Taming The Bad Boy By Ivy Coleman Chapter 31

When the air ambulance arrived, they managed to get Sam off the cliff and pull him to safety as they rushed him to hospital.

With the help of Bear and Happy, Hunter was pulled back up as well. He

watched as the air ambulance flew away with a bloodied Sam inside. The nervous butterflies flew around in Hunter’s stomach, unsure whether Sam was okay. Whether he had sustained any other injury that they could not see.

Mr Hornton sighed as he rubbed his face. He felt as if he had just stepped into a portal leading him to the biggest drama ever. “Okay, kids. Let’s get back to camp.”

The entire way back to camp Hunter walked beside Bear but all he could think about was how he was going to crush Lyle into smithereens. He strode through the forest, his fists clenched by his side, still wrapped in bandages that pleaded not to be torn off.

They finally reached camp as Mr Hornton slapped his lips together before clapping his hand, the echoes ringing around the camp. “Alright. Let’s get packing up whilst I call for the coach to come back. I know it’s earlier than intended but I think we’ve all had enough and just want to go home.” Everyone nodding, mumbling agreements as Mr Hornton grabbed his phone, walking off to find a signal.

Hunter watched Mr Hornton leave with narrowed eyes that danced with flames. The minute Mr Hornton left something dark snapped inside of Hunter who grew cold and deadly.

“LYLE! COME OUT YOU FUCKING BASTARD!” He roared as the quiet mumbles all fell silent. Hunter stood in the centre of camp, his breathing rugged as his chest rose and fell with each sharp intake of breath.

Everyone glanced around them, waiting for the blond to step out but nothing moved an inch, not even the birds who were petrified of the boy on fire below them.

Carter stepped forward with his palms raised in defence. “Listen, mate. I know what Lyle did was bad, but do you really want to be doing this? I think you should cal—”

Hunter snapped his head towards Carter as Carter flinched at the look that burned of ice and fire melding together. “If you get in my way I’m going to take you down.” Hunter warned. His head turned back to the crowd of sues around him before he roared, “IF ANYONE WANTS TO STOP ME. FROM BEATING LYLE THEN STEP FORWARD NOW!”

No one moved, everyone feeling the same cold shiver that danced down their spines. There are many rumours that if everyone stepped forward to hold down the lion that he would be pinned down and would not be able to fight back against so many people. Yet no one dared to join together and try the Lion because they all knew that was a load of bullshit. They all knew the Lion would tear through each and every one of them until he got to his prey. Also… not a single person here wanted to help Lyle. Lyle had screwed almost all of them over with his manipulative ways, if they could, they’d hand him over on a silver platter.

A rumble of a bush sounded as everyone’s head snapped towards a frozen Isle who had just appeared, shocked and weary on why everyone was surrounding a manic Lion. Lyle was thinking of backing away when the manic eyes caught sight of him and narrowed, a deadly rage flashing through them.

Lyle looked around as he slowly walked forward. A path opened up to him as soon as Hunter and Lyle were standing in front of each other as a circle of students surrounded. Lyle smirked as his clever mind ticked away. Hunter was hard to manipulate but Lyle’s mind was the perfect weapon, he could trick anyone. All he had to do was open his mouth and let the toxic words sprawl out and seep into Hunter’s mind. However, Lyle didn’t get the chance because the minute he opened his mouth he was grabbed by the throat, his entire body being lifted up before being slammed into the ground.

He gasped, his breath sharp intakes as he felt the impact on his spine. He looked up, spluttering as he saw the raging Lion standing above him.

Dark shadows fell onto Hunter’s form, making him look possessed with anger as his green eyes became so dark and so narrowed they looked like they had turned black.

They say it is the female lions that do the hunting… but in this case that was not true.

Hunter’s foot slammed into Lyle’s rib-cage, pinning the gasping blonde down as Hunter leaned over, his mouth curling up into a snarl. “I’m going to make you pay for what you did to Sam”

Lyle chuckled under Hunter’s foot, his breathing ragged as he smiled cockily at Hunter. “So, you found him them? Tell me. How did he look? Was he mangled or—”

The foot on Lyle’s chest pummelled down into his face, his head smacking off the ground before he could finish his sentence. Lyle groaned, his vision blurring for a second as he tried to claw Hunter’s foot away from him.

Hunter knelt down, one knee digging into the ground as he reached forward and grabbed Lyle’s collar, yanking the bloodied blond towards him. “You want the title?… come get it.”

Hunter threw Lyle’s head back as he stood up and backed off, allowing Lyle to chance to stumbled up. Lyle dragged himself onto his knees, his body shaking on all fours as he unsteadily rose to his feet. He turned around, blood dripping down his chin as he glared at the Lion in front of him.

