To Ensnare a Spider: A Contemporary Revenge Reverse Harem (Woodside Academy Book 1) Read online

  To Ensnare a Spider

  Woodside Academy | Book 1

  Cleo Fox

  Copyright © 2019 Cleo Fox

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events, real locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental or used fictitiously.

  Text copyright © 2019

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Also by Cleo Fox

  About the Author

  I kept my head down as I walked through the entrance of Woodside Academy, bag slung over my shoulder. I held onto the strap tight, knowing if I was lax with it, it would get ripped from my body and scattered down the hall. My brown bangs hung in my face, limp and stringy even though I washed my hair every morning. Hiding my eyes made me feel safer, more invisible.

  My skin prickled as laughter caught my ear, and I glanced up.

  Jason Brooks stood a few hundred feet down the hall, arm slung lazily around a redhead’s shoulders, Chanel Bishop. They stood with a group of their friends, all wearing the blue and tan letterman jackets they were so proud of.

  I stepped behind a set of lockers before Jason noticed me. I swear he could sniff me out or something. He always knew when I was around, even when I tried to stay invisible.

  He and his posse stood between me and my first class. I gulped. Waiting for the bell to ring and for them to clear out meant I’d get a tardy for class and yet another detention. We were only a week into the new year. I couldn’t risk another one, or they would call my dad. He wasn’t happy when he had to come in because his pansy ass son couldn’t brave a few dumb jocks.

  I either had to face their dickish ways or the wrath of my dad. Both stood about even in my head.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in before letting it out and opening them. Stepping out from my hiding spot, I tried to keep my gait even and calm. If I walked the same speed as the other students around us, maybe he wouldn’t notice me for once. Maybe he wouldn’t care because he couldn’t see my fear. I kept my gaze ahead to avoid making eye contact. Jason’s small primal brain only saw that as a threat to his dominance.

  The laughter of his group stopped, and the hairs prickled on the back of my neck. His hard stare bore into me. I kept walking. The class wasn’t too far. I just had to make it to the door, within view of the teacher, before Jason could process that I walked by.

  His voice traveled to my ears. “Hey, baby dick!”

  His group laughed at their nickname for me.

  "You each need to do two laps around the pool, then off to the showers with you!" the swim coach called.

  Swim week was the bane of my existence as a freshman. I couldn’t believe I would have to do three more years of this shit. My bangs barely covered my eyes. I stood with my arms crossed over my lean stomach, waiting in line for my turn to do laps.

  Students who already went now sit on the bleachers, showered and dressed as they wait for their friends to finish. My gaze went to Chanel Bishop, the fiery-red haired queen bee of the school. Her eyes sparkled under the fluorescent lights as she sat elegantly in a white sundress with pink flowers as if she stepped out of a painting.

  She cheered for her boyfriend. “Go, Jaybear!”

  Her voice echoed off the walls and I followed her gaze to the guy taking his turn with the laps. The Adonisly-fit-for-fifteen Jason Brooks.

  God, I hated him. Ever since middle school, he’d made my life a living hell, and high school was no different.

  The coach gave a triumphant yell as he clicked the stopwatch. “Amazing time, Brooks. One-minute and thirty seconds! That’s a new record for you.”

  Finishing his lap, Jason climbed out of the pool without the ladder, showing off his muscle strength.

  How could any fifteen-year-old be so jacked? He had to be taking steroids or something. Would explain his fits of rage.

  Grinning at the coach, he went over to Chanel, who smiled at him. The bleachers made her close to his height. Jason pinched her chin between his fingers and pulled her forward for a kiss that looked more slobbery than nice.

  Was he trying to eat her face? A goddess like her should be kissed with passion and tenderness.

  “Go!”

  A guy shoved me.

  I propelled forward and almost lost my balance.

  Clumsily I stepped up onto the small platform and dove into the cool water. It sent a shock wave of chill through my body. I’d never been one to retain heat well. My lungs burned as I struggled to keep a rhythm of taking a breath every time one of my arms arced out of the water.

  After what felt like forever, I finished my two laps and swam to the ladder near the bleachers to climb out.

  The coach grumbled. “Five minutes, fifteen seconds, Collins! I don’t know how it’s possible, but you’re getting worse.”

  I ignored him. I didn’t give a shit what my time was as long as I passed P.E., and to do that, all I had to do was show up.

  I had almost passed the bleachers, heading toward the locker rooms, when a hot hand grabbed me by the shoulder and spun me around.

  Jason draped a wet arm around my neck, hand brushing against my chest. “How is it possible you could be so bad at swimming? It has to be one of the easiest things in the world.”

  I trained my eyes on the wall as Chanel watched us. Her green-eyed stare made my skin feel hot as she looked at my semi-naked body. “Maybe for you. Not everyone.”

  The cold air of the pool room chilled my wet skin, and water dripped off the tip of my nose. I just wanted a quick, hot shower before I got my clothes back on.

