“Why the fuck do we have to meet them here again?” Evans muttered as we climbed out of his Bentley.
I adjusted my shirt and stole a breath. “Because they don’t trust us…yet.”
Cars tore along the street next to us. Headlights flared, blinding me for a moment. Red brake lights caught my attention. For a second, I thought I saw Nick’s face, but then the car was gone.
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
No…
But I didn’t have a choice. I stepped up onto the sidewalk and lifted my gaze to the club. “Let’s go,” I growled, and strode forward. We were stopped at the door, IDs checked, phones confiscated. No one got into these places without giving up something. For me, it was my fucking soul.
“Caleb.” Killion smiled as he strode forward. “I didn’t think you were going to show.”
I swallowed hard and winced, concealing the revulsion when he clapped me softly on the back. “We’re here now.”
“You are.” He almost fucking beamed, that glint dying a little when he turned his head. “Evans.”
“Killion,” my buddy muttered.
“Shall we?” Killion motioned for us to follow.
Nearly naked strippers danced around poles in the front of the club, where a few men sat in business suits enjoying the entertainment. Evans watched, his gaze lingering, as we followed our host to the back of the club. That’s where his tastes lay, in the front of the club where the murky gloom gave him all the darkness he wanted.
But I was different.
A tremor of excitement tore through me as Killion nodded to the bouncer guarding the entrance to the back. That excitement raced all the way to my cock. I kept my heart chained, my focus on one thing and one thing alone.
Ryth…
We stepped through to the back room, but there were no women waiting for us tonight. Instead, Killion led us to the exit at the rear of the club. Another bouncer waited at the door, opening it as we neared. In the back, a limousine waited. Killion climbed in, leaving the door open for us.
I followed, leaving Evans to step in last before the bouncer closed the door and climbed into the passenger seat. The idling limousine pulled away, making its way out of the alley and into the street. I sat back, turning my attention to Killion.
He watched me with interest, his gaze slowly moving down my body. He wanted me, that was easy to see. But I wasn’t sure if it was my body he wanted, or more…
I glanced away, hoping to fuck getting to Ryth didn’t come to that. But to get her back…I’d do anything.
“You seem preoccupied,” Killion murmured.
“Family shit,” I answered.
He just nodded. “You never told me how you are after your mother—”
“Fine,” I snapped.
“And your brothers? Tobias still a hothead?”
Fuck you, Caleb! T’s voice roared in my head from this morning. “More than ever.”
Killion licked his lips. “I wonder if he’d be interested in joining us one evening?”
Cold plunged through me. I jerked my gaze back to the vile piece of shit. “No.”
The smile was instant and fake. “Of course.” Killion gave a nod, watching me.
But my mood was changed, hardening to something a little darker, something a little…colder. We headed out of the city to where the affluent houses sat far back from the street, hidden behind towering fences and thick hedges. Then the limousine slowed and turned. The driver wound his window down and reached to a keypad on a covered post. Killion watched me with interest.
“Christ, I need a drink,” Evans muttered as the gate slid open and we pulled in.
I held Killion’s stare. He was excited about tonight, a little too excited. Evans was already shoving open the door when we pulled up at the front of the house. The guard shoved open his door, rushing to hold ours open as Evans climbed out.
I scanned the house as we stepped out of the car. It was old, and disgustingly expensive. Sandstone and wrought iron. Ornate gardens led to a path to the rear of the house. Killion strode forward, knowing exactly where he was headed, and for a second, I wondered if this was his place.
But I didn’t care, not really.
New money.
Old money.
They could have it all.
I followed him to a door at the side of the house. A bodyguard stood sentry just inside, nodding at Killion as he entered. He watched us as we followed Killion upstairs. There were others, three or four men and one woman, who was vaguely familiar. She was on her knees on the landing of the carpeted stairs, her mouth full of cock from one of the other partners. She met my gaze as I passed, her dark eyes glittering.
I followed Killion as we stepped along the landing. A man stood outside an open door.
“Principal,” Killion greeted him, clapping him on the back.
They greeted each other like friends, but one look at this guy and I knew he was different. I glanced inside the large open room, catching sight of a woman dressed in a red negligee kneeling, legs splayed, in the middle of the room.
“She’s waiting,” A man called. The Principal nodded toward the room.
