Mara is squirming frantically, and I tighten my hold on her, afraid I might actually drop her if she keeps at it. Her ponytail swings as she struggles, the strands brushing against my neck.
“Let me go, Dredyn!” she yells, furious and frightened. People around us are shouting—some cheering me on in drunken amusement, others shouting at me to let her go. I catch a glimpse of Zane moving in again, and the two other PTO officers with him.
Enough. They’re not taking her from me. Not now, not ever.
I take one step back, then another, my hold on Mara secure despite her thrashing. One of the PTO guys, Kade, lunges as if to tackle me, and I snap my leg out in a vicious kick that stops him cold.
He doubles over, wheezing, and his buddy backs off immediately.
I use the distraction to move. Clutching Mara tight to my chest, I stride away from the bleachers, heading toward the back hallway that leads to the locker rooms of this old warehouse.
“Dredyn, you can’t just—” she hisses, but her words break off as she realizes where I’m taking her. “No! Stop—Put me down!” She writhes, her palms shoving against my chest.
The locker room door is in sight. Just a few more strides. “Keep fighting me and I’ll make you beg while you’re choking on my cock.”
She goes rigid, shocked at my threat or maybe at the audacity of all this, I don’t know, but the momentary stillness is enough. I shoulder through the door, hard, slamming it open.
I set Mara down on her feet, but I don’t step back. In fact, I use the momentum of lowering her to push her right up against the metal lockers. Her back hits them with a clang. But before she can bolt, I plant both palms on the lockers on either side of her shoulders, caging her in.
She’s trapped between my arms, pressed chest to chest with me in the narrow space. I can feel the rapid rise and fall of her breasts against my torso as she pants, and can hear the little hitch in her breath as she registers our sudden privacy. Her hands are free now and she immediately shoves at me, palms against my pecs.
I don’t move an inch. Instead, I lean in, using my body to keep her pinned, gently but firmly. “What’s it gonna be, Hellcat? Scratch me up? Scream? Go ahead, do it.”
FIFTEEN
MARA
He has got to be kidding me. This ogre of a man is truly getting on my one last goddamn nerve.
I plant my palms on his hard chest and shove, but he doesn’t budge. “Get, Off—” I snap, intending to tell him exactly where he can stick his macho fucking ego. But before I can finish, he cuts me off.
“Why were you sitting with Psi Theta?” he snarls.
I blink, caught off guard. “Wh-what?”
“Don’t you dare make me ask twice,” Dredyn says, leaning in even closer. One of his arms braces on the lockers above my head, and his other hand suddenly tilts my chin upward, forcing me to meet his eyes. His calloused thumb brushes my lower lip and my stomach twists in half disgust.
“It’s my brother’s fraternity.”
His face is inches from mine now. “And you’re dating Talon?—”
“Fakedating?—”
“Don’t interrupt me, PollyPocket.”
His comment stuns me, my eyes squinting, trying to understand his words better. Who the fuck does he think he is?
The plan is just to pretend with Talon—cause a little gossip and scandal and piss off my father. Talon is polished, charming, tamed. Dredyn is a wrecking ball. Rude, abrasive, and downright despicable compared to his friends. He’s the last person I’d ever willingly choose for . . . well, anything.
So me being manhandled and whisked away is not the right move for my image.
“You are not to sit with Psi Theta Omega. Not at fights. Not in the library. Not in the quad. Anywhere. You sit with OCK. Preferably with me, Talon, or Jasper.”
No. No. No. I’m not about to take orders from this abominable snowman.
“Are you—Listen to yourself!” I finally burst out. My hands are still pressed to his chest; his heart beats thunderously against my palms. “You can’t dictate where I go and who I’m?—”
His mouth crashes into mine before I can finish. My back slams into the metal so hard a shocked gasp rips out of me . . . straight into his mouth where he swallows it. One massive hand fists my hair, wrenching my head back until my scalp screams, forcing my throat to arch so he can plunder deeper.
