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 4
The moment Xavier walked away, the cafeteria burst into chaos.
Whispers.
Gasps.
Stares.
Hailey barely registered any of it. Her heart was still hammering in her chest, her skin tingling where his hands had been just moments ago.
What just happened?
She slowly sank back into her seat, feeling Jessa's wide-eyed gaze burning into her.
"Okay... what the hell was that?" Jessa demanded, practically bouncing in her seat.
"Did Xavier Knight just...wait...what's going on between you two?"
Hailey shook her head quickly.
"Nothing. I don't even know him"
Jessa snorted. "Yeah, well, he sure as hell knows you"
Hailey clenched her fists, staring down at her untouched food. She wanted to disappear. To pretend none of that just happened. But the cafeteria wasn't letting her.
All around them, students were still whispering, girls glaring at her like she had just stolen something precious from them.
Brielle, who sat a few tables away, looked livid.
Hailey swallowed hard. She needed to get out of here.
"Excuse me" she muttered, grabbing her tray and standing up.
Jessa called after her, but she didn't stop. She just needed air. Space. Anything to clear her mind of him.
But the moment she stepped out of the cafeteria, she realized one terrifying thing-
Xavier Knight was dangerous.
Brielle suddenly came from nowhere, blocking her way with her arms crossed. Her two friends, Tessa and Lila were with her.
"Well, well, look who it is" Brielle drawled, tilting her head.
"The new school slut"
Hailey stiffened. "Excuse me?"
Tessa let out a dramatic gasp, pressing a hand to her chest.
"Oh, come on, Hailey. You really think people didn't see what just happened? Xavier Knight, of all people, touching you?" She laughed, shaking her head.
"That was pathetic"
"You know, girls have tried for months to get his attention. And yet, somehow, you just...what? Stumble into his lap?" Lila said.
Hailey clenched her fists.
"I didn't ask for his attention"
"Oh, but you got it. And trust me, Hailey, that's a very dangerous thing" Brielle said and then continued by moving closer.
"You're not special. You're just a toy he'll get bored of and when he does? You'll wish you never even looked at him"
Hailey swallowed hard, her throat dry.
"Stay out of his way because if you don't-" She trailed off, giving Hailey a slow, knowing look before flipping her hair over her shoulder.
"Well... don't say I didn't warn you"
With that, she and her friends brushed past her, laughing.
Hailey stood frozen.
What had she just gotten herself into?
She let out a shaky breath, trying to push down the lump in her throat. Her hands clenched by her sides as Brielle and her friends walked away, their laughter still ringing in her ears.
"Hailey!" She heard a familiar voice call her.
Jessa jogged up beside her. "You really just left me in the cafeteria" she said, shaking her head.
"Cold"
"Sorry" Hailey muttered.
Jessa eyed her, then glanced back toward Brielle and her group, who just entered an empty class.
"I see they're already starting their usual nonsense"
Hailey sighed. "I don't get it. I don't understand why Brielle hates me this much"
Jessa shot her a confused look.
"Wait, hates you? You guys know each other?"
Hailey let out a dry laugh.
"She's my cousin"
Jessa stopped walking.
"You're kidding"
Hailey shook her head. Jessa's jaw dropped for a second before she scoffed.
"Wow. And here I thought she was just mean for fun. Turns out, she's actually heartless"
Hailey looked away, not wanting to let the conversation dig too deep.
Jessa nudged her lightly.
"Well, don't let her get to you. And while we're on that topic, try to avoid Xavier too. The last thing you need is more trouble" she said and Hailey nodded without saying anything.
•••
NIGHT, XAVIER'S PLACE*
Xavier pushed open the door to his small apartment, stepping inside with a lazy swagger. The light in the room illuminating the mess of clothes, empty bottles, and cigarette packs scattered around.
With a deep inhale, he brought the cigarette between his lips, sucking in the toxic relief as he kicked the door shut behind him. Smoke curled from his lips as he exhaled, his free hand reaching for the hem of his shirt.
