Her hands lingered on his shoulders as she balanced herself, but he only allowed his own hands to remain around her waist to set her on her feet before he withdrew.
I beckoned Monroe to follow me and led him closer to the fire as everyone started dancing to the heavy beat of the music that blasted over the lake.
There were two chairs set up on the sand right beside the enormous Sacred Stone which was painted with the ancient markings of our kind.
“Are you ready to make it official, brother?” I asked, wrapping my arm around Monroe’s shoulders as a dark laugh escaped me.
There was a heavy kind of energy in the air tonight, like the whole world was on tenterhooks until this happened. Waiting for us to complete the legend, embody every aspect of the myth. And I had no doubt that once we’d done it, we would be truly unstoppable. Even once we left this place, this bond would keep the five of us together until death ripped us apart.
“This is fucking insane,” Monroe muttered, looking around at the half naked bodies of all of the other students as they danced around the fire.
“Yeah. In the best possible way,” I agreed, directing him to straddle one of the chairs with his back to me as I dropped into the other.
I reached down to the floor where my tattoo gun sat waiting in its case. I’d already set it up earlier so all I had to do was pull on the latex gloves and use the antibacterial swab to cleanse Monroe’s neck where he was about to get his new ink.
Tatum lingered close, watching with interest as I set up and I beckoned her nearer as an idea came to me.
“Dance for us, baby,” I commanded, pointing to a spot before the fire which was right in Monroe’s line of sight. “Give our newest Night Keeper something to watch while I work.”
“Seriously?” she huffed, clearly unimpressed with being told what to do as usual.
“What’s the matter? Do you disapprove of your newest master?” I teased.
“I’m not exactly thrilled to have three assholes who boss me about and now I’ve got four,” she replied icily, giving me a death glare.
“Well get used to it, baby,” I said with a shrug. “Besides, I’m only asking you to dance for us, it’s not that much of a hardship. Don’t you wanna see if you can make him look at you the way the rest of us do?”
“What way is that?” Nash asked, his gaze locked on our girl.
“Like we’re all dying men in desperate need of a drink and she’s a cool, blue lagoon in the centre of a desert.”
“You’re so full of shit, Kyan,” Tatum huffed. “If that was how you felt about me, you wouldn’t be such fucking dickheads.” She folded her arms as if she meant to refuse me, but the smile she was trying to hide said she didn’t mind the idea of Monroe looking at her that way so much.
“Don’t make me go all asshole on you,” I begged. “Because you know I’ll have to punish you if you don’t follow my commands. Besides, I’m pretty sure a distraction like watching you dance in that particularly fuckable outfit will keep him still while I work. Won’t it Nash?” I slapped Monroe on the arm and he grunted as his gaze raked over Tatum in that eenie weeny bikini.
“She’s my student,” he muttered as Tatum scowled at me, her shoulders slumping in defeat.
I barked a laugh and directed her away to start dancing. “Whatever you wanna tell yourself, brother. There’s no rules against looking though.”
“I’m pretty sure there is,” Monroe replied, but his eyes remained glued to her all the same.
Mila pushed her way through the crowd, greeting Tatum with a bottle of tequila and a hug as they began to dance together. I watched Tatum drinking from the neck of the bottle with desire shifting beneath my flesh like hungry ants.
“I bet that tequila would go down real smooth right about now,” I murmured and Monroe turned his head slightly to glance at me like he wasn’t sure if he should speak freely or not. But he was our brother now. He could tell me anything and I’d stand by him. Admitting Tatum Rivers was hot enough to set a forest fire blazing in his dick at all times really wouldn’t shock me. And the monster in me quite liked the idea of him vying for her attention just like the rest of us were. It felt right. Like she should possess each of us equally. Torment us equally. Drive us to insanity with desire in all the right ways.
“Tequila’s too bitter for her,” Monroe said slowly, like he was choosing his words with care. “She’s sweeter than that.”
“Naw,” I laughed darkly. “She’s really not. That girl might look sweet, but she’s got as much poison as sugar in her.”
