Chapter 1 #2
Before he has a chance to spot me, I dart out of the room and grab the doorknob, slamming the door shut.
I hear the three of them yelp.
“Hi, boys!” I call out to them. “Are you looking for something?”
I keep my grip on the doorknob. I know I won’t be able to keep it closed for long, but I don’t really need to.
I just want to give them a scare.
“Pandora!” River calls out, and I can recognize the tight lid he keeps on his anger threatening to blow the whole way off. “Open the fucking door.”
“Uh, why?” I ask. The doorknob rattles, but I pull and twist the knob to keep it from opening. “Last time I was in a dark room with the three of you, it went a bit badly for me.”
I keep my voice light, amused, but I still feel a sharp jab in my chest.
No, I’m not thinking about any of that.
“Jesus Christ,” Asch mutters. “Pandora, you don’t have to be in the dark room with us. We’ll even give you a sixty-second head start before we come after you.”
The door knob rattles again.
“You came here looking for me, and you expect me to believe you’d let me walk out, just like that?” I laugh. “Blaze, what was your plan?”
“Throw you over my shoulder and choke you on that couch,” Blaze growls, the frustration palpable. “Open the fucking door, Pandora.”
Hmm. That’s a promising image, but I’m not done riling them up yet.
“How are you choking me if I’m over your shoulder?” I ask. “Your plan is silly, Blaze.”
“She’ll get bored eventually,” Asch says, ever the voice of reason. “Just ignore her. She’ll go away because she’s too scared to get caught in here with us.”
It’s so clearly a play at reverse psychology, and I want to say I’m above it, but a spike of anger spears through me anyway.
“And yet, you’re the ones who sent River in first. Didn’t want to get caught with my knife in your ribs,” I taunt back. “Nice to see that River is expendable.”
“I am not—” River begins hotly, cutting himself off quickly enough that I think one of them must’ve said something so low I couldn’t hear it.
“I can’t do this forever, but who knows how long I can do it,” I respond. “If you beg nicely, I might let you out before one of you has to piss in the corner.”
“Is that what you want?” Asch asks, and there’s an edge to his voice that makes me feel positively gleeful. Not so calm after all, is he?
“It’d be pretty funny,” I say. “Have you guys fucked yet? Living in that house together. I’ll allow it, I think. Just make sure to be thinking of me while you suck each other off.”
“We are not…” Blaze lets out a frustrated sound. “Open the door, Pandora, and I’ll get you some nice flowers. Dahlias. You like dahlias, right?”
I freeze.
The blood red dahlias Zayden had given Samantha are still sitting on my kitchen table, turning brittle and drooping.
The fallen petals have collected around the vase like a puddle of blood, every new drop reminding me that Samantha is still missing, that she hasn’t returned yet, and it’s my fucking fault she’s still out there and hurting.
No, it’s Zayden’s fault.
I’ve already paid Zayden back tenfold, but it hasn’t brought her back.
My hold on the door knob loosens, and one of the guys lets out a triumphant shout as he gets the door open.
I don’t bother to move away.
Blaze is on me immediately, wrapping his hand around my throat and forcing me up against the opposite wall. My backpack digs into my back.
“What was the point of that?” Blaze demands.
In this darkness, I can’t see the color of Blaze’s eyes. There’s just a hint of refracted light in those pools of black.
I part my mouth and let out a soft moan. “What… What do you think?”
“I think she wanted to get caught,” River says in a low voice that’s probably meant to sound menacing. “I think she came here expecting to be caught. Didn’t you, Pandora?”
I turn my head in his direction and extend a hand out to him. “Did you want to catch me, River?”
Despite his hold on my neck, Blaze isn’t squeezing tight enough to deny me breath. He’s been rougher with me in the past.
I lift my leg so I can rub my thigh between his legs. Blaze inhales sharply, but he doesn’t move away.
“Let go of her,” Asch says. “See if she runs off.”
“What were you doing in there?” River asks, ignoring Asch entirely.
