Chapter 7 Niko #3
“It was more of a mental game with Callum,” I finally continue. “He told me over and over again that he was going to get me high-profile modeling gigs, and it never happened. He didn’t want me to succeed.”
“Why not?”
“He wanted me to be dependent on him.”
“I thought you already inherited millions,” Ollie asks. “You don’t have to be dependent on anyone.”
“I didn’t need money. I needed connections. He dangled those connections in my face but never let me have them.”
“Because…”
“Because I lived in his house, and he liked it that way. He’s obsessed with control, and he’s the worst person on Earth to have any of it.”
It’s like I’m pushing on that bruise again.
My entire fucking psyche, my soul, still bruised from the months of living with that man.
Just let me escape from it.
Just let it fucking disappear.
For a moment Oliver is silent, and the only sound is our footsteps. When he finally speaks, the tone of pity in his voice makes me prickle.
“Niko, that’s awful,” he says, sounding so earnest it makes me want to scream. “It sounds like he was psychologically abusing you—”
“Don’t feel sorry for me. Just stop talking about him,” I snap. “Why don’t you tell me about how perfect your life has been for the past year, instead?”
I don’t look at him, but from my peripheral vision I can see him watching me before his gaze drops back down to the snowy ground.
“My life’s not perfect. I mean, it’s been okay, I guess. I was so happy I got into Crimson. Over the summer I lifeguarded. Worked out a lot. Spent time with my family before I was leaving for college.”
“Sounds pretty perfect to me.”
“I was restless in ways you can’t even imagine, Niko. I promise.”
“And you were watching me, throughout all of those months,” I say, looking up at him. “Fanboy.”
“Yeah, I fucking was. You post that shit online, so quit acting like I’m the freak for looking at it.”
He looks up at me like he’s challenging me, lifting an eyebrow.
He’s trying to bite back at me, but in his coat and that red plaid scarf, he looks so pure and rosy-cheeked that I’m distracted by his face, instead.
“You have a favorite video, Ollie?”
“Is this how you want me to stroke your ego?”
“I know you must have a favorite.”
He sighs, looking up at the sky for a second. “I like the ones where you have that upward point of view. You film from underneath, so it’s as if…”
“As if you’re on your knees for me,” I finish his sentence. “Glad you like those.”
My cock stirs under my pants.
The idea of Oliver watching those videos alone in his room under the covers, getting off to me, is like catnip.
“Also the ones where you finish on your chest. I don’t know how you shoot so far, or how you have so fucking much. Do you have to wait days and days to build up for those?”
“No. I just have big cumshots, Ollie.”
It’s exhilarating to talk about my explicit videos with another person.
Nobody else in my life has ever known.
Callum sure as fuck didn’t know, and I hid it from him like I was protecting a goddamn buried treasure.
It was something that was only for me. My outlet. My domain.
“Are you finally going to tell me where we’re going?” Oliver asks.
We’ve rounded the block once.
Truthfully, I didn’t have any goal in mind other than getting the hell out of Onyx House, but there is actually something I need to do.
“Can’t a guy take his boyfriend out for a walk?” I ask him.
“I do like walking on Red Row.”
“Can’t believe you guys actually call this Red Row. Sounds like a street from a murder documentary about crimes in 1900s London, or something.”
“Red Row is a cool name. You just hate anything that has to do with Crimson College. Also, where the fuck are we going?”
“Ever been in a classic car?”
He sighs and gives up on trying to get the answer out of me. “No. Maybe. Does my mom’s old Land Cruiser count?”
“Do you have any idea how punchable you are, Oliver?”
“I assume you’re planning on taking a cheap shot at my jaw again.”
“No. You can bother me all you want, but if you didn’t actually drug me, you don’t deserve a sucker punch. Here.”
I pull his hand and lead him into the driveway beside Double Daggers House, walking up to Sevan’s black Mustang.
“Niko, I know Onyx has a playful rivalry with Daggers, but we don’t steal their fucking cars.”
“Is it stealing if I have the keys?”
