Twisted Complications by Nikita Parmenter

Chapter One

“I’m sorry, what did you just say?” I ask, my eyes wide, there’s no way I heard him right, an all-boys school?

There’s nothing that can go wrong with that damn plan, I think sarcastically.

“You’re going to be the first girl to attend the all-boys academy.” The detective repeats and for the first time, I see uncertainty flash in his eyes as he looks over all of us.

Well, that’s hardly reassuring.

“How the fuck are we supposed to fly under the radar then!?” Jensen suddenly explodes, “You just told us that we need to keep our presence there as quiet and unassuming as possible. She’ll be the first fucking girl ever to attend a school filled with dick! Not just any girl either, but Ever! Have you seen her? They’re going to be all fucking over her and she’s going to knock at least one of them out for it, and that will be her showing restraint. Not to mention, what the rest of us would do.” He finishes abruptly as he glares at Trick who just pinched the side of his leg in warning.

Jensen very almost forgot that although this detective seems weird and more relaxed than most, he is a detective and admitting out loud that they would probably eviscerate someone if they hurt or touched me without my permission, is probably a bad idea.

I study the detective; his dark hair is messy, styled in a way that I haven’t seen any detective before have, normally its short back and sides and very neat. It seems to be the go-to for all the detectives I’ve met. His posture is more relaxed and on the casual side and as he moves the sleeves of his jacket rise showing dark lines of ink. Not unheard of for detectives to have ink but add that to his overall aura that isn’t quite fitting of a detective, and it makes me wonder who this guy really is.

“Thanks Jensen.” I grin, genuinely proud that he knows me so fucking well, that there’s no question that I’d take down anyone who tried anything with me.

“You’re welcome, Angel.” He winks.

“He has a point. Not only will Ever knock the first fucker that steps out of line out cold, but the rest of us won’t hesitate to step in either.” Cash says, making it sound like the usual guy protecting their girl stuff and not something darker like I know the guys are actually thinking and more than capable of.

“Is this really the safest place for her?” Trick asks, not including him and the guys in the question, “Considering that it’s a fucking boarding school, they’ve gone for god knows how long without seeing a fucking woman and the guys are fucking idiots?” He ends and I chuckle.

“Don’t get us wrong, we’re not exactly worried about Ever,” Riot adds in, “We’re more worried about what she’s going to do to idiots who don’t know their fucking place.” He grins and the detective shoots me an assessing look, clearly re-evaluating his first opinion of me. I grin savagely and his eyes widen with surprise before he chuckles quietly.

“That explains it.” He mutters as something clicks into place for him.

“Explains what?” Rafe asks, the question important enough to him that he decides to voice it rather than sign it. His eyes narrowing on the detective.

“Nothing, I have a feeling you’re going to work it out soon. In answer to your question, yes, it is definitely safer than what would await you all if you weren’t there.” He says, once again serious and his voice dark.

There is so much that this guy is not telling us, I can hear it in his voice. I get the weirdest feeling that it’s not entirely his choice though, almost as if he’s just following orders but not necessarily something he agrees with. At least, not all of it. As I watch him, I can’t help but feel that pang of familiarity again, like I’ve met or seen him somewhere before, but I can’t put my finger on why he looks so familiar. Under normal circumstances, it would bother me, but my mind is preoccupied with thoughts of Atty.

I know we have the burner phone, but I’m still trying to repress my panic that he won’t be able to get hold of us if he needs to. That flimsy wall that’s holding back my emotions when it comes to Atlas wobbles and I take a deep breath trying to reinforce it. I can’t show weakness now, especially not when I’m about to be the only girl in a rich ass academy filled with fucking dick.

I just know some idiots are going to get their asses handed to them by me, like I’ve said before, rich guys are a whole other breed of asshole. Fortunately, I have experience dealing with them, not so pretty anymore pretty boy’s face flashes through my mind and I suppress a shudder, except him. He still terrifies me. I jump slightly when a hand squeezes my thigh and Riot looks at me with concern filling his gaze. I reach down and squeeze his hand, trying to reassure him that I’m alright.

He eyes me sceptically but threads our fingers together and holds on tightly. It instantly grounds me, and I honestly couldn’t be more thankful.

“Well, like I said before, don’t get caught. This school runs by its own set of rules unlike anything that you’ve heard of before. The kids are training to be the world’s most influential and powerful people, and some of their parents already are. In this country and around the world. Having said that, be damn careful who you take on because they are richer than you could imagine.”

“And their wealth is a weapon, they can convince even the most down to earth person or even someone who you’ve known your whole life, to turn against you.” I finish for him my voice cold.

The guys turn to me, their eyes blazing with curiosity and anger as they assume correctly that I’m speaking from experience.

“Very true.” The detective says, his gaze sharpening on my face, “I don’t feel like I can give you enough warnings.”

“We’re perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves and anyone else for that matter.”

“Oh, I’m more than aware of that.” He mutters.

