The Cruel World Read online

  I groan as I realize… “Are my parents going to be there?”

  The guys don’t respond. They just look between each other, which is the only answer I need.

  My parents are most definitely going to be there.

  Still, I won’t let them put a damper on things. I’m excited about getting there. I will help my team win and show my parents just how strong Roxy Villareal really is. Somehow, I’ll prove that I’m not the disappointment they think I am.

  West pats my back. “You should get some rest. We’re going to get up early tomorrow to start training. You have a lot of work if you’re going to be able to take Ian’s place.”

  Take Ian’s place? I don’t know about that. I still have a long way to go before I’m as good as he is at the physical stuff, but I will certainly try. In fact, I’m excited to try.

  Royal Games… here I come.

  Saturday, December 2

  Why was I excited?

  There is nothing in the world more infuriating than waking up to an airhorn blowing in your face, especially when the person holding the airhorn is West Newman. I jump up, putting a hand to my racing heart.

  “I am going to murder you,” I seethe.

  West grins. “Morning, Princess. You’re going to need that aggression. Now, get dressed. It’s time to start training.”

  He can’t be serious.

  He blows the airhorn a second time and chuckles as he walks out of the room.

  I put a pillow over my head and scream into it, wondering what I did to get stuck on a team with West. Who did I hurt to give me all this bad karma?

  The room I’m in is large, but there are five beds in one room. When the guys moved my bed into their room, I was excited to be accepted into the team. After about a week, I realized I want to move back. These boys are going to drive me insane. What I thought was going to be loads of fun normally just keeps me awake way later than I want to be. Not to shade Ian or anything, but that boy never sleeps. He runs on caffeine and sugar. He stays up half the night, on his computer. The pecking of his keyboard haunts my dreams, but I refuse to say a word.

  Ian is the sensitive one of the group. That isn’t a bad thing, not at all. I happen to like that about Ian. But I know… if I make him mad, it can take him a few months to forgive me. So, I keep a lot of thoughts to myself, not wanting to get on Ian’s bad side.

  Knowing West will come back soon if I don’t get up, I push myself out of bed, going into the walk-in closet to get dressed. I note that all the guys have made their beds—they’ve probably been up for a little while. The sun isn’t even up yet. A quick look at the clock shows that its four o’clock in the morning—FOUR!

  I am going to murder West Newman. Absolutely murder him.

  When I walk out of the bedroom, there are four guys waiting for me. Well, Ian is on the couch with his laptop on his lap, but he does look up expectedly as I walk out.

  He’s counting on me—all the guys are.

  Fine. Maybe I can overlook West waking me up with an airhorn this once. But I am going to look for that thing and burn it.

  “Now that Princess is awake, we can finally get a move on,” West grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest.

  I narrow my eyes at him. “Please tell me we’re not going back to this again. Because I can’t handle the four of you teaming up against me again.”

  “If you can’t handle it, you’re not ready to be in The Royal Games.” West takes a step closer to me. “These games are going to push you past your limit. And you can’t let your team down, Roxy.”

  Oh, boy. They really are serious about The Royal Games.

  I clear my throat, pushing a piece of hair behind my ear. “West, you’ve got to trust me. I can handle this. I’m going to try as hard as I can.”

  “Let’s hope ten days is enough to whip her into shape.” Alek looks dismissively at me.

  Is this really how things are going to be now? Are the guys really going to go back to the way they were? Did our time in the forest mean nothing to them?

  I think about the kiss I shared with West. Alek kissed me too. Now these two boys are acting like I’m weak—like I’m not worthy to be a member of the team. Have they not seen how hard I’ve worked to improve? Can they not see how hard I will work to make sure we win The Royal Games?

  Still, I keep my mouth shut at Alek’s comment, knowing if I smart back it will only make things worse. I follow them wordlessly from the condo, waving by to Ian. At least Ian is giving me a sad smile.