“You think she’s lethal?” he asked.
“Yeah. In the best possible way. I’d die with a smile on my face if I overdosed on her.”
“I can think of worse ways to go,” Monroe agreed as she started dancing.
The tattoo gun hung limply in my hand as I watched her moving her body in time with Mila’s. Every flex and thrust of her hips to the powerful beat of the drums sent an earthquake of need pulsing through me until I was sure that my heartbeat had fallen in line with the bass that surrounded us.
She was captivating in the most deadly way and I knew I was falling prey to her. I just didn’t have a single urge to stop it from happening. And if I ended up bleeding out at her feet in the end, I doubted I’d have any regrets about it. That girl was mine. And she’d claimed me right back. Perhaps she didn’t fully grasp the gravity of those words yet, but I’d imprinted them on my soul.
The feeling of eyes on my skin made me turn and I found Deepthroat watching me from the centre of the group who had clustered close to watch me tattoo our latest Night Keeper.
“What the fuck are you looking at?” I snarled at her, her dark eyes widening as she managed to gain my attention. “Get the fuck away from me before I drown you in the lake like the mutt you are.”
“Kyan,” she breathed and I bared my teeth at her as she dared address me.
“If you don’t fuck off, I’ll pin you down and tattoo the word deepthroat to your fucking forehead,” I threatened and I fully meant it too.
Her eyes blossomed with tears and she darted away before I could follow through on that threat.
“What the fuck was that about?” Nash asked.
“She’s a dead girl walking,” I muttered. “She just doesn’t realise it yet.”
“I don’t-”
A whoop of excitement rose above the sound of the music half a second before Saint leapt over the bonfire with Blake right on his heels. The crowd of students cheered and roared their names as the tips of their cloaks caught alight and they ran through the packed bodies, laughing their asses off as they raced towards the lake to douse the flames.
Someone started up a game of dares and more and more people joined the throng of dancers as the party really got underway.
Nash looked like he still wanted to ask me about that fucking whore, Deepthroat, but I ignored his probing look. I’d give him the story later, I wouldn’t lie to my brother, but I didn’t want to ruin tonight by thinking about her for a single second.
I switched on my tattoo gun and Monroe sat still obligingly as I pressed the needle to his skin and a sigh escaped me. There was something so pure in art. Especially when I could use the human body as my canvas. When I was focused on a creation, I could physically feel all of the pain, anger, rage, and violence in my blood fading away until I was at peace with my design. I always worked freehand, letting the art be as I created it, feeling out the natural strokes and curves of the piece rather than forcing it to bow to some predetermined pattern. I knew I was creating an arrow dressed with feathers but I liked the details to come naturally, each piece of it building on the last until I was completely satisfied with the final result.
The world around me faded away as I worked, my sole desire fixed on creating Monroe’s mark and making him one of us for all of time.
When I finally finished, I sighed, resting back in my chair as I dragged my eyes over my work, making sure I was completely satisfied with it be
fore I finally announced it was done. For his arrow, I’d decided to hang three feathers from it, shading the tips so much they were almost black. The point of the arrowhead looked sharp enough to pierce his skin, deadly, lethal, just like us.
“It’s beautiful,” Tatum breathed, leaning over my shoulder to get a closer look so that her hair brushed against my skin. I almost flinched, wondering how long she’d been standing there watching me work and I turned to her with a wry smile.
“Do you want one, baby?” I asked, as I leaned down and took a dressing from the box at my feet, carefully covering Monroe’s new ink for him.
“Would you like that?” she purred, the alcohol giving her voice a seductive edge which I liked a whole lot. “To mark me out as yours permanently?”
“You are ours permanently,” I pointed out as I turned towards her and yanked her into my lap.
She gasped as she was forced to steady herself on my chest but her eyes lit with mischief for a moment before she stomped it down.
“Are you going to command me to get a tattoo then?” she asked with an arched eyebrow which promised she’d kick and scream and fight to the death if I even attempted it.
