31. Ava
CHAPTER 31
AVA
I knew it was only a matter of time before the Kings came for me. I’m still curled up in bed, cocooned in the warmth of Raf’s borrowed hoodie when I hear a key scrape in the lock, followed by the sound of my door swinging open. Three sets of footsteps echo in practiced rhythm as they cross the room, my pulse kicking up as they draw closer. I don’t move, keeping my back to them and squeezing my eyes closed as if it’ll somehow make me invisible.
No such luck.
A throat clears loudly, the bed rattling as one of them kicks the frame.
I jolt upright, my hair a mess and mascara tracking down my cheeks. “What do you want?” I snap, whipping my head around to glare daggers at my trio of tormentors.
They’re standing in a neat row beside my bed like they rehearsed their formation, the atmosphere in the room instantly shifting as I take them in. Ford’s eyes are gleaming with mischief, a menacing smirk curving his lips. Raf’s body is coiled tight with tension, like a viper prepared to strike. And Wes… his expression is eerily unreadable, but his gray eyes burn into mine with so much intensity that the little hairs on the back of my neck prickle in warning.
They don’t immediately answer my question as to what they’re doing here. The silence hangs heavy between us as I stare the Kings down, my fingers gripping the edge of the comforter so hard they start to ache.
“We’re here to make you an offer,” Raf finally states, his voice like gravel and gunmetal, all business.
My stomach swoops, his declaration hanging between us like an omen as another heavy silence descends.
“Don’t you wanna hear it?” Ford goads, his grin stretching wider.
I glare back at him defiantly, pressing my lips into a tight line. Whatever they’re here to offer, I definitely don’t want any part of it. All I want is to be left alone.
Wes tilts his head, stepping a little closer. “Little old for the silent treatment, aren’t we?” he asks mockingly. “We expected more gratitude after Raf saved your ass today.”
Just as he was aiming to do, his remark hits a nerve. I twist around to face them fully, my eyes narrowing in anger. “ Saved me?” I scoff bitterly. “ He’s the reason Chelsea came after me in the first place! Him, and you two, and that stupid tattoo…”
“I know you’re not talking shit about my art,” Ford cuts in brusquely, reaching down to snatch the comforter from my grip and toss it aside. “Keep up this ungrateful tirade and we’ll take the offer off the table, Ava baby. And trust me, it’s one you’ll want to consider.”
I sink my teeth into my lower lip to bite back my retort, my suspicious gaze sliding between the three of them as I tuck my knees up inside the oversized hoodie. “What kind of offer?” I ask, against my better judgment.
Raf glances at Ford, something silently passing between them before he returns his gaze to me. “Protection,” he replies in a clipped tone that sounds a little too much like a threat.
“Protection,” I echo, not hiding my skepticism. “From who?”
“Everyone,” Ford answers, still smirking like a devil.
“Even you ?” I challenge.
He chuckles darkly, shaking his head. “Never from us. But for the rest of the student body, you’ll be completely off-limits, put up on a pedestal like the pretty thing you are. You’ll have most of the same perks that we do as Kings.”
I furrow my brow in confusion, mind racing as I process his words. This feels like a trap; just another one of their tricks for me to fall prey to. “And what would I have to do?” I murmur, knowing I won’t like the answer.
Wes chuckles in twisted amusement, the sound of it making me feel impossibly small.
“Glad you asked,” Ford quips, running his tongue over his upper teeth as he gives me a predatory once-over. “All you have to do in exchange is commit yourself to serving your Kings.”
I flinch back with a scowl, shaking my head.
Raf’s eyes are like dark pits as he watches me, unblinking. “You’ll be our Doll,” he states.
My heart skips a beat and I whip my head in his direction. “Your what ?”
“Our Doll,” Ford repeats, as if I should know what significance that title carries. “It’s a big fucking honor, Ava baby. Every girl on this campus wants to be the Kings’ Doll, but you’re the lucky one we’re offering it to.”
I wrinkle my nose, shaking my head again. “What does that even mean ?”
“Live with us, serve us, and we’ll make sure you’re protected,” Wes provides, the casual cruelty in his tone sending a chill racing down my spine.
My eyes bounce between the Kings, brain struggling to process this bizarre ‘offer’ they’re making. They don’t move or speak, just watch me silently, like they’re waiting to see if I’ll break down and lose it.
I refuse to let them see me break.
Sitting up a little straighter, I square my shoulders, trying my best to push back my rising fear. “Protection isn’t a free pass to be used like some piece of property,” I mutter.
Raf’s jaw tightens, his dark-eyed gaze searing into my damn soul.
