"Come for me, Gio," she orders, voice tight with strain. "Fucking come for me now."
Her command is my undoing. The sound of my name on her lips, in this dark, filthy closet, breaks me completely. My orgasm crashes through me, a blinding, violent wave that rips a guttural roar from my throat. I pulse inside her, body locking up as I empty myself into the condom. A second later, she follows, her cunt clamping down on my dick like a vise as she shudders and cries out, a sharp, broken sound that's swallowed by the darkness.
I collapse against her, weight pinning her to the shelves. We're both shaking, slick with sweat, breathing like we've just fought for our lives. In a way, we have. For a long moment, the only sound is our ragged gasps echoing in the small space. The silence that follows is heavier than the act, thick with everything we didn't say.
Then she shifts, an impatient wiggle. "Get off me, Rossi."
I push away, limbs feeling like lead. I deal with the condom, hands fumbling in the dark. I hear the rustle of her clothes as she straightens her skirt, the sharp click of her bra clasp being fastened. The door swings open, flooding the cramped space with dim light. She doesn't look back. She just walks out, leaving me alone in the dark with the smell of her perfume and the crushing weight of what I've just done. As she reaches the hallway, her voice cuts through the air, sharp and final.
"This will never happen again."
The phone feels like a shard of ice in my hand. My mother's text is a plea. Rylan's is a promise. I don't think. I move. I'm shoving my feet into my boots, grabbing my keys, the need to find him a physical itch under my skin. He doesn't get to do this. He doesn't get to use the past to control my present.
I find him where I knew I would. The Sigma Nu house, a monument to inherited money and cheap beer. The bass from inside is a dull, persistent thud against my ribs. He's on the backporch, nursing a beer, staring out at the dark of the campus like he owns it. Like he's not haunted.
He sees me coming. The flicker of fear in his eyes is quickly buried under a layer of smug satisfaction. He was expecting me.
"Took you long enough," he says, not turning. "Was wondering if you'd lost your nerve."
I don't answer. I stop in front of him, blocking his view, forcing him to look at me. The air between us is thick with ten years of history and a dozen unspoken favors.
"What do you want, Rylan?" My voice is flat. Dead.
He takes a slow sip of his beer, eyes calculating. "I want you to remember how this works. You clean up the messes. That's the deal. But you're not holding up your end." He finally turns to me, face twisted with a resentment that's been festering for months. "I needed you to talk to Coach. To get me back on the team. And you just… let it hang there because of what I said about Talia. It was a joke. She's too sensitive."
My jaw clenches. "You went after his daughter, Rylan."
"And you're supposed to fix it!" he snaps, voice rising before he gets it back under control. He leans in, words a venomous whisper. "But instead, you're parading around with your new project. What's her name? Zoë? It's all over campus. You think I don't see what you're doing? Using her to polish up your image. It's drowning out the noise I'm trying to make."
This is about Talia. It's about the team. It's about his bruised ego. It's always about his ego. "She has nothing to do with this," I warn.
"Doesn't she?" he smiles, a slow, predatory curve. "She has everything to do with it. She's your shield right now. And I'm going to enjoy watching me pull it away." He stands, stepping into my space, the beer bottle forgotten in his hand. He's shorter than me, but the desperation in his eyes makes him seem larger. "You think this new life of yours is real? That you can just… startover? Be the good guy?" He lets out a short, ugly laugh. "You forget who knows where the bodies are buried, Gio. Or, in this case, who has the original paperwork."
My blood runs cold. Every muscle in my body locks down. He wouldn't. He sees the shift in my eyes, and his own light up with triumph.
"Ah. There it is. You remember, don't you? That night. My dad on the phone with your dad. The sheriff. All of it. A neat little package, tied up with a bow." He's talking about the cover-up. The lie. "Those records are sealed, Rylan," I say, voice dangerously low.
"Sealed?" He scoffs. "They're paper, Gio. Paper can be copied. Digital files can be… misplaced and then found by the right person. And I have a copy of the original report. The one before your daddy's friend got his hands on it."
The threat is a physical blow. He's talking about proof. "You wouldn't," I say, but we both know he would.
"Stay away from Zoë Barnes," he says, voice dropping into a final, sharp command. "Break it off. Go back to being the guy everyone whispers about. Let my story get some oxygen. Or I'll show everyone exactly what your name is really worth. I'll show them the receipt for the life you're living."
He turns and walks back into the party, disappearing into the noise and the light. I'm left standing alone on the porch, the cold night air doing nothing to cool the fire raging in my chest. He's threatening to produce a document that could unravel my entire life. And he's using Zoë as the reason to do it.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 22
Zoë
The lecture hall is a cage. Intro to Ethics. A required credit. A joke. The professor is droning on about societal frameworks, his voice a monotone hum that does nothing to drown out the noise in my head from yesterday. The hallway. The supply closet. The feeling of his hands.
"For the final component of the semester," the professor says, his voice suddenly cutting through the fog. "You will be paired for a longitudinal case study. This is mandatory. Attendance and participation are forty percent of your grade."
A collective groan ripples through the room. I just stare at the clock on the wall.
"I've randomized the pairs to ensure… diversity of perspective," he continues, tapping on his keyboard. Theprojector screen flickers, and a list of names appears. "I'll read them out. Listen for your partner."
