Chapter 2
TWO
DREDYN
Eden’s End.
Our annual baptism, thrown by Omega Chi Kappa to celebrate the start of another corrupt elite year at Ashen Grove University.
We invite the OCK legacy freshmen and break them in. Remind them that even if their fathers were good enough, they have to be too.
My frat brothers sprawl across the lawn and pour into the OCK house where the music is loud. A few nod to me as I take the steps two at a time inside the house. At six and a half feet, it’s hard not to miss me, and more importantly—
I am the fucking president of this debauchery.
And I love every fucking second of it.
A pretty blonde hands me a beer the moment I enter the threshold.
Her green eyes beam brightly up at me as her fake lashes blow a gust of wind across my face.
I’m pretty sure I’ve fucked her. Maybe. Who the fuck cares.
I open the cap and chug the bottle before chucking it against the wall.
It shatters, causing a few people to shriek at the sound, making me chuckle.
I’m late to my favorite party of the year. A night of reckless indulgence. Usually, I’ll take a few girls and fuck them without guilt. If you never know who she is, how can you regret ruining her?
Every surface of the house is occupied. Girls with their skirts pushed up, guys with their heads thrown back, bodies grinding to the music.
Jasper is probably up in his room, hoping he can burn this place to the ground.
I would probably let him after the party ends.
But the university is still pissed about the chapel stunt last year.
Burn one fucking Ferrari and suddenly the administration wants your head on a spike.
Hypocrites. At least Talon’s dad was able to get me out of that one.
I round the corner, trying to make it to the stairs so I can go drag Jasper’s sorry ass down here, when something flickers at the edge of my vision. A figure—small and delicate. She’s halfway through the hallway when she turns her head, just enough for me to catch the edge of her profile.
She’s wearing a mask, a black one with large bunny ears that cuts off just where her nose is, and her eyes shine through them despite the dim lighting—baby blue, but almost silver in the dark.
Her mouth is painted a deep maroon, the kind of shade that would smear like blood if I ran my dick across it.
And suddenly, I’m hard.
Not just because she’s hot. Not because she’s dressed like sin incarnate.
But because I know her.
Mara fucking Black.
Also known as: the future president’s daughter—campaign princess. She’s also the twin sister of the president of the fraternity that has been a thorn in my fraternity’s side for decades. Long before I was even a thought in my parent’s mind.
Tattoos cover her arms, her thighs, curling up her ribs and disappearing under the short crop top that stops just below her breasts. All of it is bold, black work. Webs, skulls, a naked girl riding a snake. It’s beautiful.
Her face is plastered everywhere; you can’t escape social media without seeing her. Yet here she is, a beautiful, alternative version of America’s sweetheart.
My grin spreads slowly, crawling across my face as she looks straight at me and freezes. Her eyes go wide with panic, then she bolts, turning and slipping through a narrow side door that leads down to the basement.
A game of chase?
I follow her downstairs, faint music humming through the floorboards above us. We don’t keep much in here except some broken furniture, a couple punching bags, and chemicals for the indoor pool.
Mara is playing the innocent girl in the scary movie quite well, and I’m the monster that follows her. I duck underneath a sagging beam and find her. Scared breaths stutter out nervously, her fingers twitching beside her.
She’s smaller up close. Vulnerable in a way that makes my skin itch and my cock ache. I can see the pulse jumping in her throat as I move closer toward her. Her eyes dart toward the stairs, but she knows there’s no escaping.
My smile is wide. “Well… hello there…”
She flinches at the sound of my voice, and fuck, I feel it all the way to my cock. She steps back, then again, until her spine hits the concrete wall. Her fingers clutch the hem of her skirt.
“Um-m…” she stammers. “I—I didn’t mean to come down here.”
Got you.
“I’m not supposed to be here. Let me go and I’ll leave.”
She tries to sidestep me, but her heel skids out from under her, causing her to go down fast. Her skin scrapes against the floor with a hiss of pain. She gasps, trying to catch herself, but fails.
I take a step toward her, caging her in.
She scrambles backwards on her hands, lips trembling as she mutters a desperate, quiet chant, “No… no…”
I couch in front of her. “No?” I echo. “Seems to me you are exactly where you need to be.”
She swallows. “I’m just… picking up a friend. He’s really drunk.”