  Why couldn’t it be me with the broken leg? Sure, I’d be going insane if I couldn’t run or train for a couple months, but then Ian could compete in The Royal Games. And then West wouldn’t be scowling at me as we ride the elevator down. And Kal… he wouldn’t be avoiding looking at me like he is now. And Alek, well, he’s in his own world, but when he sees me looking at him, he glares.

  I cast my gaze downward, my heart completely breaking. Part of me wonders if I’m going to walk into the room to go to bed tonight, only to find my bed has been moved back to my own room. Maybe the guys will completely cut me out again.

  Why was I excited about The Royal Games? I thought it would somehow bring us closer. I thought training could be fun. But this? It’s torture. It makes me not even want to compete, not if it means the guys are going to start treating me like this again.

  “Tell me about our rival team,” I say, as the elevator doors open. I am desperate to talk about something else—anything else.

  “They suck.” Kal motions me to walk ahead of him.

  “Yeah, I got that.” I follow after West and Alek, ahead of Kal.

  “They’re arrogant,” West huffs. “Just because their team formed a year before ours, they think they’re so much better.”

  “Their team only formed a year before us because they’re a year older. We’re better than them.” Kal crosses his arms over his chest. “Man, those guys suck.”

  “So you said.” I raise an eyebrow at him. “Can you explain why they suck? Other than they’re arrogant?”

  “You’ll just have to see when they come.” Kal shakes his head.

  “Enough chatting,” West demands. “If we’re going to beat them this year, we’re going to have to train a lot. I’m not sure that Princess is up to the challenge.”

  I roll my eyes, crossing my arms over my chest. “I’ve busted my butt every single day for years—I can handle this, West.”

  “We’ll see.” He shrugs. “Let’s start out with our run. We’re doing ten miles today, instead of five.”

  I always run ten miles—I do five miles before the guys get up, and then I do five miles with them. But West isn’t thinking about that right now.

  “Ten miles—easy,” I smart off.

  West doesn’t respond, he just takes off running. The rest of us pace after him.

  All the guys are quiet on our run, not that our runs are usually super talkative, but the quiet today feels different. Maybe it’s just me. I’m definitely feeling sensitive today. I could just be blowing this out of proportion. It’s just an off day. The guys are just tense because of the upcoming Royal Games. They have a rival that I don’t understand and they just want to win. Everything will go back to normal after the games are over. It’s just… ten more days. I can handle ten more days of this. After all, I handled three months of them hating me. This will be nothing.

  Once we come to the end of our ten miles, West is especially grumpy as we head to the gym. Hank is training us today, as he usually does. West insists that I partner with Alek, saying that Kal would baby me.

  Alek shows no mercy at all when he’s training me. And he’s not really training me—he’s just sparing with me and not doing much teaching at all. He’s just proving to me that he’s much better than I am; something I already knew. It’s why I work so hard with Alek every afternoon. I want to prove to the guys that I can do this. What he is doing is just being cruel.

  By the time we’re done with training, I am wet with swea
t and I have a huge bruise forming on my behind from falling so many times. I rub at it as we head back to the condo. West sees and he shakes his head.

  “You have a long way to go. I don’t get why Michael Sinclair let you join us.”

  I narrow my eyes. “Maybe because all four of you voted for me. It was unanimous. Even you, West.”

  “Something I’m now questioning,” he mumbles, before walking into the condo.

  I stand outside for a moment, just breathing.

  Kal slips his arm around me. “Don’t worry, Roxy. West will calm down eventually.”

  I snort.

  West will never calm down. It’ll always be hot and cold with him. That’s something I just have to accept if I’m going to be on his team.

  Too bad for him, I’m not going anywhere.

  Going back to Fight Club.

  Tonight, we’re going back to Fight Club. Since I know where we’re going, I don’t wear a dress like I did last time.

  I’m nervous to go back. Last time we were there, things didn’t go well. The guys and I got into a huge fight which led to us being dropped off in the middle of a forest. I hope things go better this time around.

