A few days later
I chew my cucumber stick vigorously, swirling my tongue around the stem while watching her intently.
The cafeteria is noisy today, but I filter through the chatter just to focus on the girl in front of me.
She’s wearing that same beige dress again from the night of our party at the Tartarus House, and the more I look at it, the more I remember it vividly from those few seconds I saw Ares approach her in the maze.
Crystal Murphy.
A girl so innocent yet …
That pretty blond hair and picture-perfect face are such a distraction that I’m starting to wonder if I should do something about it. Make it messy, with pretty pink lipstick and black mascara smeared all over her face while her hair is a bungled mess from all the cum.
My hard-on twitches in my gray sweatpants at the thought.
I normally never get so excited about girls. But I have to control myself.
She sits beside those bastards from the Skull & Serpent Society, the actual fucking leader Felix and his girlfriend, Penelope, along with some more friends.
It’s them versus just me. Blaine and Ares have classes.
But if I approach her now in front of all of them, they’ll probably kill me for even trying to get near.
No, I need to wait until she’s all alone.
Defenseless.
Scared.
So I can punish her for showing up to that same goddamn café I was at with my dad.
Was it a coincidence?
I could’ve sworn I saw a few blond hairs disappearing behind a wall the second I ended my conversation with Blaine. But when I went to look, no one was there.
Was it all my imagination?
I take another bite and finish up the sticks until nothing is left. But I’m still hungry as hell, so I continue to my little bowl of pudding, scooping up some of the strawberry whipped cream and dipping it into my mouth.
My favorite.
When I take a lick, she briefly looks my way and finds my eyes hidden underneath my black hoodie.
I roll my tongue around the spoon without looking away. Her eyes are almost glued to my mouth as I slowly push the spoon filled with cream inside and swallow.
She swallows too.
Does she know I was the one who stained her window?
God, I wish I could’ve seen her face when she discovered it.
A tainted smile makes its way onto my lips.
Is she even aware of what she’s unleashed?
She picks up her half-finished food tray and walks to the bin, putting it in the trash before making off to the hallways. I immediately jump up and go for the pursuit.
Adrenaline races through my veins as I make my way through the doors and see her disappear down a hallway to the left. I follow her around the corner, and the moment she glances at me over her shoulder, I know I’ve gotten her right where I want her.
Her pupils dilate, and she makes off to the right, her pace increasing. But I’m prepared for a chase.
She runs up the staircase, and so do I, until we reach the top level, and there’s nowhere for her to run except toward the dean’s office.
Slowly, I stalk up the staircase so she doesn’t try to bolt again.
She drops her bag and turns around to face me. “What do you want from me?”
If only she knew …
We’re about to devour her whole.
Crystal
A guy in a black hoodie and gray sweatpants slowly walks up the stairs, each step thudding as hard as my heart until he’s at the top. My body instinctively leans away from him as he towers over me, his hands moving to his hoodie to lower it, tattoos peeking out. Underneath, a familiar set of hazel eyes bore a hole into my chest. His dark blond hair falls over his strikingly handsome, square face, but something about the upside-down cross dangling from his ear makes me swallow away the lump in my throat.
Shit. I should really have taken a different turn when I ran upstairs to avoid him.
“What were you doing at that café?” he asks, his voice gruff and hazy like he’s been smoking.
“The same as you,” I reply staunchly.
His jaw flexes, and he rolls his eyes, almost like he already knows why I was there but just wants to hear me say it out loud. “Okay … Why were you at our party?”
I hate being interrogated like I did something wrong. “To dance. Why else?”
I try to move past him, but he follows my step to the side. I stare up into his cold, hazel eyes, which turn more threatening the longer I look into them.
“Are you going to let me pass?”
He tilts his head to the right, the left side of his lip turning up into a mischievous, lopsided grin. “No.”
My nostrils flare. “I can scream. You know that, right?”
“Do it,” he retorts, the smile disappearing from his face. “Who do you think is faster?” He steps closer. “Security … or my hand curling around your throat?”
I gasp, and a squeak nearly escapes my mouth, but I force it back down.
“I’m not going to let you threaten me,” I say. “I did nothing wrong.”
“Then why were you there?” he repeats.
“I was invited,” I answer, folding my arms.
He takes another step until he’s right in front of me. “Not the party … the gate.”
The gate. Does he mean the one beside the Tartarus House?
My blood runs cold.
So they all know I was there.
“I wasn’t.”
