I wait in my room, wiggling around uncomfortably until the clock strikes eight.
Then I get up and march out the door.
With every step I take, I can feel this plug burying itself in my behind, my pussy contracting with each movement. Every step reminds me of him.
Fuck.
No wonder he didn’t want me to take it out.
I’ve contemplated it a million times, but every time I attempt it, I stop halfway through pulling it out. All because I can see his angered face right in front of me and hear his commanding voice in my head …
If I don’t do what he wants, I’ll be the one who broke off the deal.
And what’s to say he won’t kill me if I do?
I’ve seen too much. I know too much about those boys to back out now.
This is it.
So I keep my head high, walking right out of the Alpha Psi sorority with a butt plug stuck between my cheeks.
It’s bustling outside. There are a lot of parties going on around campus, and sometimes I wonder when people actually have time to study. But I have bigger problems on my hands than getting this semester on track.
I walk across the street, minding my own business, when a dude randomly jumps out at me from the bushes. I scream and punch him in the face, but he’s not at all shocked.
“Whoa, calm down, chick,” he tells me, drunkenly slobbering out of a bottle of beer.
“Get your hands off me,” I growl at him, and I shove him aside.
“Fuck you, I just wanna have some fun,” he says, stalking behind me. “And you look like you have plenty.”
“I’m not interested,” I say through gritted teeth. “Move along to whatever fucking party you were headed toward.”
“That’s no fun. I wanna come with you,” he says. “What’s your name, girl?”
“Leave. Me. Alone,” I seethe as he walks right beside me.
Instead, he grabs my waist and pulls me closer. “I don’t think so, girl. Don’t you know it’s dangerous to be all alone in the streets at night?”
Suddenly, he’s pulled backward, and I barely escape his grasp before I’m pulled down too.
One second.
One second to turn around and a dark figure has already snatched the bottle from his hand and smashed it right into his face.
“It’s dangerous all right …” I recognize that voice.
Alistair?
His face is hidden behind a thick hoodie, but those glimmering eyes that find mine in the dark definitely belong to him.
“With me around.”
I suck in a breath, not knowing what to do or even say as he hunches over the lifeless body of the dude who just harassed me.
Was he here on accident?
Or was he following me?
He gets up from the ground, hands tucked into his pockets, eyes lowered as he turns to face me. “Walk away.”
I shake my head. “But you just smashed his head in.”
“I’ll take care of it,” he replies, grabbing the guy by his arms as he drags him to the bushes.
A chill runs up and down my spine at the sight of the lifeless body on the ground.
Did Alistair just … protect me?
He pauses to look at me. “Go.”
And I don’t think twice before I spin on my heels and bolt off, headed straight for the bonfire.
But I can’t shake the thought that I’m being watched. Followed. Stalked.
I head beyond the gates of the university and walk off the beaten path to where I spot a fire burning in the background. Ali said Dylan would be there, and I have no reason not to believe him.
I head straight into Priory Forest, taking every step as carefully as I can because I don’t want to fall down and risk this plug going in even deeper. Even though I know that shouldn’t technically be possible, it still feels like it could.
When I get closer, some girls run past me wearing actual fucking bikinis. In the middle of fall.
An actual fucking pool party in the woods.
Ridiculous.
The blasting music lures me closer, and from between the trees, I can see Dylan basking in the natural spring with three other girls. He’s got his hand wrapped around one of their asses while another girl pushes her boobs up against him while attempting to kiss him.
Suddenly, our eyes connect, and I hide behind the tree, mortified he saw me looking.
“I know you’re here, Pen,” Dylan yells over the music. “I can see you.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!
I ram my forehead into the tree trunk out of embarrassment.
“You gonna come out, or you gonna stay behind that tree forever?”
Fine.
You can deal with this, Pen. Just ignore his taunts.
Sighing, I come out and face him. The girls he’s holding giggle when they look at me.
“She a friend of yours?” one of them asks.
“You could call it that …” he muses.
“Nice party you got over here,” I say, looking around at all the people literally slow-dancing to some filthy music. Some people hide beyond the trees, kissing and fucking around with their fingers and hands in places they shouldn’t be in public. But no one here seems to mind.
