?”

  I can’t help but laugh. Not only at her assumption that I’m unaware of how things work around here, but at the absurdity of it all. This is a high school, not some medieval kingdom where people who commit treason get carted off to the guillotine. But unlike my first day here, I know better now than to question the very real danger of it all. The Elites have nearly killed me twice now for ending up on the wrong side of their games.

  But since that’s where I keep ending up anyway, I might as well own it.

  “Oh, I know all too well,” I tell her. “I just don’t care anymore.”

  Suddenly the girls straighten, looking alarmed at the sight of something over my shoulder. I glance back and see Malcolm watching closely from the other end of the hall.

  “Get the fuck away from me,” one of the girls shouts suddenly. They look me up and down with disgust and quickly walk away. I’ve been blacklisted, right along with Emmett. If anyone is seen talking to either of us for too long, or god forbid acting friendly towards us or helping us in any way, they’ll pay the price for it.

  With them gone, I turn back to Malcolm and look him straight in the eye from where I’m standing. He studies me with a questioning look, wondering if I’m going to behave and step back into line, or if he’s going to have to teach me a lesson. I flash him a defiant smile before moving on to class. A move I’m sure I’ll regret eventually, but at this point, I don’t know what they can do to me that they haven’t already done.

  2

  Chapter Two

  Emmett and I meet back at his car after school and e
xchange heavy sighs of relief and a smile. We survived the first day back, and at least now we know what the new gang looks like, even if we have no clue what they have in store for us.

  “It’s their last semester too,” I think out loud as we get into his car. “Maybe they’ll be so busy getting ready for everything that happens after WJ Prep, they won’t have time to fuck with us.”

  He flashes an unconvinced smirk, as if to say ‘Yeah, that’d be nice.’ But he’s not buying it.

  “Let’s not talk about them,” he replies. “From now on, when we walk out of those doors at the end of the day, I want them to be the furthest thing from my mind.”

  “Deal!” I agree enthusiastically. “So, what should we do then? Movies? Pizza?”

  Emmett and I have delighted in enjoying regular teenage pleasures these past few months. Being a former Elite, he never really got to have fun. He was always being forced to carry out some mission for his father or the WJ Prep crew. I hadn’t known real fun from the moment I arrived here. The Elites made sure of that. But once Emmett was stripped of his place in town, we both got some time to fly under the radar and finally just act like normal teenagers for once.

  “I have something better planned,” he says with a grin.

  The days are still short from winter, and it’s dark by the time we pull into the parkway. Emmett drives to one of the highest overlooks with all of Jameson sparkling underneath us. He leaves the car running as we climb out onto the hood of his car, pressing ourselves against the heat of the engine.

  Looking down at Jameson from up here, you’d think it was like any other town. It looks completely normal. Beautiful even, with a sprinkle of white snow clinging to the rooftops of houses and buildings. The lingering Christmas lights draped across gutters and trees and the glowing warm lights shining through windows.

  The scariest thing about Jameson is how untrusting it has made me of the world. If Jameson could look so normal and inviting from the outside, even though it’s malicious and cruel, I have to wonder if every town has the same underbelly without most people even realizing it. Maybe most of us just manage to skate by on the outskirts of it all enough not to realize.

  “How are your college applications going?” He asks me, reaching for my hand as we turn from the town below to the stars overhead.

  “Done!” I announce proudly. “Application fees paid. Essays written. Everything’s sent off, and Coach Granger has been getting a lot of feedback from scouts that have been visiting our track meets.”

  “That’s my girl,” he hums. “You know, the good thing about being cut off from everything here is that we can go wherever we want. I can follow you to just about whatever school you decide to go.”

  My heart swells with the promise of us being able to stay together, but a nagging feeling quickly steals it away. There are several schools on my list that would be hard for me to get to financially, and Emmett would find it nearly impossible to find his place in those cities where the job markets are so competitive.

  “But what about what you want to do?” I ask. “Aren’t you going to apply anywhere? Even try to get in?”

  “You know they won’t let me get in anywhere,” he replies grimly.

  Emmett’s grades are perfect. Even if at one point he didn’t have to earn them. Teachers never give Elites bad grades. Their parents would make them pay if they did. Now he gets the opposite treatment. Teachers are waiting to give him bad grades, even if it’s not entirely deserved. It’s almost expected of them. But Emmett works twice as hard to make it nearly impossible for them to sabotage his GPA.

  But it doesn’t matter. Lily once had everything going for her too, and the Elites still made sure she couldn’t get into any of the schools she wanted. Each and every one of them rescinded their interest. Around here, it’s not just about surviving this nightmarish high school. The damage they do goes well beyond that into the rest of our lives.

  When he was Jameson’s golden boy, even after his father died, Emmett was set up to receive the same college education all the men in his family had. A private tutor from the Ivy League school of their choice would come around enough to justify the sense of them earning their degrees. But it was all a show. Jameson men didn’t have time for school after all. They were running a multi-billion-dollar corporation. Their degrees were bought and paid for, so they’d have something to brag about at business dinners and the golden ticket Ivy League degree that was expected of them to hang over the desk of their private study in the Jameson manor.

