Chapter 14
ALEXEI
“That pecan pie was amazing,” Matteo says as we head along the sidewalk, coming up on the dorms.
“And here I was thinking you’d need a box.”
“Told you I was starving.”
The guy devoured every calorie the waiter put in front of him, scarfing it down like he’d been locked in a cage without food for days. Seems being possessed by Farras took a real toll on his body.
He still seems in a daze, like he was last night and when he first got up this morning, but I’m starting to see glimpses of his relaxed, friendly, playful self.
Like that jokey comment about us being on a date.
He wasn’t serious, was he?
Do I want him to be serious?
I try to chalk it up to him being goofy, but I wasn’t laughing when he had his hand on my face. His touch has this power over me, maybe because my body’s now vividly aware of the pleasure he can offer.
Whatever. This isn’t what should be on my mind. The Sinners know my secret, and I want to know theirs. We need to figure out how that psychopath possessed Matteo’s body. On top of that, I haven’t had any sleep, which, unfortunately, is something I’ve kinda gotten used to.
We’re a few yards from the dorm entrance when the dual doors open and two familiar faces head toward us. What the fuck are they doing here?
I turn to Matteo, who’s looking at me, so he must’ve noticed them too. I do that thing where you try to act like you haven’t seen someone and like the one blind spot you have is the obvious place right in front of you where they are, when I hear Preston’s low rumble. “Alexei, what’s up?”
Fuck. He got me. I widen my eyes as if I’m just now seeing him. “Oh, hey, man.”
He and Gage come to a stop, so Matteo and I face them.
“What are you guys doing here?” I ask.
“Meeting up with a friend,” Preston says.
I assume I’m the friend, but his expression isn’t giving anything away before it twists up. “Whoa. What the hell happened to your face?”
“Oh, um. Just…”
“Playing basketball yesterday, and he got one right to his face,” Matteo rushes out, and I appreciate his quick thinking.
Preston’s gaze assesses my face as if he’s trying to determine the truth of Matteo’s excuse before he says, “Sucks, man. But since I got you, I was gonna see if you wanted to swing by the house tonight.”
Not really gonna work, since we’re meeting with the Sinners. And fuck, would he be furious if he knew what I’d already shared with them.
“I—”
“We’ve got plans already,” Matteo interjects, saving my ass once again.
Preston glances between us, his gaze settling on me. “If you want to swing by after these plans, we can still hang.”
“We’ll be out late,” I say. “And I need to get some studying done.”
Preston’s jaw tenses, confirming I’m the reason he’s here now. “Well, then check in with me, and we’ll figure something out.”
“Yeah, totally.”
He and Gage head off, and Matteo and I continue into the building. En route to my room, I get a text from Preston: Let us know when you can meet up. Got some things we need to chat about.
That sounds ominous. When we get into my room, I share the text with Matteo.
“Interesting how Preston was over here the day after all that shit went down,” he says, echoing my thoughts. “Or is this a regular thing?”
“They don’t ever come here to check in with me. I go to them. Maybe they know something, or maybe they want an update. Hard to tell with Pres. I’ll tell him I’ll check in tomorrow so he doesn’t think I’m acting strange. Don’t want to give him a reason to be suspicious.”
I reply to his message, then tuck my phone into my back pocket.
“It’s almost four,” I say. “I figure we both missed class already.”
“Yeah, and classes aren’t really my top priority right now. I’ll take another shower and brush my teeth again to wipe the rest of this ick feeling off me.” He rubs his arms in a way he’s done a few times since he woke up.
“What does it feel like?” I ask.
“This one time at an Alpha Alpha Mu party, this guy grabbed my ass and gave it a squeeze. It felt so gross and violating. It’s like that Farras guy did that to every part of me, even my insides.”
A chill rushes up my spine. “I’m sorry.”
“Again, not your fault.”
Isn’t it, though?
He heads for the door without even looking at me. “I’ll be back.”
I’m tempted to think, despite how much he insists otherwise, that he rightly blames me for what happened to him. If I’d just let him think I was in a cult, he wouldn’t be in this mess.
While he’s gone, I figure I should at least try to get some reading in for class.
