When she shivers, I pull her back toward the bed. “Forget about it. C’mon. Lie with me. You must be tired.”
She’s way too frazzled by the murder to be thinking about any of Ares’s personal issues with his family.
I hold out my hands until she takes them, and I guide her back onto my bed and throw the covers on us. She tentatively lies down, her body rigid as I snuggle up against her and warm her with my body. She feels cold as ice, so I wrap my arms around her and blow hot air on her neck.
“Kai Torres … his brother?” she mutters, like she’s confused as hell. “But they looked like they hated each other.”
“Ares does what Ares always does, push people away. It’s what he’s good at.”
“But with his own family?”
“Especially his own family,” I reply.
She shivers again, so I pull her tighter.
“I don’t want to feel anything anymore,” she murmurs. “And it’s all because of him.”
I sigh, wishing I could take it all away, but I can’t. I got so caught up in my own need to punish her for my growing desire that I didn’t take into account how it would irrevocably change her.
“Why do you look up to him?” she asks.
“Ares loves me as I am.”
“But he enjoys hurting people,” she says through gritted teeth. “He hurts you too, doesn’t he?”
“I live on the edge, always dancing with death for as long as I can remember. Ares was there, picking me up from that ledge, stepping on it together with me without fear.” I curl my fingers through her hair. “He’s not afraid of those dark parts inside me. He owns them and turns them into strength. Desire. Hope.”
“Hope?” she repeats.
“Hope for a better life. One where we can both live without prejudice over who we are and what we like.”
“But who would judge him?” she says. “He thinks he’s a god. No one can touch him.”
“There is someone …”
Shit. I really shouldn’t say that.
I shake my head. “Never mind. Doesn’t matter.”
She yawns. “I’m so tired. I know I should shower, but …”
“Sleep first,” I say, placing a kiss against the back of her neck when she slowly starts to doze off. “I’ll watch over you.”
Crystal
My eyes burst open, and I sit up straight in a bed that isn’t mine.
I don’t even remember falling asleep. How long was I out for? It must’ve been hours.
I check the bed, but it’s empty apart from me, while I could’ve sworn Caleb was right beside me.
Where has he gone off to?
I crawl out of bed, ignoring the fact I’m still wearing that same bloodied dress and my skin is still caked in someone else’s blood. I’m too preoccupied with finding Caleb. He wouldn’t just leave me all by myself in his room without cause.
I open the door and look out across the hallway, but all I see is other students walking about. Nothing particularly alarming is going on. Some take a swift glance at me before walking farther, as though they don’t even want to acknowledge I exist for fear of Ares’s wrath.
I make my way across the hall to Ares’s room. The light is on, and the noise inside draws me closer.
My heart beats in my throat as I push open the door slightly and peer inside.
He’s bent over on a wooden chair, and Caleb pushes a wet sponge underneath his black shirt, revealing a small part of his skin. My breath hitches in my throat at the sight of all the blood. The bottom half of his muscular back is covered in cuts and slices. Fresh ones.
I take a step back in shock, bumping into something soft and harsh at the same time … something oddly familiar.
“I wouldn’t go farther if I were you.”
Blaine’s familiar voice makes my whole body erupt into goose bumps.
“What happened to him?” I mutter, my eyes glued on Ares’s back as Caleb dabs the sponge against his wounds. Ares hisses in pain but remains seated.
Blaine sighs. “I don’t know. Ares refuses to tell us. But for your own sake, don’t ask him.” He places a hand on my shoulder. “It’s best if you go back to Caleb’s room.”
I briefly glance at him in his red bathrobe, then nod and slowly turn away from him, walking all the way back to Caleb’s room before I shut the door to take deep breaths.
Those wounds were fresh, and they looked so damn painful … it’s hard not to feel sorry for him. But the thought of feeling not pity but actual compassion for a guy who literally locked me up in his house and uses me as a personal slut is hard to accept.
I hate him with every fiber of my being, yet …
Seeing him all wrangled up like that made it feel like someone carved my flesh too.
My heart hurts just as much as my mind.
I sink to the floor near the bed and bury my face in my hands, hoping that if I sit here long enough, I’ll forget what I saw.
