BAD INFLUENCE
The moment she stepped into the wrong restroom, everything changed.
Hailey had only been at Hillsworth College for a day, a fresh scholarship student, eager yet nervous.
She had simply been looking for the restroom, but fate had other plans.
The thick scent of smoke filled her lungs the second she pushed the door open. The air was dense, intoxicating. Her breath hitched when she saw him.
A dangerously handsome guy.
He leaned lazily against the sink, a cigarette dangling from his lips, his sharp eyes flickering toward her. Tattoos curled around his arms like inked secrets, and silver rings glinted from his eyebrow and tongue. A dangerous smirk lifted his lips as he exhaled a cloud of smoke.
"Lost, princess?" He asked with a smirk, raking her with his eyes from head to toe.
Hailey 's heart pounded. This was the boys' restroom.
And somehow, she had just collided with trouble.
___
Hailey had learned early on that life was rarely fair.
She barely remembered her parents, their faces were blurry images in an old photo album she had once clung to as a child. After their deaths, she was taken in by her uncle, the only family she had left. At first, life had been tolerable-until he died too.
That was when everything changed.
Her uncle's wife, Cecilia, had never truly cared for her, but after his death, the cold indifference turned to outright cruelty. Hailey became the unwanted burden in their home, forced to endure harsh words and extra chores.
Unlike her cousin, Brielle, who lived in luxury and had everything handed to her, Hailey had to fight for the smallest things. When Cecilia refused to pay for her education, she had thought her dreams were over.
But then the scholarship to Hillsworth College came like a miracle.
She studied tirelessly, poured everything into that exam, and when the results came in, she had been one of the few selected. It was her chance at freedom, her chance to escape.
There was just one problem.
Hillsworth was Brielle's school.
And if there was one thing Hailey knew, it was that her cousin would make her life miserable.
But none of that compared to the storm she was about to walk into.
Wanna know what the encounter with the bad boy leads to? Come with me đź«Ł
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Chapter 2
Hailey's throat went dry. She had to say something...anything...but her brain refused to function.
"Uh... I-" she stammered.
Xavier pushed off the sink and took a slow step toward her, his piercing gaze never leaving her face. Up close, she noticed more details-his tousled dark hair, the sharp jawline, the tattoos curling around his arms like inked whispers of rebellion.
Danger.
That was the first thing her mind screamed.
He radiated it.
Yet, her feet still didn't move.
"Let me guess..." He flicked the cigarette ash into the sink, his tongue piercing glinting as he smirked again.
"You're new here"
Hailey nodded stiffly.
His smirk deepened, like he was entertained by her nervousness.
"Thought so" His gaze dropped briefly, taking in her sweater and jeans...simple, modest, so unlike the girls he was used to seeing around here.
He took another drag of his cigarette, exhaling slowly before cocking a brow at her.
"You planning to stay and chat, or are you gonna run off before someone else walks in and gets the wrong idea?"
That snapped her out of it.
Her face burned as she fumbled backward, her hand gripping the door handle.
"I-I'm sorry!" she blurted out, quickly turning and yanking the door open.
A deep chuckle followed her as she practically bolted out of the restroom.
Her heart pounded as she stumbled into the hallway, pressing a hand against her chest.
What just happened?
Who was that?
She didn't need anyone to tell her he was bad news. The tattoos, the piercings, the cigarette-the smirk. He was exactly the type of person she had been warned to stay away from.
She shook her head, inhaling deeply.
Forget it. Just find the dormitory.
She pulled out the crumpled paper with her dorm assignment and checked the campus map at the end of the hallway.
"Block C... Room 209" she muttered, tracing the route with her finger.
Just as she was about to turn toward the dorms, a loud voice cut through the air behind her.
"Name's Xavier, princess!"
Hailey froze mid-step.
Slowly, she turned her head.
There he was.
Xavier stood just outside the restroom, one hand shoved into his pocket, the other tossing the half-burned cigarette to the ground and crushing it beneath his boot.
That same smirk played on his lips as his sharp gaze locked on hers.
"Wouldn't want you running off without knowing who I am" he added, tilting his head slightly.
"Might come in handy later"
Later?
She didn't plan on seeing him ever again.
Without another word, she turned around and walked faster toward the dormitories.
She could still feel his eyes on her back as she walked.
Only when she was far enough away did she let out the breath she didn't realize she had been holding.
•••
BEHIND THE SCHOOL BUILDING*
Xavier leaned against the cool brick wall, his fingers lazily flicking open his lighter, watching the small flame dance before he snapped it shut. Over and over. A habit. A distraction. But right now, nothing could distract him from her.
