“Come on, Laney! Do it!” they shouted to me over the music. “He’s all yours!”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a masked man focusing a camera on us from the left side of the room. I made a big show of slipping my panties off and tossing them on the floor. Then I slowly stepped over to Hunter and climbed onto his lap.
The bottom of my gown draped all around us, hiding everything from the onlookers. I reached under it, pretending to fumble with Hunter’s pants and underwear.
He leaned forward as far as he could with his arms tied to the sides, molding his hard chest to mine, and his lips crushed my mouth, kissing me with passion and need. A cheer went up over the music.
Instead of kissing him back, I froze, suddenly unsure if I could do this. There were so many people here; so many pairs of eyes on me, watching my every move. My vision blurred and all the air in my lungs seemed to vanish as dread overwhelmed my mind.
Hunter broke the kiss, obviously sensing my panic. “It’s okay,” he murmured against my ear. “Just listen to my voice and look at me. Pretend no one else is here. It’s just us.”
I took a deep breath and nodded, looking into his eyes. Even with the latex all over him and the makeup accentuating the shadows on his face, he was still the Hunter I knew and adored. He might look like a different person to anyone else, but to me, it was so clearly him. It was his scent. His intense eyes. His soft lips and warm breath.
Everything.
I lifted my hips and then moved myself back down on his lap, letting out a low moan to make it seem as if he’d just entered me.
“That’s it. Keep doing that,” Hunter murmured. He was hard beneath me; I could feel it straining against the fabric of his pants. The knowledge that I did that to him just from grinding on him made my core heat and clench.
I started moving faster, letting out more sighs and moans, and Hunter’s lips trailed my skin, leaving small bites along my neck, my collarbone, and my shoulders. Every time our bodies clashed, the hard bar of his erection pushed against my throbbing clit. Soon I could feel real pleasure building inside me, every nerve on high alert. I hadn’t expected to enjoy this experience at all, but I couldn’t stop it from happening.
“It’s working,” Hunter said softly before leaning in to kiss me again. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that he was right. Everyone in the room was watching us with unbridled interest and lust in their expressions. Not a single person seemed suspicious.
I picked up the pace as Hunter moved his lips lower, licking the dip in my throat before trailing his lips along my collarbone. I moaned and kept rocking against him.
“I love you, Laney,” Hunter murmured, looking up at me again.
“You mean… you love me for doing this?” I said breathlessly as I sank back into his lap.
Something flickered in his eyes, and he leaned forward again. “No. I mean I fucking love you,” he muttered against the shell of my ear.
My breath caught in my throat, and my heart seemed to trip over itself, beating frantically to catch up to my brain. “What?” I said, certain I’d misheard him.
“I love you,” Hunter said, eyes blazing with intensity. “I know this isn’t the right time to say it, and I wanted to wait, but—”
Before he could finish speaking, a rush of adrenaline slammed through me. His words had released something deep inside; something raw and primal. My body shook and my heart stilled as pleasure raced through my limbs, and I cried out, core desperately pulsing around nothing.
Hunter let out a groan and tipped his head back, pretending to reach his own climax as I trembled in his lap.
While the partygoers cheered and shouted their approval at us, I quickly fumbled under my dress again, making it look like I was doing Hunter’s pants back up so that no one would notice they’d never even been undone.
His eyes opened, and he stared up at me. “We did it,” he said, smiling faintly.
My lips parted. Before I could finally form a response to his earlier declaration of love, some of the Medusa girls surged forward and dragged me off his lap, giggling and cheering at me. A couple of the others worked at the ropes on Hunter’s wrists, untying him from the throne.
My knees were so weak from the unexpected orgasm that I immediately collapsed to the crimson-carpeted floor when the girls let go of my arms. They giggled as they helped me up. “That good, huh?” one of them said with a wink.
Camila smiled smugly next to her. “I told you you’d like it here with us,” she said.
I managed a weak smile in return. “You were right.”