Killion smiled as he stepped in. “Caleb, follow me.”
I didn’t want to go into that room. But one simple no and the trust I was building would be shattered. My heart was pounding as I stepped through the doorway.
“C,” Evans murmured. But he followed.
There were more women, all dressed in the same negligee, some wearing red, some black, and two standing against the wall, dressed in white.
“The red you can fuck, the black are for sale…but the white.” Killion glanced at the two terrified looking women. “The white is view only.” He turned to the kneeling woman. “Up.”
She rose as The Principal entered the room. Two other men came in behind him, stopping on either side of her. A nod from Killion and they stepped forward. One reached out, grasped her neckline, and yanked, tearing it from her body. Her breasts spilled out as he unbuttoned his pants and shoved down his fly.
“On your knees,” Killion ordered.
She knelt with barely more than a whimper. But her gaze never moved from Killion’s stare. She knew who she performed for, opening her mouth as the guy stepped forward and grabbed her by the hair as he pushed his cock in her mouth. She opened wide, sucking, licking, giving Killion all he wanted.
“Good little whore,” Killion murmured.
He didn’t care about the guy. It was all about her. The degradation, the humiliation, her shame. “Begin,” he instructed. The second guy worked the button of his jeans. But I’d seen enough. Killion turned his head, glanced at another one of the women in red, and motioned her over. “Come.”
She stepped forward. I glanced at the others, those dressed in black and white. The same clothes the woman from last night wore. Red you can fuck, black is for sale, but the white…
Killion’s words raced through my head. My heart pounded. That sense of knowing hovered at the edges as I strode toward them. The red you can fuck. I glanced back, to find Killion watching me, waiting to see which one I’d take.
No…
I didn’t want to do this.
Sweat ran down the nape of my neck. If I took anyone else, then he’d know I wasn’t ready—I met his stare, those dark eyes glinting—if he knew I wasn’t ready, then there’d be no way I could get into the Order.
Ryth’s face swam in my mind. I tried to swallow the burn of revulsion as I stepped forward, met the gaze of the woman dressed in black, and gave a jerk of my head. “Come.”
Jesus…Jesus, this felt too much like cheating.
I met Evans’ stare, desperation howling inside me. He glanced back at Killion. I knew the bastard was smiling, knew it in my writhing fucking soul. “Come with me,” I forced the words through clenched teeth.
He flinched, his cheeks burning. But if he didn’t…if he left me alone with her, then…
I headed for the other side of the expansive room as grunts came from behind me. The woman who was getting railed by two guys for Killion’s sick pleasure gave a whimper, then a grunt, before the slaps of flesh on flesh rang out. The sounds…the smells…my cock hardened.
Are you going to be our good little girl and keep our dirty secret?
My own words slammed into me as I stepped into the darkened room. It was a bedroom, a sex room. The bed was placed in the middle of the room, illuminated by one bedside light, turned low.
“Master?” came the soft feminine murmur behind me.
I spun, finding her standing close…too fucking close.
The bed.
Her fucking body.
You going to beg? The same words I’d said to Ryth pressed against me. “Turn around.” The command was husky and raw. I didn’t want to look at her. Didn’t want to see her face when I…
Evans hovered in the doorway. His eyes were wide, the whites almost fucking neon. All I thought about was Ryth, the way she’d trembled that night when I’d grabbed her and dragged her into the pantry. I stepped closer to this woman as she turned, giving me her back.
You going to scream?
I stepped closer, until the heat of her body pressed against mine. One fast movement and I fisted her hair and dragged her head back. “You going to scream?”
The past…
The present.
They collided. Only now, my body clenched with revulsion. A shadow moved in the doorway. Behind Evans, Killion stepped close. He watched me as I fisted her hair and dragged her back hard against me. “Answer me…are…you…going…to…scream?”
“No,” she answered breathlessly.
I closed my eyes. It wasn’t what Ryth had said to me. In my head, I replayed that moment.
Yes…yes, I’ll scream.
Touch her. Just fucking touch her. It’s just sex, right? Just fucking sex.
Rage burned in me, taking me deeper than I’d ever gone before. Give me a gun, and I’d unload it on her and Killion and this entire fucking place. I just wanted Ryth back…now.