Lyle’s eyes shifted to Hunter’s broken fingers. He wondered why Hunter hadn’t punched him in the face yet since this was Hunter’s favourite thing to do. He was known for his teeth shattering punches yet surprisingly he hadn’t punched Lyle yet.

Lyle snickered quietly at the thought of Hunter not being able to use his best assets. Hunter was watching Lyle’s every move so of course he caught on as he raised his hand to his face and turned it around, observing the three broken fingers.

“Oh. You’ve saw my broken fingers.” Hunter called out as Lyle’s eyes snapped up to him, watching him hesitantly. Hunter was never a talker during fights, he just ripped his prey apart, yet Hunter was almost giving Lyle a taste of his own medicine as he talked back with sentences that confused Lyle.

In a sudden movements too quick for anyone to even process, Hunter slammed his fist into Lyle’s cheek, a tooth flying out and landing on the ground as Lyle stumbled back with a yelp. The blond boy clutched his throbbing jaw as he looked over at Hunter with wide eyes.

Who the hell punches someone with broken fingers?!

Hunter didn’t show the pain as the crimson trail began to flow down his wrist.

He simply stared back as if he was lifeless, as if he didn’t feel pain.

“You’re an idiot if you think that’ll stop me from kicking your ass.” Hunter seethed out as he stepped forward. Lyle began to walk back, his blood filling with iron as he spat out the crimson liquid.

Lyle panicked now that Hunter had entered full psycho mode. Someone who was not afraid to punch full force with broken fingers was someone who wasn’t afraid of anything in that present moment and Lyle knew it would be a death wish to go up against him.

Lyle held his hand up as he tried to state his defence, tried to back down but Hunter grabbed his hand, snapping back his fingers as a loud scream dangled in the air. Hunter blinked once before looking at Lyle. “There. Now the fights even. We both have broken fingers”

“Y-you-you’re c-c-c-crazy” Lyle gasped out, falling to his knees as he clasped his hand.

Hunter towered over him, staring down at the blond caked in soil and blood. He knelt down, his eyes narrowing darkly as he shook his head. “You’re the psycho. Pushing someone off a cliff. I thought you were just a bully, but I see now you’re actually insane”

Lyle spat at Hunter, the saliva coated in blood hitting Hunter’s cheek as Hunter flicked it away before drawing back his right fist and slamming into down on Lyle.

Lyle fell as Hunter straddled him, the rage burning up inside him, swimming around like a deadly blizzard as he threw his fist down on Lyle repeatedly until the boy became motionless, coated in so much blood he was unrecognisable.

“Hunter! Stop! You’re going to kill him!” Carter cried out as he rushed forward and grabbed Hunter’s hand about to hit Lyle again. Hunter panted, his fist shaking with adrenaline as he ripped it out of Carter’s hand.

“He has to pay!” Hunter seethed through clenched teeth.

Carter glanced down at Lyle whose face was so swollen it looked as if he had jumped into a pit full of bees. “And he has, Hunter. But you’re going to kill him and then when you do, you’ll never see Sam again. Do you think this is what Sam wants?”

Hunter flinched as he knew that Carter was right, but it was so hard for him not to continue. He exhaled slowly before slowly pulling himself up off of Lyle and stalking out towards his and Sam’s cabin.

Carter winced as he dropped to his knees beside Lyle, he checked wearily for a pulse before he sighed. “Shit… someone fetch Mr Hornton. We need another ambulance.”

The centre of the camp was silent. A deadly echo of stillness swimming around the stunned students who all craned their head to glance over at a frozen Mr Hornton.

With his phone clutched in his right hand, his bewildered eyes swept over the scene before him, landing on a bloodied Lyle who lay barely conscious.

“God dammit, what is wrong with you lot?” Mr Hornton yelled as he rushed quickly up to Lyle. He bent down, knees fusing with the rich soil below as he leaned over the broken body. He winced, eyes widening as his nimble hand clasped around his mouth, fingers splayed open.

“Jesus..” he mumbled as he looked around. He knew instantly who was behind the attack. He didn’t have to see the other students all gawking at Hunter or all surrounding a broken handed Hunter to know it was the Lion who beat him within an inch of his life. He knew no one else had this much amount of power to do this.