“Excuse me?” Trick asks sharply, his voice cold and calculating, unlike anything that I’ve heard before.

“This is impossible.” The detective huffs, sounding thoroughly frustrated, “I have no doubt that it will all make sense to you soon.” He repeats, his tone signalling the end of the conversation. “As soon as you turn eighteen at this Academy, they move you into houses that are on the extensive grounds. All the houses are for multiple students and those students are all responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of it. Some are down small streets; houses lined either side and some are more isolated. The more money you and your roommates have collectively, the bigger and more isolated your house.” He starts to explain.

It honestly sounds more excessive than anything I’ve heard before. It’s almost the same concept as sorority houses and stuff, but not at the same time; they’ve taken the basic idea and made it more exclusive.

“I have managed to get you all into the same house, it’s called King Lodge. I have the key code here.” He says, giving everyone a piece of paper with a key code on it. “I highly suggest that you do not share that code with anyone. We aren’t too far from the academy now, you should know that although I have managed to make sure that you are all in a house together, you will have an eighth roommate. There wasn’t anywhere else that we could house you. Each door has a lock, your key code will open it but then you need to change the code on your room door so that it’s actually secure.”

“This is insane.” Rafe signs to us as we all share a look.

None of this is particularly making sense. It damn well better start to soon though, I get cranky as fuck when I don’t have all the information I fucking need. Which reminds me, I might need to warn the guys that something might trigger me while we’re here surrounded by rich idiots.

The detective stops talking, giving us as much information as he’s willing to, which turns out to not be enough.

My attention switches to the houses outside of the limo, they’re incredibly impressive and as we travel‚ get bigger and further apart until we end up on a long stretch of road, lined with rolling hills, tall trees, and large sprawling mansions dotted throughout the countryside. Eventually we turn off the main road and up a smaller one, trees line the road obscuring the view and I’m guessing adding another layer of privacy for the school.

The location is pretty damn isolated, we haven’t seen any houses for miles and the last town that we passed through with all of the giant mansions was at least forty minutes ago. Finally, I see fencing up ahead, tall‚ thick‚ black metal fencing that rises high in the air and has spikes on top.

For a school? Seriously!?

The fencing expands as far as I can see and obviously surrounds the whole of the academy‚ which if the detective is to be believed is massive. As we pull up to the giant gates the prestige of the school starts to become obvious, the gates are just as strong as the connecting fencing, but they’re covered in ornate shapes and inlaid with gold. It wouldn’t surprise me if it was real gold, what does surprise me is the guard stations at either side of them.

One guard exits each of the stations and they both approach the car as we stop, I tense slightly as I easily pick up that they are both armed. Cash catches my eye and raises his eyebrow at me in question, the other guys picking up on our silent conversation easily. I tap my chest subtly, both hips and reach down to itch my ankle, then nod to the guys that have only just reached the car.

Jensen smirks, and nods as he grins proudly, the others looking equally impressed. It seems that some of my more unsavoury skills are going to come in handy here. I’m not sure whether to be excited or worried by that prospect.

We’ll go with excited.

We watch cautiously from the back of the limo as the driver rolls down his window and the detective leans forward to speak.

“I’ve got Trick and the guys.” He says handing forward his ID and showing his badge.

I notice that he doesn’t mention my name and it makes me wonder if I’m a shock for everyone, that would not be great. Fun though.

Oh, I am definitely feeling twitchy. It’s hardly surprising considering everything that’s going on at the moment and the barrier that’s keeping all the emotional shit back. I’m going to snap; god help the fucker that causes me to.

“That’s all good sir, we just need to check out the luggage.” One of the guards says and we all turn to Jensen and I raise my eyebrows, remembering the negotiation that him and Trick went through in order let him bring his knives. He just smirks at me and winks, seemingly completely unconcerned and I find it stupidly hot.

I seriously hope like hell that they are only searching the luggage in the trunk because I have both of my normal knives on me, one in my jeans and one on my boot. I also have the beautiful knife set that Atlas gave me. I don’t really need my knives from home anymore, but they’ve saved me more times than I care to count, and I will always take them with me.

I know they won’t fail me. I know that Atty’s knives won’t either, but I’d rather have more weapons than less. That’s beside the point though, my point is that we are all armed. I imagine that the armed guards will not be happy to find out that information. I’m not sure that the detective would be too thrilled to find that out either.

Though I’m starting to suspect that he wouldn’t be surprised.

The longer that they are running these weird wand things over our luggage the more worried I become that they’re about to find the multitude of knives that Jensen’s packed. There’s no way that he only bought ten. His face said it all when Cash said that they were like his babies. He’s got no idea when we’re going to be able to go back and get the others, so I’ll be surprised if he didn’t try to get away with bringing more than he and Trick agreed on.

They step back from the vehicle to wave us on through the giant gates and I breathe a sigh of relief, that would’ve been one hell of first impression to make. Especially since I highly doubt Jensen would’ve allowed them to confiscate his knives.