  Jason leaned in closer, putting his ear near my face. “What was that? You want to show Chanel what you’re workin’ with?”

  Before I could analyze what the hell he meant, his hands went to the sides of my shorts and pulled them down, exposing me to everyone in the bleachers.

  I froze like a deer in headlights.

  Chanel’s eyes widened, and she put a hand over her mouth before she pointed and laughed. “Oh, my god, it looks like he has a baby dick!”

  Everyone laughed.

  “Hey, stop playing around!” the coach yelled from behind us.

  My cheeks burned like fire as reality set back in. I scrambled to pull my swim trunks back up and run toward the locker room.

  Jason hollered after me, “Not much there, bud!”

  Three years later, they never fail to remind me of that day. I couldn’t wait to get to college and away from all the assholes.

  A hand on my bag halted me. “Didn’t you hear me, baby dick? It’s not nice to ignore someone when they want to talk to you.”

  Jason grabbed my bag off my shoulders. I should just go on without it, but my hands balled into fists at my thighs as I forced myself to turn and look at him.

  I held out my right
hand. “Give me back my bag, Brooks.”

  I wanted it to sound dominating and forceful, but it came out meek and submissive. My pansy ass annoyed me, too.

  Jason opened the bag and peered inside. “No hello after the long summer, Collins? I’m hurt. I thought we were friends.”

  I reached for my bag, but he was a good four inches taller than me and pulled it out of reach. Just another thing that made me feel insignificant and small. “Just give me back my bag.”

  I glanced over at Chanel. She leaned against the locker, scrolling on her phone. She seemed bored. To think I used to be in love with a bitch like her.

  The bell rang, signaling the start of class.

  Jason smirked before he flipped my bag over and let my lunch, tablet, and laptop fall out. My laptop hit the tiled floor with a bang, and I flinched, hoping to all that was holy it hadn’t busted enough to require taking it into the store. Just another thing my dad would kill me over. The tablet, at least, had a good case around it.

  Chanel came up and spared me a fleeting glance before she took Jason’s hand. “C’mon, babe, I don’t want to be late for class. You can have fun later.”

  Jason wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into him.

  She stiffened, her hands going up before she stopped herself, fingers curling into light fists. His hand rested against her neck as he pulled her back into him.

  “Damn right I’ll have fun later!” Jason chuckled before he kissed her hard.

  When he pulled back, her face scrunched up. It didn't look like she had kissed him back. She relaxed seconds later as her eyes opened.

  Her gaze met mine.

  Jason turned to look at me. “Enjoy the show, perv?”

  He shoved me in the shoulder, knocking me over and throwing my empty bag at me.

  With another laugh, he and his posse stepped over my stuff and headed down the hall.

  I sighed and crawled forward on my knees to gather my stuff. My laptop appeared okay, but I wouldn’t know until I tried to use it. “Fucking asshole.”

  I stood in the bathroom and adjusted the turtle neck of my cream sweater; making sure it hid the bruises well. No matter how many times I told Jason I didn't like it, he always choked me during sex and left multiple bruises behind.

  My attention moved to fix my high ponytail before I add more gloss to my lower lip to make it look thicker than it was. Everything that stared back at me looked perfect. Just the way I wanted it to be.

  But the outside didn't match the inside. Not by a long shot.

  The stall behind me opened and Lyric walked out. She pulled her red lipstick out of her purse and spread more of it on her cupid's bow. How could Jason ever enjoy kissing her? Wouldn't it be like making out with a semi-soft crayon? They had no idea I knew they were fucking each other.

  Some best friend.

  I wish he could get all of the sex out of his system with her, so I didn't have to touch or even look at him, but the man had a problem. If he could fuck twenty-four seven, I'm sure he would until he died from coming too much.

  I had no plans to disclose I knew about the cheating. It would only make everything more complicated. I glanced at her neck, clear of bruises. Either he hadn't revealed that he liked to do that, or he saved it just for me.

  Ire rose in my chest. Why couldn't she be the one he took his aggression out on? She was a side piece, not the one with girlfriend attached to her name. A twinge of guilt tried to pull at me at even wishing she was the one who had bruises everywhere from Jason and needed to always cover up.

  I stamped out the guilt, already hearing my mother's voice in the back of my head. "Guilt makes you weak, Chanel. Who cares about what happens to other people? The only person who matters is me." Yeah, she was a real piece of work.

  Lyric’s brown eyes peered over at me through the mirror. I had to admit, they were the perfect shade to go with her gold skin. I often envied her, wanting to be able to tan, but I only burned. She was gifted with a natural olive skin tone, though, that drank up the sun and made her look like some kind of Greek goddess. Her chestnut curls framed her face, and she had an amazing mom who baked cookies and hugged her. She didn't know how good she had it.

