by Rina Kent
“Didn’t you say you wouldn’t throw any more parties for us?” Xan taunts.
“Shut it, Knight.” Ronan throws him and Cole a dirty look. “This is my compensation for not having the cake bunny hookers.”
I should probably stop them since they need recuperation, but I’m in no mood to ruin their fun on the weekend.
Besides, I need to get myself out of this trance or drink myself to fucking sleep.
“Can we invite people?” Daniel asks from the corner.
“Mais oui ! The more the merrier, mon ami.”
Daniel grins and retrieves his phone. My eyes narrow on his hands. Is he texting Astrid?
My blood pumps harder at the thought. I don’t like it.
I don’t fucking like it.
I remove myself from underneath Ronan’s arm and stride to Daniel.
“Was that Astrid at the game?” I ask in a nonchalant tone.
As if I could ever mistake that tomboyish attitude, her soft voice, or those damn sparkling green eyes.
“Uh, yeah, Captain. She promised to be present for my first game.”
And be a fucking cheerleader, apparently.
“Are you inviting her to the party?” I ask.
“I sent her a text, but she won’t come. She hates these things.”
I don’t know if I should feel relieved or pissed off or both.
* * *
One hour later, half of the team are shagging in Ronan’s guest rooms. He made sure to lock his parents’ room. It’s off-limits since he found Cole or Aiden and their ‘kinky shit’ in it.
The only ones who remain with me in the pool house are Aiden and Cole and they’re playing chess. I played a game or two but I quickly got bored.
I had a drink and that turned too boring too fast, too.
Everything is.
I want to get out there and down one more shot or two and fucking fight someone. Not only is Aiden keeping me on a leash but I know exactly where that behaviour will lead me.
Another lifetime as Jonathan’s slave.
So I just stay around ready to stop any trouble that breaks out amongst the team members.
A girl, Nicole something, has been hanging off my arm since the beginning of the evening. She’s wearing my number and staring up at me with big wide eyes.
I want it to be a different face with my number on her back. Different person. Different fucking eyes.
“On your knees,” I order her.
“I’m not a whore.” Her lips part but even those are the wrong fucking lips.
“On your knees or get the fuck out of here.”
Her gaze strays to Aiden and Cole who sit on the opposite side right across from us. They’re too engrossed in their game to pay her the slightest attention.
Nicole who I think is Chloe’s friend drops to her knees between my legs, licking her lips and pretending to be shy. It’s so different from how heat crept up Astrid’s neck and face. How she genuinely blushed and melted in my arms.
She has a way of getting under my skin and refusing to come out.
I stuff my finger in Nicole’s mouth, opening it wide. She sucks but I tsk. “Stay still.”
This Nicole does nothing to me. I can’t even get it up for her.
I try to imagine it’s the princess sitting right here at my mercy, blushing. Like a shot of ecstasy, my dick hardens. Those eyes. Those damn fucking eyes are staring up at me like they’re about to spark.
Nicole’s hands snake to my trousers’ belt as her other one caresses my bulge. It’s not her touch that hardens me, it’s the image of Astrid being a good little princess. Her small hands grasp me, caress me, about to suck me off while staring up at me with those —
“Wow, you’re so big.”
Aaaand Nicole had to ruin it by the screechy voice that's nothing like Astrid’s.
What the fuck was I thinking anyway? This isn’t her and it never will be.
When I thrust in her throat, I want it to be Astrid. It has to be her.
I clutch Nicole’s shoulders, about to push her away when a small gasp reaches me from the entrance.
I feel her presence before I lift my head and see her. She’s still in that denim skirt from earlier with a white top.
Fucking hell. She’s as beautiful as a forbidden fantasy.
Astrid’s gaze flies from me to Nicole who turns her head to state at the newcomer. Her lips part farther before she shakes her head and stares from Nicole to me again.
She doesn’t meet my gaze as she blurts. “I… um… thought Dan was here. Sorry to interrupt.”
The door shuts behind her quietly and Nicole laughs in that screechy, annoying way.
That’s when I realise what Astrid just saw.
Fuck.
I was so caught up in seeing her here that I forgot the state she saw me in.
“Why the fuck are you laughing?” I snap at Nicole.
“The little Viking learnt her place both at home and here.”
"At home?"
“She’s my stepsister but not for long, though.” Her hand returns to my trousers. “Now, where were we?”
I shove her away until she falls backwards, barely catching her balance.
“But—” she screeches.
“Go swallow someplace else."
I don’t wait for her to disappear and stride past her to the exit.
Something tells me I really fucked up this time.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Astrid
My demons aren’t yours to fight.
* * *
I will not cry.
I will not cry.
I take a deep breath, fighting the moisture in my eyes and the pressure building behind my nose.
I’m not that girl. I’ll never be that girl.
The crowd seems to thicken the harder I try to push myself out of the maze.
So what if Dan insisted I celebrate his first win as part of the team?
So what if I didn’t want to go back home for Dad to force me into a dinner with Victoria?
Coming here was a big freaking mistake.