He pulled it over his head, tossing it carelessly on the couch. His toned torso flexed as he ran a hand through his messy hair, the nicotine buzzing through his veins.
The sound of water dripping sounded from the bathroom, followed by the soft padding of bare feet against the floor.
A girl came out, wrapped in nothing but a towel. Her damp hair clung to her shoulders, her lips curling into a sultry smile at the sight of him.
"Finally" she purred, her eyes trailing over his body.
"Took you long enough"
Xavier barely looked at her. His expression remained unreadable, his cigarette hanging loosely from his fingers.
Then, in that deep, commanding voice of his, he uttered the only words that mattered.
"On your fours"
Without hesitation, she let the towel slip from her body and did exactly as he said.
Xavier took another slow drag, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
Tonight, he needed a distraction.
And she was just that.
He flicked the cigarette into a nearby ashtray before picking another one and his fingers moved to his belt, unfastening it.
The girl shifted on her hands and knees, her breath uneven as she waited.
Xavier's smirk deepened. He liked this...having control, watching them surrender without question. It was predictable, easy.
Unlike the girl from earlier.
His jaw ticked at the thought of Hailey. Her wide, innocent eyes, the way she had stiffened under his touch. She was different. Untouched. Unaware of the danger standing right in front of her.
And for some reason, that made him want her even more.
But not now. Not yet.
Right now, he needed to clear his head.
With one last tug, his belt slid free from his jeans.
"Good girl" he murmured, stepping closer.
The girl shivered at his words, her lips curling into a pleased smile as she arched her back slightly, presenting herself to him.
Xavier rolled his shoulders, tossing his belt on the couch before taking another drag from his cigarette. His free hand raked through his dark hair, his mind still clouded...not from the nicotine, but from the lingering image of Hailey.
Her innocence taunted him.
It wasn't just that she was untouched,but it was the way she looked at him, like she had no idea what someone like him was capable of and that fascinates him.
...that made him want to ruin her even more.
"Xavier" the girl's voice pulled him back. She turned her head slightly, her glossy lips parting as she batted her lashes at him.
"You're distracted"
"Shut up"
With that, he stubbed out his cigarette, cracked his neck, and finally focused on the girl in front of him.
Xavier unbuttoned his jeans, sliding the zipper down. His eyes darkened as he stepped closer, gripping the girl's hip with one hand while the other ran through his tousled hair.
"You know the rules" he muttered.
The girl arched her back further, pressing her palms flat against the bed. She didn't dare to look up, she knew better.
But even as Xavier's hands moved, even as his body reacted, his mind was elsewhere.
That damn girl.
Hailey.
She wasn't supposed to matter. She wasn't supposed to be anything more than another naive little thing, easy to tease, easy to ruin. And yet, something about her was messing with his head.
Her wide, innocent eyes. The way she shied away from him but still held her ground.
She was different.
And Xavier Knight didn't like things he couldn't control.
Grinding his teeth, he pushed the thought away, gripping the girl's waist harder.
Tonight, he'd get Hailey out of his system.
Or at least, he'd try.
He closed his eyes for a moment, inhaling deeply, and when he opened them again... he saw her.
Hailey.
His fingers twitched around the leather strap of his belt.
In his mind, it was her on the bed, her soft breaths, her trembling hands pressed into the mattress.
His jaw clenched as his grip tightened.
"You have no idea what you do to me, princess" he muttered under his breath.
The girl beneath him blushed.
She had no clue.
Because in that moment, she wasn't the one he wanted.
And that realization?
It only made him want Hailey more.
With a sharp exhale, he pulled away from her, ignoring the confused look she shot him.
"Xavier?" she murmured, shifting slightly.
But he was already moving away from her.
Grabbing his discarded shirt from the floor, he shrugged it over his head, not bothering to button it as he stepped toward the door.
The metallic clink of his belt sounded in the quiet room as he worked it back into place, a cigarette already dangling from his lips.
He got on the street, taking a deep inhale. A slow burn in his lungs.
But none of it dulled the ache building inside him.
Because for the first time in his life, Xavier Knight had walked away.
And all because she wasn't Hailey.
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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.