by Bella King
“What do you want to show me?” I asked him, taking a sip from my bottle to calm my racing heart. It was always like this around Andrew. It was like every word he said was a powerful stimulant, working its way into my bloodstream. There wasn’t much I could do to stop it.
“You’ll see,” Andrew said, a smirk flickering across his face.
I studied his expression for a moment before nodding. He looked innocent enough, but these guys never were. I guess I had to trust him if I was going to be a complete member of the gang.
“There is a garden that’s no longer maintained down the hill. The administration doesn’t like us going down there, but they’re not watching anyone right now,” he said beginning to walk away from the group.
I followed, flashing a smile to Eden as I left. She was too involved in her conversation with Daniel to notice me at all.
“Very romantic of you, bringing me to the garden,” I said in a joking tone as I caught up with Andrew.
The ever-present smirk on his face grew a sliver larger, as though he were amused by my innocence. “The garden can be whatever you want it to be, but for me, it’s a place to reflect.”
“What are we reflecting on?” I asked him.
“You ask too many questions. Perhaps you should learn to listen,” he replied, but showed no signs of irritation.
I huffed, crossing my arms and walking beside him in silence as we left the party. We walked together far enough away from the building to be basked in the yellow glow of the evening sun. My skin seemed to rise up at the feeling of the natural warmth. It was a welcome change to the stuffy heat that occupied the school during the day. I hadn’t realized how little I had actually been outside until today.
The odd thing about Ridgeview was that the regular sound of birds chirping and squirrels racing up trees with their little claws was absent. The only thing that could be heard outside was the breeze rustling the leaves on the old twisted trees that were sporadically placed around the school property.
Eden had told me that the reason why nobody could hear the birds was that there was poison in the air to keep the students crazy, but I doubted that very much. She always had a conspiracy theory to throw out when asked about anything around here.
My guess was that we were in an area were the birds didn’t want to go. Perhaps the surrounding walls were too high. Maybe the trees didn’t have any fruit for them to eat. Perhaps the barbed wired that lined the tops of the concrete walls snagged too many of them and they decided it wasn’t worth it to come here anymore. It was entirely possible that the students had hunted them all into extinction after growing sick of the slop they served us in the cafeteria. Whatever the reason, there were no animals at Ridgeview.
I was surprised we even had a garden, but when we finally got to it, it began to make sense. The garden barely looked like a garden. There were crumbling walls with thorny weeds growing up the sides of them. Dry bramble and tall grass guarded the entrance, but Andrew pushed past it as though he came here every day.
“They built this before Ridgeview was a school,” Andrew explained as we entered the old garden. “This used to be government property for rehabilitation until it was sold to a private corporation to run. Then, it became the shithole that it is now.”
“I always that companies did a better job than the government did,” I said, remembering past experiences with underfunding government facilities during my arrest and subsequent trial.
“You’d be surprised how low the standards get when the government turns over stuff like this to those companies, though. They’re not selling a product, so they’re not concerned about quality,” he said smartly.
“My older brother used to go here before it went bad,” he said.
I was surprised. I thought Eden was the only one with a family member who had gone here. Then again, if he was the leader of a notorious gang here, then it shouldn’t have been a surprise that he had roots deeper than others.
“How long have you been here?” I asked as we walked deeper into the overgrown garden.
“About two years. I’m twenty,” he replied.
Most of the students at this school were on the older side of things. It was difficult to graduate and move on with your life when you were caught up in the legal system. Court dates and holding cells didn’t allow too much time for school, so we were all behind.
“Are you close to graduating?” I asked.
“Yes,” he replied. “I should be out by the end of this year.”
“Me too. What are your plans when you get out?” I asked, letting my mouth run again. I couldn’t help it. I was curious about Andrew.
He chuckled. “I have no clue. My bother works on some oil rig in Alaska, freezing his ass off. I might join him.”
“Sounds miserable.”
“It is, but it can’t be worse than here,” he replied.
We came upon a clearing in the garden at the center. There was a large, shallow fountain in the middle that had since been turned off, but I could tell that it would have been stunning when it still functioned. Rainwater occupied the fungus-ridden bottom, turning it into a black pool of reflective splendor. The fountain alone made the trip worthwhile.
We stopped by the fountain, looking into the darkness of the water. There was no sunlight here because of how tall the surrounding bushes and trees were. We were in the cool shade, but I felt comfortable in my red dress.
“I’m running the gang until I get out, and after that it’s being handed over to Martin and Troy. They still have a year or two left.” Andrew said, running his hand along a cropping of tall dandelions next to the fountain.
“Did you inherit it from someone?” I asked.
“No, I formed it during my first few months here, and made the mistake of bringing Natasha into it. Big mistake.”
“I think she wanted me to join her when I first got here,” I said.
“She wants every woman to join her. She’s a nutcase. You can’t run a group that large on your own. She just wants the power, but there’s a high price to pay for it,” he said, staring into the water.
I felt like he was talking more about himself than he was about her, but I didn’t want to bring that up to him. I got the feeling he wouldn’t appreciate it.