“Can’t I come back to enjoy the fruits of my labors?” I lick my lips. “Arsonists tend to do that, I hear.”
“Oh, so you’re admitting it now?” Asch asks, and in the dim light, I can see him cross his arms against his chest.
“Like she really needed to say it,” River mutters.
“What. Were. You. Doing?” I lean forward, straining my neck against Blaze’s chokehold. He growls before bending in and pressing his lips to mine.
He still tastes the same.
I was afraid something would be different, that he’d be abhorrent to me, but no: I love this taste, I love the feel of his lips against mine, the way he squeezes my neck and bites my lip and takes what he wants from me.
I let out a soft gasp when he breaks the kiss.
“Still the same Pandora,” Blaze mutters.
“Yeah,” I answer. “Did you think I would change?”
“You never do,” River says, but the words are acerbic even as he steps forward, digging his fingers into my shoulder. “Do you, Pandora?”
Before I can respond, he leans in and kisses me, hard and demanding, his touch bruising on my skin.
I moan into the kiss, opening my mouth for him. Blaze tries to step back and give River room, but I grab his shirt with one hand. Blaze huffs and gently squeezes my neck again. My cunt throbs, and I reach up to touch River’s hand on my shoulder.
I rub the knuckle of his missing pinky.
He jerks his hand away and steps back. “Kissing you is like kissing a viper,” he mutters.
I lick my lips. “Except vipers will only attack when provoked.”
Blaze chuckles, which I count as a victory.
“Yeah? And are we provoking you or giving you what you want?” Asch asks, running his thumb over my lips.
I turn my head in his direction, and with his eyes on me, I dart my tongue out to lick his thumb. Asch shudders, but he doesn’t move his thumb away.
“I haven’t decided yet,” I reply. “You might need to try harder, Asch.”
It’s his turn to step close, and his kiss is fierce, as though he’s taking and taking and giving nothing in return.
The joke’s on him; I get off on this every bit as much as he does.
I’m panting when Asch pulls back.
“Still a slut,” Blaze says affectionately. He loosens his hold on my throat and trails the hand down my body. He pushes my hoodie open and cups my breasts. “I really should throw you over the couch here. The three of us can take turns pounding your dripping wet cunt.”
It sounds delicious.
But when I arch my back, I feel the contents of the backpack digging into me.
“You like it when I’m a slut,” I say. “You like seeing my cunt get speared open by twenty different guys.”
Blaze tenses.
I bring my knife up and slice through his shirt. The scent of blood rises up.
Blaze cries out and stumbles back. “Fuck!”
I dart forward, past the guys, and toward the stairs. “You definitely haven’t earned any of this yet, you fuckfaces.”
“What the hell?” River snaps. “Grab her.”
“Let her go,” Asch says. “Blaze, what did she do?”
Of course he cares more about his precious Blaze getting hurt than pursuing me, but that works out to my advantage because it seems like they’ve forgotten all about what I’d been doing in that room.
I sprint up the stairs and close the door behind me. I consider turning the deadbolt on the door, but I guess I do want them to be able to leave at some point.
Once I’m out of the frat house, I jog the rest of the way to my dorm room.
Still no Samantha inside.
I don’t know why I keep hoping she’ll walk in. I already know what happened to her. Zayden betrayed her and handed her off to some guy, whose name he didn’t know.
I walk past the kitchen table with the puddle of blood red flower petals into my room and drop my backpack on my bed.
“That was fun,” I tell my snake Echo. She’s basking underneath the UVB lamp, not a care in the world. Well, maybe she’s hoping I’ll feed her, but I fed her two days ago.
I take my shoes off and flop down on the bed.
Blaze, Asch, and River.
I still liked kissing them.
I still think they’re the hottest guys I know.
I still like their touches.
But I’m not letting them think they can get away with what they did to me. I’m mostly over it by now, but something like that can’t go unpunished.
I roll onto my side and pull out one of the paper files I’d stolen from the frat house.
Time to see what secrets they’ve been keeping, and how I can use this against all of them.