  When I walk out of my room, West smirks.

  “Not wearing a dress, Princess?”

  I roll my eyes, storming past him and into the living room. Ian is sitting on his computer, so I sit down beside him, ignoring West.

  “Hey, Ian.”

  He looks up from his computer, leaning closer to me. “I liked the dress. The fact that you could still kick butt in it was awesome,” he whispers.

  I grin. “Thanks.”

  At least Ian doesn’t hate me.

  I like having him on my side.

  West clears his throat. I look over to see him scowling at me.

  “You’re not allowed to stay home with Ian for a date night tonight,” West says.

  Ian makes a choking sound and his face turns bright red.

  It’s one thing for West to make me miserable, but it’s quite another for him to harass Ian. I abruptly stand from the couch, coming face to face with him.

  “Leave Ian alone.” I try to look intimidating, but it’s hard considering I’m nearly a foot shorter than West. Still, I stand my ground. “You can make fun of me all you want, but not at his expense.”

  West’s face turns red, but it’s not with embarrassment like Ian—it’s with anger.

  “You don’t get to tell me how I can and can’t talk to my team.” West takes a step closer to me, until we’re literally toe to toe.

  I swallow hard, looking up at him. “You don’t scare me.”

  “Really?” West raises an eyebrow. “Not even after I proved to you just how weak you are earlier today?”

  My stomach churns.

  Never in my life have I had such an urge to slap somebody before, but I know slapping him won’t do anything except make him angrier.

  Alek pushes himself off the couch. “West, if you’re done flirting with Roxy, we need to get going.”

  I turn to him. “If you think West is flirting with me, you need to seriously rethink the way you pick up chicks. Must be why you’re single.”

  Kal and Ian snicker.

  Alek just smirks. “I’m single because I’m too much for one girl to handle.”

  I pat his arm, giving him a sympathetic look. “Keep telling yourself that.”

  Kal slings his arm around me, pulling me out the door after West, who is stomping like a dramatic two-year-old ahead of us. Alek walks behind us, grumbling something under his breath—I’m sure it’s something about how much he hates me for the comment I just made about him.

  I know Alek. He’s truly not ready to be in a committed relationship, but it’s still fun to tease him about not being able to get a girlfriend. The truth is, he could have any girl he wanted.

  West stomps over to the elevator, pushing the down button. We’ve gotten into the habit of using it because of Ian. When Kal and I walk up, West glares at Kal’s arm, but Kal doesn’t move it. Instead, he just pulls me further into him and I let him. For some reason, I really like making West mad—maybe because he’s made me so furious. I don’t know how, but he can get under my skin like nobody else.

  Alek pouts, holding his arms open. “What about me? Don’t I get any love?”

  I grin at him, shaking my head. “I’m sure you’ll get plenty of love tonight. I know all those Spy School girls love you. They were chanting your name last time.”

  He snorts. “Yeah, they do love me. But you’ll always be my favorite.”

  Giving in, I move from Kal and wrap my arms around Alek. I know his words aren’t true. Someday, another girl will be his favorite, but for now, I am.

  The elevator doors open and West grunts as he walks forward.

  I still don’t know what his problem is. Everything was fine yesterday—more than fine. Now today, he’s decided that he hates me again for no reason whatsoever. I just wish he’d make up his mind either way.

  When we get out to the Jeep, I’m surprised when West gets into the backseat. Alek and Kal must be too because they give each other a look before getting in. Alek gets into the driver’s seat and Kal into the passenger. Of course, they’re leaving me in the back with the cranky one.

  I scoot in, putting on my seatbelt. I give West a wary look, wondering what’s going to happen tonight. We haven’t been to Fight Club since that other Spy School agent kissed me—that kiss caused a chain reaction: us fighting, getting dropped off in the woods, and Ian breaking his leg. I didn’t think we’d ever go back there after how horrible it was last time.

  “Why are we going back to Fight Club?” Kal turns in his seat to look back at West as we drive toward our destination. “I thought you said, after last time, that we’d never, ever go back.”