Or maybe it wasn’t.
Maybe I had to see Nicole between Levi’s legs to finally snap out of whatever madness that’s taken over me.
Still, my chest aches so much, it’s a struggle to breathe.
Why the hell does it hurt this much?
“Here’s my girl!” Dan enclasps me in a hug out of nowhere, reeking of alcohol. “Ro, Xan, did I introduce you to my BFF?”
“Why, hello there.” Ronan — number thirteen — grins with sparkling brown eyes. “Why have you been keeping such a good-looking lady to yourself, Danny boy?”
“Yeah, Danny. Sharing is caring,” Xander grins and it’s too sickeningly charming. He has classic pretty boy looks, blond hair, blue eyes all complete with dimples.
“I’m Ronan.” He takes my hand in his and places a kiss on the top. “Don’t believe everything you hear about me.”
“It’s usually much worse,” Xander finishes for him.”
“Now, hands-off, Astrid, you pigs.” Dan swats them away as if they’re flies. “She doesn’t like sex.”
I jab him, an involuntary blush creeping along my skin as I mutter, “Thanks for broadcasting that, bug.”
I should probably take him away before he spills all my secrets. Dan is a chatterbox when he’s drunk.
“Wow, okay.” Ronan fakes a gasp. “We need to fix that. I volunteer, mademoiselle.”
Xander pushes him out of the way. “I’m a month older than you and therefore, can go first.” He smiles. “If the lady would have me, of course.”
“My house. My rules.” Ronan puffs his chest then looks at me. “Why don’t you choose?”
I’m speechless, not knowing what to say to that.
“How about a drink instead?” Dan shouts.
“Hey, I’m a drinking king.” Ronan pats his chest. “No one can beat me.”
“Astrid can.” Dan massages my shoulders. “
She has a weird high alcohol tolerance.”
That’s it. I’m taking a taxi and hauling Dan’s arse home.
Ronan eyes widen. “My hero.”
“Wait.” Xander gets impossibly close until I smell blueberry pie on him. “You’re that girl Captain brought into the pool house at the beginning of summer, aren’t you?”
Yup. The night I ruined my invisibility.
Why did I have to stumble into Levi back then?
“Oh. That one.” Even Ronan’s smile falls and the air shifts from playful to tension-filled.
“She’s an artist and hates athlete so screw off, Ro, ” Dan continues in a half-slur.
“My mother is into collecting,” Ronan offers with a half-smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Do you want to see?”
“Dan?” I ask. I need to talk to him and stop him from broadcasting my damn life to his football friends.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
Ronan directs us while Xander disappears with one of the girls. They all seem to be throwing themselves at the football team tonight.
Like a certain Nicole.
No. Nope. My mind isn’t going there.
Pressure perches on my chest whenever that image pops back in my head.
Dan leans on me, laughing and hooting whenever one of his teammates pass by or waves at him.
We go inside the room Ronan directed us to. It’s an office with a mahogany desk and chairs. All the walls are covered in impressionist artwork sorted from lighter to darker. All of them are shades of white, grey, and white.
Interesting choice of colours for a woman. Ronan’s mother must be alpha to the bone.
“What is it?” Dan blinks, fingering a Buddha bronze statue.
“Can we go home?”
“Now?” His brows scrunch. “The party just started.”
I want to mention that he’s been getting into too many parties lately, but I don’t want him to think I’m making all of this about me again.
“I know you don’t like these scenes,” he approaches and clutches my shoulders. “But it’s our last year, remember? We’re having all the fun so there will be no regrets. Wait.” He wipes under my eyes. “Were you crying?”
“No, yes, I don’t know.” I bite my lower lip and then I just blurt it all out, from this morning about my fight with Victoria and Nicole straight to when I found the same Nicole sucking Levi’s dick.
“Fucking Nicole,” he breathes out. “I can’t believe he took the exhibition off the table.”
My head bows as Dan stands against the desk with me.
“And then she sucked off Captain.” He sounds soberer than he did a few minutes ago.
He didn’t ask the question, but I nod anyway, my chest tightening at that image.
Daniel remains quiet for a beat. “Why do you care who sucks off Captain?”
My head jerks up at that. “I… don’t.”
“You most certainly do.” He smiles a little with a sense of bitterness. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t be so upset right now. Do you like him?”
“Of course not! He’s a fucking bastard who thinks he’s entitled to everything. I hate his type, remember?”
“Yeah, but maybe you noticed he’s not exactly that type?”
I did and I hate him even more for it. Why did he show me layers of himself if he was going to have Nicole suck him off?
“You know…” he trails off.
“What?”
“I heard this from Ronan when he was drunk, but it seems that Captain is under a lot of pressure from his uncle and maybe that has to do with why he’s bothering you?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Hey, little bugger. We’re not supposed to be running away from our problems, remember?” He nudges my shoulder. “Or there will be no marathoning Vikings.”
“That’s torture.” I smile, giving him a bro hug. “Go ahead and have fun. I know you’re dying to shag someone.”
“Thank fuck,” he chuckles. “But seriously, are you going to be alright?”