Is this what Tartarus parties are like? Mindless orgies?
“Wanna join us?” Dylan asks, tilting his head. “There’s plenty more room.”
I fold my arms. “No, thanks. I just wanna talk.”
His brows rise. “Talk? That’s boring.”
“Yeah … don’t be a bore,” another girl says, and she kisses him on his jawline.
The mere sight makes me want to vomit.
“Shouldn’t you be with Felix right now?” Dylan asks.
“He told me why you guys kept bullying me.”
“A bully? Me?” The smirk that follows is insufferable. “I only did what I had to.”
Sure. “Out of revenge?”
“If you want to call it that.” He clears his throat. “So you’re here because you’re mad at Felix?” His eyes narrow. “Interesting.”
“I’m mad at all of you, but I still need you to uphold your end of our deal.”
Dylan’s eyes light up like the bonfire behind him, though. “All right. I’ve got time.”
“I don’t,” I reply, hoping he gets the sense of urgency.
We’re still no closer to the truth, and those fuckers are busy partying, playing games, and getting drunk and high.
“So tell me what you want from me.” Dylan spreads his arms, both girls clinging closer as they toy with his platinum hair and buff chest. “I’m here.”
I roll my eyes. I’m not gonna say it out loud in front of all these people. “You know what I need help with.”
“What you need help with … orgasms?”
The girls laugh, and I’m fucking mortified.
“Dylan,” I warn.
“What? Not the answer you’re looking for?” The grin on his face grows stronger. Sexier. I hate it. But I hate more that it reminds me of that butt plug stuck in my ass.
“I need to find… someone.”
Is he really going to make me say it?
“You’re looking at him,” he retorts.
Some girl smiles and pecks him on the cheek.
“Want something from me? Ask.”
I swallow away my pride. “Will you please help me?”
I know they want me to say that word.
“And why would I do that?” he responds. “This is so much more fun.”
Fuck. I should’ve known he wouldn’t do what he promised.
He leans sideways and kisses one of the girls full on the lips, biting them, only for his eyes to find mine while he claims hers.
And for some reason, it makes my pussy thump.
Fuck.
“Jealous?” he asks when he’s done with her.
“You wish.” I blow out a breath as my body erupts into goose bumps, the cold really getting to me now.
“You know I can see it in your eyes, right?” he says, and he suddenly gets up.
His naked chest glistens in the moonlight, water sparkling across the many intricate designs tattooed all over his arms and hands, one of them being the Skull & Serpent House symbol. There’s even a tattoo on the side of his belly; a woman begging on her knees while holding a cross. And it’s becoming really, really hard to look away.
Especially since he’s not wearing anything underneath.
And I mean nothing.
His cock dangles in the water in all its pride and glory, and no one seems to care.
“I don’t know what you see in my eyes,” I retort, trying to keep it together.
“Possibilities,” he replies, taking a step toward me.
But it’s the way he looks at me that makes my feet feel glued to the ground.
He playfully lifts his brow. “Like my tats?”
“You wanted to tattoo someone praying to God?”
“No,” he retorts, staring at me with hawk-like eyes. “It means not even God can stand in my way of making a woman beg.”
Wow.
That literally made me gulp.
“Leave us,” he rasps over his shoulder, and the girls immediately crawl out of the natural spring with disappointed looks on their faces.
But he only seems to have eyes on me as he walks closer and closer until he’s in the middle of the water, his hard-on growing firmer with every step.
And for some reason, it’s suddenly becoming hard to breathe.
“You want me to … help you.”
I nod.
“I can do that,” he says. “But what will you do for me in return?”
Fuck, I knew he was going to do this.
“I already asked you. I said that—”
“I don’t need your begging,” he interjects, his eyes glazing over my body from the tip of my toes to the top of my dress and higher. “Take it off.”
“What?” My eyes widen.
“All of it.”
“No,” I say, gasping. “Everyone’s watching.”
“No, they’re not,” he replies, and when his eyes dart to the people in the crowds, I follow his lead. Everyone’s kissing and dancing, minding their own business. Even the girls he just shooed away like they were nothing but playthings to him.