“I’m a little afraid of what she might do to me now that I’m part of your group,” I said, looking into the water with him.
Andrew chuckled. “You’re not part of the group yet.”
“What?” I asked, looking away from the water quickly.
He inhaled the thick air deeply. “You haven’t finished your initial task. I would like you to find Laney’s bed, and set it on fire. I thought I was clear the first time. Daniel has the supplies ready for you when you find the right bed.”
I shook my head. Unbelievable. “You expect me to go through with that after she tried to kill me?”
“Yes,” he replied calmly, never taking his eyes away from the water.
I went back to looking at it with him, having to peel my eyes away from his handsome face. I was a bit irritated with him, but the energy he was giving off was frightfully seductive. I was afraid of getting pulled in too deep, so I chose to look away.
“I don’t want to get myself killed,” I said while I ran a finger over the moss-covered concrete on the side of the fountain.
“I won’t let you,” he replied, finally looking up at me. “I think you have too much value to let go of so easily.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked, unwilling to make eye contact with him. I could see him out of the corner of my eye, still staring at me, but I didn’t move my head.
“You’re strong and loyal, even if you are foolish at times. I know more about you than you think,” he said, a hint of playful amusement creeping into his voice.
“I haven’t told you much,” I said.
“Yes, but Lucas has.”
I froze. The air grew heavy on my bare shoulders as his words sunk in. I wasn’t expecting to hear tha
t name here, not in a million years. That was over. Lucas was locked up with a lengthy sentence. He would be an old man by the time they let him out.
Somehow, Andrew knew about Lucas. Somehow, he had contact with my ex-boyfriend.
Chapter 12
I couldn’t believe that Andrew just dropped that name out of nowhere. How the fuck did he know about Lucas? This had to be some kind of freaky coincidence.
I looked up at Andrew as he continued to stare at me with his vivid green eyes. “What did you just say?”
“Lucas,” he said, a smirk flicking across his face again. “I talked to him recently.”
“How do you know about Lucas?” I asked, shaking my head in awe.
“I have your file, little Rose. I have everyone’s files. The administration keeps all of that locked away, but it’s not hard to get to if you have the right people on your side,” he said with a wink. “The court documents say a lot about you, but I figured Lucas would know even more.”
“How did you get in contact with him?” I asked, still dumbfounded that this was even possible. It seemed so far-fetched, but Andrew was confident when he spoke. I knew that he was telling the truth.
“I can get in contact with anyone I want, as long as I’m close enough to the border wall,” he replied, pulling a small phone out of the pocket of his tight trousers. “I have a signal in the Garden, actually.”
“Jesus Christ,” I said. “But Lucas is in prison.”
“They take calls there, silly,” he said, sliding the phone back into his pocket. “I can have anything I want in here. I can get food, drugs, supplies, you name it. I can get it. But you know what’s hard to find?” He leaned closer to me, his eyes drilling into my soul.
“What?” I asked, breathless.
He smiled, his eyes flickering over my cleavage. “A good woman.”
“I wouldn’t really call myself that,” I said softly.
“I think you are,” he said with a smile. “I’m interested in knowing much more about you.”
“Couldn’t you ask Lucas about that?” I was growing nervous at how close he was leaning in. We were all alone in the garden, and I just now realized that the bulge in his trousers wasn’t from the phone.
“Lucas didn’t have time to explain the details to me. And besides, even with all the connections I have, I couldn’t get more than a pack of cigarettes over to him for detailed information on you.”
“He ratted me out?” I asked, frowning.
“Something like that. He had no problem talking for the right price.”
“Bastard,” I said, shaking my head.
“So am I,” Andrew said, his lips curled in a devious smile.
“What do you want from me?” I asked, feeling the intense sexual energy radiating from his body. He was now inches away from me, and it was all I could do not to bolt from this place and leave Andrew and all of this gang shit behind me. It was growing nearly unbearable.
“I don’t want something from you,” he replied. “I want you.”
“I’m not that easy,” I said, but I knew that the moment his lips touched mine that he would have me. There was no way for me to get away from it this time.
I could feel the tension coiling up in my body. I hadn’t even been able to masturbate with how many people were around me all the time. I got no privacy, and that was starting to worm its way into my head and make me view everyone and everything as a potential sexual release. Ridgeview was driving me crazy.
“I can see that you want to explore me,” Andrew continued, leaning in so close that I could feel his hot breath on my mouth. “You’ve been asking so many questions that I can’t help but think how curious you must be.”
“I’m not,” I lied.
His lips grazed mine, then pulled back a millimeter when I tried to catch them. He smiled. “You may lie to me, but your body won’t.”
I felt weak under his power. I wanted to know everything about him, to explore every detail of his perfect physique, every once of passion in his strong body, and every particle of warmth from his loving touch. But, at the same time, I wanted to run from him. He was too powerful, too dangerous, and probably didn’t have my best interest in mind. I couldn’t forget that Natasha was his sworn enemy for a reason. What had he done to her?