Suddenly, his hand is on my throat, and he pushes me until my back hits the wall, and I can’t freaking breathe.
What the hell?
“S-top,” I hiss.
“What did you see?”
“N-nothing,” I lie.
Everything.
I stare him down equally harshly, consequences be damned. His grip around my throat tightens, fingers digging into my skin until I can’t help but claw at his hand, but his grip is unrelenting.
He leans in, hot breath on my skin as he whispers, “The first lie is my fingers around your throat … the next one is my fingers down your throat.”
Shit. He can’t be serious. Would he actually do that?
“So you choose, Crystal.” His eyes flicker with excitement. “If I know you well enough, I know you’ll pick the safer option.”
“You don’t know anything about me,” I hiss.
I can feel his smile against my cheek. “I already know more about you than you want me to.” His body presses up against mine, bulge hardening against my thigh. “I know who your friends are. What your room looks like. What you look like when you come on someone else’s lap.” He pauses, his grin deepening. “What you sound like when you play with yourself.”
My eyes widen.
“What?”
A dirty smirk forms on his face. “Do you really not know?”
And then it dawns on me.
The white stain on my window.
His fingers slowly loosen so I can speak. “It was you.”
I can feel his hot breath against my neck, and when his tongue darts out, I nearly faint.
“Who were you fantasizing about while you fingered yourself? Ares?” he whispers, his tongue dragging a line all the way up to my ear. “Did you come thinking about him? Or did he leave you craving so much more you couldn’t even finish?”
I try to shove him away, but I’m no match for his strength. “You’re disgusting. Watching me? Coming all over my window?”
A low, rumbling laugh emanates from deep within his chest. “That was just a taste of depravity. A warning.” His free hand hovers over my body, lingering dangerously close to my nipples without actually touching them, yet it’s still causing electricity to surge through my body. “Make no mistake, slut, we know exactly what you’ve been up to, sneaking into our lives. Don’t think for a second you’ll be able to evade our grasp.”
“I’m not sneaking into anyone’s life,” I growl.
“If you hold your life dear, you’ll keep your nose out of our business,” he says.
“You’re the ones who killed someone,” I hiss.
He leans back and gazes into my eyes. I don’t know why, but I can’t stop looking at the way he’s tugging at his piercing with his teeth. “True.”
He says it with such conviction and zero regret that it makes goose bumps scatter on my skin.
His fingers loosen, but only a little. Just enough to allow me to breathe. “You will forget what you saw that night.”
I look him dead in the eyes. “No.”
His eyes narrow. “Are you that desperate to be punished again?” His free hand dives between my legs, feeling me up, and I struggle to keep my legs together when he pries them open. “Because I can arrange that just as well as Ares did.”
“You’re just as insane as him,” I say, trying not to react even though his hand rubs me right through the fabric of my pants.
“You think that’s an insult, but it’s the greatest compliment I could receive,” he murmurs, still rubbing me, making me dizzy with heat. “Did you know insanity is only one step behind euphoria?”
He toys with me like he’s done this a million times before, fingers splayed against my slit, circling my nub like he knows every inch of my body’s triggers without ever having touched it. And I’m now not just struggling to breathe but also struggling to stay upright. Shit.
“You think this is the worst we can do to you? Playing with your pussy?” he murmurs, going faster and faster. “You haven’t even seen the worst yet. But you will.”
Suddenly, someone comes up the stairs, and Caleb abruptly lets go of me.
“Mr. Preston? What are you doing up here?”
It’s Dean Rivera!
Caleb moves away and folds his arms. “Just having a chat with a girl.”
I struggle to even stand as I grasp for my throat, coughing and heaving, my body still overloaded with arousal Caleb managed to coax out of me so easily it should be illegal. I’m still sucking in air, trying to regain my senses.
Shit. I should say the truth. Expose them right here, right now.
But then … they’ll definitely get me killed before the cops would even show up.
“Well, do it somewhere else, please,” the dean says. “This is the office floor.”
There’s no time. This is it. If I’m gonna make it out of here, I have to do it now.
I shove Caleb aside. He’s caught off guard as the dean walks past us.
I storm down the stairs, only looking back to see his tongue dart out to wet his lips, seemingly amused by my escape.
He towers over the banister to gaze at me, and all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up while I keep running farther and farther away from him.
The look on his face tells me exactly what I’m up against …
Pretty boys who hide unfathomable demons, waiting to strike.
And I’ve become their next target.