“Dammit, Hunter. Did you hulk out or something?” Mr Hornton snapped as he rubbed his temples. He extended his arm with his phone out as he motioned to Carter who glanced wearily at it. “I’m not leaving again. Go call an ambulance. You’ll have to stand in the clearing to get a signal.” Carter nodded, rushing off to the clearing as Mr Hornton winced, trying his best to make Lyle comfortable. He craned his head towards a heavy breathing Hunter who glared icy eyes down into Lyle. “I’m not sure if this boy’s human, or Godzilla.” he mumbled under his breath as his eyes wearily took in Lyle’s body.

As Mr Hornton made Lyle comfortable he stood up as he brushed off the dirt from his knees. He turned to Hunter with an almost regretful face as if he knew that Hunter was not the type to just randomly attack others without a reason. However, as a teacher he couldn’t play favourites and let this go.

“Hunter, you know you’ll be expelled for this right” Mr Hornton sighed as he rubbed his forehead. Hunter said nothing. He did not even jump to his defence nor did avert his eyes to Mr Hornton, he simply continued to glare at Lyle.

“And on another note; the coach won’t be here until tomorrow. So, I’m afraid we’ll have to stay another night”

The sentence finally snapped some sort of communication and awareness into Hunter’s head as his eyes snapped up to meet Mr Hornton’s. Hunter trudged forward with an urgency they had all only witnessed whenever it came to Sam.

“No! We need that coach now” Hunter said as Mr Hornton stepped back a little shocked. “I have to see, Sam I—”

“Hunter. Right now, son. You’ve got much more to worry about.” Mr Hornton sighed as he glanced aside at Lyle. Lyle groaned, spluttering out a stream of crimson from the edge of his mouth as his ribs racked against his chest.

“You can’t expel Hunter ayle pushed Sam off the cliff” Kay jumped in, shocking everyone as normally Kay would only speak up when he knew there would be no repercussions and he could brag about it afterwards, as well as making it more dramatic.

Mr Hornton turned towards Kay as he frowned. “Lyle pushed Sam? Sam was out there alone… I thought he fell”

Happy shook his head as he stood beside Kay. “Sir, Lyle pushed him. He admitted it in front of everyone here.”

Kay slammed his finger in the direction of Dale who was innocently standing beside Peter. Dale blinked shortly when they all turned their heads towards him. Kay seethed his teeth together as his brows furrowed. “Just ask him! He’s always plotting with Lyle.”

Dale scrunched up his face, stepping forward as Happy put his arm in front of Kay with a warning look. Dale stopped when seeing Happy had advanced forward but did not stop the snarl twisting up on his face. “You little.” Mr Hornton cleared his throat loudly, smacking his arms down at his thighs.

“For God’s sake! Will someone just tell me what’s going on!”

A loud smack echoed through the forest as Dale suddenly fell to the floor, face planting the dirt as he clutched his aching cheek.

He turned over, his bulging stomach hanging out over his trousers as his eyes widened. “Y-you hit me!”

“Yeah! So, tell the teacher what actually happened, or I’ll do it again!” Kay snapped bravely as Happy watched him with wide eyes.

Not once in his life had Kay ever punched anyone but only stated that he had punched millions of people. Apparently, he had fought Mike Tyson himself. Though right now, in this very moment there were tons of witnesses to say that Kay really did finally stand up to someone and hold his own. He didn’t jump behind Happy, he didn’t use empty threats, he finally stood his own ground.

“OH MY GOD CAN WE STOP WITH THE PUNCHING!” Mr Hornton yelled, “USE YOUR MOUTH’S GOD DAMMIT!”

Dale groaned as he held his throbbing cheek. Honestly, Kay may have punched him, and it did hurt, but he was not afraid of Kay. Kay as a thin individual who would probably only ever punch once and never again. Dale knew he could easily take Kay down. However, Dale glanced around at all the eyes from the pissed off students who liked Sam, and then turned to see the deadly glare from the lion himself. He cowered as he nodded his head.

“Okay, okay. We did it. BUT I DIDN’T PUSH HIM! LATE DID! I only ever punched him, it was Lyle who wanted to manipulate him. He thought if he could earn Sam’s trust then he could hurt Sam, so he could hurt Hunter.” Dale admitted as Lyle gritted through his broken teeth.

Mr Hornton raised his brow not in a surprised way but more of a scolding, angered way. His eyes narrowed as he looked at Dale from the ground who looked up in surprise at Mr Hornton. “You thought, it would be okay, to push one of my students off a cliff?”

Dale went quiet as everyone watched. “Dale and Lyle, you’re both expelled from Eastville High. Tomorrow you’ll pack your bags and never return. If I were you I’d start practising good behaviour because we all know that the only school that will accept you now will be the Darlington institute.” Muffled gasps of horror and silence spread around as Dale’s eyes widened. He shook his head, pleading towards Mr Hornton who simply walked back over to Lyle. He stood over Lyle with an unsympathetic gaze.