  Now even if Emmett can get into some random school, he’ll have to figure out how to pay for it. And once he’s in, he’ll have to work for it the old-fashioned way. Like the rest of us.

  “But surely there’s something you want to do,” I insist, not wanting to let him slip away into a sense of hopelessness in the face of all this. “This is a fresh new start for you, remember? You can do anything you want! You’re free!”

  His eyes light up as he rolls over to me. “Exactly. And what I want is to follow you. You’re the one who will get a scholarship. Coach Granger won’t let the Elites fuck that up for you. I’ll go wherever you want to go, and then I’ll figure out what I’m going to do once we get there.”

  I lean in to give him a big kiss, thinking I am one of the luckiest girls in the world. Most high school romances like ours are doomed once college rolls around. But Emmett and I just might have a shot at figuring all of this out.

  “Well, wherever we go, I think it should be far away from here,” I suggest as I look back at the lit-up town below. “As far away as we can afford to go.”

  “I like the sound of that,” he smiles wide. “But what about your mom and your step-dad?”

  “They’ll deal with it,” I quip back. “I love them, but if they knew what I’ve really been through here, they’d never blame me for wanting to get the hell out.”

  His face grows serious again. “Are you going to tell them?” he asks with a daunting tone. “We decided we would. Before Theo popped up again.”

  After the Hendersons took everything from Emmett, we knew it wasn’t a matter of ‘if’ some new craziness would pop up, but when. To stay on top of things before the next disaster struck, we decided we needed to finally tell my mom the truth about Jameson. About Theo’s part in it all. About my part in it all. Something I should’ve done long ago, but I was too afraid. It seemed like a story too crazy to believe. Then, before I knew it, I was in over my head and it was too late to tell her anything. I don’t want to end up in that spot again.

  I consider everything we’ve talked about carefully, biting my lip. “I guess I’ve put it off long enough,” I admit reluctantly. “I should go ahead and get it over with. You never know what could happen tomorrow. Everything could change again.”

  “Want me to come with you?” he asks with assuring devotion.

  I almost scream out that of course, I do. But as much as I want him there, it’s too complicated. Emmett’s role in everything that’s happened to me is too big of a thing to even try to explain to my mom. That’s the part I can’t bring myself to tell her the whole truth of. And I just can’t navigate that kind of lie with him sitting across from me.

  “I better do it alone,” I sigh.

  We drift back into admiring the starry sky above for a while until we finally decide it’s time to go. If I’m going to finally have this talk with my mom, I’m eager to get it over with. Once and for all. I peel myself up from the warm hood of his car and start psyching myself up for it. But as I slide back into the passenger’s seat, Emmett stops.

  “Wait,” he says, leaning into the backseat. “I have something for you.” He pulls out a small wrapped box and hands it to me.

  “You shouldn’t be buying me anything,” I scold him. “You have to save your money as much as you can.”

  He cuts his eyes to the side, ignoring me, then watches eagerly as I open the present. Beneath the paper is a small, black velvet box. I open it up to see a necklace inside.
I take the fake gold chain into my hand and hold it up to the light, revealing a little running shoe charm that dangles down.

  “Emmett!” I gasp. “I love it!”

  “Of course, it’s worth nothing,” he admits, sounding embarrassed. “But I knew it was perfect for you. In the scope of what I can afford.”

  I hand him the necklace and turn my back to him, flailing my hands in a rush for him to put it on me. “It is perfect,” I insist. “No matter what you can or can’t afford, I still would have wanted this one.”

  I admire the sight of it resting across my chest. Out of all the things he could have bought me, he picked this necklace with a running shoe charm because he knows how important track and running are to me. Between this and his willingness to follow me to whatever school I want to go to, I realize just how big of a shot we really do have at figuring all of this out. He supports my dreams, and I can’t think of anything more important to find in a man.

  “Thank you,” I murmur as I wrap my hands around his face and pull him close.

  He kisses me softly and slowly, knowing we have to go, but soon we’re unable to pull away. We are caught up in the taste of each other and the kiss deepens. My body sparks with excitement as his tongue rolls across mine, and I can’t stop myself from climbing over to his seat, straddling my legs around his lap. As I lower my hips onto his, our kiss growing more urgent, I can feel the hardness rising beneath his jeans.

  His hands quickly grow more daring, spreading across my thighs, squeezing them and pulling me against his erection. Then they drift upwards, gripping my breasts tightly. We’re both panting with need and before long, we’re flinging every article of clothing we can get off of each other to some other part of the car. The steering wheel is an obvious obstacle, but he quickly pulls the lever on the side of the seat to send it back, giving us more room.

  Half-naked and overwhelmed with arousal, I lean down over him, finally having enough of my clothes off to push my panties to the side and slide him into the wetness between my legs. He hisses and claws into my ass with excitement, just as a satisfied moan breaks through my lips. I’m always surprised by how deeply he fills me and how good it feels. I move up and down slowly, relishing the feeling of how easily he glides in and out of me.