by K. G. Reuss
“Maybe for you it was a mistake, but I meant what I said. I did have fun. I’d like to finish what we started. It seemed like you were into it.”
“Ian, no. Jamie really likes you. She’s my best friend. I don’t want to hurt her, so I’m not going to tell her what you did. I-I was drunk and upset, so that didn’t help things. If she finds out about what happened—”
“So what if she finds out? It’s not like you’re the first girl I’ve ever fucked, Rosalie.”
I widened my eyes at him. “We did not have sex, Ian. You know we didn’t.”
He shrugged. “Prove we didn’t. Prove you didn’t want it. I can tell Jamie what happened. I can tell her how I was knuckle deep in that tight pussy while you stroked my dick. Then I can tell her how quick you were to spread your legs for me after I fingered you.” He gave me an innocent smile before continuing. “We can finish what we started, and I’ll keep quiet. If we don’t, I’ll have to tell her. It’s what a friend would do.”
I stared at him open-mouthed and in disbelief.
“Are you serious? You know half that shit didn’t happen, and the half that did, certainly didn’t happen the way you’re saying—”
Ian shrugged again. “If I tell her it did, then it did. Who’s she going to believe? Me, coming to her in honesty, or you, hiding it? I want you. It’s that simple. Give me what I want, and it all goes away. Tell me no and watch your world fall apart.” He surveyed me with a confident smirk on his lips. “Seems like an easy choice to me.”
I got up from my chair so fast it toppled over behind me.
“You’re a fucking pig, Ian.”
“I’m your dirty little secret.” He reached out and took my trembling hand in his, his thumb rubbing a circle on the top of it. “If you want to keep it that way, best pay up.”
Disgust washed over me, and I tugged my hand from his grip before backing away.
“That’s fine. I’ll give you some time to think it over. I’d hate for the story to get out and all that considering what you could lose. Don’t wait too long. I’m not the patient sort.”
I couldn’t bother to reply to him. The disgust had turned to a sickness which twisted my guts. I thought we were friends, but hell, I’d also thought that about me and Fox and look how that turned out. I stumbled out of the library, my heart in my throat. Not only did I have the horsemen on me, but now Ian was gunning to ruin my life. All for something that happened that I didn’t even want.
My day kept getting worse. As much as I wanted to avoid the horsemen, I had to go out and meet them at the bleachers. Drawing in a deep breath, I steeled myself and made the trek to the football field. I could see the guys milling around the bleachers—Cole and Ethan sitting on them with Enzo and Fox standing. They were all talking like they didn’t have a care in the world.
“Hey, she made it,” Enzo called out, smiling at me.
Fox cast me a look over his shoulder while Ethan’s eyes raked over me. Cole didn’t bother looking at me, the jerk.
I folded my arms awkwardly over my chest and stood in front of the guys.
“Welcome to our inner circle,” Enzo continued with a grin.
“Can we please get this over with? I’m already having a bad day, and you assholes proba-bly aren’t going to make any improvement on it.”
“Watch your mouth,” Fox growled as he moved behind me.
I shivered but kept my head held high.
“Your boy Ian?” Cole lifted a brow at me, his signature smirk on his lips.
I ground my teeth as I stared past him, noting that Fox moved so I could see him.
“It’s going to get worse. You were warned.” Fox folded his arms over his chest and leveled his gaze on me. “You just don’t fucking listen.”
“Tell me what you want me to do. Homework? Laundry? Write your papers?” I sighed in exasperation, throwing my hands up in the air.
“That could be nice.” Cole nodded. “But I don’t need homework help. I’m second in our class rankings right behind your sexy ass.”
I widened my eyes at him. I hadn’t known he was ranked second in our class.
He gave me a nod. “Surprised?”
“Yeah, you don’t strike me as the scholarly type.”
He laughed. “Ah, how little you know about me, Rosebud. We’re going to fix that. Hell, maybe I’ll even take over your spot. Or maybe you’ll let your grades slip for me.”
