by Selena
I pull my attention back to my friend, who’s about to realize her dream.
“This girl stole our hearts without even trying,” Colt says. “By being badass but classy as fuck—and by shaking her ass like Nicki fucking Minaj.”
He turns around and steps over my lap, sinking down onto my legs so he’s straddling me like he’s about to give me a fucking lap dance.
“What are you doing?” I grit out through clenched teeth.
“I saw you first,” he says, reaching back and buckling the necklace around my neck.
“You know I’m Devlin’s,” I hiss.
“If things don’t work out between y’all,” he says with a wink before rising stepping back.
The whole cafeteria is silent. Every person in the room sits frozen, not even breathing.
All except Mabel, who sets down her sandwich and takes a drink of her Evian water like nothing is happening. Beside me, Dixie has gone still, her face pale as she gapes at Colt. I want to say something to her, but she won’t even look at me.
Instead, I have to look at Devlin, my heart thudding with unease. His back is to the room, but I can see his face. His eyes are blazing with fury, his jaw so tight I can see the muscle jerking as he grinds his teeth. But he’s not going to confront Colt—not here. Not now, with the whole school watching. Because the school isn’t just a bunch of puppets for the Darlings. They keep them in check somehow, too. They have the Darlings on a pedestal, and the Darlings know exactly how precarious that position is. They don’t overstep their boundaries, and they never show weakness.
Fighting with Colt here would show weakness. The Darlings won’t show a crack in their united front—I know that. Devlin would fuck me in front of the whole team to keep anyone from knowing they’re human, that they fight and bicker like brothers. They have to be perfect to the other students, to keep their precarious balance atop the throne. Colt made a move, and now Devlin has to follow. He has to look like he knew that was coming, like it was all part of the plan.
I have to admire how perfectly he plays the part. Without even glancing at Colt, without looking for a girl he can claim now that Colt had collared me for himself, Devlin steps between us, crouching in front of me. He doesn’t make a spectacle for everyone else. He keeps his voice quiet, so I know this isn’t a show—it’s real.
“This is the only necklace I ever gave a girl,” he says, his blue eyes holding mine, his gaze strong and sure as the anger melts when our eyes meet. “If you don’t want it because it belonged to someone else, I understand that. But I’ll never give jewelry to any girl but you. I know you didn’t want to wear one of these, but you’re already wearing one, and this belongs to you whether or not I put it on you. The only question is, do you want me to?”
I nod, my heart in my throat. If he claimed me in the locker room that day, I ruined it. I told him I didn’t want him, and he told everyone I wasn’t his after all. I’m not making that mistake again. I want him to know that I’d never even think of another guy, despite what Colt just did. I am his, one hundred percent, and I don’t care who knows it. I want them all to know. He is mine.
Devlin leans in, so close I can feel his warm breath against my skin as he slides his hands behind my neck. This time, they’re gentle against my throat instead of the demanding chokehold he shows me when he’s inside me, but they’re every bit as possessive. He buckles the necklace before sitting back on his heel, adjusting it so it lies the way he wants on my chest.
“This is only the beginning,” he promises, his fingers brushing across my collarbones. “I’m going to drape you in these before we’re through. Because they got your name wrong, Sugar. You’re not crystal—you’re a fucking diamond.”
From the corner of my eye, I see the brainy girls at the next table covering their hearts and swooning over his words. They’re not jealous anymore—not now. Devlin has chosen, and jealousy implies they think they deserve it more, that they can get it. They don’t. They only want to be in my place, having the most incredible boy in the world saying these words to them. By the end of the day, they’ll have their own fifteen minutes in the spotlight when every other girl in school comes to them to ask what Devlin said.
And me? I can’t think of a single thing to say back to him. I press my hand over the charm, my heart swelling. I may not have wanted to play into their game, but like he told me before, we’re all players whether we want to be or not. I’m not off the gameboard yet. I may not have known I needed it, that my game piece was in jeopardy, but he did. He knew what I needed at this school, how to get the girls off my back, how to make me queen. It’s not the necklace that I needed, but what it represents. It’s not what it means to me that matters, but what it means to everyone else at Willow Heights.