I placed a hand against his chest, and felt his heart beating at an alarmingly slow rate, as though now of this interested him at all. He was calm, collected, and cool as he leaned in further, letting his lips press against mine.
I didn’t have time to reconsider what I was doing. The second his lips met mine, there was a beautiful explosion of warmth in my mouth. My lips tingled, and the feeling spread across my face. Warmth leaked into every part of my body, and despite the chill of the dense evening air, I felt my body increasing in heat.
I let myself fall into his kiss, tasting the purity of his mouth. Despite Andrew being so sinister and cunning, I felt like I was kissing an angel. My body melted into his as he pressed himself up against me. I could feel excitement stirring in my lower body, slowly working its way up, curling, like smoke, around my torso.
He pushed his tongue into my mouth, dancing with mine behind my teeth. A hand discovered the hem of my dress and was eager to lift it up to touch the soft flesh of my thighs. I shivered as his hand crept upward even though I was hot now. My body didn’t know what to feel anymore as I got lost in his seductive charm.
Andrew went from gentle to rough in a split second, yanking my dress up and removing his lips from mine. “Bend over,” he demanded, cupping a hand on my bare ass and squeezing.
I squeaked in surprise, but obeyed him, bending myself over the edge of the fountain as he used a firm hand to yank my panties down. My ass was exposed to the cool breeze, but that was quickly replaced by the heat of his body.
Andrew rubbed his bulge against my pussy from behind. I could feel my own wetness soaking the front of his trousers as he pushed against me, driving the front of my thighs hard against the fountain. He pushed me too far, and my hands slipped against the side and splashed into the slimy algae that floated in the water.
I scrambled to remove my hands and position them more firmly on the rough sides of the fountain as Andrew stepped back and undid the buckle on his belt. I heard the jingle of them falling to his feet, and then, there was a new heat against my ass.
“Spread your legs,” he ordered, not wasting any time.
I did as he said. I would have normally insisted on more foreplay, but this whole day seemed to be one slow seduction. My whole body was urging me to copulate, and there was nothing I could do to keep my pussy from secreting as much sticky fluid as it could manage. Any more and I would be the one giving him commands.
“You’re so wet,” he said, pressing his stiff cock against my opening, running it along the juices like he was tasting them with his tongue.
I moaned in response, unsure of what to say. I was beyond words. I needed him inside me, and I needed it right now. My body ached for him as he played with me. I steadied myself against the fountain in anticipation of his first thrust, but he still managed to catch me off guard with it.
“Take it,” he growled as he pushed his thick member deep into my pussy.
I gasped, nearly slipping back into the water as he began to thrust inside of me with ferocious speed. My breasts were bouncing out of my dress as he fucked me hard over the fountain. I couldn’t keep my mouth shut, gasping and moaning, as he plunged in and out of my tight wetness.
“You want to be part of the crew?” He asked, grabbing a fistful of my hair and pulling my head back.
I rose to his pull, feeling acute pain on my scalp that felt good in the context of what we were doing. I would have normally yelped in pain, but I moaned in pleasure at his aggression. “Yes,” I replied.
“Take this cock then,” he said, thrusting harder inside of me.
I bounced against the cold concrete fountain, barely able to keep myself from falling over. His grip on my hair h
elped, but I was stuck between concentrating on staying off the slimy bottom of the fountain and the rising power of an orgasm that was quickly causing me to lose all control over my body.
“Take my cum, bitch,” Andrew growled, slamming into me over and over again as I moaned into the open air.
I was beginning to shake and tremble at the coiled explosion that was rising up with a quickening pace. My body responded to his in delight as he began to unload his semen inside of me. I could hear his groans so clearly behind me as he pumped his lifeforce into my pussy.
There was no past, and there was no tomorrow. There was only now, with Andrew, and nobody else as he pushed me over the edge, and I lost sight of reality. My body exploded into a fit of pleasure, clouds of satisfaction rising from the powerful pleasure that spilled through my veins and muscles. It was a release like no other, and I slipped into the water as I came, my arms and breasts splashing into the cold liquid as I shuddered and came.
I probably could have drowned at that moment, if not for Andrew still holding me up by my hair. My body was so weak once the pleasure overcame me, that I wasn’t even able to stand up on my own anymore. I was pinned against the fountain by Andrew’s powerful thighs.
It was a quick moment, but one that would be rooted deep in my memory for a long time. I couldn’t remember a time that I had orgasmed that hard because there probably hadn’t been. Andrew was rough with me, but I enjoyed it thoroughly.
“Get up,” Andrew said, pulling his cock out at the same time he pulled me out of the water.
I shook my head, snapping out of the soft daze that I was in. “Holy shit,” I breathed as I turned around to face him.
Andrew was already putting his pants back on as I looked him over, acting like nothing had even happened. “I guess we should get back to the party,” he said.
“I’m all wet,” I said, looking down at my dress. It was drenched all the way to my belly, the water turning it a deep crimson color.
