7. Pandora #2
River reaches out, squeezing my arm. “She hated you teaching her,” he says quietly. “I wish we’d pushed harder to teach her more.”
I flip back a few pages, and I stop on a photo that’s equally painful.
It’s me, Rachel, and River, smiling in front of a photo spot by the New Bristol Zoo.
We’d gone on a whim because we were all bored and I’d heard the zoo had gotten a new species of snake for the snake house. I trace the lines of River’s face.
He’s even more handsome now than he’d been back then.
“I wish I’d noticed she was hiding something,” I admit. “I failed her. I was so absorbed in my own crap, and my best friend was out there getting murdered.”
“You didn’t fail her,” River says harshly. “If anything, her fucking parents failed her.”
“Like I didn’t know her parents were crap,” I mutter. I rest my head against his shoulder again. “It’s been so… lonely this past year, River. First with Rachel, and then…”
When River had disappeared.
I know better than to mention that, though. My hand brushes against my pocket, and I press against my charm through the fabric of my pants.
“Oh, no. You don’t get to claim loneliness. You could’ve had me. I was going to apologize. I was going to fucking grovel for hurting you.” He pulls away from me. “You didn’t even give me a chance, and that’s all on you.”
I internally roll my eyes. “I already told you, you can get your revenge on me after we’ve put Rachel’s killer six feet under. If you’re going to be a little bitch about this?—”
He grabs me by the throat, then cuts off my words with a harsh, demanding kiss. “I am not a little bitch,” he snarls against my mouth.
I bite his lip. “Yeah? Prove it. All I’ve got right now is you whining and whining about how mean I am.”
He’s stronger than I am, and even though I fight him just to put on a show, he forces me down onto the bed. He pins my arms above my head, and I wonder if he’s still boxing or if he abandoned that. He’s still fit, though, and he’d always loved the sport, so I doubt it’s something he let go of.
“Shut up, Pandora,” he orders, straddling my legs so he can lean down and kiss me again.
I groan and roll my hips up, struggling against his grasp. I’ve already mapped out how I could escape if I wanted to, but I’m happy to open my mouth for him and let him take what he wants from me.
He sits back up, and his hands go for the button of my pants, then the zipper.
For someone who insists he could get laid anywhere, for someone who hates me, he’s quick to try to fuck me.
River places his hand on my hip, over the pocket that holds the charm. I see his brow furrow, and I quickly grab that hand to kiss it—to kiss the stub of the missing pinky and lick all over it.
It’s his turn to jerk back, and he glares down at me. “Don’t, Pandora.”
“It’s so hot,” I admit, running my tongue along my upper lip. “If you use that hand to finger me?—”
“I am not touching you with that hand,” he snaps. “It’s deformed and disgusting.”
I shake my head. “It’s beautiful, River.” I twine my hand with his, my thumb and pinky locking in all his fingers. My hot pink nails stand out against his tan skin, and I get dizzy with arousal.
For all his protests, I can see that he’s still hard.
He leans back down, claiming my lips with more of those savage kisses, biting and licking them. Then he’s moving off of me, his hands going back to my waist and tugging at my pants. “Off,” he orders.
I kiss him, then raise my hips so he can pull my jeans off.
My phone buzzes.
River and I both freeze, before I grab my phone with a groan.
The display name shows Wannabe Hot Stuff , which is what I’d immediately renamed Blaze’s contact to.
“Hot stuff?” River repeats.
I grin up at him. “Blaze. Y’know, like fire? It’s hot. I changed Asch to BB—short for Blaze’s Bitch.” I sit up and tap over to my contacts, ignoring how the phone keeps buzzing with a call. “What’s your number? You can be ‘ Cry Me A.’ ”
“Funny. You’re absolutely hysterical. I could always put you as ‘Crazy Bitch.’” he snaps.
The blood freezes inside me, and all of my good humor drains away. “You really want to lose another finger?” I hiss at him.
He stares at me, his own expression cold. “I’m not a crybaby you can walk all over, Pandora.”
“And I’m not somebody you can dismiss as a crazy bitch ,” I add, my tone deadly. My phone keeps buzzing, and I jab the answer button in irritation. “What the fuck do you want, Blaze?”
“That isn’t polite,” Asch’s voice answers. “We went to lunch, and we decided we wanted dessert. Meet us at the frat house in twenty.”
I stare at the phone. Then I start laughing. “Oh my god. Guess you get to be Wannabe Hot Stuff .”
“What?” Asch asks. “Never mind. Just be there.”
He ends the call, and I smile at River. “I fucked it up. Asch is Hot Stuff, Blaze is BB. Maybe I should start calling him babygirl or something.” I lick my lips. “They want me over at the frat. Why don’t you come along and apply to be a pledge? You can protect me from those big bad frat boys, too.”
“The day you need protection from frat boys is the day hell freezes over,” he says, but he doesn’t argue. Instead, he gets up. “Let’s go, then.”
I pull my pants back up, making sure my charm is secure in my pocket, then let River help me off the bed.
“You still haven’t given me your number, River,” I say.
“You haven’t said you won’t name me something insulting,” he replies. But he gets his phone out of his back pocket, and after he taps a few times, my phone buzzes with a text.
Here .
I save him under Cry Me A .
Who knows, maybe he can upgrade himself to something better.
If he manages not to kill me first.