I stick the safety latch in the doorway so he won’t have to knock when he’s finished up, then pop a mint into my mouth before lying in bed with my Philosophy textbook.
I quickly discover it’s not easy to get reading in when your brain’s racing with bizarre, unsettling, and confounding thoughts.
I wind up back on a website about the Buford Night Stalker.
His MO was hunting young men and women around town, abducting and doing the sorts of things sick fucks like him do to innocent people.
The FBI linked his DNA to one of the victims from years earlier, and when they raided his apartment, he was shot and killed.
From what little interaction I had with him, good riddance.
When I hear the door, I minimize the window on my laptop.
Matteo enters, with only a towel around his waist, and drops his bag on Luke’s bed.
I study his body—the sort of body that can make me forget the fucked-up shit I was just looking at.
I’ve always appreciated how the guy’s sexy as hell, but between that night we shared and the bit of moisture glistening across his abs and chest, it’s hard not to salivate a little.
“Went back to my room to grab some spare clothes,” Matteo says, fishing through his stuff. “Almost didn’t because I’m not eager to see Luke or Brad just yet, but they weren’t there.”
I wonder if they’re in class, studying, working, or having a secret meeting.
Matteo pulls off his towel, exposing his ass and cock to me, and my body viscerally responds, my cock firming. He slides on a pair of trunks, which hug that ass perfectly. I envy those trunks, but I don’t get to enjoy them enough before he pulls on sweats and tosses on a shirt.
Before I saw what I had to do for the conjuring spell, I’d never considered messing around with a guy, but now I’m already wanting seconds with Matteo?
He plops down on the bed beside me, and I scoot over to make room.
I’m wondering why he came over here when he could have taken Luke’s bed, but then he says, “I’m sorry.”
I’d assumed he left so abruptly because deep down, he knew this was all my fault, but now I’m thrown.
Then it hits me, maybe because of what I was just looking at before he returned.
“Oh, that stuff Farras said? Again, that’s not on you.
It really didn’t bother me. I don’t give a fuck if the guys know what we did… unless you didn’t want them to know.”
His expression twists up, and he looks at me like he’s offended I’d even suggest that.
“That’s not what I meant at all, Alexei.
Of course I’m sorry for what that guy said, but I don’t give a fuck if they know.
Or if they knew just how good a time we had.
” A smile plays across his lips. “There go those cheeks again.”
God, they’re so fucking warm.
“I meant I was sorry we couldn’t use those rituals to get you answers about your brother.”
“Oh…yeah.”
It’s a painful thought, one I haven’t allowed myself to process yet. But it’s there, looming in the back of my mind, this ache I’ve learned to live with, even if not coping too well. But as Matteo brings it up, it burns like fire in my chest.
He opens his mouth as if to say something, but his jaw hangs there for a moment as he studies my expression. He sits up, resting his back against the headboard. He looks lost in thought—maybe he’s still getting through that mindfuck from last night and I should leave him alone.
I look back at the pages of my book when he says, “Remember when I told you I didn’t know who my biological parents were?”
Again, he’s thrown me. I set my textbook aside and sit up with him. “Of course.”
His bangs are still damp from his shower, resting against his forehead as he stares straight ahead, this faraway look in his eyes.
“I kept pressing my parents, but they wouldn’t tell me because of a contract they signed.
My senior year in high school, they went away for a week for their anniversary, and I decided to play amateur sleuth and raid Mom’s office.
Found some documents, which included my biological mother’s name and one of her old addresses.
Used that information to track her down.
I thought about reaching out on social media, which probably would have been the smarter move, but I had it in my head it’d be like a movie, and she’d be so thrilled to see me and know that her son was doing okay. ”
The way he’s worded it, I already know that’s not how this story will resolve.
“I told myself a thousand times I’d be fine with whatever the reason was.
That I could handle it. But really, I couldn’t stop myself from having the fantasy that she’d see me and know me right away.
That I was her son. And she’d burst into tears and tell me some sob story about how she had no choice and it was the biggest regret of her life.
” He’s quiet for a few moments before his gaze meets mine.
“I’m trying to make up excuses to stop there. Not tell you more.”
“You don’t have to say anything you don’t want to.”