“Now, it’s your choice, of course,” he murmurs as he wades back to the corner he was sitting in. He spreads his arms across the rough corners of the spring, half-mast eyes homing in on mine. “You want my help …” His voice lowers in tone. “Take it all off. Now.”
I swallow and focus on him, wondering if I can do this. If it’s worth it.
But I made that choice long ago when I agreed to their wicked little deal.
So I step out of my shoes and kick them aside, then take off my little bag. I slowly peel away the dress from my shoulders until it drops to the ground, all while his eyes remain on my body.
The obvious smirk on his face is so sexy it almost makes me forget I hate him. “I said all of it.”
I run my tongue along the inside of my mouth, incensed. “I don’t have a bikini.”
He lifts a single brow. “So?”
Fuck.
My nostrils flare.
I don’t think I can get out of this one. It’s either his way or the highway.
So I slowly hook my fingers behind my bra and take it off, dropping it to the ground. He grabs a bottle of champagne nestled between a bush and two rocks and puts it to his lips, gulping it down while watching me. Some of it dribbles down his chin and chest, and when he finishes, he wipes his mouth, his hand still lingering near his bottom lip as I hook my fingers underneath the fabric of my panties and slowly push them down. And when they’re on the ground, he literally licks the top of his lip.
I wish he wasn’t so goddamn hot.
“Come here,” he says, tilting his head.
I try not to look at the other people here because I know they can see me naked as I step into the water. The warmth distracts me from their gazes as I walk farther and farther, goose bumps crawling all over my skin because of the heat.
“Closer,” Dylan commands, his arms still widely spread across the edge, one hand still clutching that bottle like he intends to finish the entire thing himself.
Or hit me with it—as Alistair did moments before I came here to protect me.
I swallow and push the thought to the back of my mind, focusing on the here and now.
When I’m right in front of him, his eyes travel down from my eyes to my breasts, which are barely hidden by the water. And he groans with delight, the sound making goose bumps erupt on my skin.
“Open your mouth,” he says. When I do, he adds, “Wider.”
He leans in and pours some of the champagne directly into my mouth until it runs over.
“Go on … have a taste,” he muses.
I have trouble swallowing, and more spills over.
But I’m stunned the moment he inches closer and presses his lips to my neck, right where the droplets roll down, licking them all up one by one. “Don’t let it go to waste.”
I manage to gulp it down and suck in the much-needed air. His hot, tantalizing lips are still on me, claiming every inch of my skin like he intends to mark me as his.
“Did Felix make you feel good?” he groans into my ear, then tugs at my earlobe with his teeth.
I struggle hard to keep the moans at bay. “He takes what he wants.”
“That’s not what I asked …” he whispers, and he flips me around until his length pokes into my back and his hands snake around my waist. “I asked if he pleased you … when he fucked you in private.”
I can barely breathe as he pulls me back toward the edge, his hard-on poking my thigh as he drags me onto his lap while placing the champagne bottle back where he got it. “Because I will.”
His hand dips between my thighs, and he starts rubbing me right on that sweet spot that makes me want to gyrate on top of him. Good God, he knows exactly where and how to touch me without even a hint of effort, like it comes natural to him.
“I could make you scream in front of all these people if I wanted to.”
“Is that what you want?” I ask. “To degrade me?”
“Degrading is Felix’s kink,” he murmurs, his other hand sliding up to my breast to fondle it. “He wants to own people.”
“And what’s yours?” I ask, but it’s becoming harder and harder to even speak without wanting to moan.
He bites my earlobe and sucks on it, then whispers, “To be watched.”
My eyes immediately travel through the dark of the night to all the people surrounding us, and I feel like I’m caught in the limelight. I’ve never done this before in public with so many people watching, but the longer he fondles me the less I begin to care.
“But that isn’t the only thing,” Dylan adds, shoving a finger inside. “I also like to share.”
I knew that the moment they chased me in the woods in those Halloween outfits.
“You’re all a bunch of fucked-up bastards, aren’t you?” I say, trying not to let his fingering affect me, but it’s so damn hard.
He lets out a low, rumbling laugh. “Oh, you haven’t even seen the worst in me yet.”