“I suggest you fix your ways, son. If you behave like this in there, you’ll only get eaten alive.” He said before he walked over to a group of students to instruct them on their statements to the head teacher.

Lyle closed his eyes, gritting his teeth as he squirmed about in pain.

Everyone knew the Darlington institute was only for the worst or the worst.

The ones no other school could accept, the ones that were just a few inches away from being in prison. It was hard to survive in Eastville high with just one lion, so it was terrifying to imagine surviving in an institute full of Lion’s.

Kay’s eyes widened as he held his slightly red fist. “I-I actually punched someone…for real this time! OH MY GOD I FRICKIN PUNCHED SOMEONE—Holy sweet Jesus it hurts so much more than it looks like in the movies.” He groaned as he shook his hand, trying to shake the throbbing off.

Happy chuckled as he wrapped his arm around Kay’s shoulder and pulled him close. “I’m proud of you. You saved Hunter’s ass.” He chuckled. No matter how many times people tried to convince Happy that Kay was a coward who would always hide behind people for the rest of his life, Happy always defended Kay and swore that he was not a coward, that Kay had it in him to fight back. Though even if Kay never did, even if he truly was someone who would always cower away, Happy would be more than happy for Kay to hide behind him.

Hunter walked towards Lyle, Beat getting ready to hold Hunter back as he watched cautiously. However, Hunter did not do anything but stand over Lyle before he knelt down on one knee.

Lyle turned his head slowly, a cracking sound in his neck as he did so. He looked at Hunter through watery eyes, blood coating his young features as his body trembled from pain. Hunter’s eyes were still narrowed but instead of anger and darkness awaiting inside them, it was his usual, cold, blank look.

“Why?”

The single word hit ove in the heat as Tyle narrowed his eyes, the motion allowing the tears to overflow as his teeth crackled when he gritted his jaw together.

“B-because” Lyle choked out. His head continued to shake as if Hunter had damaged a nerve somewhere. “Because” he choked out again as the tear fell in agonising rivers.

The blood mixed with tears, a river of pain flowing down his lips and towards Hunter’s boot who glanced down at it before back up at Lyle.

“Because it should have been me.” Lyle choked out as he closed his eyes as if feeling pathetic and horrible. Hunter craned his head in a confused manner.

His face still blank yet his brows furrowed. What should have been him?

Lyle pried open his watery eyes dancing with anger as he gritted his broken teeth at Hunter. “I loved you and you never even noticed! Then-th-then that stupid r-r-rabbit comes along an-and you finally notice? Why him? What does he have that I don’t!” Lyle spat as he groaned in pain when he tried to move his body towards Hunter.

Hunter adorned a look of surprise as he watched the squirming blond.

“Love? You call that love?” He whispered. His voice was not sympathetic, yet it was not full of a brutal coldness. It was simply empty again. “Loving someone means you’d do whatever it takes to make them happy, even if it hurts you. You don’t love me, Lyle. If you really loved me, you would have let me be happy with Sam. Instead, you go out of your way to hurt me by hurting Sam. That’s how I know you don’t love me. Love is letting them go even when it breaks your heart. You think I wanted to push Sam away and be so cold towards him? The first time he asked me if I was okay, I fell for him. I wanted to be with him ever since. But I couldn’t. Because of people like you and others who were after this damn, stupid title. You know what I did?” Lyle shook his head as he averted his eyes as if he couldn’t bare to hear it.

“I let him go. I pretended that I hated him because I would rather Sam hate me and think I hate him, than to love him and watch him get hurt. That’s what love is.”

Lyle said nothing as he looked away. Hunter sighed, rubbing his tired eyes.

“You don’t love me, Lyle. You’re just grateful from our first meeting.” Lyle’s eyes widened as he turned his head painfully back to Hunter. His eyes were wild like a child gleaming with hope. “Y-you remember?”

Hunter nodded. “I do. And I know that no one had ever defended you before, so the only thing you’re feeling towards me is gratefulness. You’ve mistaken it for love.”

Lyle went silent again, closing his eyes before he opened them and turned his head away. Hunter stood up, his head craning around the camp as everyone was silent and watching.

“I’m not hiding it any longer.” Hunter announced as everyone watched him.

“I’m not going to pretend to hate Sam anymore. I’m not going to push him away anymore so that no one will hurt him. Sam belongs to me. If you have a problem with that then come find me.”

And with that Hunter walked back to his cabin leaving everyone in silence.