“No, he’s fucking not,” Monroe growled as he got to his feet and turned to look down at us, offering me a glare which I guessed was meant to be threatening. But threats didn’t make much difference to me. I was more than willing to spill blood at the slightest provocation, so threatening to hurt me was actually more likely to make me do something than stop me. But in this instance, I had no reason to argue.
“Keep your panties on, Nash,” I said. “Tatum’s body is all hers. I won’t do a thing to it unless she asks me to.”
“Why do you say that like you seriously believe I’ll ask you to?” she asked, rolling her eyes at me as she shifted in my lap.
“I don’t think you’ll ask me to do things to your body, baby,” I said, reaching out to lay my hand over the painted handprint I’d left on her stomach earlier. “I think you’ll beg.”
She bit her lip as she looked down at me and I leaned forward so that there was next to nothing dividing our lips. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d given a girl a real kiss. And I definitely couldn’t remember the last time I’d been as tempted to as I was with Tatum Rivers.
“In your dreams,” she breathed, but the heat in her eyes gave a different answer.
“Every night, baby,” I agreed. “But if you want proof, I’m willing to bet I can have you begging for me before this night is done too.”
Monroe scoffed like I was bragging that I had platinum balls and couldn’t back it up. But I didn’t make bets I wasn’t confident I could win and if I told him my balls were platinum, I’d be dipping them in molten metal just to make sure I was right about that.
“What’s the matter, Nash? You wish that you could make a play for our girl too?” I teased him. “Maybe she’d let us share her.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Monroe muttered.
“Why do you always make jokes like that?” Tatum hissed, smacking my shoulder to tell me off, but that really just encouraged me. “Like you think you can just have me at the drop of the hat and pass me between your psycho buddies when you know I’m not interested in a single one of you.”
“Why do you always think I’m joking?” I growled, my grip on her tightening as she wriggled on my lap again. I swear she was trying to get me hard just so that I’d have to walk around this party with a rager for her. Little did she know, I’d happily give everyone a look at the huge swell in my pants in payment for her grinding against me.
Tatum’s eyes widened as she realised I really did mean it and her gaze flicked to Nash again.
I leaned forward until my lips were brushing against her ear and ran my fingers down her spine as I spoke to her in a low voice. “Tell me you don’t like the idea of having both of us worship your body at once.”
She didn’t reply, but the way her breaths came heavier made me think she wasn’t as outraged by my suggestion as she was trying to make out.
Nash looked between the two us before huffing out a breath and rolling his eyes. “I’m still your fucking teacher. Don’t make comments like that about me again.”
I chuckled darkly as he stalked away to find a drink and watched Tatum closely as she fought against a pout.
“You know, I’m sure I could get Blake to come play with us if you want-”
“I haven’t even ridden your dick yet, Kyan,” she scoffed, her attention fixing on me again as I continued to paint lines up and down her spine with my fingertips. “So stop trying to convince me to take two at once.” A big ass smile filled my lips and she frowned as she took it in. “What?”
“You said yet,” I teased. “Which means you’re fully hoping that I’ll fuck you until you can’t think straight one of these days.”
“No I didn’t,” she snapped. “And I can assure you, I’m not planning on any such thing. I wouldn’t screw you if my life depended on it. You’re a monster through and through-”
“Yeah,” I agreed in a rough voice, my grip on her hips tightening. “But I’m your monster. You said it yourself. And I happen to have no objections to that. So if you want to use me to bring your body to ruin then I’m sure I could be convinced.”
“I thought you didn’t fuck rich girls?” she asked frostily and a chuckle rumbled through my chest as I was certain I detected a hint of bitterness in her tone.
“Naw. Rich girl pussy is too sweet to handle all of me,” I agreed like a cocky asshole and the way her eyes lit at the challenge had my dick straining against my fly. She wanted to prove me wrong and she hated that she wanted it. Our girl might just have been as dirty and depraved as the rest of us and something about the idea of that got me going like nothing else I’d ever known. “But I wouldn’t mind having a taste of all that sweetness,” I added.
