Defiant Princess (Boys of Oak Park Prep 2)

I Googled the name, but there were thousands of Adam Pierces in the country, and I couldn’t narrow it down far enough to find the one I wanted.

Exhausted, my eyes stinging from staring at a screen too long, I closed the lid of the laptop and blinked into the sudden darkness. I’d gotten sucked into the rabbit hole of the internet, and it had to be close to midnight by now. Yawning, I set my computer on the coffee table and sat up to stretch—but as I did, movement on the lawn outside caught my eye.

I froze, peering out at the dimly lit grounds.

Yup. I hadn’t imagined it.

Figures were crossing furtively across the open space and disappearing into the woods to the west side of campus. And unlike the first time I’d noticed that strange occurrence last year, this time I knew exactly what they were doing.

A grin spread across my face.

Guess it’s a good night for collecting shit on the Princes.

Keeping one eye on the window, I stood quickly and slipped my shoes on. My jeans were dark, but I needed something to cover up my pale skin and light blue tank, so I slipped a black hoodie on. By the time I was dressed, there were no more figures heading toward the woods.

Good.

It’d be easier to sneak after them if they had a good head start. And I knew where I was going this time anyway. I didn’t need to follow close behind.

A little thrill of victory and adrenaline flowed through me as I slipped out my door and headed downstairs. If I could get footage of the Princes’ underground fight ring, it could potentially be used against all of them. Cole most definitely, since he was the one who fought the hardest and the most violently. But they were all responsible for it, and the very fact that they snuck off campus to do it when they flagrantly broke so many other rules on school grounds told me they were certain they’d get busted hard if they were found out.

The moon was half-full, so it cast enough light for me to find the hole in the high stone wall that surrounded the Oak Park campus. I made my way through the woods slowly and car

efully, making sure to listen for any sounds in the darkness up ahead of me.

Luckily, I’d waited long enough that I heard them long before they could possibly hear me. A fight had obviously already started, judging by the groans, cheers, and catcalls that rose up from the forest ahead.

I slowed, moving from tree to tree until I got close enough to make out the circle of bodies and the lanterns hung on tree branches. Once I was a few yards away, I scanned the crowd for the Princes’ faces, careful to locate every single one. The first time I’d come here, I’d gotten busted by Elijah, who by some miracle hadn’t decided to rat me out to the others. I didn’t want to get caught again.

The guys in the circle around the two fighters kept moving and jostling around, so there was no way to get a clear, sustained shot of the fight. But there was also no mistaking what it was, even without a completely clear view.

I tugged my cell out of my back pocket and double-checked three times that the flash wasn’t on before I switched the camera app to the video setting and raised it, pressing record.

The two guys in the center of the ring were both seniors, and they were pretty evenly matched. They were both smart fighters too, playing things safe, which made the match a little boring to watch—or at least, the crowd seemed to think so. The yells and catcalls grew louder until finally, the taller boy sidestepped a punch and delivered a neat right hook to the other boy’s jaw. The shorter one, whose name I was pretty sure was Alan, stumbled to the side, almost going down to the ground entirely. The taller boy moved after him, but Alan waved his hands in defeat, and the crowd groaned.

“All right.” Mason stepped into the circle as the two boys stepped out. “That match goes to Walker. Who’s up next?”

There was a jostling in the crowd before a figure stepped into the ring. I had expected it to be Cole, since I was pretty sure he fought at every one of these things, but it wasn’t.

It was Elijah.

My mouth dropped open in shock.

Elijah was cut but lean, almost as tall as the other Princes, but not as broad as Cole or Finn. Mason wasn’t as built as those two either, but he was bigger than Elijah.

But more to the point, Elijah had never really struck me as a fighter. He could be an asshole just like all the other Princes, but he didn’t have the same raw violence or rage in him that Cole or Mason did.

“Elijah.” Mason sounded just as surprised as I was. He cocked his head, giving the other boy a strange look, then shrugged and gestured to the crowd. “Who do you challenge?”

“You.”

Mason’s head whipped back toward his friend, something almost like shock on his features now. His eyes narrowed, and there was a beat of silence before he said, “Really.”

It could’ve been a question, but it didn’t sound like one at all.

Elijah nodded, grabbing the hem of his shirt with one hand before tugging it over his head. “Yeah. You.”

My gaze flew to Cole and Finn, half expecting one of them to step forward and put an end to this, to call out the joke.