The man moves aside.
And it’s as if my skin lights on fire, catching like kindling and sweeping over every inch of me in a flash.
I can enter now, but I don’t. I see into the room and spot candles, low lamplight, and more masked figures walking around in the main room.
There’s one man who catches my eye sitting in the center, alone on a blood-red tufted loveseat.
He’s tall. Broad. Probably very strong under his cream-white collared shirt. He’s sitting there with his legs spread wide, like he’s a lord surveying his land.
Not really like a participant.
More like… a ruler.
A flash of ink slips out from the tattoo below his sleeve. It’s the black edge of a raven’s wing, jutting down from his wrist.
There you are.
I haven’t even stepped inside yet and my body is too hot under my suit and puffy coat. My neck is overheating.
Sev Berlant is right fuckin’ there.
And you knew he would be.
And you’re still two seconds from chickening out, like you’re already laid bare in front of him.
The threshold of the door is right in front of me. All I need to do is take a step forward. The Zenith club is exclusive, another layer ofelitewithin the elite college I’m already attending.
But I can’t. Step. Forward.
I’m not naked, not even close. But I’ve heard enough about Zenith lately to know I should be wary. Heard rumors, at least. And I know by the end of the night I’ll either be bloodied or passed out ortrulynaked, perhaps tied up and fucked because that’s what I made the fatal mistake of signing up for.
Right? Remember? You fucking wanted this?
There is one reason I’m here.
I want to make Sev Berlant take my cock.
I need to finally see him on his knees, undermycontrol, after enduring the years of his pompous fucking attitude toward meon campus. He breaks every rule. He fucks up events that I put weeks of effort into. He shows up at my parties and acts like he is the king.
After being injured for the last few months, he can finally walk again.
And ever since I found out he attends the Zenith parties…
I’ve had a deep, sick craving to bring him to his knees. It’s not revenge, per se. Just vindication. He signs up to be part of this depraved group of people who fight and fuck all behind anonymous masks. So it’s the one place in life where I can put him in his place.
Very unlike me.
I swallow past the boulder in my throat and the wind at my back blows harder, as if it’s trying to usher me inside.
The masked figure guarding the door cocks his head at me, as if he’s wondering what the fuck I’m waiting for.
But it’s one thing to know that a man who utterly despises you will be in attendance… and very different to actually see him.
Sev stands up.
He looks to one side of the room as he pulls at the bottom of his shirt sleeve, and I see his eyes flicker up toward me from the small holes in the mask. He has no idea it’smebehind this mask, and I made sure to have my coat hood up, so there’s nothing he could identify me by.
But his gaze rips right through me and I swear he’s regarding something deeper in my soul.
