I lean over the banister to watch Caleb strut into the house in the middle of the night, clothes covered in blood.
Where the fuck has he been?
I slowly march down the steps and approach him from behind as he hangs his coat. “You’re late.”
He pauses and waits a second before answering. “I was busy.”
“I can see that,” I reply, ogling the blood up close. “Whose blood is that?”
“No one that matters.”
I step closer so I’m within an inch of his face. “What were you doing out there? Think hard before you answer. Lie to me and we’re done.”
His nostrils flare. “Crystal needed help. She got attacked. I protected her. The end.”
My eyes narrow. “You were following her.”
“So what if I was?” He passes by me, but I won’t let him get away this fast.
I grip his arm and stop him mid-track, but the scent that comes from his hand makes me fixate on his fingers. He shudders in place as I bring them to my nose and take a whiff, then dip out my tongue to take a lick.
“You …” His eyes widen as rage becomes me. “You fingered her?”
He swiftly retracts his hand and says, “I d—”
I grip his collar. “Don’t. Lie. To. Me.”
A ragged breath leaves his mouth. “Yes.”
My nostrils flare.
I can’t fucking believe he went behind my back and fingerfucked her on his way back.
How dare he?
I drag him with me to the bathroom downstairs and throw him in. I don’t even care to close the door before I start interrogating him. “Where?”
“I tried to resist, I fucking swear on my life. But I just fucking couldn’t. She was sitting right beside me and—”
“In the fucking car I gifted you?” I growl.
He backs away until he hits the wall. “She drove me insane. You drove me insane with lust.”
“Insane?” I parrot, closing in on him. I plant a hand beside his head on the wall. “Insane? You don’t even know the meaning of it if it was staring you right in the face.” I tip up his chin. “You betrayed me.”
He shakes his head. “I couldn’t take it anymore. You were edging me for so long, and then she needed my help and ended up in my car, and I … let myself go.” He averts his eyes. “I knew this would happen. I knew you’d be mad.”
“Of course, I’m fucking mad.” I make him look at me. “I told you not to fucking touch her without my permission, and then you went and fingered her.”
“I’m sorry,” he mutters, his eyes filling with regret.
And I fear I may have pushed him too far.
“I almost … drove off a goddamn cliff,” he adds.
I sigh out loud.
Fuck.
“I didn’t want to fucking do it.”
Yet he did.
“You … couldn’t help yourself, could you?” I say, looking down at his bloodied clothes. “You just had to go and kill some more … and then feel her pussy after.” I lick my lips.
“I was consumed,” he says. “By rage and a need I’ve never felt.”
“Did murdering them make you feel good?” I lean in to lick the droplets of blood off his neck. “Did it make your cock hard?”
I lower my hand and grip his bulge instead, which is still throbbing in his pants from the aftermath of whatever the fuck they just did in that car.
“Is that why you wanted her so badly?” I ask.
He groans. “Ares …”
“Did she make you come so hard all over yourself you saw stars?”
I zip down his pants and he leans into me, moaning.
“Not just that. The steering wheel is ruined.”
“Were you so overcome by desire you couldn’t stop yourself from soiling the fucking car I gave you as a present?” I squeeze his dick until it hardens in my hand. “Answer me.”
“Yes!” he mewls.
I spin him around and smash his face up against the wall. “I made a grave mistake allowing you to simmer in your own lust,” I growl as I yank down his pants. “But don’t fucking worry, Caleb. Your punishment won’t be like teetering on the edge of bliss any longer.”
I grab a bottle of lube from the top shelf above the sink and rip down my zipper, pulling out my hard-on.
“If you’re not going to listen when I don’t give you what I want, then I’ll fucking give you everything you’ll ever want and more.” I slather it all over my length. “You’ll come so hard for me you’ll never even think about her without wanting my goddamn hard cock up your ass.”
I thrust inside with no remorse, and he yelps in surprise, then moans as I deepen the stroke.
“Now coat those fucking walls instead.”
Crystal
Barefoot, I make my way back to campus, wishing I could kick some rocks on the way, but that would hurt my toes. Goddamn that motherfucker. He almost got us killed, then shrugged it off like it was nothing.
What the fuck is wrong with him?
And how dare he make me come so easily when all I wanted to do was bite his head off?
Groaning out of frustration, I slap some tree branches out of my way as I storm across the lawn.
“Everything okay there?”
The low, booming voice makes me turn and look.
“Here.”