The girl from earlier.
So soft. So pure. So untouched.
FĂąck.
That innocence of hers? It was driving him insane.
He had seen plenty of girls at Hillsworth who were desperate, eager, willing. They threw themselves at him, craving the thrill of being around someone dangerous.
But her?
She didn't belong in his world. And that made him want her even more.
Xavier exhaled, running his tongue over the silver piercing between his lips, the taste of nicotine still fresh on his tongue.
She had looked terrified in that restroom. Frozen. Shaken.
And it was the best damn thing he'd seen all day.
Because now? Now, he wanted to see her in every way possible.
Ruined. Breathless. Wild.
The thought alone sent a rush through his veins. He hadn't even touched her yet, but fĂąck, the idea of corrupting that innocence was already making his blood run hot.
A smirk tugged at his lips.
"She has no idea what she just walked into"
He wanted her. Badly.
And Xavier always got what he wanted.
He took another slow drag from his cigarette, letting the smoke curl between his fingers before exhaling. His tongue flicked over the cool metal of his piercing, his mind replaying the way she had looked at him-wide-eyed, stiff, like a little rabbit caught in a wolf's den.
That was exactly what she was. A little rabbit in a world full of wolves. And him? He was the worst of them all.
He chuckled under his breath, dropping his cigarette to the ground and crushing it beneath his boot.
She was tempting. Too tempting. That sweater, those jeans...everything about her screamed innocence, and it was messing with his head in the worst way.
He had seen purity before. He had even toyed with it. But this? This was different.
This wasn't just some girl playing at being good. This was a girl who had never tasted the bad.
And he wanted to be the one to change that.
His fingers twitched at the thought-gripping that sweet little waist, watching her shatter under his touch. He wanted to see her fall apart, to strip away every ounce of that innocence until she forgot what it felt like to be good.
And the best part?
She'd let him. Eventually.
Because girls like her? The ones who thought they didn't belong in his world?
They always did.
They just needed the right push.
A slow smirk pulled at his lips.
She wouldn't be able to run from him forever.
Xavier's smirk faded as his phone buzzed in his pocket. He already knew who it was before even glancing at the screen.
Yeah, right.
His jaw clenched as he pulled the phone out, staring at the screen for a long second. The buzzing felt louder, more irritating than usual, like it was drilling into his skull.
Then, without hesitation, he smashed it against the brick wall.
The device shattered on impact, pieces scattering across the ground. The ringing died instantly, leaving nothing but silence.
His fingers curled into fists, his chest rising and falling heavily.
He knew they'd call again.
They always did.
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9.7
"How do I tell the world that my first orgasm came from my father's son-my brother, and he doesn't know yet?"
Annabel Green, who had caught her first ever lover, James, in bed with Stephanie, her best friend, went on a mission of revenge.
After she found out that the man who she bumped into at the club that night she caught her ex cheating, is actually Stephanie's fiancé-Daniel stroke.
She planned on using him as a tool just to make James regret cheating on her and drive Stephanie insane.
But she had no idea that Daniel was her father's son. By the time she had gotten her revenge, only then did they realize how late it was, because they had both fallen hopelessly in love.
Now the question is who will let each other go? Will Daniel and Annabel agree to part ways just to see their parents happy. Or will their parents actually get a divorce in order to see their children live a happy life?
9.7
Brenda's world ended the night her father sold her to a monster.
To protect his pack from destruction, her father traded her to Alpha Aaron, the cruel ruler of the Northern wolves - a man who never spent more than one night with any woman... because none of them survived.
But Brenda did.
That became her curse.
For three years, she endured his brutality - his control, his obsession, his endless hunger for power. She prayed for rescue, for her father, for anyone. But no one came.
Until one mistake changed everything.
A blindfold. A wrong room. A night with a stranger who touched her with tenderness instead of pain.
That stranger was Alpha Leon, Aaron's business partner and unknowingly, her destined mate.
When Leon discovered the truth, he struck a dangerous bargain to take her away. But by then, Brenda was no longer the girl she once was. She was a shell, numb, broken, and incapable of love.
Now, Leon must battle not only Aaron's shadow but also the darkness inside Brenda herself.
Can love heal what cruelty destroyed?
Or will her pain consume them both?
9.2
For five years, I hid my identity as a legendary White Wolf, swallowing suppressants that tasted like ash just to protect Alpha Grafton.
I played the role of the spineless "Shadow," enduring his pack's ridicule and his cold indifference, all to fulfill a promise I made to his dead twin brother.