“I can’t believe you finally did it!” another girl said, wrapping her arms around me. “You were so good!”
Beside us, Kiri raised her brows and flashed me a tight smile. “Congrats,” she said. “I honestly thought you’d choke again, but I guess you proved me wrong.”
“There’s just one more thing to do now,” Camila said, pulling me away from the girl who was hugging me. “Get on your knees.”
My heart sank. What the hell did she want now? What more could they possibly ask of me?
I looked around, trying to find Hunter. He was standing a few yards away, looking deeply interested in a glass of whiskey as several men patted him on the back, congratulating him in low mutters for being the first one to have me. Even though he seemed to be focusing on the drink, I could tell he was actually concentrating on me. Listening to every word and watching my every move.
“It’s okay, Laney,” Camila said with a giggle. “We’re not going to behead you or make you blow a whole line of guys. It’s just a quick little thing.”
I kept looking at Hunter, and his chin dipped forward in a nod, letting me know I was safe. I took a deep breath and sank to my knees.
One of the girls grabbed my hair and moved it over my left shoulder so that it draped over my chest, baring my neck and back. Kiri stepped behind me, and then I felt something slightly moist on my neck.
“This one is just temporary,” Camila said as another girl held up a mirror to show me what they’d done. There was a tiny black serpent tattoo on the nape of my neck. “We’ll book you in for a session with a proper tattoo artist soon, so you can get a real one like ours.”
I smiled. “I can’t wait.”
She grabbed my arm and helped me up. “You’re finally one of us!” she said, lifting my hand in the air with hers. “Hey, everyone! Say hi to our newest official member!”
The room echoed with cheers and applause again. Then the men and women started peeling off in pairs, threesomes, and foursomes. Dresses came off as pants were unzipped, and soon all I could hear beyond the music were loud whimpers and lips smacking against skin.
“Come with me,” Camila said, yanking on my arm again. “I need to introduce you to some of the other guys. I think they’re going to be very interested in getting a taste.”
Panic instantly surged through me at the thought of another man’s hands or lecherous eyes on me, and my knees turned rubbery.
“I… I can’t….” I tried to choke out an excuse, but the words kept drying up on my lips.
“Come on!” Camila giggled and started dragging me across the room. “They’re going to love you."
“Stop.” A deep, familiar voice pierced the air behind us.
We turned to see Hunter standing there, glaring down at us. He’d affected a hoarse tone, and he sounded almost exactly like his father. He’d even managed to capture his mannerisms; the slight curl of disdain on his upper lip, the narrowed eyes behind the mask, and his stiff stance.
“I’m keeping the new girl for the evening,” he said, turning his withering stare to Camila.
Her shoulders hunched over, and her head bowed. “Yes, sir. Of course,” she murmured, releasing my arm.
Hunter reached out and roughly yanked me over to him, like I was a mere plaything and not a sentient human being. Camila and the other Medusa girls scattered across the room, looking nervous.
“Sorry,”
Hunter muttered against my ear. “I didn’t hurt you when I grabbed you, did I?”
I shook my head. “No, it’s okay. You had to do it.”
He kept a firm grip on my arm and slowly walked me around the room to observe other couples, pretending to be showing me all of the various sexual favors that would be expected of me while I accompanied him. In truth, he was aiming his chest at all of the men who’d already taken off their masks so that he could get a good, clean shot of their faces with the button cam as they played with the drugged young women.
“See the guy with Hazel?” he whispered to me, nodding toward a slim gray-haired man with brown eyes and a smattering of stubble on his jaw. He was beneath Hazel on a red velvet lounge, hands tightly gripping her ass as she rode him.
I nodded. “You recognize him?”
“Yeah. That’s Theo DuPont,” he replied. “He owns Air America.”
My eyes widened. “That’s one of the biggest airlines in the country!”
“Yup. Imagine what’ll happen to the share price when everyone finds out he likes to fuck high school girls,” he muttered.