“Well, nothing comes for free,” Ford remarks, the mocking edge to his tone twisting the knife.
The room suddenly feels colder. I pull the sleeves of Raf’s hoodie down over my hands, the thick black fabric swallowing up my slender frame.
“And what if I say no?” I rasp, lifting my chin and trying to sound a whole lot braver than I feel right now.
Wes regards me with a mixture of amusement and something darker. “After what happened today, do you really wanna take that chance? All you have to do is say yes, and you’ll become campus royalty, no one can touch you again.”
Well damn, when he puts it like that…
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t mildly intrigued by this turn of events. I’ve been forced to comply with the Kings’ demands thus far, and I haven’t been given anything to show for it except their brand on my ass. They’ve made me feel powerless, but here they are, offering me some modicum of power back. Would I be a fool not to jump at the chance?
I turn to find Raf watching me with a hint of hesitation in his stance, but it’s gone as soon as I notice it. “It’s a simple decision, Ava,” he snaps impatiently.
A decision I’m not ready to make. I clench my fists, eyes darting between the guys. They’re so sure of themselves, so confident that they’ve backed me into a corner and I have no way out. There has to be a catch to this whole thing. When something sounds too good to be true, it usually is– and I’m sick and tired of their mind games.
“Protection comes at a price,” Wes sighs, stabbing his fingers through his hair. “It’s up to you if you’re willing to pay.”
My anger flares, heat rising in my cheeks. “You want me to be your prisoner.”
Wes shrugs. “Some girls would kill for the chance.”
“But you don’t really need to worry about that,” Ford adds, winking. “It’s an exclusive offer, only for you, Ava baby.”
I swallow thickly, my throat burning with the acidic taste of bile. I suddenly realize I’m trembling, hating myself for letting them see it, fighting the urge to push up from the bed and run. “So I have to give up everything I am, just to be safe,” I grit out.
“Now you’re catching on,” Ford drawls, grinning like a cat.
My head spins. They seem to have this all figured out, and I’m just another piece in their game that I never signed up to play.
Maybe it’s not too late to move my pieces on the board, though. If becoming their Doll gives me some modicum of power on this campus, then perhaps I can use it to my advantage; take down their whole twisted regime from the inside.
They may have started this game, but that doesn’t mean I can’t win.
A newfound confidence surges through me and I sit up a little straighter, staring them down. “If I do this, then I want to discuss terms, first,” I say firmly.
Wes barks a sharp laugh. “Not as shy as you seem, huh?”
Raf steps closer, anger practically radiating off him. “This isn’t a negotiation, slut,” he snarls. “If you’re our Doll, you’re expected to do what we want, when we want it. You’ll be ours. Completely.”
I feel my resolve cracking, but I manage to hold onto my false bravado. “So you want to use me?” I scoff, the horror of that reality slowly sinking in. “And I’ll have to pretend I’m okay with it?”
Ford tilts his head, a smirk playing on his lips. “You won’t have to pretend, Ava. You’ll love it.”
I shake my head adamantly. “I won’t.”
I’m not sure who I’m trying to convince, them or myself.
Raf watches me carefully, his eyes darker than ever. He makes me more anxious than the other two combined with the way he always seems to be able to read me.
“I want details,” I blurt, needing them to spell out what this arrangement entails before I consider agreeing to it.
Why the fuck am I considering agreeing to it?
Raf hesitates for a fraction of a second, then moves closer, leaning over me. “Submission. Compliance. Every fucking whim we have, Ava,” he growls, the words hitting me like a slap. “Dolls don’t push back, they don’t get a fucking opinion .”
“Then I’m clearly not cut out to be a Doll,” I hiss.
Raf shoves back with an annoyed grunt, hands balling into fists at his sides as he whips around and paces across the room angrily.
“Do you really think you have a choice here?” Wes asks, annoyance bleeding into his tone as he watches his friend on verge of a temper tantrum.
The inevitability of their proposal hangs in the air between us, suffocating my lungs. They think they’ve already won. They might, but not yet– not while I still have a sliver of fight left in me.
“Tell me exactly what I’d have to do,” I say again, my voice like a drawn bowstring, tight and ready to snap. I need them to say it; to reveal the full horror of what they want to subject me to.
Raf’s eyes shift as he leans against the wall, his agitation hardening into a business-like precision. “Everything we ask,” he says bluntly. “Whenever we ask it.”
My heart pounds in my chest, a wild thing caged. They’re being deliberately vague, because this isn’t a proposal– it’s a sentence. I want to scream, to fight, to run away and never look back. Instead, I grit my teeth and glare at them, refusing to back down. “And if I don’t?”