I pull them out, jingling them in front of his face.
The snowflakes falling on his hair are so adorable it almost pisses me off.
Look at you, looking so perfect.
Fitting in at your college.
And your biggest problem is wondering if you’ll have a date to the winter parties.
Without thinking, I push him gently backward up against the side of the Mustang.
His ass hits the car and he pulls in a short breath, surprised by my sudden movement.
I push my hips forward, pinning him there and wedging my knee between his legs.
“Maybe I want to film you right here,” I murmur at him, reaching one arm around to squeeze his ass cheek. “Maybe I want to fuck you right here. Would you do that for me? Bend over and put your hands on the top of this car and take my cock in this perfect ass?”
“Keep dreaming.”
He shoves my hips away.
I watch him for a moment, then gently brush a few snowflakes off of his shoulders.
“For someone I hate, I’m really starting to like it when you talk back to me, Ollie.”
I gently cup my hand on the side of his face, holding him.
I half expect him to lash out and shove me harder, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to fight me.
“Is that why you practically leaped to my side like a tiger defending its cub when you saw the police talking to me?”
“If there’s any danger coming to anyone in Onyx, due to my ex, I’m going to involve myself.”
He hums, cocking his head to one side, just a little. “Guess I just assumed you were starting to like me, even when I’m not talking back to you.”
“Quiet. You know why we’re getting involved. Mutually beneficial agreement, for both of us.”
“Right.”
He lets his eyes linger on mine for a few moments.
I feel a low heat burning in my chest as I watch him, his face lit by the soft ambient light from the lamp posts on the street.
Maybe I do like acting like you’re my possession.
You just play that part so, so well.
“We should take a picture like this,” I tell him, my voice soft as I run my thumb along his jawline. “Make people believe we have feelings for each other.”
“Nobody’s going to believe that if you just got here yesterday. You know that. Slow your fucking roll, Niko.”
“Tell me what to do again. See what happens.”
“You’re acting pretty cocky for someone who’s trying to get on my good side,” he says.
I click my tongue and walk away from him, shaking my head. “You have no idea how much you’re going to regret saying shit like that when I actually do fuck you.”
As I open up the passenger side door for him, gesturing for him to get in, I see a flash of something in his eyes.
Is he actually nervous?
He’s not scared of me. I can tell by the way he walks over, tall and proud.
But I always notice something in his eyes when I mention fucking him.
The side of his body brushes up against the front of mine as he pushes past me, getting into the car.
My cock responds to his proximity.
Responds to that nervous energy, too.
“You really are more desperate for it than you let on, aren’t you, Ollie? If you’re some supposed fuck machine who gets action all the time, then why do you want to get fucked so badly?”
He won’t even look up and meet my eyes now.
And something finally clicks in my mind, like the final piece of a puzzle.
Oliver’s hiding something.
He’s hiding something big.
Whatever that “secret” was that he alluded to in his journal… it was more than just wanting a fake boyfriend.
And after having my trust broken over and over again, that shit isn’t going to fly with me. Unless he tells me what it is, I’m not giving him what he wants, either.
I take my time as I walk around to the driver’s side door.
I swing it open and slide in onto the buttery, black leather seat, turning to see Oliver looking very flustered, again.
“You want my cock,” I tell him as I push the key into the ignition. “Correct?”
He turns to me and furrows his brow, acting confused as if he could ever fool me.
“You really are full of yourself, aren’t you?”
“You aren’t going to get it until you tell me whatever the fuck you’re keeping from me.”
He’s silent.
But I see his Adam’s apple bob as he swallows, and I see the faint blush that lands on his cheeks.
Fucking bingo.
I was right.
“Thanks, Detective Niko. Lot of ideas in your head, aren’t there?”
“Yes. And I know I can get you to tell me your secret. I can be very patient.”
“I guess you still are completely delusional.”
He’s looking out the passenger side window now.
Because he can’t face me.
Fucking delicious that I already have you figured out.
And I’m going to see how long it takes until you break for me.