Theo suddenly caught my eye, and I shrank back behind Hunter, pulse pounding. Hunter feigned amusement and chuckled loudly before lifting a hand in a brief wave. The other man grinned and returned his attention to Hazel.
“Don’t worry,” Hunter said softly, pulling me around to face him. “I’ve got you. No one else is gonna touch you tonight.”
We kept making the rounds at the party, getting the best and closest shots we could of every unmasked man. Hunter picked up a couple of pills from a silver tray at one point and handed one to me. “Pretend to swallow these,” he whispered. “It’ll make us look extra-convincing.”
I pretended to pop the pill into my mouth at the same time as him. In reality, I kept it clenched between my thumb and index finger, and then I tucked it into my bra as I swallowed hard and affected a slight grimace, as if the pill tasted bad.
“Good girl,” Hunter muttered. He directed me over to a black leather lounge in a dark corner of the room and pulled me onto his lap.
“What are we doing over here?” I asked.
“We have to keep pretending to be part of all of this shit,” he said, peppering my neck with kisses. “If we leave early, people will get suspicious.”
“Does that mean we have all the footage we need?”
He nodded, one hand squeezing my breasts. “We’ve got at least fifteen unmasked guys, and I recognize almost all of them.”
“What about the ones we didn’t get?” I said, glancing around the room. There were still at least thirty who hadn’t removed their masks.
“Doesn’t matter. At least one of those fifteen men is bound to crack when the cops or FBI drag them in and threaten them with life in prison,” he replied. “And that’s all we need—one guy to crack, make a deal with the cops, and reveal the identity of every other guy in the organization.”
I nodded, and then I shuddered and gasped loudly as Hunter’s hand came down on my ass in a hard slap. We kept playing in our dark corner, pretending to be getting up to all sorts of nasty stuff as the other partygoers screwed like bunnies, writhing and bouncing to the beat of the music. Everyone was so drunk or high that no one noticed we weren’t actually doing anything real.
An hour drifted by, maybe more. Finally, Hunter stood up and pulled me to my feet. “Looks like some people are starting to leave, so it should be okay if we slip out now,” he said. “Let’s go.”
We followed a short masked man who had two young women on his arms—one Medusa girl from RFA, Riley, and an older unfamiliar one. When he noticed us heading to the door with him, he smirked at Hunter. “Taking her to a private room already?” he asked.
Hunter chuckled. “You know it,” he said, squeezing my ass again.
“I can have my usual room for these two, right?” the man asked, brows creasing as he gestured to Riley and the other girl.
“Of course,” Hunter replied smoothly. “You still have the key, don’t you?”
The man smiled, nodded, and turned away, still believing that Hunter was Charles.
We didn’t speak as we went down the spiral staircase and into the fake library, and I barely even breathed as we hurried through the house, heading for Hunter’s room. I was so nervous, so sure that someone would come after us and expose us in our lies and theatrics, even though we’d gotten away with everything so far.
When we finally stepped into Hunter’s bedroom and locked the door behind us, a warm wave of relief crashed over me, and my shoulders sagged as the tension in my body drained away.
“I can’t believe it,” I said breathlessly as Hunter ripped the mask and latex skin off his face and neck. “We did it. We actually did it!”
He pulled the button cam off his suit and tossed it away with the mask. Then he grinned and wrapped his arms around me. “I knew we’d do it. Your plan was too fucking crazy to fail.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” I said, giggling softly.
“Makes sense to me.”
Before I could say anything else, he pinned me against the door and crushed his lips on mine in a bruising kiss. His tongue dived into my mouth, tasting me as it entwined with mine. My body instantly lit with the same desire I felt earlier.
“Hunter,” I said through kisses, trying to get his attention. He responded by lifting my hands over my head, trapping them beneath one of his on the door as his hot mouth robbed me of my breaths and moans.
I tried again as his free hand slid down my dress, rubbing over my center. “Hunter...”
