His hand brushes my hair behind my ear, and an involuntary shudder races through me.
“Did they make you wet, princess?”
My eyes widen at his words, and I glance around us, but no one is near. I shouldn’t worry about my completely trashed reputation, but maybe there’s still a part of me that does.
I narrow my eyes. “Afraid you can’t do it on your own?”
My insides flip at my words. Why on earth would I challenge him like that? Why is part of me sickly thrilled at the heat and jealousy in his eyes? Maybe because I need him to feel the way I do when they talk about those other girls.
“Don’t worry, princess. I’ll show you exactly what I can do to you.”
He releases me, and I almost grab his shirt to tug him down to kiss me, but he leads me into our classroom instead.
As I take my seat, I can’t help wondering have I always liked to play with fire, or is this something the horsemen drew out of me? And what will my life be like when they’re done and I’m left alone?
CHAPTER 53
The Lure
Eli
I stand in the hallway as she comes out of her class.
“Penny Wright.”
Her brown eyes are wide as she turns to me. Startled, like a little rabbit. I swear she wants to bound away, but I need to make sure she’s not playing games with my girl. I don’t have time for wannabes.
Vicky Martinez stops behind her, looking like she’s going to stay with Penny. I raise an eyebrow. Vicky touches Penny’s arm and then heads down the hall to her next class.
Penny hasn’t said a word and just stands there looking at my chin.
“Come with me.” I don’t look behind me to see if she’s following. She will if she knows what’s good for her. I stop once we turn into an almost empty hallway.
Leaning against the wall, I look down at her. “You want to be friends with Harper.”
She nods, still looking at my chin. Girls like her make me angry. They want us to want them, but if we show them any attention, they curl up into balls or run and hide behind their mommy’s skirt.
“What do you expect to gain from it?” I wait because I know it’s going to take her a hot minute to open up. When I look down the hallway,I see Ashley glaring at me and Penny. She’s wearing my jersey. I’m tempted to walk over and ask for it back. But that would cause trouble for Harper.
Ashley meets my gaze, and her eyes narrow before she stomps away.
For fuck’s sake, that girl thinks I’m her possession.
I don’t belong to anyone. Except temporarily to Harper. I never promised Ashley anything more than a rough fuck, which I know she likes. Bringing my focus back to the nervous rabbit, I clear my throat.
“I don’t have all day.” I let my exasperation slide into my words.
Penny trembles as she dares to lift her gaze to mine. “Harper’s always been a nice girl. But she didn’t want attention, so we never reached out before.”
This part I know. “So what do you get out of this?”
She blows out a breath. “Until last year, we were all in relationships, which meant dates and sex, but it also meant we didn’t get to go to parties and have fun. So this year…” She gestures toward me.
“You want to fuck a horseman?” I raise a brow.
“What? No.” Her eyes go wide before she blinks. “I mean, maybe, but not necessarily.” Penny looks down at her shoes like she wrote the answers on them. “We want to go to the parties and be single our senior year. We want to be seen with the hottest guys because that’s how you become someone at this school. Doesn’t everyone want that?”
“Harper fits in how?”
