Level Five- Double Dog Stuff Ya
JP
“Why does this place look so familiar?” Ryker asks as we find ourselves smack dab inside a rave. I study the room and notice it’s only Ryker, Knots, and me from our group. I don’t know where everyone else went, but we apparently got separated at some point. Again.
“What is this place, and why does it smell so bad?” Knots asks, covering his nose with his shirt.
“It’s a party, and you’re smelling all the shit that goes down at one,” I tell him, raising my voice to be heard over the noise of the dance floor.
“Let’s go this way,” Ryker yells, guiding us out of the room and into a hallway where a young lady is waiting with a salacious grin on her face.
“Well, took you long enough to get here,” she teases, and Ryker scoffs at her.
“Yeah. Okay. I don’t know who?—”
“I wasn’t talking to you, mutt,” she spits out with disdain before looking at me with interest. “This is your trial, JacquesPierre, and I’m curious to know how you will handle it. Have you been holding on to your secret all this time? Still believe it’s dirty and shameful?” She clicks her tongue and gives me a knowing look. “Hmm. Too bad you’re about to uncover it. I wonder what your comrades will think. You have three hours to make it to your safe house, that is…if you can live with yourself.” She turns to walk down the hallway, her heels clicking on the concrete, and my stomach drops withDeja vuas I see a group of guys pass her, heading my way, exactly how they didthatnight.
Fuck.
I know exactly where we’re at and why this place is significant to me. We’re at one of the old warehouses in the cultural outskirts of Nova. Most businesses have moved closer to the center node, and these abandoned buildings are left for us to use for raves, parties, or to practice magic. And the group of guys heading my way used to be a group I had hung out with prior to this particular night.
“JP? What did she mean?” Ryker hesitantly asks, but he grips my shoulder and forces me to face him. Deciding to own up to it before the other group spills my secret and he actually sees it, I take a deep breath before looking into his green eyes.
“This is the first night Zeke and I hooked up.” Ryker squints his eyes in confusion, and I continue. “It wasn’t my idea to do it,” I confess and bow my head in defeat. Turning back to the group shuffling up behind me, I face my trial head-on and hope my friends won’t look at me differently.
The group stops in front of me, and a tall, dark-haired beauty steps forward as a malicious smile appears on his face. “Well, looky here, guys.” His voice leaves an oily feeling along my skin.
“Hello, Reed,” I say between clenched teeth.
“Imagine our surprise to hear you failed your test and we won our bet.” He sneers while the groupies in the back cackle.
“Just tell me what I have to do since I lost the bet.” I glare at my oldfriend.
“We’ve talked it over, and you have to make out with Ezekiel Abernathy, get him in a vulnerable position, and take pictures of him for us,” he tells me with a twinkle in his eyes.
“Are you fucking serious?” I hiss and then lower my voice. “We haven’t even seen him with another guy. He only hangs out with his brothers and the occasional woman,” I argue.
“The terms are set,” is his answer.
My jaw clenches as I let out a frustrated breath and run my fingers through my spikes before trying to get another task. Anything other than taking vulnerable pictures of the jokester prince. “There’s got to be something else I can do. I mean, why him? And what’s going to happen if it doesn’t work?”
“First of all, his last prank was on my brother, so he deserves payback. But he’ll be watching for me. And I’m sure you could get close and get the pictures we need. Besides, the worst thing that will happen to you is having a prank done to you as well. I mean, isn't Dean Cauldron your pseudo-father, so you would be untouchable for the Princes.” Reed smiles contemptuously.
“Fuck,” I say under my breath, knowing he’s right, but it doesn’t sit well with me at all. I originally started hanging with these guys because they noticed Moni was getting picked on and offered to help keep an eye on her if I joined their little group. I didn’t see any harm in it since it was like giving Moni her own little protection force, but now it has come back to bite me in the ass. Accepting my fate, I nod, giving up the fight.
“Look on the bright side, JP. With your talents, this shouldn’t be an issue for you,” Reed says, patting me on the shoulder before walking off with a few of the guys lending helpful remarks.
“Good luck.”
“Have fun.”
“Make sure the pictures aren’t blurry.”
As they walk past, I feel someone step up behind me, and I hold my breath waiting for the other shoe to drop and Ryker’s anger.
Instead, it’s Knots. “Why?”
“I originally joined their group as another way to protect Moni, but I had no idea they would be this ruthless and cold-hearted,” I confess as tears gather in my eyes, my feelings of shame seeping in.