“Yeah, I’ll just spend some time here and then come find you?”
“Give me time for a quickie.”
I jab him. “I didn’t need that image.”
He laughs. “See you, crazy.”
“Duh, crazy.”
Takeaway by The Chainsmokers filters from the door as Dan slips out then closes the door behind him, muting the outside world.
I continue leaning against the table, staring at the opposite wall and the clash of white and black. It’s like a yin and yang. Good versus evil. Angel versus the devil.
I try to focus some more and read into it, but all I keep seeing is Nicole’s smug smirk and Levi’s black one. He must’ve been out of his mind with desire for her.
Maybe he’s already having sex with her right now.
I seal my eyes shut, urging the images to disappear.
Too late. I painted the picture and now, it refuses to go away.
I can’t believe I was worried about him earlier today.
Why? Just why would I care about that scum?
I should be focusing on more important things. Such as my hit-and-run accident and trying to remember any snippets from that night.
The chaos from the party filters back into the room. I open my eyes, happy that Dan returned for me. Maybe he had too many drinks and decided to go home.
My breath catches in my throat when the door closes and Levi advances towards me with sure, wide steps.
A chaotic string of feelings pushes through me. I want to hit and claw at him. I want to scream at him, but that will only show that I care, so I pretend to watch the painting of good versus evil as I ask, “Aren’t you supposed to be with Nicole?”
He grabs both my hands in his stronger one. “I’m supposed to be right fucking here, princess.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Astrid
It’s not me, it’s you.
* * *
“Don't touch me,” I grit out.
His body pushes into me, hands tightening around my wrists.
The small of my back hits the table as he towers over me, all hard ridges and powerful. However, I feel no intimidation.
Hell, I don’t even see him as an irresistible Viking right now.
He’s just a fucking bastard.
“I told you I’ll ruin you.” There’s a maliciousness in his tone. A sharpness that’s meant to cut. “I told you I’ll break you, but you still didn’t back down. You still taunted me as if asking me to retaliate harder.”
“Fuck you, Levi. Fuck. You. All I ever wanted is to live my last year in peace, but no, you had to ruin everything. Did I ask you to take an interest in me? Did I fucking make you? You’re the one who set out to destroy me in your stupid games.”
“And you’re the one who refused to lose.” His face tightens as if he’s the one mad, not the other way around.
“I wasn’t born to lose or to become a pawn on your board.”
He watches me, then, all intent as if he’s cutting me open and looking inside me. It would’ve been unnerving under different circumstances, but now, all I feel is contempt.
I want to ruin him as much as he ruined me.
This time, I want to be the predator instead of the prey.
“What you saw isn’t what it seemed,” he says in a cool tone like we’re discussing the weather.
"Sure thing. I definitely didn't see you getting your dick sucked by Nicole, King."
“Don't call me that.”
“Isn’t that what you demand everyone to call you, King?”
“Not you.”
As if possible, his chest comes impossibly closer. My breasts brush against his Elites’ jacket with every breath. I try not to focus on how full and tight they feel or how my nipples ache in response.
His fresh scent mixed with a distant whiff of Vodka fills all my senses.
His presence is like a natural disaster; impossible to avoid and always leaves destruction behind.<
br />
And I refuse to be collateral damage.
I struggle against him, trying to headbutt him, but he easily moves out of the way.
“Do you consider me a joke?”
“A joke,” he repeats slowly, keeping his merciless hold on my wrists.
“Or am I a conquest? A war you need to win.”
“A war is a fucking child’s play compared to you, princess.”
“How many girls have you told that? Does that include Nicole? You know with her taking care of the captain and all that.”
His lips curve into a wolfish smirk. Damn him and how unreal he looks. “Why are you so upset, princess?”
“I'm not.”
"Are you perhaps jealous?"
“Screw. You.”
And screw Nicole and screw my heart for ever thumping for this bastard.
He pushes his pelvis into the space where my T-shirt meets my skirt. Something hard and thick presses at the bottom of my stomach through his jeans.
I can’t help the shudder that draws down my spine.
“Do you feel that, princess? There’s nothing more I want to do than to spread your legs and fuck you raw.”
His dirty words elicit a tightening at the pit of my stomach. It’s like a flashback from that night and I’m hardly stopping myself from rubbing all over him.
Then I recall, a certain blondie has been rubbing all over him not so long ago.
I bite my lower lip until I almost draw blood. “Nicole’s sloppy seconds aren’t on my to-do list.”
“Fuck Nicole. Fuck everyone. None of them matter.”
“And I do?” I scoff.
“You do.”
He pauses as if he surprised himself. His posture turns tense and we watch each other for a second too long as if we need to soak in the moment.
I’m the first who pulls myself out of the trance. “Leave me alone, King.”
“I told you to stop calling me that.”
He releases my wrists and grabs me by the hips. His hands are large and strong around my petite frame as he lifts me with ease.
I yelp as he sits me on the desk. He slaps my legs apart. The denim skirt stretches with the motion as he settles between my parted thighs.
