In that exact moment, I know I’ll burn the world to keep her.
“I’m never letting you go, princess,” I groan, holding her face in my hands as she chases her peak.
My own words sink into my chest. The weight of the lie I’llhave to carry settles on my ribs. A weight I’ll carry with a smile on my face. If that’s what it takes to keep her mine.
“Don’t fucking stop.” I strap the spare helmet on her head and turn the keys.
Her breath stutters, turquoise pupils blown wide, as the engine growls beneath us, vibrating through our bodies. I put my helmet on, my gaze sliding to the narrow road ahead where the hedgerows crowd in on both sides.
“Close your eyes, little dove,” I whisper and close her visor.
She lowers her head to my chest as my fingers twist the throttle, and I take off slowly with her in my lap, riding my cock.
28
EVA
It has beentwo weeks since I returned to Fort George, and luckily, there hasn’t been a single episode.
Luck named Mason Grant.
Mason doesn’t let a dark thought near my mind, let alone allow it to consume me. The slightest frown on my face, or a hint of a daydream and I’m taken. Into the rugby storage or the café’s private lounge—didn’t know they had one—or the secret spots on the third floor in the library.
Why? Because I refuse to be seen with him in public.
If the Council families find out their heir is sleeping with an Etheridge, Mason will have a mutiny on his hands, and me, a mark on my back. I don’t need any more hate, thank you very much. If keeping us a secret gives me a little more freedom, I’m taking it.
Mason is not amused, to say the least.
Not sure what he has to complain about. Unlike him, who not only stakes his claim on me every night but has downright scared and threatened everyone at Kingsden to stay away from me, I can’t do the same.
Because people don’t quake in their boots when I walk past and I am not the bloody King of Fort.
Our status is so incredibly unfair: I’m alienated, yet he’s available.
Completely, mouthwateringly, heartbreakingly available to everyone and anyone who wants him, which I’m slowly realizing is literally every single one. The sight of other women hovering around him lights my skin on fire.
I’m not proud of it, but the other day, when Hannah got too close, I faked a zone out.
What? I just wanted to see if he would notice.
He did. Ten minutes later, he fucked me in the rugby locker rooms.
Mason still uses his stolen key at night. It was only a matter of time until my roommates found out. So one day, on our way back from class, I confided in Thea. Her reaction? I’m still waiting for it. But Thea doesn’t judge, so it’s not surprising. Penny still doesn’t know. Telling her would be like sending an email to the editor of the local newspaper.
The ties around my wrists are now replaced by the warmth of his suffocating arms. Nightmares still come, but they are less vivid when he’s around. On the occasional nights I stir, he wakes me up and fucks me back to sleep, utterly and completely taking over my mind and body.
Andthatscares the hell out of me.
From the dark corners of my mind, which he’s rewired to orbit him, to every inch of my body that only answers to him, I’m totally at his mercy. It terrifies me how easily he has taken control of me and how willingly I handed myself over. At this point, I’m no different from an addict waiting for my dealer to come and deliver another hit.
If he leaves me now, I might just shatter. Because as much as I want Mason, I need him even more. It’s been good to live with a brain that doesn’t hurt as much.
But at what cost?
When this unshackled bliss I have naively embraced ends, will there be enough left of me to put together? Or will I go crumbling back to my choking darkness?
“Hey.” A voice from above startles me. Charlotte Pike—Lottie—first-year art student, smiles with all her silver-blond poise and charm.