“A taste?” she asked with a frown.
I caught her hand in my grasp, placing two of her fingers over my mouth before driving my tongue straight through the centre of them with one firm stroke.
She snatched her hand out of my grip and slapped me hard enough to make my face wheel sideways before wrapping a hand around my throat and snarling as she glared down at me.
“Don’t forget my rules, Kyan,” she hissed, her eyes flaring with rage as she tightened her grip just a little.
A growl which was all sex escaped my lips as I looked up at her and she shifted in my lap, her crotch grinding against mine like she just couldn’t help herself despite her fury. My dick was so hard beneath her that there was no way she was missing it and the way she bit down on her bottom lip as she tightened her grip on my throat made me think she was just as hot for this as I was.
“You wanna punish me, baby?” I breathed, enjoying the pinch of her fingernails as they dug into my neck. “You wanna pin me beneath you and make me face the wrath of my queen?”
“Yes,” she panted, her other hand pressing down on my chest like she wanted to feel my heart pounding beneath her palm and feel the effect she had on me first hand.
“Tell me,” I begged.
“I want you bloody and broken at my feet,” she hissed. “I want you to bend to my will, take the punishment for the things you’ve done to me and beg for me to stop as I tear your heart in two. And then I want to refuse you and laugh while I watch you break over and over again until there’s nothing left.”
That shit is dark. And so fucking hot.
My heart was racing now and I was pretty sure that if she ground up against my dick one more time then I was going to explode right inside my pants. The way she was looking at me was so full of hate, fury and passion that I wanted to drown in it for the rest of time. I wanted to worship her as she destroyed me and call out her name as she cast me to ruin. I deserved all the ire she aimed my way and far more besides. I’d been a bad man held to no standard and punished by no one for a hell of a long time. And if she wanted to take on the job of making me pay for my crimes then
so be it. I’d gladly suffer beneath this vengeful goddess.
“That sounds like heaven to me,” I breathed, wrapping my hand over hers where she gripped my throat and encouraging her to squeeze even harder until her nails cut into my flesh and I struggled to draw breath.
For a moment her eyes lit with a brighter fire, her hips shifting against me in a way that made me ache. But then she frowned, snatching her hand away and making me drop mine.
“There’s no point in me hurting you if you’re enjoying it,” she snarled.
I sat forward, my lips almost touching hers as her breath caught in her throat. “There is if you’re enjoying it too.”
We looked into each other’s eyes for a long moment, so close to kissing that only a breath separated our lips and I was more tempted to close that distance between us than I’d been with any girl I’d ever known.
“What happened to you?” she whispered. “What happened to make you this way?”
I drew back like she’d slapped me again, memories pouring in unbidden which I refused to acknowledge in any way. The things I’d grown up surrounded by. The things I’d been forced to do last summer… She had no right to go rooting about beneath my skin like that. No right to smash down my walls and make me bear my soul to her. I pursed my lips in a clear refusal to answer, fighting off the desire to see her punished for breaking down my barriers as if they were made of nothing but smoke. But I wasn’t going to let her know how close she’d just gotten to me either.
I stood up suddenly, gripping her ass and lifting her in my arms as I moved to the middle of the writhing bodies who were dancing around the fire.
“What are you doing?” she demanded as I placed her on her feet, waving a hand at Punch to get me a drink before remembering he wasn’t an Unspeakable anymore.
“You set me a challenge, baby,” I reminded her, banishing all of my dark thoughts with the full intention of drowning them in whiskey and the feel of her body against mine. “And if I want you begging for me by the end of the night, I need to start grafting.”
“Fat chance of that, douchebag,” she sniped, but I was more than up for the challenge she presented. Tonight, Tatum Rivers was dressed up like a dark queen, a goddess, a demon demanding worship and I planned on doing just that. I wasn’t going to let her escape my clutches until her body bowed to mine and she was screaming my name.
Kings of Lockdown: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep Book 2) Page 11