A hand rises from the fountain, and I swear I’m seeing the dead rise.
Or maybe I really am drunk.
I step closer to get a good look because I swear I recognize that voice.
A guy in a pair of purple pants, a black top, and a shark necklace dangling from his neck lies on the fountain stones.
“Blaine?” I walk up close. “What are you doing here?”
He drops a book on the ground. “Reading.”
I frown. “In the middle of the night?”
“Couldn’t sleep.” He smiles.
I pick up the book. “How do you even read here when it’s dark outside?”
He raises his phone and shines the bright light in my face, making me squint.
“It’s not easy, but I make it work,” he says, chuckling. “Come. Lie down with me, darling.”
I sit down on the fountain and sigh out loud. “I don’t know if I want to.”
“Do you have somewhere to be?”
“Nowhere in particular,” I reply.
“Then why not just lie down for a second?”
Hmm … can’t refute that logic. And I could really use a breather if only for just a moment.
“I’m not asking you to bare your soul,” he says. “Just lie down for a moment. Take a breath. It’s worth it.”
“But why?” I ask, placing my bag on the ground.
“You’ll see.” The deadly smirk on his face makes it hard for me to trust him. But he’s the only guy out of the three with a sliver of chivalry, so I decide to lie down after all.
But when I blink, it’s so hard to believe my eyes I have to rub them with my hands.
“Wow,” I mutter, gazing at all the stars above.
With the water cascading down the fountain sounding like a rippling stream, it almost feels like we’re somewhere off in the mountains far beyond the human world.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
It is. It’s gorgeous. Like out-of-this-world divine.
And looking at all those stars beyond almost makes whatever I’m going through feel so tiny compared to the vastness of outer space that it calms down my racing heart.
“No wonder you wanted to lie down here,” I say.
“Obviously. Reading these books is so much better under starlight.” He chuckles again. “Well, I mean, the stones are harsh underneath my head, but all these stars make it worth it.”
“Why not just lie on the ground?”
“In the dirt? With my hair? Ew,” he says, making me laugh. He briefly glances at me before continuing. “There are bugs in the grass too, and I don’t want those squiggly legs crawling all over me.”
Now I’m laughing even more, picturing him shrieking when an ant crawls over his gorgeous face.
“I’m glad I could make you laugh, darling,” he says. “You looked like you needed it.”
I nod and wipe a single tear away. “Thanks.”
“You don’t have to tell me anything, and I won’t ask,” he says. “I just want you to know I’m here to listen if you want to talk.”
“Thank you,” I say. “I don’t know if I want to. Tonight was … heavy.”
“Hmm … Well, judging from the car I saw drive past a few hours ago, I assume it was Caleb?”
I nod, and he looks away.
“I’m surprised you haven’t pummeled him in the face yet,” he says. “I have. Many times.”
I laugh again, and he smiles at me. “Believe me, I wanted to. Several times. Almost every day, actually.”
“I can imagine,” he says.
“You’re not awfully fond of your own friends, are you?” I muse.
He turns around on the stones to look at me instead of the sky.
“I don’t choose the life they lead, but that doesn’t mean we’re not friends. I belong to Tartarus as much as they do.”
“Why? Why do you want to be with those … those demons?”
He chuckles again. “We have a long history.”
“Hmm …” A long history, which he obviously won’t tell me.
I wish I could understand these boys, but they’ve shrouded themselves in a cloak of mystery that I can’t seem to pull away because they’re desperate to hold it while simultaneously attempting to destroy my life.
“You know, I think you’re holding your own pretty well,” he says.
“You think?”
“Yeah. You’re tenacious. And even in the face of danger, you still smile.”
My lips part, but I don’t know what to say.
“You don’t trust me, yet you’re lying right beside me,” he says.
A blush creeps onto my cheeks. “You asked me to.”
“Regardless of the odds thrown in your face, you stay gentle. Humble.”
Now I’m really blushing like crazy. “Thanks. Gentle, though? I don’t know.”
“Nonsense,” he says. “You just don’t see yourself the way I do.”
He does have a way with words.
“But you will … someday.”
I smile. “I appreciate the sentiment. I just wish I could see it that way.”
“That’s because of them, isn’t it?”
He sits up, looking at me intently, which makes me want to look away.
“If I could do something about it, I would. But my hands are bound. I can hurt Caleb, and I might be able to slap Ares, but that’s about it. I couldn’t ever kill him, though.” His hand drifts through the fountain water.
