21. Sable
SABLE
“Can I go back to the dressing room to change?” I ask when the humiliation finally ends.
“Of course not.” Orion laughs as he takes my hand and leads me off the stage. “Why the hell would I do all this work just to put it back on the rack?” We stand to the side, and the room empties ahead of us.
“I thought I ruined your project.”
“You did, but you also made that dress sin.” He trails the back of his hand from just beneath my ear to my collarbone, and I'm sick with myself when an uncontrollable shiver runs through me.
Finally, we head toward the door. You would think, for how long we waited, very few people would be lining the hall.
Yet almost everyone present for my fitting risks missing their next class to see what other drama my public disgrace might offer.
Phones flash as people snap pictures. I imagine how bad the pictures would look if I were to attack them, and that’s the only thing that keeps me from swinging.
“Do you plan to do something about that ass, Sable?” one of the girls from the class asks me as we’re walking down the hall. My fists tighten. Considering I’m better dressed than she is, and only slightly more exposed, she should keep her mouth shut.
Before I have a chance to say anything, Orion says, “Don’t fucking talk to my toy, Arabella.”
“Why not?”
“Because you don’t deserve to play with my things.”
The girl gives him a nasty look. “Your brother is more fun.” She storms off.
“You’re the only one who thinks that,” he calls after her.
“Who was that?” I ask.
“A bitch,” he says as if that wasn’t obvious. We keep walking, and he seems to swell with pride with each person we pass.
“You like people watching you, don’t you?” I don’t say it like an insult, more like a flirtatious observation.
“You have no idea how much.” But I think I may have a very good idea.
“What’s our next class?”
“Don’t have one, just showing off.” He winks at me, grabbing my hand to lead me down the hall.
“If we don’t have anywhere to be, can you show me the gym?
” I ask, innocently batting my eyes. “I don’t mind getting more in shape if that’s what you guys want.
” My obsession with keeping myself strong may be rooted in trauma, but it’s unbelievably intense, and I don’t care whose ego or dick I have to stroke for gym access.
He looks at me with a pleased but slightly suspicious smile. “You, Sable Briarwick, want to put in hard work to please me?” There’s a filthy implication, but I ignore it as I nod. “What if I like your ass fat and I’m just being a prick?”
“It could be bigger.” I shrug.
He shakes his head like he finds me interesting and confounding at once.
“ I know you’re up to something, but luckily for you, I have a friend who’s been dying to meet you.
” Once again, he takes off, giving no consideration to the length of my stride.
I guess he’s going to give me the workout I asked for, whether we get to the gym or not.
This school is freaking enormous , I think to myself again, and again as we spend the next twenty minutes walking in silence.
We’re near ground level, from what I can tell, in a completely different section of the castle where windows reveal the mountainside.
He leads me past a large gymnasium and down the hall to a much smaller but ultra-modern weight and machine room.
This place is as surprising as the fashion school, but even more welcoming.
Relief floods me and thickens my throat.
The spacious room features cutting-edge equipment and soft fluorescent lighting.
It actually looks normal. The few men working out inside are wearing typical exercise clothes, shorts, sweats, and T-shirts.
I’ve never been so excited to see sweaty guys in my life.
I don’t pay any of them special attention as we head inside.
I’d prefer if none of them noticed me, and not staring is a good way to help with that.
None of these guys can hold a candle to the man standing next to me or Lex, so keeping my eyes to myself proves exceedingly easy.
Except for one giant man working out in the corner.
Despite myself, I let my eyes run over every inch of him.
He looks damn good, but when I get to his face, I realize I recognize him.
The bellman from the hotel, the one who helped me get away from the paparazzi, who I worried I had gotten fired, now lies on the bench in coordinated Bellthorn shorts and a T-shirt.
What. The. Fuck.
He pushes up a series of heavy weights from his spot on the bench. Muscles strain, sweat dripping. He counts to himself, and a quiet rage builds inside me. What is he doing here?
“Park,” Orion says, grabbing his attention.
He looks up from his place on the bench.
His dark eyes stay casual at first, but shift to serious when he sees me.
Brown, like honey, looks me up and down, and his expression says he has some intimate knowledge of me.
I don’t think he was there last night, but doubting my own experiences feels strange and unsettling.
As he stares, I’m reminded of the look he gave me when he put me in the car yesterday and how strange and intense that felt. I guess it was.
Park must have known. He was there on purpose and wanted to make sure he got me here, but why, when the other guys just waited here?
“Hello, Miss Briarwick.” He gives me a mocking look as he sits up on the bench and wipes the sweat off himself.
I ran into his arms as the paparazzi chased me.
He made me feel safe, and I’m so angry that he tricked me.
I want to kick him in the face. There are no cameras pointed at me like there were in the hall, and I’m not even bothered by what I’m wearing.
My problem is that I’m outnumbered, outmatched, and have positively nowhere to go if I ruin this deal.
I shouldn’t start a fight with a man three times my size, let alone two of them.
“Why?” I ask, voice low.
He smiles, a good boy smile, like he did nothing wrong. “Why what?”
I look back and forth, more caught off guard than I've ever been. It’s clearly an act, but a damn good one. I’m slightly jealous of him, as my public facade has never been so clean. “Why did you?—”
“Get close to you when you least expected it?” He cuts me off with a dark smile and shakes his head.
The difference between the mask and the person beneath is so jarring that I just stare as he gets up off the bench and walks toward me.
He stands in front of me as he says, “I’ll do it again.
I’ll be near you whenever the fuck I want, Sable. ” His eyes are even darker this close.
I take a step back, but I bump into Orion’s chest, and then I’m sandwiched between them, with a hot male chest all around me.
Parker walks forward until my nipples scrape the top of his abs.
It really is absurdly unfair how tall and built these guys are.
I feel like no matter how much I hate them, I’m hardwired to want to fuck them.
Now that Parker is close enough to smell, I’m sure that he wasn’t there last night.
His cologne and sweat have an odd familiarity; they're not from last night.
“Why did you bring her here on your day, Orion?” Parker speaks to the man over my shoulder, but looks me dead in the eyes. “And looking good enough to eat.”
“She wanted to work out, and this is the gym.” He shrugs. “I wanted to show off my project.”
“You didn’t have any special plans for her in this outfit?” His hands slide up my sides, cupping my breasts rudely. I try to pull away from him, but I only push more firmly into Orion.
“My brother isn’t interested in playing with my toy, but maybe I wanted to share.”
I snort at the idea that he’s some giving soul when he’s dressed me up like this and presented me to his friend like a bottle of wine.
“Lexi wasn’t around?”
“He’s busy this term.”
Parker thinks about it. “Anything you had in mind?” The way he’s watching me says he has his own ideas.
“She said she wanted a workout. It seemed like your area of expertise.”
A wicked grin passes between both of them.
“Can you do a pull-up, Sable?” Parker asks, and I’m not sure if he’s being condescending.
“Yes.”
“How long can you hold one?”
“I don’t know.” I don’t focus on my upper body nearly as much as my legs. I need to run and swim fast.
“Why don’t we find out?” Parker says as he leads me over to a bar. “Everyone get the fuck out,” he shouts, and without question, the room empties.
“Why did they need to leave?” I ask, nervous energy running up and down my spine.
“I can get them back if you’d rather have an audience,” Orion offers. I shake my head rather than answer and let my voice break. After that goddamn fashion show, which was nothing but a humiliation ritual, I can’t take more eyes on me.
Parker nods. “Grab the bar.”