Dread filled my body at his words, a strange buzzing coursing through me. I couldn’t lose my ranking. I’d worked so hard for it the past four years. It might even cause me to lose my scholarship to Pendleton. My dad would kill me.
Cole nodded knowingly at me. “Be a real shame, huh?”
“Stop teasing her,” Ethan broke in. “She’s already upset.”
“She should be,” Fox snapped. “After all the shit she’s been pulling, she deserves to squirm a little.”
“I haven’t done anything!” I shouted at him. “It’s your girlfriend who teases and bullies me. I’ve never provoked her. I’ve never provoked anyone. I only try to survive here. Why can’t you let me? Why torment me?”
“I told you why.” Fox took a step closer to me. I stepped back until I found myself against the bleachers. “You owe me—”
“For what? Because you came to my rescue after your abusive bitch of a girlfriend accosted me in the cafeteria for an accident?” My voice became shrill as I stared up at his intimidating figure. “If that’s the case, punish me now, but don’t keep punishing me.”
Fox reached out and fisted my hair, angling my head painfully. I let out a hiss, my eyes watering, as he glared down at me, his grip tightening on my curls. “Oh, Rosie, I do plan on punishing you. The thought of putting you on your knees satisfies me more than you know. So keep it up. You have no fucking idea how much I want to punish your ass.”
“We only want to get to know you,” Ethan interrupted Fox’s onslaught. Fox released me, sending me shifting into a bleacher. I winced as one caught my ribs. “It won’t be as bad as you think, Rosalie. We picked you out of the hundreds of other girls here.”
“For what?” I whimpered, looking at all the guys in turn. My eye caught Cole tucking a black notebook into his bag before looking back at me, no trace of emotion on his face. “Why me?”
“Because you’re beautiful. Smart. Fragile. And honestly, we just want to break someone.” Cole shrugged, giving me a big smile and a wink. “You’re chosen. And since Fox has to exact some revenge on you, it seems perfect. We all get something out of it.”
“You’re nuts.”
“Maybe.” Enzo shrugged. “But by the time we’re all done here, you’ll be just as crazy. You’ll be one of us.”
“I don’t want to be one of you—”
“Well, you can definitely choose to deny us.” Fox pulled his phone out. My heart raced as I stared fearfully at him. “But this video can either stay hidden or it can be made public. Judging by how close you are to your friend Jamie and how much she likes Ian, I bet it would really hurt that friendship of yours. Imagine how that’ll be. Quiet Rosalie Bishop fucks the guy her best friend’s in love with. It’ll break her heart.”
I swallowed down my tears and glared at him.
“What’ll you do once you’re all alone?” Fox murmured, moving closer and thumbing my bottom lip. I flinched away, but he took my face roughly in his hand and squeezed, forcing me to look up at him. “No friends. Everyone thinking horrible things about you. You knowing those thoughts are true. What will you do, Rosie?”
My bottom lip trembled as I stared up at him.
“I used to love you, Fox,” my words were choked as I said them. His eyes widened, his lips parting. “You were my everything. Now you’re my nothing. Forcing me to do your bidding only makes me hate you.”
Fox froze, staring down at me. The silence around us was deafening. It took him a mo-ment, but he came out of whatever daze he was in to lean in and whisper in my ear words that made my heart break as he
gripped my face
“I never loved you, Rosie. I only ever pitied you.” He released my face, but not before giving me a quick, patronizing pat on the cheek.
I pushed past him, not bothering to stop as Ethan called out to me. Even when Cole joined in calling my name, I kept moving.
I had to get the away and breathe. To hell with finishing the meeting.
Twelve
Maybe I hadn’t really voiced my choice, but Fox must have taken it upon himself to prove to me how very serious he was. I realized that the next day as Juliet shoved me in the locker room after gym class.
“Hey, skank,” she simpered. “Heard you and Jack Gildner were screwing in the crow’s nest on the football field at lunch yesterday.”
Melissa and Tara snickered as I stared back stupidly at them.
“That’s a lie.”
“That’s not what I heard,” Melissa piped up. “I heard you sucked off both him and his weirdo friend, Aaron.”
I ground my teeth at them. “Where did you hear that?”