Caleb
“Leave me.”
Ares’s stern voice wounds me, but I don’t hesitate to listen.
“If you need me—”
“I know,” he interjects, but he can’t even bear to look at me, let alone himself.
I swallow down the pride and walk out of the room.
“How’s he doing?” Blaine asks.
“Not good,” I reply, shutting the door.
“She saw him.”
My eyes narrow. Fuck. “I’m gonna go check on her.”
I march across the hallway and head into my room. She’s sitting against the bed, but she looks up at me the second she hears the door close.
There’s not a single tear on her flushed cheeks yet …
She looks pained.
Wounded.
Not physically, but emotionally.
And it’s eating me up alive.
Why does all this have to be so fucking difficult? I don’t want to have to choose between the two of them.
She crawls up from the floor, her eyes completely glazed over and emotionless. Like she’s shut them all off. And I watch her walk to my bathroom to turn on the rain shower. She grabs the metallic straps on her shoulders and slowly pulls them down, exposing her skin, and I can’t take my eyes off her as it drops to the floor, leaving nothing to the imagination.
Her blond hair is still caked with blood from yesterday, and when she glances at me over her shoulder, I swear she’s like a fallen angel. So much beauty, corrupted with a single death.
And it’s all because of him.
My door is opened, and someone steps inside, but I pay no attention. I can hear the door close, but my eyes remain fixated on her as she steps under the shower and lets the water wash over her.
Blaine stands beside me, his long black hair falling over his red robe as he tilts his head and folds his arms.
“Gorgeous …” Blaine murmurs, licking his lips. “Even more so with all the blood.”
Rivulets of water mixed with blood roll down her neck, across her nipples which peak under our gazes, and my hard-on nearly bursts out of my sweatpants.
She’s seen death with her own damn eyes and survived while I’m here waning because of a death that hasn’t happened yet. She’s the epitome of strength and all that I wish I could have.
I swallow away the lump in my throat as her presence coaxes me to come closer and closer, not giving a shit about the water splashing onto my pants.
She’s a siren luring me in with just her eyes, beckoning me to obey, and I am more than willing to yield.
I grab the sponge off my shelf and run it across her shoulders while I step under too. My clothes are soaked, but all I care about is being close to her. She’s the girl I should’ve stayed away from, the girl who’s wormed her way into our lives and made our dark minds her home.
I help her wash off the blood, but a part of me wants to revel in the pain she’s caused.
So I tip up her chin and make her look at me, show her that I’m not a threat … that I would kill for her if she’d ask.
And I plant my lips on hers, claiming that darkness spreading inside her like an infection from a single bite Ares left on her shoulder. He’s turned her into a mirror of his own image, a creature of ruin and revenge, and I want nothing more than to bask in their fucking glory.
Blaine steps under the shower too, dropping his red robe on the floor as he plucks her face away from me, only to kiss her right on those very same lips, stealing her away from me.
And I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me jealous … but fuck, looking at the way they kiss is something else entirely.
“She’s mine,” I grit, stealing her from him again so I can smash my lips onto hers.
“Sharing is caring, darling,” Blaine murmurs, draping his arms over her as he stands behind her.
Fuck, I don’t want to share, but if I have to … then I will. I’ve shared her with Ares … what’s one more?
I roll my tongue around hers in a desperate attempt to get closer, tasting the murder on her lips. Kissing her is like kissing the fucking sun before it sets, and I don’t want to be the one to witness the last bit of light behind those eyes being snuffed out.
“Are you ready to tell me what Ares made you do?” I whisper against her lips.
“I shot someone,” she whispers back, coaxing out more kisses, and it’s too hard to say no to her.
But I’m not at all surprised by her admission.
“He fucked you too, didn’t he?” Blaine asks, pecking her neck from behind while his hand snakes around her waist. “Before, after, or during?”
“During,” she says in a single breath.
I cup Crystal’s cheeks and kiss her harder, hoping my need for her will drown out the hatred he’s instilled in her. I’ve never hated Ares, but the more he’s got his claws in her, the more I want to rebel.
