I watch her run off like a flower losing its petals to a harsh wind.
She’s almost too pretty to taint.
Almost.
But she’s seen death with her own eyes, and the price she pays is heavy; keep my secret or be destroyed trying to reveal it.
I might end up doing it anyway, just for fun.
My tongue darts out to lick my lips, her blood hardening my shaft. I really can’t resist the taste of her. No wonder I’m having such a hard time holding back.
“Did you really have to go that hard on her?” Blaine asks, picking up his coffee and taking a sip.
“She needed to learn a lesson,” I reply, wiping my hands on a napkin in front of me, and I chuck the thing in the bin ten feet away from us. “She knows not to speak out loud about our business now.”
“Lest anyone know what kind of bastards we truly are,” Blaine muses.
“Bastard and proud,” Caleb says with a grin.
“Caleb.”
My voice immediately makes him drop the wretched smile.
I get up. “Come with me.”
“Don’t be too hard on him either,” Blaine tells me.
I throw Blaine a glare, but when he pouts, it’s hard to stay mad.
“Please, darling,” he adds.
I ignore him and march off, hiding the hard-on in my pants as I strut out of the cafeteria and head straight for the old bathroom that still has a lock on it. I hold open the door until he’s here.
“Get in.”
He reluctantly follows me inside, and I lock the door, waiting until he’s perched against the sink.
“What’s up?”
I pull my gun from my pocket and aim it straight at his head.
His eyes widen, and he slowly lifts his hands in the air.
“It was you, wasn’t it?”
His Adam’s apple rises and falls in his throat. “I couldn’t help myself. After she got back home, she started playing with herself in her bed, and I kind of got carried away watching her.”
My nostrils flare.
He got carried away? That motherfucker…
I pull back the safety.
“Do you know what it could cost us if word got out?” I rasp.
“I was just messing with her head. Like you,” he says, shuddering, but more with delight than actual terror. “You scare her so well.”
“Just messing with her …” I parrot, narrowing my eyes as they slide down his body, settling on the bulge in his pants. “Yet you’re hard as a rock.”
His face shows all kinds of emotions. “So are you.” His eyes flutter down, and his tongue pushes up against the inside of his cheek.
I grasp his throat and shove him all the way to the wall. An oompf leaves his mouth as his back hits the tiles, and my gun recoils, leaving an imprint on his skin.
My fingers squeeze tighter and tighter until I can feel his heart pulse beneath my thumb, and his breath is in my hands.
And then I lower the gun and smash my lips onto his.
I take his mouth, tongue and all, consumed by fury and arousal. A toxic combination for a poisonous need.
“Fuck,” he groans into my mouth.
“Shut up,” I growl as I roll my tongue around his. I grasp his bulge right through his pants and say, “You can’t stop, can you?”
“No,” he responds, making my blood boil.
I release my grip from around his throat, and he sucks in a deep breath before I place them on his shoulders and say, “On your knees.”
I lower my zipper while he looks up at me with greedy eyes.
“You walk around with that hard-on for the rest of the day,” I growl as I part his lips and bring my tip to his mouth. “She made me hard as fuck. That’s your fault. Now fucking take care of it.”
His pierced tongue rolls around my shaft, and I tilt my head back when he says, “Yes, Sir.”
Crystal
I keep walking without looking back until I finally reach the exit and head out into the open air and sun, trying to breathe.
Don’t let it get to you. You’re stronger than this. You can take them.
I suck in a fresh breath of air and focus on steadying my heart rate.
No one saw what Ares did under the table. They just saw you fall from someone’s lap, that’s it.
But what if they heard me moan?
What if they heard me beg?
Something touches my shoulder, and I shriek out loud.
“Crystal?”
I barely register that Penelope’s standing behind me.
“Are you okay? Did something happen?”
I snap out of it. “I … uh … I just had an accident in the cafeteria.”
I don’t know why, but I don’t want to tell her the truth. She already got hounded and chased by those boys of the Skull & Serpent Society because they wanted her so badly they just took her for themselves. I don’t want to put this on her plate too.
“Talk to me. Tell me what’s wrong,” Penelope says.
“No-nothing,” I lie.
If I told her the truth, she’d get swept into their madness along with me, and if push comes to shove, and they end up hurting her, there will be an all-out war between the Tartarus and the Skull & Serpent. I can’t have that on my conscience too.
“I’m okay,” I say, nodding. “I just had a panic attack from being stressed out. That’s all.”
She grabs me and hugs me tight, and it grounds me.
“Thank you,” I mutter.
“Do you want me to grab you a drink? A bite to eat?” she asks.
I shake my head, smiling. “No, I’m good. Thank you. I just wanna go back to my room. Maybe lie down for a bit.”