“I made it up.” Juliet flipped her hair. “But after I tell everyone, it’ll be a truth, and I doubt Jack or Aaron will deny it.”
“It’s a lie because I was with your boyfriend on the football field,” I hurled back at her.
Her eyes widened for a moment before she struck me in the face, sending me tumbling back against my locker.
“Listen here, bitch,” she snarled, fisting my ponytail and yanking so hard my eyes wa-tered. “We’re going to end you. Fox has given us the green light. He was the only thing stopping us before. But now?” She cackled wickedly in my ear, tightening her grip. “You’re fair game.”
She released me, shoving me back. I slid down the lockers onto the bench, my face ach-ing where she’d struck me, and my head hurting from the grip she’d had on my ponytail.
“Do yourself a favor and fall in line,” Tara spat at me. “Or this is only going to get worse.”
“What do I have to do?” I rasped, afraid the guys had told them everything.
“I don’t know what you did to piss the guys off, but I suggest trying to make it right be-cause at the moment, it’s not looking good for you.” Juliet looked at her friends. “Ladies.”
She flounced away. Melissa spilled my gym bag all over the floor before leaving.
If this was just the beginning of what the guys had planned, I was in for a rough time.
“What happened to your eye?” Jamie demanded as we sat down at a table in the back of the cafeteria.
I stared at the guys as they laughed and acted like nothing was going on in their world. Like they hadn’t just set the hounds of hell snapping at me.
“Huh?” I muttered, tearing my glare from the table of nightmares.
“Your eye. It’s red.” She touched her own eye for emphasis.
“Oh.” I waved her off, lying, “Juliet hit me in the face with a volleyball during gym.”
“What a bitch.” Jamie shook her head, shooting a scowl over to where Juliet was kissing on Fox. “I wish her herpes would just kick in already.”
I poked listlessly at my salad. The air around us shifted. I didn’t need to look up to know who’d joined us.
“Ladies,” Ian said.
“Hey,” Jamie answered, her voice breathy.
I opted to continue stabbing at my salad.
“Rosalie, anything new and interesting going on with you?” Ian’s voice carried a note of sarcasm.
I chanced a look at him and frowned. “No.”
“I heard you were screwing around at Cole’s party over the weekend—”
“Shut up, Ian,” I snarled at him, slamming my fork down. Jamie looked between us as Ian settled in his seat, her eyes round.
“Did you mess around with someone at Cole’s and not tell me?” Jamie asked, leaning forward after the shock of Ian’s words melted away.
“Yeah, Rosalie. Didn’t you tell Jamie?” Ian stared back at me with mock innocence.
“Ian, please,” I whispered. “Not now.”
“Then when?”
“What the hell is going on?” Jamie called out, her gaze volleying between me and Ian.
“Nothing. I drank too much and kissed Cole. That’s it.”
Ian let out a derisive, cold laugh as he shook his head. He leaned back in his chair, putting it on two legs.
“You made out with Cole Scott on Saturday?” Jamie squeaked. “Are you kidding me? Why didn’t you tell me? Is that why they’ve been lurking?”
“It’s not important.”
“The hell it isn’t! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me! What was it like?” She sat forward, staring at me. I glanced at Ian who shook his head in disbelief at me.
“It was... fine.”
“You’re fucking ridiculous,” Ian snarled, slamming his chair down and glaring at me. I swallowed hard as he got to his feet.
“Ian, please,” I choked out.
He nodded at me. “Soon, Rosalie.”
He backed away, still glowering at me, before turning on his heel and storming away.
“What’s his problem?” Jamie looked back at me, frowning.
“I don’t know. He caught me with Cole. He was upset.” The lies kept coming. I hated myself for them.
“Ian is really protective.” Jamie nodded thoughtfully. “He means well.”
Yeah, right.
I chose not to respond out loud, opting to going back to my salad once more.
“Don’t look, but Fox is staring at you right now.”
I kept my eyes down.
“Oh no. He’s coming over. Ethan is with him.”
Shit.