Revulsion burned as I reached up, grabbed the strap of her red negligee, and yanked. The fabric tore, her breasts spilled out, and every nerve inside my body fired with betrayal. Evans stepped closer. Killion grinned as I looked down her body at her exposed breasts.
Her puckered nipples waited, but my hand refused to move. I pulled her harder against me, desperate for my body to override my head. Just do it…just do what he wants. I swallowed hard as the woman in front of me moaned. I shoved her over, making her bend at the waist, and reached down, snagged the edge of her panties, and ripped them free.
She jerked and unleashed a cry. But I could tell it was fake. Everything about her was fake, from her clothes to the desire in her stare. She was nothing more than a warm body for me to fuck, nothing more than someone for me to own.
The Order.
The Principal.
You want your own private fuck toy. Someone you can control…
My thoughts collided. My pulse raced. The thoughts that had hovered at the edges of my mind now burned neon bright. These women were from the Order…the same place they’d taken Ryth.
The same fucking place.
White. I reached for my zipper and yanked it low. The white are for view only…They were fucking graded, from new to ready to be bought, to be used…
Jesus fucking Christ!
I looked down to the red panties in my hand and dropped them to the floor. Her bare breasts jiggled as she pretended to thrash in my hold. She thought I wanted to take her by force, thought that was my kink. She was waiting, bent over. Her fake fucking whimpers filling the room. I didn’t want this, didn’t want any part of this. I turned my head, to see Evans staring at me in horror.
But the doorway was empty. Killion was gone.
“Fucking dirty slut.” His voice carried from that room. “Fuck her harder.”
Cries rang out from that room, sick, real fucking cries as they railed her. Acid spilled into the back of my mouth. This wasn’t what I wanted. This wasn’t Ryth. “I can’t,” I groaned, shaking my head as I turned to Evans.
Confusion mingled with rage.
He stepped closer, stopping at my side to hiss, “Then you’re fucked. You get that, right? This is why we’re both fucking here.”
Torment raged through me.
“You have to…fuck her,” Evans insisted.
I shoved her forward. She stumbled and hit the edge of the bed. Her bare ass and pussy were on display, and my cock softened. “I can’t…I fucking can’t.”
“You think they won’t know?” Evans growled. “Killion is in that fucking room listening, right goddamn now.”
I clenched my fists and nearly buckled under the weight of the knowledge. I’d lose her…I’d lose my one fucking chance to get her back.
“Get the fuck out of the way,” Evans snarled as he pushed me aside.
He strode forward, reaching for his zipper. With one hand, he grabbed the back of her neck, with the other he reached for his cock. “Don’t fucking look at me, you got that?”
He didn’t wait for her to answer, just drove her face against the mattress, shoved his pants down, and thrust in hard enough for her to buck and groan. Only this time, that sound was real. I stood there watching as he spread her wide, his hips slamming her ass over and over. I’d seen my brothers fuck our stepsister, seen Ryth wrestle with her own demons. How she liked what Nick and Tobias did to her. That’s what had turned me on. That’s what had gotten me hard. Not…this…
Grunts and whimpers came from the woman. Evans clenched his jaw, biting down on his own moans in a desperate attempt to stifle them. But the groans and grunts from the next room swallowed everything else. Evans dropped his head, his fingers digging into her hips as he used her…until with a low, guttural moan, he thrust in and stilled.
Harsh breaths consumed him. “Get your fucking dick out, C,” he growled, then pulled out of her.
The cries from the other room grew silent as Evans released his hold on the woman and stepped away from the bed. He turned as the slow thud of footsteps came closer. In a blinding flash of desperation, I knew what I had to do.
I moved closer to the woman, still bent over the bed, and deepened my breaths. “You fucking stay there,” I commanded, placing my hand on her hip. “You fucking stay right there. Do not move.”
She didn’t.
Killion stepped into the doorway as I slipped my cock back into my pants and tugged up the zipper. That cold, unflinching gaze scanned the room, stopping on me standing behind her, then he lowered his gaze as I stepped back.
Her pussy was slick, the remnant of cum shining brightly.
“Well done,” Killion smiled. “Well fucking done.”
I didn’t dare look at Evans, who faced the wall. From the doorway, it looked like he was repulsed by what I’d done…unable to look.
“Get cleaned up,” Killion instructed. “We’re going to the Order. Let’s find you one to own.”