“Of course,” she replies. “If you need me, call me, okay?”
I nod, and she smiles back. “Will do. Thanks.”
“I’m always here if you need me.” She gives me another hug.
“I know.”
Dylan waves at Penelope from the bench they’re sitting on, and she runs off. “See ya!”
I wave at her. She seems so content with those boys even though they hated each other’s guts last year. How easily things can change. You never know who you might fall in love with.
I walk across campus, sauntering across the pavement while trying to ignore the throbbing between my legs.
Ares really did a number on me.
I don’t even know how he did it. One moment, I was dead-set on confronting them with what they’d done, and the next, I was on his lap, getting toyed with until I came so hard I could barely stay put.
It was wrong. So damn wrong.
Yet my body can’t stop tingling from the way he touched me.
I sit on the bench near the second building and grasp my bottle of water from my bag, taking a huge gulp. Gotta cool myself down somehow.
After what Ares did, I’m surprised I can even walk.
I can’t believe he did that. All just to frighten me into silence.
I shiver. It worked all right. But I will never, ever let anyone know, and definitely not him.
Fearing him is exactly what he wants.
After I’ve taken a fifteen-minute break, I continue on to the sorority. But when I turn a corner, the sight of a guy covered in tattoos and piercings leaning against the building makes me freeze in the middle of the sidewalk.
Caleb.
His fist rests against the wall, muscles bulging as he supports his own weight, thick slabs of muscle only protected by his thin tank top. I’m glad he’s wearing a pair of jeans because I definitely don’t want to see what’s underneath there.
He’s talking with someone on the phone, but it takes me a while to register what he’s saying because I’m so far away and still trying to listen in.
“No, not today. Dad wants to meet up at Fi’s Cups and Cakes for some coffee in about three hours and then head to our supplier, so I’m out.”
Who is he talking to? One of those other guys?
He lowers his phone as well as the fist that’s perched against the wall.
But before he looks my way, I’m already long gone.
Later that day
I race down the mountain on my bike, holding the flowers I plucked tightly, swallowing away the tears that sting in my eyes. The road curls around the corner, and I let my worries blow away in the wind that meets me on the way down.
When I’m back in Crescent Vale City, I look up the mountain at the gates of Spine Ridge U, dark clouds gathering above it. It truly is a gate straight to hell.
Taking a deep breath, I continue my biking journey until I get to my destination; Crescent Cemetery.
I get off my bike and place it against a tree near the entrance. I stare at the entry and all the graves beyond. Every time I’m here, it feels like my throat clamps shut.
Breathe, Crystal. Just breathe.
I walk across the path, sauntering past the dead. The sun creeps through the trees above me, scattering light across the stone pebble path and every marker mounted on each grave. It’s a warm welcome home for those who linger and stay.
My mother always said she doesn’t believe in ghosts, but I do.
I see the flecks dance in the light, watch their spirits mingle, longing to connect in the endless solitude of death.
I take another deep breath when I finally reach the grave at the top of the small hill. The flowers from last time have already wilted.
I go to my knees, remove them from the glass vase, and put in the new ones. A few I plucked from the field beyond the college and one additional bright red rose. Just like the rose he always gave to me.
I place it on the grave, separately from the other flowers, and then close my eyes.
“I brought you some new flowers,” I mutter into the wind.
The wind blows into my ear, brushing past my hair.
“I miss you, Daddy,” I whisper.
The faint sound of the wind pushing through the leaves of the trees above almost makes them sound like they’re whistling, and somehow, the tune puts me at ease.
It’s almost like he’s actually here with me.
Tears form in my eyes, and I let them run.
I need him.
I need him so desperately I can’t breathe.
But he isn’t here anymore, and nothing I do will bring him back.
But his soul… still lingers. I can feel it. And it gives me all the strength I need to push on.
Fight, Crystal. Don’t ever give up.
Flashes of a symbol with bones on it flicker in front of my eyes, and I look up at the building at the end of the graveyard. But the symbol vanishes.
It only exists in my memories. Just like my father.
I swallow and make the tears stop.
“I will make it right,” I say, placing my hand on the grave. “I promise on my life.”
An hour later
“How are your studies coming along?” my mother asks.
I was drinking my coffee, but I pause halfway through, swallowing after a while. “Oh, I’m doing fine.”
I don’t want to lie to her.
It’s not going well.
But if I told her the truth about my latest issues with a couple of boys, she’d have a heart attack, for sure.
“I heard that the university has been having some problems with certain individuals making a whole scene and the police being involved. Have you heard anything about that?”
“Um, no, not particularly.” I take another quick sip.
That’s also a lie.