Ford makes a scoffing sound in his throat. “Then you won’t be protected.”
“That’s not what I meant,” I breathe, the walls pressing in around me. “What if you ask me to do something and I say no?”
Raf’s posture relaxes, a predator sure of its prey. “You won’t,” he murmurs.
I avert my eyes, drawing a measured breath and trying to ignore the little part of me that’s been caught out. The thing that lights up when he praises me, basks in being called his ‘good girl’.
“So that’s it,” I say with a resigned sigh. “I move in, I do whatever you ask, and nobody else can touch me.”
“Yes,” Raf replies bluntly. That single word seals it, a promise and a threat.
The room suddenly feels as if it’s spinning around me while I’m stuck in the center, holding on for dear life. But these men have no idea how hard I’m willing to fight when backed into a corner, and if they think I’m not going to get anything out of this, they’re dead wrong.
“I have rights, you know,” I say, my anger like a live wire twisting and sparking inside me.
The three of them exchange looks, a shared understanding that makes my blood boil.
Raf’s lips curl in a humorless smile. “Not if you want to survive here.”
“It’s a pretty sweet deal if you’re smart enough to take it,” Wes adds.
Ford flicks an imaginary speck of lint off his shirt. “Think about the perks,” he says. “A life of luxury in exchange for a little obedience.”
I cock a brow. “And if I don’t agree?”
“You already have,” Ford says, his grin a brand, searing the truth into me.
“No,” I say, my voice louder now. “I haven’t. I have terms.”
Wes folds his arms tighter over his chest, rolling his eyes. “Fine, let’s hear ‘em.”
The other two snap their heads in his direction, which tells me he’s clearly going off book here– and I’d be an idiot not to take advantage of the opening.
“I want to keep hanging out with Bryce,” I say, leveling Wes with an unyielding stare. “If I’m going to do this, then I need to be allowed to have at least one friend.”
“Done,” Raf snaps, pushing off from the wall.
“And I want to keep my virginity,” I quickly tack on.
He stops in his tracks, dark eyes narrowing into slits. “It doesn’t belong to you anymore,” he snarls. “You’re property of the Kings, remember?”
I swallow past the lump in my throat, fingers twisting in the fabric of his borrowed sweatshirt. “I’ll do… other stuff, if I have to,” I mumble, the words tasting like poison on my tongue. “But not that . I’m not my mother.”
I hold my breath as the three of them turn to look at one another, another silent conversation passing between them. It’s actually a little spooky that they can have an entire discussion with glances alone, and also frustrating as hell since I’m left out of it.
“Fine,” Raf eventually grumbles, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
“Consider it a signing bonus,” Ford adds with a chuckle.
I exhale a ragged sigh of relief, though I know I haven’t really won anything. I’m as good as trapped in this arrangement. But I’m still here, still fighting, and that’s what’ll get me through. And if I have to debase myself along the way… well, the sexual favors I’ve already performed for them weren’t all bad. There were definitely some moments I’ve replayed in my mind since, right here in this bed.
Raf throws me one last glare before he turns to leave, a silent promise in his dark eyes. I stare right back at him, refusing to blink, refusing to let him see how rattled I am.
“Pack your shit and meet us upstairs,” he deadpans. “You have one hour.”
My heart hammers in my chest as the other two join him in walking to the door, all three disappearing through it like departing ghouls.
They think it’s over. They think I’m theirs.
They’re wrong.
As the door clicks shut behind the Kings, the full weight of what just happened crashes over me. My whole world has just shifted, and I need to find my footing fast if I’m going to survive.
I draw a shaky breath, wiping at the tears that finally spill down my cheeks. The conversation we just had still hangs in the air, heavy and suffocating, but so does something else.
Hope.
I have no illusions about what I’ve agreed to, but I’m not as alone as they think. I’m a resourceful girl. Not only will I find a way out of this, but I’ll also find some way to bring them down, to beat them at their own game.
I curl up on the bed, letting the anger and determination wash over me. Their offer, their threat, their trap– it’s all there, pressing down, but I’ll figure out how to turn this situation in my favor. I have no other choice.
I’m their Doll. I don’t know what kind of archaic secret society bullshit I’ve just gotten myself into, but if I’m living with the Kings, I’m sure I’ll learn soon enough. This is an opportunity to unearth the skeletons in their closets, and I’ll definitely be paying attention this time.
The room feels like it’s shrinking around me as I lie back, letting the tangle of emotions and plans consume me. It’s not the end, not yet. Maybe not ever. Not while I can still breathe, still fight, still hope.
I close my eyes and draw a few deep, calming breaths, knowing this is just the beginning.