Instead of words, I wrap my arms around Devlin’s neck and kiss him. He presses his lips tenderly to mine, a chaste kiss, but he makes it last a little longer, long enough for any questions in the room to be answered. I belong to him and him alone. After a few seconds, he pulls away and steps back.
Preston watches Devlin, watches me, the same way I do him. He looks back and forth between his cousins, then at Dolly, then back to me.
Give it to her, I will him silently. Tell her how you feel.
Preston steps forward, one of his legs on either side of my knees, so I’m face to face with his crotch. He runs a hand over the top of my head and down the back until he’s cradling the back of my neck, nudging me forward, even closer to the subtle bulge I can see in his slacks.
“My eyes are up here,” he says, a taunt in his voice.
I jerk my gaze to his, my cheeks flaming. “Is this some kind of joke?” I ask.
One look at Devlin tells me otherwise. He looks like he’s about to blow a fuse. His face is red, and his fists are trembling at his side. But he doesn’t move while Preston releases his hold on my head, and without a word of explanation, reaches behind me and buckles his necklace.
seventeen
Crystal
For a second, no one moves. The cafeteria is so quiet I can hear Mabel chewing. Then Devlin turns and storms out, and the whole room erupts in frantic whispers and excited chatter. The Darlings know how to make drama, that’s for damn sure.
A strangled noise comes from Dixie, and she jumps up and scurries for the door.
“You guys are assholes,” I say to Preston and Colt. I stand, ready to go after her, but Preston hasn’t moved from where he stood to put the necklace on me, so I’m flush against him when I stand. I put my hands on his chest to push him back, but he reaches out a finger and tips my chin up.
“Devlin told me what you said about me,” he says. “Just so you know, I’d never rape you. I’d make you want it so bad it hurt, and then I’d give it to you until you begged for mercy. And then, Manhattan, I’d make you cum so hard it was agony.”
Before I can think better of it, I reach up and slap his face. Preston’s eyes flash with that terrifying, psychotic blaze of rage I’ve seen before. Before he can lift a hand to retaliate, Colt throws an arm around his neck, hooting with laughter as the buzz in the room becomes a roar of excitement.
I’m so grateful for Colt that I could cry, but I don’t have time for that.
“Only Devlin gets to talk to me like that,” I say to Preston, then shove past them and take off after Dixie or Devlin. I don’t know which one I need to talk to first. When I asked for them to get rid of the Darling Dolls, I didn’t mean I wanted all the necklaces for myself.
I spot Dixie at the end of the hall when I step out of the cafeteria. I call after her, but she ducks around the corner into another hallway. “Dixie,” I call again, jogging after her. My heart aches for her. I have to tell her I had no idea, that I don’t want Colt. I have to give her his necklace.
Suddenly, a hard hand wraps around my upper arm, spinning me around and slamming my back against the lockers. “What the fuck was that about?” Devlin demands, his icy eyes burning into me like frostbite.
“I do
n’t know,” I say, trying to yank free of his grasp. “They’re your cousins. How should I know what sick games your family thinks up?”
“That wasn’t my family’s doing,” he snaps.
“Then take it up with your cousins,” I say, trying to push past him. “I need to talk to Dixie.”
Devlin grabs my wrist, pinning it to the locker above my head. “You said you weren’t fucking Preston. You said he didn’t even touch you. And I’m such a fucking fool that I believed you, Crystal. I should have seen through that in a second. What guy could resist getting his dick wet when he saw your body all tied up, every inch of you bare and ready for him?”
“He didn’t.”
We stare at each other, and I can feel him trying to make me submit with his will alone, trying to make me cave and tell him what he wants to hear. But I won’t be the girl to betray him like that. I won’t lie to him, and I won’t put a wedge between him and Preston.
“I know my cousins,” he says slowly, stepping forward until his body pins me against the lockers. “I know they don’t give those necklaces to girls they’re not fucking.”
“You think I’m fucking your cousins behind your back?”