The driveway is lined with manicured hedges and twists and turns making it impossible to see the actual school. Everything is extremely well taken care of and screams money. When the car finally pulls up to the school, I’m struck speechless, the building is ginormous and stunning, built in old stone with columns along the front leading to giant doors. There are tree sculptures outside the front doors and gargoyles perched on the roof. It creates an imposing and impressive visage. There are students wandering around and my guess would be that they’ve just come from dinner since it’s too late for them to be still in classes. Thankfully, the weather up here has held and although its cold and now dark, it’s not raining or snowing and there are plenty of lights dotting the grounds that we can see pretty much everything.

There’s a road leading around the side of the building and I watch several kids get into astronomically expensive cars, I’m sure I just saw a fucking Bugatti and follow it, I’m assuming that the houses for the over eighteen students are down that road.

“Remember that this is nothing like a normal school. I’d advise you to try and stay low, but I have a feeling that would be a fairly useless plea.” The detective says before getting out.

“Eyes on your surroundings guys.” Trick orders before he gets out, all of the others following.

As they get out of the limo, the surrounding students turn to watch smirking and laughing but giving off decidedly hostile vibes.

Oh‚ this is going to be so much damn fun.

I step out of the car behind them and the entire quad falls silent as they all turn to stare at me.

“Well, that’s reassuring.” I mutter, smirking.

It’s a damn good thing that I’m not easily intimidated.

The guys tense but they don’t close ranks. If they were to close ranks around me right now, that would give the staring jackasses reason to believe that I’m weaker than I am. We don’t want to start off by giving them the wrong impression.

“It’s about time someone bought a whore to this damn campus.” Someone yells and the crowd laughs as my guys tense.

Jensen steps forward his eyes blazing and I put a hand on his arm and shake my head. Not yet. I notice that now their shock has worn off several of the guys in the crowd are taking their phones out and tapping away. I have no doubt that in a matter of minutes everyone is going to know that we’re here or more specifically me.

“Your guide should here any second.” The detective tells us, eyeing the guy that called out, “Ah, here he is.”

I can’t help my slight smile as a guy with neon pink hair that matches his neon pink braces that are over the top of a black shirt and paired with black checked cigarette trousers and black docs, comes strolling up. Damn, his make-up is fucking impeccable, I’m jealous.

“Sorry, sorry I’m late. I don’t do running unless its mandated and this,” He gestures to his outfit, “Takes time to perfect.”

“I’m well aware,” The detective says rolling his eyes, “Guys this is Peter, Peter this is, Rafe, Riot, Trick, Jensen.”

“Holy shit, you’re a girl!” Peter interrupts.

“Last time I checked.” I smirk and he grins.

“Oh girl, you’re going to cause a world of fucking trouble here. Just wait until Taylor finds out.” He replies‚ before clarifying. “My boyfriend.”

“As I was saying, this is Cash, Luc, and Ever.” The detective interrupts.

“Yeah, yeah, I got it. Come on chickies, let’s show you where you’re living. We’ll go in your limo since it’s quite a walk to the houses and its fucking cold.” Peter says as he turns towards the limo.

“We’ll be in touch when we have any news.” The detective says, clearly giving up on warning us.

“How are you going to get back?” Cash asks, a note of suspicion in his tone.

“I have to talk to the Headmaster; I’ll grab the limo when it comes back after dropping you off.” He explains.

Cash nods his response and one by one we get back in the car before I step in after Rafe, something occurs to me and I turn back to the Detective.

“If we were going to take the car to the house anyway, why did we get out?” I ask and Rafe looks at me impressed.

“Because it gives them time to get used to the idea of there being a girl here before classes tomorrow. Hopefully, that will have given them enough time to calm down.” He replies.

“Again, that’s hardly reassuring.” I comment before I get back into the car.

The door shuts behind me, and I expect some sort of awkward silence as we set off, but Peter has other ideas.

“I can’t believe they’ve let a girl in. The benefactors are going to pissed.” He says grinning like he likes the idea of that.

“Why?” Riot asks.

“Because they’re misogynistic assholes and want this school to remain for boys only.” He says rolling his eyes.

“Well, that’s almost predictable for a place like this.” I reply rolling my eyes.

“I can’t say I disagree. They’re only just starting to accept that men can like men. Fucking idiots.” Peter practically growls. “Anyway, what house are you in? The headmaster wouldn’t tell me anything. Just that I need to meet new students out the front. It’s rare that they let me meet new students, you know cause I’m gay and although the students are starting to be more accepting, their fucking fathers are not.” He pauses as he contemplates and we all share a look, I don’t think we’re going to be getting a word in, he’s a force to be reckoned with. “Sorry, sometimes my brain moves faster than mouth, and it all comes spilling out. I have to warn you that the houses are pretty small and basic, but they’re a whole lot better than living in the damn halls, trust me. What house are you guys in?”

“King Lodge.” Trick says shortly.

“No fucking way.” Peter exclaims, his eyes wide.