But when I finally exposed my powers to save Grafton from a rigged car crash, shattering my leg with liquid silver in the process, he didn't thank me.
Instead, he stepped over my bleeding body to comfort Cherrelle, a socialite who was faking a wrist injury.
He believed her lies over my sacrifice.
When I tried to warn him about the poison in his drink, he forced me to swallow the Wolfsbane myself.
He watched me convulse on the floor, calling me a "drama queen."
He even threw me into a dog kennel, crushing the only photo I had of his brother—the man I actually loved—under his boot.
He thought I was a stalker obsessed with him.
He didn't know I drank black coffee I hated every morning just to be in sync with him, or that the "jealousy" he saw was actually grief for the ghost of his twin.
Broken and done, I stood on the edge of Blackwood Bridge and sent him one final text.
"I'm going to be with the man I actually love."
Then, I rejected him as my mate, severed the bond that linked our souls, and let the dark river wash away five years of lies.
8.9
I was the lead architect for the Pack's billion-dollar tech company, and I was secretly carrying the Alpha's heir.
I thought the merger would finally make Caleb Mark me.
Instead, I walked into my office to find a mistress sitting in my chair.
Caleb didn't just fire me. When I refused to hand over the encryption keys to the system I built, he locked me in a reinforced closet lined with silver mesh.
For a pregnant wolf, silver is poison.
I pounded on the door until my knuckles bled.
"Caleb! Please! It burns! I'm losing the baby!"
I screamed until my voice broke, feeling the life drain from my womb.
But outside the door, his mistress laughed. "Don't listen to her, Caleb. She's just a weak Omega faking it for attention."
And my Fated Mate believed her.
He left me in that dark box while our son died in a pool of my own blood.
He thought he had broken me. He thought I would die a silent death so he could parade his fake heir around.
He forgot one thing: I wrote the code that runs his entire life.
Three days later, I didn't show up to the hospital morgue.
I rolled my wheelchair onto the stage of his global press conference, flanked by the rival Alpha he feared most.
I held up the remote to the main server.
"You killed my son for a lie, Caleb," I smiled into the microphone as the screens behind him broadcast the footage of his crime. "Now, say goodbye to your empire."
9.2
For three years, I was the one scrubbing the scent of blood from his hands and holding him while he screamed in pain. I was the one who taught Coleton Barron how to walk again after the car bomb nearly took his legs.
But the moment he reclaimed his seat as Don, I became invisible.
At his recovery gala, he draped his arm around Charly—the woman who fled when he was crippled—and laughed as he told his inner circle I was "just the hired help."
It didn't stop at insults. When Charly faked a fall, he shoved me aside with enough force to crack my skull against the pool edge.
When a bomb went off in a gallery, he looked me in the eye, saw me trapped under debris, and turned his back to carry her to safety instead.
He even held a gun to my head because she lied about me poisoning his soup.
His mother threw a check at me, telling me that tools go back in the box when the job is done. They thought I would beg to stay. They thought I was weak.
I took the five million and vanished without a word.
Three years later, I returned to New York. Not as his nurse, but as the fiancée of the only man Coleton fears.
And when he saw the diamond on my finger, the King of New York finally realized he had thrown away his only lifeline.
9.6
"Not guilty."
With those two words, my husband, the Alpha, acquitted his mistress of poisoning my mother.
I had the toxicology reports. I had the receipts. But Garrison didn't care.
He looked me in the eye, his hand resting possessively on Keyla's back, and told me to stop making a scene.
That was just the beginning of my hell.
He moved Keyla into our master suite and forced me into the servant's quarters.
"Since you can't give me strong pups," he sneered, "you can serve those who do."
I became the maid in my own home, washing Keyla's silk lingerie while she wore my Luna robes.
When I tried to fight back, he used the Alpha Command to silence me and locked me in a room filled with silver dust that burned my skin like acid.
He even drugged me and offered me to a rival Alpha just to secure a timber deal.
He thought he had broken me. He thought I was just a weak Omega who would eventually fade away.
But he forgot that my mother taught me everything about poisons.
On the night of the yacht party, I didn't just jump into the dark ocean to escape.
I jumped to be reborn.
I flushed my wedding ring, severed the bond, and let the icy water swallow Janette the victim.
Garrison thought I was dead.
He didn't know that the ocean wouldn't kill me. It would awaken my true bloodline.
And when I came back, I wasn't his wife anymore.
I was a White Wolf, and I was going to burn his pack to the ground.