6. Orion
ORION
Our eyes connect, and a wicked thrill shoots through me, but I keep driving. Parker sits in the passenger seat, and he’s even angrier with me than Sable was.
“You didn’t need to get her that upset,” he says again. He’s been quiet for a while, but he had a lot to say while she was asleep.
“Didn’t need to, but I enjoyed it.”
“You’re an asshole.”
“Mmm,” I agree as I pull up to the retinal scan.
I roll down the window and lean forward for the flash of light that proves I’m me.
A retinal scan is one of the only true ways to distinguish me from my fully identical brother, Soren, who's likely reading, moping, or whatever it is he likes to do.
He rejected me when I asked him to come today.
So I went with his bestie Parker instead. Fuck Soren.
“You were also an entire hour late picking me up.” Parker continues nagging like he’s my mother, and his irritation is starting to piss me off.
“I drugged every single thing back there. I expected her to pass out faster.” I gesture vaguely to the contents of the back seat, which she thoroughly destroyed. Sable Briarwick is even more interesting than the papers make her seem.
“Not exactly a foolproof plan, Orion. What if she ate and drank multiple things?” he grits, like the idea of her being negatively affected by something should affect me.
“We’d need to drive longer?” I ask, knowing nothing back there is likely to kill her. We can’t lose another Offering in the first week. Last year’s ran crying and screaming before October.
Parker scoffs, too pissed off to answer.
I don’t really care what happens to Sable.
It’s not like this is going to be an easy year for her anyway, but I would like her to stay.
My eyes follow the line of cars as I think about how I might handle that.
By the time I’ve reached my marked spot, I’ve decided—no special treatment.
Parker should probably get over his little crush on her now because she’s going to hate him by the end of this.
He isn’t going to be playing white knight or keeping the rest of us away from our prize.
He might be annoyed that I wouldn’t let him intervene as she screamed and cried, but that’s just the beginning, and it will get much worse. I have my own bone to pick.
“Did you know?” I ask.
“Did I know what?” Someone else might buy the false innocence, but Parker Hollow is an all-star athlete with a foot-long roster of women. He wouldn’t go play bellboy for a week for just anyone.
“Did you know that Sable Briarwick is the next Offering?”
“We never know who Bellthorn is going to give us,” he answers too quickly. The car comes to a stop, but I don’t shut it off right away.
“No, they usually don’t.” I watch him out of the corner of my eye. He says nothing, but his look belies that there is more to the story. “Why do you think she agreed to this?” I ask.
“I have no idea.” And that’s the first thing he’s said in hours that doesn’t sound like complete bullshit.
Each year, we receive an Offering, a toy to play with, no rules and no limits.
It’s a tradition cemented in control, an opportunity given to a less fortunate girl, pussy leveraged against us and our powerful families.
For generations, we have served and been indebted to this university, utilizing its connections and providing it with financial support.
This is our reward, but she’s not some less fortunate girl.
Why would Sable Briarwick come here under these circumstances?
Satisfied I’m not going to get anything else out of Parker, I kill the ignition and climb out. I’m not worried about the damage Sable caused, but Parker hangs back, trying to look through the window before popping the door open.
“I wouldn’t look if you want to stay in a good mood,” I tease him, trying to get him to ignore it.
“Never claimed I was in a good mood,” he says as he opens the rear door and gets a good look at the destruction. “Fuck”—he sighs—“my father is going to kill me.”
“What else is new?” I shrug. Daddy Hollow has always been a prick.
As he stares at the car, searching for an excuse or answer, my mind slips back to the last time I saw the disgraced Briarwick heir before I picked her up outside of her hotel.
Her picture in a newspaper. She was dripping wet and lying on the banks of a river after her own father tried to kill her. I’ve wanted a piece of her ever since.
“No, really, this time, he fucking loves this car.” His head drops into his hands, and he sighs too long.
“Then why is it here?”
“Favor to the university.”
I roll my eyes, but don’t let anyone see. Everything is a damn favor to the university.
Did Sable scream at her father the way she screamed at me as he drove her off that bridge? I find myself with so many questions and curiosities about the girl.
“Just pay to get it fixed this weekend,” I say.
“He’ll know.”
Parker, Soren, and I have been students at Bellthorn for four years already, and there are four more ahead of us.
Lex has been here for six, and by the time we’re all done, we’ll be so indebted to the university that we’ll never get free.
Parker finally gives up on hoping the damage will disappear magically and joins me as we walk toward the elevator that leads out of the parking lot and deep inside the mountain-fortified university.