  A smile that didn't reach Lyric’s eyes pulled at her now overly coated red lips. "Does my lipstick look good?"

  I mirrored her fake smile. "It looks so good. You can really pull off that shade."

  She capped the lipstick and shoved it into her purse. She fixed a stray curl and moved away from the sinks to leave, not even bothering to wash her hands. "I always look good."

  I followed her, careful not to touch the same handle as her, knowing she wiped her ass and didn't even bother to do a basic water rinse. I could only imagine the E. Coli jumping off her hands and sinking into my skin. The thought made me take out my antibacterial gel and squeeze it into my hand even though I just used it.

  Lyric glanced over at me as we headed to the courtyard, steps in sync. "Brian is going to buy me a bracelet. I think he wants to make us a permanent thing."

  I arched an eyebrow. I'm sure he wouldn't be thinking that if he knew she was riding his best friend's tiny cock. "Yeah? Tiffany's?"

  She nodded. "Most likely. He heard me talking about their Summer collection going on sale. It's what he'll be able to afford."

  Jason only bought me something if he knew we had to up our appearance on making people think we actually loved each other.

  The crew sat around the best table in the courtyard while all the other groups sat on the edges. Not deemed worthy to sit near us. I made that happen. The only power I had in my life, even if it was all fake.

  Walking to where Jason sat with his crew, I wrapped my arms around him from behind, placing them around his neck. As I leaned down to give him a kiss on the cheek, his cologne filled my nose. It made me want to barf, even though there wasn't anything in my stomach to force up. Just how Mother liked it. I could only eat the food she wanted me to, which wasn't much.

  Jason turned his head to look at me and planted a kiss on my lips, wet, as always. I forced myself to kiss him back, acting as if I missed him for the heavenly hour we spent apart in separate classes.

  He pulled back and tugged on my arm until I moved around the table to sit on his lap. "I got you a hamburger and fries."

  Great, not only did I have to sit on his lap and feel his dick push at my ass, but I had to fake eat, too. He knew I couldn't have any of it. I didn't know how, but my mother always knew when I ate something outside of her watch. It was like she could smell the carbs and fat on my breath. My stomach rumbled under my sweater. I wanted nothing more than to shove the burger in my mouth and eat like a pig, not caring how it made me look.

  My hands shook with the amount of self-control it took to curb the impulse. The grease would taste like heaven, the bread like the best thing in the world, and don't even get me started on the fries. I was sure they would be better than any orgasm, not that I knew what a true one felt like.

  I picked up the plastic fork and knife. I felt like the snobbiest person in the world, not picking up the burger like it should be eaten. Part of me suspected Jason was the one reporting back to my mother if I let any of it actually touch my tongue. He was devious like that. He should've been her kid. They fit together like two peas in a pod.

  He talked away with his teammates about football shit I couldn't care less about. I'd never seen a more boring pastime, though I didn't care for any kind of sport.

  Lyric and the girlfriends of the other players sat across from me, shoving burgers or overdressed salads into their mouths while I cut mine up, over and over again, until it might as well turn into mush. How I envied them. They took out their phones to scroll and look at the pictures models were posting of their perfect lives. We weren't ones to talk much when the boys were around. It was just too much noise, and honestly, we didn't care for each other. Once the burger and fries were massacred, and I no longer wanted to shove it in my mouth even a little bit, I placed
it on the bench next to us.

  Since I no longer had something to busy my hands with, Jason shifted me in his lap multiple times, rubbing my ass against his hardening dick. I kept any discomfort off my face and giggled as if I found his antics funny.

  He leaned his face into my neck, pretending to kiss it. "Tell me that you want a frap."

  I stiffened. We both knew I couldn't have something that high in sugar. It was his code for he wanted an excuse to leave campus so he could have me give him a blow job. I knew if I refused, or held it off until it was too late, I would have hell to pay.

  I shifted to turn in his lap and placed my head on his shoulder, acting as if I wanted something from him and it would require cute begging to get it. "Baaaabe. All this chatting is nice, but I want an almond milk frap before we have to go back to class." I twirled the gold chain around his neck with my finger and gazed into his black eyes. "Please, can we go get one now?"

  A chuckle left him and he kissed me on the forehead. From an outsider's perspective, it would look super caring and #goals for any relationship.

  I side glanced at Lyric, who white-knuckled her fork, a bit of iceberg salad on the tip, her body stiff as she tried not to look at us. Even she thought it was real. She had to know not everything was a bed of roses, or she wouldn't be fucking him.

  No man that was happy and loyal like he acted would ever cheat with his girl's supposed best friend. It just wasn't done. If everything people saw about our lives was true, I’d be one of the happiest people on the planet. Not someone who thought about suicide daily, who wondered if the day would ever come when my last shred of will vanished, and I simply didn't care anymore if I lived or died.

  Jason looked to the others. "My princess wishes to have a frap, so a frap she will get!"