“What else am I supposed to think?” he growls. “Is this all just another part of your game? Some sick plot you cooked up with them while I was in jail?”
“Devlin, no,” I say. “There’s no game. I didn’t know they were going to give me those necklaces any more than you did. If I’d known, don’t you think I would have stopped them? At least Colt. You know Dixie’s obsessed with him.”
Devlin glares at me, his nostrils flared as his gaze burns into mine. “Prove it.”
“I will,” I say. “Just… Give me a few minutes to talk to Dixie. She’s really upset.”
He presses forward, grinding the ridge of his cock into me. “Does it feel like I’m going to wait?”
“But—”
“If you don’t want me to pull up your skirt and fuck you right here against the lockers, then we’d better take this somewhere private in the next sixty seconds.”
“Devlin,” I say, my fingers curling around those thick, muscular biceps. I fight to keep my head, not to turn into a quivering puddle of jelly at his touch, not to let lust control me even as he rocks against me and my core melts.
“I put you first above everything, even my family,” he says. “Are you telling me I’m less important to you than your silly little friend?”
I realize then that he’s right. He’s fighting his cousins for me. That’s got him really upset. He might not show it the way Dixie does, but he’s hurt and confused and jealous, maybe even insecure. His whole family turned on him when he confessed to something he didn’t even do, to protect them. He’s patched things up with his cousins, but maybe some doubt, some suspicion and hurt, still lingers. And I’ve betrayed him in the worst way, luring him in and making him care about me just so I could rip his heart out. I can’t blame him for being slow to trust.
I told him nothing happened with Preston, but he’ll never have anything but my word to go on. I need to give him this—and I want to. I want him to know with absolute certainty that I’m his girl, just as he told the whole school. That I’m his and only his, and I’ll never be anyone else’s, no matter what happens. I’m not his mother, who will be cowed into marrying someone I don’t love. If I can’t have him, I’ll have no one.
“Devlin,” I say, cradling his face between my hands. “You’re the most important person in the world to me.”
“Good,” he purrs, rocking his hips against mine. “Either I come first, or I don’t. But you better tell me which one it is right now because I don’t take anyone’s sloppy seconds.”
“It’s you,” I whisper. “It’s all you, Devlin. I’m all yours. Every part of me.”
“Then I’m going to cum inside that tight little cunt you promised was just mine,” he says, his hand snaking behind my thigh and pulling me harder against him. “And I’m going to make sure you remember that. Then you can talk to your friend.”
I nod, my pulse fluttering in my throat when I see the pure, raw lust in his eyes. I’m not sure we’re going to make it sixty seconds before we fuck.
“Take me to your car,” I say, wetting my lips with anticipation. My heart is racing with the dizzying combination of excitement and trepidation as his gaze locks on my mouth. Without another word, he grabs my hand and drags me toward the door at the end of the hall. I scramble to keep up and not lose my footing as he barrels through the door and across the parking lot. He barely gets the door open before grabbing me and shoving me roughly inside, plowing in on top of me.
“You better be glad it was me who ended up in that room with you that night,” he says, reaching behind him to pull the door closed before pushing on top of me again. “Tell me you never wished it was my cousin who popped that sweet little cherry and made you bleed.”
He presses his mouth to mine, but I turn my face away, bracing my hands on his chest. “What does that mean?” I demand.
“We both know Colt wishes he’d ended up in the room with you instead of the Dog,” Devlin says. “Does that make you hot, Crystal? Knowing my cousin wants to fuck you as bad as I do?”
“What?” I ask, shoving at him even as he leans down to run his lips along my jawline. “That’s not true.”
“Yeah,” he whispers against my ear while his hand hooks under my thigh, drawing it up to his hip. “It is true, sugar. If Colt had taken you to his room first, he and Preston would be taking turns with you every night, both of them wrecking your sweet cunt instead of just me. Or maybe they already have. Is that what you were doing while I was gone that week?”