Instead of stepping inside, we walk past, avoiding the main entrance and all the people I don’t want to see just yet.
I head for a dingy-looking side door. Instead of a keypad like the elevator, I get another retinal scan.
A mechanical hiss slides the stone door open, and I slip inside first with Parker right behind me.
He’s tense as the stone quickly narrows around us and forces us into a single file.
I could say something to alleviate it, but I’m enjoying myself too much to worry about him.
Sable Briarwick holds too much potential.
We walk up a few ancient flights of stone steps, walls so tight our shoulders scrape.
If I had an ounce of claustrophobia in me, I would panic.
Instead, I move smoothly, knowing these passages like the back of my hand.
“Would it have killed you to stop her?” He finally voices his frustrations when we’re two flights from the top. “Would it have killed you to tell her who you were?”
“I could have, but I chose not to, Bellboy,” I answer, my statement pointed directly at him.
“Why the fuck not, Orion?” Parker and I are friendly, but he takes more of my brother's time than I like, so I enjoy needling him.
“Just wait until you hear the way she screams.”
His fist collides with the back of my shoulder.
He’s strong enough that it actually hurts, and he did put some weight into it.
Rage raises the hairs on my arms before I get control of myself, and they fall flat.
He’s lucky the space is too small for an all-out fight because right now, I’d be happy to give it to him.
“I’m going to get you back for that,” I promise.
“That was for my car, asshole. Get me back and I’ll just owe you another.”
“Sable did that, so maybe your anger is misplaced.” I practically feel him winding up to hit me again, but if he does, I’ll make sure he regrets it.
A glowing candle in a sconce illuminates the landing as I reach the top of the stairs.
It’s wide enough here for Parker to walk ahead of me again, so I gesture for him to go.
He glares as he pushes the door open onto our floor.
Students mill around us, looking surprised for a moment as we seem to magically appear, but they quickly avert their gazes and step out of our way.
Our power here is unquestioned. Everyone stops to look at me.
Sometimes it’s good to be a Rook. Other times, you’re cursed with an identical twin who never wants to hang out with you but always manages to outshine you.
Supposedly, identical twins are a complete anomaly.
Only fraternal twins are passed on genetically, but tell that to the six generations of identical Rook twins and the fucked-up relationships between all of them.
My lucky coin dangles between my knuckles as we walk down the busy hall. Parker and I both swell with pride, hyperaware of the eyes on us. Satisfaction courses through me as people step out of my way and avert their gaze.
“I’m going to fuck up something of yours,” Parker says as he steps into line beside me. It really pisses me off that he’s about an inch taller than I am at six four.
I glance his way and away again. “There are two of me, Park. You don’t want to play this game. You always lose.”
“We’re not kids anymore, Orion, and Soren has made it clear he’s not interested in playing those games with you anymore. Me, on the other hand…”
My teeth clench. “Fuck you.”
“Finally hit a nerve, you car-ruining son of a bitch.”
“Your car is fine. Pay someone to clean it.” But I don’t deny that he hit a nerve because I’m still considering attacking him.
“At least both of us are in a bad mood now.” He smiles.
Fucking Parker Hollow. If I had any real competition for the most popular person in this university, it would be him.
We’re equal in most ways except that extra inch of height and the nice guy act he does so well.
That easy smile doesn’t fool me, though.
Parker has a genius IQ and a manipulative spirit.
He might come off as an overactive puppy, but he’s a Hollow and only a fool would turn their back on him.
“Make her do it,” I suggest with a smile, and the image of Sable Briarwick on her knees cleaning her own mess has my cock twitching when it turns into her licking herself off my cock.
“Hmm,” he grunts, and I can tell I’ve got him thinking. “That’s not your worst idea today.”
“Does Lex know she’s waiting for him?” I ask.
“I didn’t tell him. Did you?”
“Nope.” I laugh.
“It’s raining pretty hard.”
“I guess she’s already paying for fucking up your ride then.” I pull the phone out of my pocket and press Lex’s name. “She’s here, Lex, and it’s Sable freaking Briarwick,” I say into the phone, hanging up before he has a chance to respond.
“I’m going to fuck her first. She owes me.
” That does it—even more than him pointing out the issues between my brother and me—and I turn to punch him in his fucking face, but he’s already walking in the other direction with a ton of people between us.
He smiles because he knows I would have to shove my way through to get to him, and he’ll be long gone.
“Fuck you, Parker,” I yell down the hall, ignoring the curious stares that follow me.