Broken Empire (Boys of Oak Park Prep 3)

Finn had been right about us not having to worry about Adena anymore.

Not just because she was too distracted to come after me, but because she was expelled.

As scandalous as the information that’d come out about the Princes had been, it hadn’t directly impacted the school the same way Adena’s revelations had. Even the fact that Finn’s dad had donated money to the school in exchange for better grades for his son was more easily brushed aside as a misunderstanding than the fact that an underage student had slept with a teacher.

Preston and Sable were still around, but without their ringleader, they seemed a little lost. And the rest of Adena’s followers at school didn’t seem all that sad that she was gone. There wasn’t a lot of loyalty when popularity was bought by favors and fear, something the Princes had learned the hard way when the blonde queen of the school had set out to take them down.

But karma was a bitch, and so was Adena, and at the end of the day, that had left her with very few friends.

I heard through the rumor mill that her parents had managed to enroll her in a smaller, less elite school about an hour away from Roseland—probably desperate to have her graduate from somewhere, anywhere. I was sure money or promises of favors owed had been used as bargaining chips.

But hey, at least it wasn’t sex, right?

The next week of school was almost surreal. I hadn’t realized what an annoyingly larger-than-life presence Adena had been until she was no longer there. But it was good timing, because as satisfying as our plan against her had been, it’d taken time and focus away from schoolwork, and we were heading into the final stretch of classes. There would be no time to make up for missed work later.

The Princes’ constant vigilance over me loosened somewhat, but even though Adena was gone, the boys didn’t back away entirely. We never talked about it, but their rotation of staying at my dorm didn’t end, and I never asked them to stop.

I didn’t want them to.

I liked having them around.

The five of us pulled several late night study sessions throughout the week, joined in the Prentice Hall common room by Leah, Maggie, and Dan. Leah jokingly informed the Princes that, whether they’d wanted to or not, they had officially joined the

“losers club”.

There was a time when she would’ve meant that as an insult, and a time they would’ve taken it as one—but now, Finn just laughed and Mason rolled his eyes before his gaze landed on me, a flash of warmth sparking in the depths of his green eyes.

We had two more weeks before finals, and Finn pulled me aside one night to tell me he was currently passing all his classes, and that as long as he didn’t blow it in his last exams, he would graduate on time.

He’d barely gotten the words out before his lips were on mine, kissing me with such breathless abandon that my body responded immediately.

“I owe it all to you, Legs. Thank you so fucking much,” he muttered against my skin as he kissed my neck, molding me against him.

When I pressed against his chest a little, he loosened his grip, not letting me go entirely but giving me room to look up at him.

“I didn’t really do much.” My fingertips trailed over his chest as I spoke. “It was all you. But…” I bit my lip, hoping he wouldn’t take my question the wrong way. “Why didn’t you ever look this stuff up on your own, or try to get help before?”

His gaze went unfocused for a second as he considered that. Then he sighed. “I dunno. I was… embarrassed, I guess. My dad always made it seem like there was something wrong with me. That I was stupid or something. Maybe I started to believe it a little.” Then he shook his head and shrugged, grinning down at me as if he was trying to brush past the vulnerability he’d just shown. “I dunno.”

God. The ways our parents fuck us up.

“You’re not stupid, Finn. Maybe one day you can work with a reading specialist, and they can help you more. But no matter what, you’re not stupid.” I stretched up to kiss him one more time. “And I know you’re gonna kick your finals’ asses.”

Philip called on Friday to ask what my plans were for the summer, and to offer up their house if I needed a place to stay.

I told him I’d think about it, and I meant it.

In actual truth, I’d been so distracted with everything else going on that I hadn’t had much time to consider what I’d do after graduation. At the very least, I could stay with my grandparents for a couple of weeks while I found a place and figured out my next steps. I liked the idea of living on my own though. It felt like it was time.

Scott had given me the go-ahead to cut back on my sessions with him until after I graduated, promising me that once I had more free time, he’d find some new and inventive ways to “torture” me. I knew the day would come, probably sooner rather than later, when I’d have to say goodbye to him. And although it would be a good thing when it happened, I would actually miss the man—and I was sure Philip would miss his best golf buddy.

Cutting back on physical therapy freed up more time to focus on schoolwork, and that was what ninety percent of my brain was occupied with. But there was one thing that kept pricking at my mind, a name that just wouldn’t go away.

Adam Pierce.

If my mom had truly never told her parents who the father of her baby was, maybe I would never find out whether my dad was Leo Parker or Adam Pierce or someone else entirely.

But I couldn’t just let it go that easily.