“He may have fucked with your mind… but I can fuck your body and make it all feel better,” I groan against her mouth.
“That’s awfully bold of you,” Blaine murmurs, planting kisses all over her neck. “And awfully sexy too.”
“Shut up,” I groan.
Her kisses are too good to pass up, and I’m too hungry to step away despite knowing we’re all supposed to hate each other.
“F-fuck,” I murmur against Crystal’s lips. “I want you so badly I can’t breathe.”
“You want me?” she murmurs between kisses. “Then make me yours.”
And fuck me.
There’s nothing left of me because she’s stolen my goddamn soul already.
Blaine
I watch them kiss, and a great need to steal her away from him settles deep within my stomach. I’ve been watching her play with both of them for so long it’s slowly been withering away my resilience, and now I’ve had enough.
I don’t want to just watch from the sidelines anymore.
I want to be the one who owns her heart, and if I can’t make it mine entirely, then I will slice it into pieces and divide it among us all.
My hand slowly snakes around her body as I cover her skin with kisses while the water washes away her sins. I don’t want to know who she killed or where. I don’t need any information to know that I want her, wholly, in whatever state she may come to me.
Her body melts into me as the rivulets of water connect between us, and when Caleb’s lips unlatch from hers, I tip her head my way and kiss her too.
I can taste him on her mouth, the added spice only making my hard-on throb faster as I push her up against me.
Caleb leans in and kisses her chest while I circle my tongue around hers, licking the roof of her mouth. She tastes like a sinful slice of heaven cast down to be with us demons, and I almost want to thank the gods for allowing me a bite.
His mouth covers her nipple, flicking past the tip, making her moan right into my mouth, and I harden from the sound. Who knew playing with her together could be so much fun?
“You make me want to do bad, dirty things to you, darling,” I groan when our lips briefly unlatch. “Will you let me please you?”
She nods gently, and I take the opportunity to smother her with more kisses underneath her ear and neck while Caleb licks her nipples until they’re peaked, tugging them with his teeth to elicit more moans from her.
Her hands find their way to his sweatpants and fumble to push them down over the head of his swollen dick.
Suddenly, he grips her hips and lifts her from the floor, wrapping her legs around himself.
“You are my slut. Mine. Do you hear me?” Caleb growls, smashing his lips onto hers.
I didn’t think I’d ever find it sexy he’d debase her like that, but damn, the way she purrs for him is quite something.
He positions her on his tip. “I will only share you with him if you want me to,” Caleb murmurs, licking her lips.
“Yes,” she whimpers. “Don’t make me choose. Not today. Not now. I need you both.”
“Fuck,” I groan, stepping closer too so I can push between her legs. “That’s what I wanted to hear, darling.”
He spears her on his shaft, and the resounding moan makes me rock hard. I’ve never wanted to go fully for just one person, but this girl … this girl has made me ravenous for something more than lust, more than sex. I want to be hers, and I want her to be mine. And if that means I’ll have to share her, then so be it.
“You’re so wet for me,” Caleb groans, kissing her on the chin.
“Come here,” I groan, gripping her thighs so I can push my tip up against her opening too.
Caleb’s eyes widen. “You’re not thinking of—”
Her wild moan interrupts him as I slowly bury myself inside her too. “She begged for two cocks, then she’ll have two cocks.”
I push inside, feeling his hardness next to mine as we both enter her together. And my God, Ares wasn’t lying. Those piercings are something else. The pleasure is insurmountable.
“God, your pussy feels amazing around my cock, so tight,” I murmur into her ear, my tongue dipping out to draw a line down her neck, suckling along the way.
“It’s so full,” she mewls. “Fuck!”
She slams her lips onto Caleb’s, drowning out his anger with desire until he practically melts into a puddle.
And I must admit, I don’t hate the sight. In fact, it’s only adding to the pleasure.
Maybe I don’t despise him as much as I thought I did.
We’re so close to each other I can feel his breath on my chin as I kiss her earlobe and he kisses her cheek, all while we’re both fucking her to our heart’s content. Our dicks are rubbing up against each other deep inside her, our needs colliding into one. And when I feel him pulsate against me, I let my appetite take over and kiss him too.