Awful scernarios raced through my mind. He was going to dump my lunch on me. At least it was just a plain salad. That might not be so bad. Oh god. What if he dumped Jamie’s lunch on me. She’d gotten spaghetti. I had to get out of there.
Without so much as a goodbye, I was on my feet and hauling ass out of the cafeteria, not bothering to look back. With the crash of the cafeteria door banging open again as I raced down the hall, I picked up my pace, my heart slamming against my chest. I hung a right then a left, finding myself at the door to the guys’ locker room.
“Shit,” I whimpered, glancing over my shoulder behind me. Heavy footsteps thudded toward me. Knowing I didn’t have another choice, I darted inside the dark room, swiveling my head left to right as I sought a hiding place. Deciding a dark corner with football equipment was my best option, I lunged forward and buried myself inside, praying I wouldn’t be seen.
The squealing of the door opening had me holding my breath. I watched through a space in the equipment as Fox and Ethan came into the room.
“She had to have come in here.” Fox looked around.
My breath came in soft, short huffs, my body as still as stone as I watched them move around the room like predators.
“Rosalie?” Ethan called out. “Come on, sweetheart. We aren’t going to hurt you. We only want to talk.”
Bullshit.
“Rosie, you don’t need to hide. We heard about what happened in the locker room after gym this morning. I want to make sure you’re OK.” Fox paused in the center of the room, looking around again.
Liar.
“I’ll check the back.” Fox moved toward the back of the locker room out of my line of sight. The showers had to be back there. Ethan prowled close by, stopping right in front of me.
“Rosalie,” he hissed, not looking at me. I stiffened.
“I know you’re behind the equipment. Your foot is sticking out.” He paused, glancing over his shoulder. “You’re going to have to come out.”
I stilled, knowing the jig was up. I let out a squeak as warm hands circled around my arms and tugged me out of my hiding spot. I came face to face with Ethan.
“There you are.” He smiled down at me. “Why are you running?”
“You know why,” I whimpered back. Ethan didn’t get to answer me because Fox came back into the area.
�
��I knew you were in here.”
The door banged open. Cole and Enzo entered. I stared in horror as Enzo grabbed a metal chair and propped it beneath the door handle, effectively trapping me inside with them.
“Please, let me go.” I struggled against Ethan’s hold. His grip tightened on my arms until I winced. Noting that, he immediately loosened his hold.
Ethan was definitely the nice one.
Cole took his spot, seeing Ethan’s moment of weakness.
“Keep fighting, Rosebud. It only excites me,” Cole grunted in my ear as I struggled against him. I stilled, knowing he wasn’t lying. He chuckled victoriously in my ear. “Good girl.”
“We’ve given you ample time to decide your fate, Rosie. Now we need an answer.” Fox lifted a dark brow at me.
“My answer is fuck you,” I snapped back. Fox rolled his eyes at my dramatics.
“You seemed pretty cozy out there with Ian,” Enzo added, stepping up to me. “That wasn’t good. Flaunting your fuck boy is a bad idea, Sunshine.”
“I’m not cozy with Ian! He makes me sick!” I shouted back at him. “He’s threatening me like you guys are.” I sagged back against Cole, feeling defeated.
“Ian is threatening you?” Fox asked, his voice a low, dangerous rumble.
I nodded miserably.
“What’s he saying, Rosebud?” Cole demanded, his voice matching Fox’s.
“That he wants to finish what we started. If I don’t, he’s going to tell Jamie.”
“I told you he was a piece of shit,” Enzo spat. “Didn’t I say that?”
“It’ll be taken care of,” Fox ground out, silencing Enzo.
“How?” I demanded.
“Don’t worry about it. I said it’ll be taken care of,” Fox snapped, his eyes darkening.
I shrank away from him, deeper into Cole’s hold.
It felt like I was in some of sort of high school mafia snuff film with Fox being the kingpin.
“Why do you guys even care? Is it because it’s a competition to out me?” My voice wavered as I tried to compose myself.
“That’s exactly what it is, Rosebud,” Cole growled in my ear. “You belong to us. Our little whore. We call the shots.”