He finally broke the kiss and pulled away, breathing heavily. “You want me to stop?”
I looked up at him through my lashes to see nothing but concern and devotion in his expression. “No. But there’s something I should’ve told you earlier,” I murmured, reaching up to stroke his neck.
“What?”
“I love you too,” I whispered.
His eyes lit with a fiery intensity, and then he moved so quickly I barely had time to yelp with surprise as he grabbed me by the waist and lifted me in an effortless maneuver. “Good,” he growled against my ear. “Because there isn’t a single part of you that I’m not completely in love with, Laney Collins.”
His hands moved beneath my thighs, supporting my weight as I instinctively wrapped my legs around his hips. Even though he was holding me, I felt like I was falling, but not in a scary way. It was exhilarating, like I was falling off a cliff into a warm, endless cloud.
Lips crashed over mine again, and I sighed into Hunter’s mouth, eyes shuttering as he deepened the kiss.
A few weeks ago I would’ve point-blank refused to believe it if someone told me that I’d be here one day, kissing Hunter like this and telling him I loved him when he used to be my worst enemy, but now I knew that nothing could possibly feel more right.
I was his, he was mine, and together, we’d managed to accomplish something we once thought was impossible.
Now we knew the truth.
When it came to us, nothing was impossible.
13
Hunter
Laney let out a strained groan as she paced around my room. “This suspense is fucking killing me.”
I glanced up at her from my spot on the bed. “Hm?”
“I’m just so sick of waiting for the society to blow up,” she said, picking at a fingernail. “What if it never happens? What if they all get out of it?”
I set aside the take-home chem quiz I’d been working on and patted the bed next to me. “Come here,” I said, fingertips itching to stroke her soft skin and bring her comfort.
She had a good reason to be upset, but I still hated to see it.
A week ago, we drove down to Manchester and went into the small FBI field office they had down there. We were worried they wouldn’t take us seriously when we told them what we knew, even though we were reporting a series of federal crimes, and we also had concerns that the Network might have ties withi
n their organization, preventing our accusations from going anywhere. Thankfully, we were wrong, and the process went smoothly.
We spoke to two agents—Armstrong and Linetti—who listened carefully, reviewed all of the evidence we’d gathered, and promised to take it higher. After we were done, they told us to sit tight and not breathe a word about it to anyone.
I knew it could take weeks or even months for law enforcement operations to go anywhere, so I wasn’t particularly surprised that nothing had happened yet. I understood Laney’s worry and frustration, though. As long as the Network-Medusa ring was still operating in Royal Falls, she had to keep pretending to be a member, and it was freaking her out more and more with every day that passed.
“All we can do is wait,” I said, slinging an arm around her shoulders as she joined me on the bed. “They said the case would be their absolute top priority, seeing as it’s a sex ring involving schoolgirls, so hopefully it won’t take too long. But you know what this shit is like. It can take months for them to investigate and get what they need to make arrests.”
She sighed. “I know. But every day at school, I have to have lunch in the Medusa clubroom and pretend I’m cool with everything, and it’s driving me nuts. I’m so scared something will happen to make it blow up in my face, and every time my phone goes off, I’m worried it’ll be a summons to another party,” she said. “Also, they’ve booked me in for a tattoo. If this FBI thing doesn’t happen soon, I’ll have to go through with it, or else they’ll know something’s up.”
“You won’t have to go through with it,” I said, pulling her closer to me. “If worse comes to worst, I’ll hide you until it’s all over. But so far, we’ve been lucky. All you’ve had to do is hang out with the girls, and they don’t suspect anything, do they?”
“No.” She shook her head. “But it’s Saturday today. What if the guys are having another party tonight, and I’m expected to go?”
“You can fake sick,” I said. “Just say you’ve come down with the same thing Camila has. She’s been out half the week, right?”
Shattered Kingdom: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Royal Falls Elite Book 2) Page 15