I did hear about it from Penelope because there was a huge fight between the Skull & Serpent Society and the Phantom Society. Supposedly involving the previous dean of Spine Ridge. But I don’t know the full gist of it, and I don’t think I want to. I just know that it’s over now, so I don’t want my mother to worry about it.
“I just wonder if Spine Ridge University is still a safe place,” she mutters.
“Of course. It was probably just a one-time thing, and the cops handled it. The school itself is fine,” I say. “Besides, it’s not like I’m gonna change now that I’m already in my second year there.”
“It’s always a possibility.” She reaches out for my hand and gently rubs it. “You know you’re always allowed to quit.”
“I know.” Never happening.
She smiles at me. “You’re always welcome back home.”
My heart fills with warmth. “Thanks.”
My eyes flutter out the window to a peculiar car parked outside Fi’s Cups and Cakes. It’s an Aston Martin, the same model some of the rich guys at school have, but for some reason, I feel like I recognize this one. The license plate on it looks familiar.
“Well, better eat this cake before it’s dry,” Mom says, pulling me from my thoughts.
I take a forkful of my cake and shove it in my mouth. “Delicious.”
“Oh my God, you’re right,” Mom says, grinning as she swallows her piece. “Why didn’t we come here sooner?”
“I don’t know, actually. Penelope recommended it to me last year,” I reply. “I don’t think I can ever go anywhere else now that I’ve tasted their cakes and pies.”
The bell at the top of the door rings as more customers come in. The place is so busy there’s a line at the counter, but no one seems to mind because they know the wait is worth it.
But as I take another bite from my cake, a man with neatly combed dark blond hair in a suit standing in line catches my attention because next to him stands an equally dark blond-haired guy with tattoos all over his arms, hands, and neck. And all the hairs on my body stand up straight.
“Crystal?” Mom mutters, but I can barely hear her over the sound of my own breathing as it picks up.
I swallow my piece of cake but almost choke on it, and I knock over my coffee.
“Oh God!” my mom says, swiftly grabbing my mug so it doesn’t spill over more.
I cough a little and look up at the guy whose eyes are locked on mine like a missile ready to strike. His piercings rise and fall with each of his steady breaths, but the one in his eyebrow twitches.
“Are you okay?” my mother mutters.
I scoot aside and look at the coffee on the floor. “Yeah. I didn’t get any on my lap, luckily.”
“Let me go grab some paper towels.”
She immediately rushes off toward the counter, pushing past the suited man with slick blond hair to grab some of them, and I watch intently as she smiles at him.
He talks to her and then grabs the towels himself, handing them to her with a smile. She blushes and says something back, but I can’t hear it over the hubbub from the other customers.
Caleb narrows his eyes at my mother but doesn’t say a word.
When he looks at me again, I grab the menu on the table and hide behind it. Even though he’s already seen me, I don’t want to give him more reasons to come close.
I peek over the menu. My mother continues talking to the man, seemingly forgetting about the coffee spill on the floor beside our table and her half-eaten cake. They’re laughing and exchanging looks, and Caleb seems awfully annoyed by the whole ordeal.
A smile forms on my face.
But she seems enamored by the man beside Caleb, so much so that she pulls out her phone and shows something to him. I can’t tell what, but he immediately pulls out his phone too.
Are they exchanging numbers?
I push the menu to the side to get a better view, but the second I do, Caleb grabs the man’s shoulders and pushes him away from my mom.
“Let’s go, Dad. The line is way too long, and I know a better place.”
He ushers his dad away, but not before his dad says goodbye to my mom.
Right before Caleb exits, he throws me a final glance, a warning of sorts, but I let it slide off my shoulders. I just stare back until they’ve disappeared through the door, and the bell rings again.
I breathe a sigh of relief.
I’m glad they didn’t order anything because the only free seat left is next to us.
My mom strides back with a gleeful smile on her face.
“What happened?” I ask. “You look like you’re radiating.”
“That man. Oh, he was so handsome,” she murmurs, and she practically falls into her chair, dreaming away.
“Mom.” I gently pry the paper towels from her hand.
She shoots up from her chair. “Oh, I’m sorry, sweetie, I completely forgot.”
I chuckle while we both get on our knees to clean up the mess. “It’s fine, Mom, I get it. You got swept off your feet.”
She sniggers like a schoolgirl. “It’s been a while since I last hit it off. Do you mind?”
“No, not at all,” I say as we rise again, and I ditch the soaked towels on the table.
It’s been a while since my mom last dated anyone.
I mean, not since …
I swallow away the lump in my throat.
“It’s fine.” I wave it off like it’s no big deal even though I know full well who the man she just gave her number to is attached to. “When are you two meeting up?”