  West glares at Kal. “We’re going because I said so.”

  Is he going to be rude to everybody all night?

  Kal doesn’t seem effected by West’s rudeness. He just grins. “I’m sorry I put my arm around Roxy.”

  West doesn’t respond though. He just crosses his arms over his chest and glares at Kal.

  That’s not why he’s mad—I know it’s not. West doesn’t even like me, even as a friend. So no way he’s mad at Kal for that.

  The car grows silent and Kal turns his attention back forward. The tension is thick in the air and I feel a twinge of guilt. It’s my fault that things are tense right now. I’m the one who made West mad. And sure, I have no idea what I did wrong, but it’s still because of me.

  Reaching a hand over, I put my hand on West’s arm. He flinches, looking over at me. I smile at him, hoping to ease his tension. It takes a few seconds, but he eventually relaxes his arms, letting them fall to his side. Once he relaxes, I feel like I can breathe again.

  I like this West—the West who is smiling instead of glaring. I wish he were around more often.

  “Tonight is going to be good practice for Princess,” West says, breaking the silence.

  “Practice?” I raise an eyebrow at him.

  Kal turns in his seat, looking at West. “That’s actually a great idea. Just don’t pit her against somebody like she fought last time. She didn’t even have to try and beat him.”

  West huffs. “Don’t worry—I’m not going to let any guy like that anywhere close to her.”

  “Maybe you’re forgetting the beatdown I gave him,” I remind him. “I can take care of myself.”

  He snorts. “If you can take care of yourself, he would never have kissed you.”

  I roll my eyes. “How was I supposed to know the guy was stupid enough to try something like that? And I punched him, which everybody seems to just forget.”

  West doesn’t respond.

  Of course he doesn’t.

  I just don’t get why he acts like this. Is it always going to be this way? Am I just going to have to live with West being rude to me the rest of my life? Because, unless I marry a Royal, I am stuck with West.


  “Hey, Kal,” I say.

  He turns to look at me. “Hmm?”

  “We should get married. Then you and I can be on a team and we won’t have to put up with West anymore.” I’m joking, of course.

  Kal laughs.

  West glares. “Princess, you’re not marrying Kal.”

  I start to smart off about how West doesn’t get to choose who I marry, but one look in his direction and I decide to keep my mouth shut.

  He’s in a really bad mood today.

  “I’m only kidding.” I sink further into my seat, not sure why I am explaining myself to him.

  Alek looks at West in the rearview mirror. “You know that someday Roxy is going to get married, right? And there isn’t anything you can do about it.”

  “We’ll see,” West mumbles.

  The car grows silent again. I can’t help but wonder what West is thinking.

  “What did I do?” I didn’t mean to ask out loud, but now that it’s out there, I’m glad I said it. I want to know what I did to make him so mad.

  But, of course, West doesn’t respond. He just crosses his arms over his chest and looks forward.

  Will things ever be okay again?

  You sound jealous.

  I feel anxious as we enter the once forbidden territory. Part of me is scared to death, thinking I’m going to inevitably do something to make the guys hate me again, but the other part of me is oddly excited about this.

  The last time I was here, I wasn’t prepared. I came in a dress, not knowing that I was about to get into a ring and fight somebody. Still, I did awesome for being in a dress. I completely kicked his butt. And then a couple days later, I ended up in a forest in the middle of nowhere because the guys can’t seem to get along with me.

  It’s not so much the guys that can’t get along with me—it’s West. He’s the one with the problem. Well, maybe Alek too. He doesn’t think I’m going to be enough to help them win The Royal Games, but I’m trying not to be offended by that.

  I don’t know what to do about West. How do we overcome our differences and become friends if I’m not even sure why he hates me? And when I bring it up, like tonight, he completely shuts down and won’t tell me anything. I feel like the two of us are a time bomb waiting to explode. It’s going to happen. It’s only a matter of when.