“Why?”
He snorts. “Believe it or not, Ares saved my life.”
Blaine
Ten years ago
I sneak into the casino and hide among the crowd, hoping to find some unwitting people too busy playing their chips to notice me. I wait until one of them strikes a pose and laughs, then snatch away a chip lying on the table.
But when I turn around, I bump headfirst into a security guard.
I drop the chip.
“Oh no …”
He grabs my collar. “What are you doing in here? Where are your parents?”
“Not … here?” I reply.
I don’t want to tell him my whole life story.
Suddenly, he drags me with him. “You’re coming with me.”
“I’m sorry, I won’t do it again!” I yelp, but the guard ignores me and drags me all the way through the main hallway and into a remote area where a single door is blocked off by a dozen guards.
We pass through it, and he chucks me inside.
In front of me is a desk with a menacing-looking man sitting behind it. A boy my age sits in the chair in front of it with a piece of paper he was obviously reading from before the guard interrupted.
“This little dude was caught stealing chips from guests,” the guard says.
“Was he now?” the man behind the desk says, clasping his hands.
“Do you want me to punish him?” the guard asks.
I squeak. “Please, don’t.”
“No. I will do it myself,” the man replies.
The guard leaves, closing the door behind him, and the man behind the desk stands and approaches. I crawl away into a wall as he towers over me with narrowed eyes, his face reminding me of death.
“Please, it was just one chip. I just needed some cash.”
“To do what?” the man responds. “You’re too young to work at your age. You should be in school. So why are you here?”
“My parents can barely make a living wage. I’m just trying to help,” I respond.
The boy in the chair turns around and looks at me, his piercing gray eyes making this dark room feel a little lighter.
“You should know better than to steal from one of the richest men in town,” the man in front of me barks.
Suddenly, he pulls out a knife, and my eyes widen as I hide in the corner.
“Please, don’t hurt me!”
A chair is kicked over.
The knife comes down.
But it isn’t my flesh that it stabs. It’s the boy’s back.
He cries in pain but maintains eye contact with me, and I shudder in place against the wall, desperate to prevent imminent death, while guilt floods my veins.
He saved me.
“Ares!” The knife is pulled out, and the boy groans. “What were you thinking? I could’ve killed you!”
“Don’t … hurt him,” Ares says, turning around to face his father. “Please.”
His arms are open wide, but all I can focus on are the droplets of blood rolling down his back.
The man in front of us points the knife at me. “He is a thief. He deserves—”
“Pain?” Ares quips.
Fuck. I didn’t want him to take this for me. I didn’t ask him to.
“You …” The man narrows his eyes. “I would’ve killed him if it wasn’t for you.”
“Don’t. Please,” Ares begs. “He won’t do it again.”
“No. He won’t.” The man wipes his knife on his pants. “Because you won’t ever let him do it again.”
What?
“This boy is your responsibility now. Make sure he never, ever tries to steal from me again,” the man growls. “If he does, I’ll make both of you pay, and it won’t just be another scar.”
“Yes, Father.”
His father?
His own damn father stabbed him with a knife, and it doesn’t even faze him?
The boy turns his head to me, and the look in his eyes is all I’ll ever need to know.
Just one act of righteousness and my life has been forever chained to his.
Crystal
Present
He lifts his hand and gazes at the droplets of water running down. “Our lives are entangled by a debt I can never repay.”
I sigh out loud.
Ares, saving a life?
Why does that sound hard to believe after what I witnessed?
“I know what you think about Ares, but he isn’t all evil,” Blaine says.
“I’m just … surprised, I guess,” I say. “But wait, you said something about Ares being responsible for you after that incident.”
“Ares took me under his wing. He showed me how to hustle, and in turn, I was able to protect both him and my parents.” He takes a deep breath. “I’ve cultivated a strong mind and body to make sure of that. And with a generous donation on his side, I was able to start my own business too.”
“I’m impressed.”
“Thank you,” he responds, giving me a smug smile. “Regardless, I can’t really hurt him as you can tell,” he says, glancing my way with those devilishly handsome eyes of his. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t.”
The glimmer in his eyes makes a fire in me burn brighter than ever before.
Maybe, just maybe … I should give this a chance.
“All right,” I say, sitting up too. “If your offer is still on the table, teach me.”
A wicked smile makes his face light up in the dark like a ghost come back to haunt the living. “I thought you’d never ask.”