“I told you I didn’t fuck either of your cousins,” I growl, fighting my body’s response as he rolls his hips against mine, letting me feel the heart-stopping thickness of what he’s about to force inside me. “I don’t want to fuck anyone but you, Devlin. So shut up and fucking do it.”
“Or maybe you like them both at once,” he purrs in my ear, grabbing my ass with both hands and squeezing as he grinds against me until I think I’ll burst. “Is that how you like it, you little slut? One in the front and one buried in this tight ass you like to tease us with so much?”
“Get off me,” I snap, shoving at him.
Devlin’s grin turns feral. “That turns you on, doesn’t it? Are you picturing my cousins while I cum inside you, Sugar?”
“You’re really pissing me off,” I growl through clenched teeth.
“As long as you’re not picturing them when you cum,” he says, jerking his belt open. “Because I’m about to make you cum so hard you can’t walk straight. Are you wet?”
“No, I’m not fucking wet,” I say, bucking to get him off. He doesn’t give an inch.
“Liar,” he says, sliding his hand between my thighs. He smirks at me while he palms my mound, his fingers stroking the wet fabric of my underwear. “Fighting turns you on, doesn’t it, you little slut?”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Slut.”
My palm stings across his cheek, and his eyes flash with that terrifying, addictive power. The next second, his mouth is crashing into mine, his shoulders pinning me to the seat while he pulls himself free of his pants and pulls my underwear aside. And then he’s inside me, and I cry out, both relief and pain at his sudden entrance crashing over me at once.
“Yeah, Sugar,” he says pushing up on his fists and looking down at me, not thrusting again but staying still to feel my walls clench and spasm around the intrusion of his thickness inside me. “Make those sounds for me. I know you like it rough.”
“You bastard,” I pant out, my body rippling with pleasure as I adjust to his size inside me. “I wasn’t ready.”
“You feel pretty fucking ready to me,” he says with a smirk. “All that talk about my cousins really got you going, didn’t it? You’re so wet it feels like you came just talking about it.”
“Shut up and fuck me,
” I say, grinding against him, hungry for the friction of movement, wanting him to pound into me until I’m bruised and battered and wholly spent.
Devlin begins to move, agonizingly slow, teasing me with only a taste of what I want. “You know, you could have had Colt,” he says. “Grampa Darling didn’t give a fuck who wrecked you, as long as one of us destroyed the sweet little Dolce princess.”
My heart does a funny little drop in my chest. “What?” I breathe.
“It could just as well have been Colt,” Devlin says. “It wouldn’t matter to our grandfather. Would it matter to you, Crystal?”
Suddenly, I’m furious, and I shove Devlin hard, but he doesn’t budge. “You were just following your grampa’s orders?” I demand, the words lashing my tongue as I speak. Maybe I should be relieved knowing that like he said from the beginning, it really wasn’t personal. But all I can think is that all along, I was just a job to him—a job that some creepy old man told him to do. He didn’t pick me to go to his room that night. I picked him. I’d gone to homecoming with Colt. It should have been Colt. But I wanted Devlin, and so, I’d let myself believe I could have him.
And damn if I didn’t get more than I was asking for. He’s still fucking me, his cock bare as it sinks into me, his eyes taunting me, daring me to stop him. I want to stop him, to make him walk away aching for this, wanting satisfaction but not able to get it. But as he sinks into me to the hilt, that gloating grin still on his lips, I don’t know if I can stop myself, let alone him. He’s being an asshole, the kind of asshole that drives me over the edge.
“Get off me,” I growl at Devlin, bucking under him. He uses the position to go deeper, grunting as he flexes his muscles, giving me the quick, hard thrust he’s been holding back.
“Yeah, fight me, baby,” he taunts, his voice like honey as he smiles down at me. “You’re sexy when you’re mad. It makes seeing you lose control that much hotter.”
I pull back to slap him, but he grabs my hands, pinning them to the seat beside my head and fucking me harder, deeper, until I can’t breathe. All I can do is squirm and writhe under him as he holds me pinned, his cock pulsing deep in my center until I break apart around him, the orgasm coming quick and sudden, rippling through my limbs and leaving me dizzy and panting.
