Chapter 22 #2
I think about throwing up but I’m paralyzed by the terror coursing through my veins.
I let it take me. I give over to the fear and let it consume me for a minute so it will burn off enough that I can tamp it down again.
The truth is, I’m not truly fearless, I’ve just learned to live and work through it.
When I can see again, I risk another glance at the others to find Avery trembling in Ash’s arms and Harley staring down at me.
I take my first deep breath when he looks at me, like the fire in his eyes thaws something inside and the spark in my soul starts up again.
I have survived everything that’s been thrown at me so far. I will survive this, too.
Harley gives me a nod and turns back to his friends. “We need to fix this and we need to do it now. Ideas?”
There’s a stunned silence and then, surprisingly, Blaise pipes up, “The bet says the proof has to be either a photo or a video. We get our hands on it and prove it’s a fake. No one wants Lance to get the money so it’ll be an easy sell if we can find something.”
Ash snorts derisively, his voice a twisted snarl, “How, exactly, would that work if no one here has fucked the Mounty before? Who could vouch it’s her?”
“Besides the obvious that her face would have to be in it? The photos last year,” says Harley.
I sit up sharply. The photos from my fucked-up walk of shame last year. After I had my clothes stolen while showering I was forced to walk back to my room naked by Harlow, who had also taken photos and shared them around. Fucking bitch. I want to go back to her room and slit her throat.
“We need to get the photos and pray. Lance is taking photography and advanced digital design. I’m sure he’s got the fake photos damn near perfect,” I say, my voice stronger now.
I rub my face with shaking hands and consider texting Diarmuid for a hit.
Would Avery spot me the fee? I glance at her and the thunder on her face tells me she would pay the son of a bitch ten times over.
“Give me twenty minutes. I know who’ll have them,” Blaise says, and he ducks out of the room.
I stay on the floor until Avery finally drags me up and pushes me into the shower.
I try to tell her I just had one but she points out how badly I’m shaking, and I just give in.
When I’m done, I drop all pretenses and throw my pajamas on, walking back into the room without a single care that I’m wearing my Vanth shirt.
Avery hands me a bowl of ice cream and I slouch on the couch to eat it.
She sits with me and chews on her lips as she scrolls aimlessly on her phone.
Ash and Harley sit at the table and talk quietly together, their eyes on me more often than not.
I’m scrubbing the bowl clean in the sink by the time the door opens again and Blaise is back.
He startles a little at my shirt then ushers us all to sit at the table.
He hands out a pile of photos so we’re each holding a copy of the three photos Lance has produced as his proof.
I can’t look down at them. Not until I’m able to do it with a clinical eye.
Instead, I watch Avery as she begins to sift through them next to me.
“Fuck, Avery, don’t look at them,” snaps Ash as he tries to pry them out of her hands. She rolls her eyes and turns away from him.
“I’ve seen nudes before, Ash. I’m not happy about being forced to look at that little fuck’s dick but I’m the only person here that’s seen Lips naked besides Lips herself, so I’m the best person to look.”
Blaise’s eyes flash and he purses his lips like he’s trying to seal them shut. Harley notices and punches him in the arm but he only shrugs with a wry grin. “I’m not even sorry; I can’t help it.”
Eh? “Can’t help what?”
Avery answers as she holds one of the photos so close to her face that she must be searching it pixel by pixel for inaccuracy.
“He’s being gross about how I’ve seen you naked.
Boys always are.” Then she grins at Blaise and swipes her tongue over her bottom lip.
“I’ve seen her naked, dripping wet in the shower, in every piece of skimpy lace Ash picked out for her, and all sweaty and panting after a long, hard workout.
Oh, I’ve also seen her in yoga poses that would make a monk weep. ”
I swear I hear all three of them gulp. Huh.
Ash clears his throat. “How exactly does this relate to what we’re doing?”
Harley butts in before Avery can answer. “So, about this sex ban the Jackal has you on. Is that the real reason you won’t fuck a Hannaford guy?”
I grit my teeth and try to force myself to look down at the photos while I’m distracted by the conversation.
Nope. Can’t do it. “Yes. If there’s a chance it could get back to him that I’m with someone, then I can’t do it.
Hannaford is a pit of snakes and no one gets laid here without the entire school hearing about it. Just not worth the risk.”
Avery chuckles under her breath. “Besides, the majority of males at this school don’t know how to make it good for girls. Why risk torture and death if you’re not even going to come?”
I snort with unexpected laughter at her. “Better off doing it myself, right?”
Avery cackles and I glance up again to find three sets of smoldering eyes glaring at me with a challenge.
A blush starts creeping along my cheeks and I’m struck for the first time with the realization that I’ve kissed all three of them.
Sweet Lord . Not only that, each kiss was so fucking hot I had no reason to doubt their… skills.
I hold my hands up in a placating gesture. “Okay, settle down. I’m sure you guys are… great or whatever. You must be if Annabelle is mourning your dicks like she’s missed out on the second coming of Christ.”
“She’s mourning the potential for a wealthy husband, not their dicks,” murmurs Avery, in no way helping me with calming them the fuck down. I shrug and finally force my eyes down onto the photos in front of me.
I feel lightheaded.
Avery yells, startling us all, “ Ha! There! Lips, we’ve got him.”
My gaze stays glued on the first photo. It’s so fucking disturbing to see your own face on a body that clearly isn’t yours.
Yeah, he Photoshopped my scars on it, but the knees are wrong.
The fingers are longer than mine, and I’ve never managed to get my nails to that length.
The tits are way bigger and the nipples are much darker than mine are too.
I really, really don’t want to have to flash my nipples to get out of this.
I finally look over to the one Avery is waving at me and that photo is even more obscene.
Lance has the girl flipped over and is doing her from behind.
He’s leaning back and the photo has been taken with a nice close up of his dick in her, the fleshy globes of her ass spread by his hand.
I immediately see what Avery is talking about.
“Snap, motherfucker,” I mutter, and Avery tucks her arm into mine.
“I look forward to seeing you end that Mounty fuck.”