He? That shouldn’t piss me off as much as it does. I hum low in my chest. “You picked one hell of an outfit for a designated driver.”
“I didn’t know…” she lies. Again.
Bullshit. Everyone knows the house on the end is Omega Chi—directly across from Psi Theta Omega, and diagonally from Delta Sigma Nu. Not even an idiot normie attending AGU would get that wrong.
“You practice that lie just for me?”
She shakes her head quickly. “No… I’m serious. Dredyn, please…”
“I just can’t believe you’d show your face in my house.”
She tries to turn her head, but I catch her chin with my fingers. My thumb runs along her jaw, and her lashes flutter. Then I slip my fingers under the edge of her mask and peel it off.
And there she is.
Mara Black
I laugh under my breath, rough and triumphant, crowding into her space so she can’t even breathe without sucking in my air. My hand slides from her jaw down to her throat, wrapping around it like a living necklace that keeps her pinned against the wall, just how I want her.
“Hey, Hellcat.” My mouth grazes her temple, my nose burying in her hair. I inhale deeply. “Mmm. I can smell the fear in you.” My tongue flicks against her skin, tasting the salt of her sweat.
Her lashes flutter as my free hand drags down her chest, following the dip between her breasts, then up along the ink etched on her throat. I stop under her chin, thumb pressing into that sweet little hollow until her lips part.
“But you don’t pull away, do you?” I growl, my forehead nearly touching hers. “Because you can’t. Because you like being caught like a sweet little mouse.”
Her back hits the damp stone harder as I press closer, the game of chase still causing a thrumming in my veins.
“Mara Black,” I purr, savoring her name on my tongue. “Twin sister of the golden boy, Milo Black. Political royalty, here at my party, and not in your glasses, or frumpy little skirts. God, this is a filthy little secret we have to keep.”
My thumb brushes her bottom lip, dragging slowly across the trembling edge of it.
“Because like this… you’re downright…” I pause. “Fuckable.”
She flinches. “Dredyn—”
I slam my palm flat to the wall beside her head, caging her in further, pressing close enough that she feels every rigid inch of me. Her whole body trembles.
“You’re going to have to beg better than that.”
“Let me go.”
“That’s not how this works.” My fingers fist her thick black hair, yanking her head back. She gasps, lashes fluttering, caught between fear and fury.
“You shouldn’t touch me like this. If my brother finds out—”
I laugh, low and cruel, grinding my cock against her stomach. “Then why’s your body arching for me, Hellcat? Why are you rubbing against my cock like you need it?”
Her breath stutters. “I don’t want you.”
I lean in, lips brushing her ear. “But you will. And when you do, Mara Black…” I tug her hair harder, making her wince, my teeth flashing in a wolfish grin. “… it won’t be gentle.”
I let go all at once, shoving off the wall, leaving her shaking in the dark, clutching at the space where I caged her in.
Mornings fucking suck.
Heat. Soft skin. Perfume that’s too fucking sweet—a sticky, suffocating mix of floral and vanilla. A tangle of legs and hair, neither of which belong to anyone I give a shit about after 4 a.m.
My brain is foggy from whatever I snorted last night. I can still feel the gritty residue on my tongue and a stale chemical burn in my throat, and my skull pounds behind my eyes as I squeeze them shut against the unwelcome daylight.
I exhale hard, trying to lift a hand to rub my face, but I’m pinned.
The weight? Two girls.
One’s blonde—sleek and artificially perfect, the color of bottled ambition and bleach. She’s draped across my chest, fingers splayed across my pec like she belongs there.
She doesn’t.
The other’s brunette—not usually my type. She’s too soft-looking, too delicate. But last night? Last night she curled into my side like a satisfied kitten, and I let her—let both of them—because I needed something to sink into.
I shift, trying to untangle myself, when—
THUMP.
My gym bag crashes onto my mattress, hard.
“Rise and shine, asshole. Training.”
Fuck, Talon.
I should put a bullet between his fucking eyes. His voice is too fucking smug for someone as average-looking as he is.
My eyes snap open. He’s at the foot of my bed, arms crossed, grinning like a cocky little shit. I flip him the bird and drop my head back. Another thump—a shoe this time—slams into my ribs, hard, causing me to snarl.
“Busy night? Juliet and Cadence? Really, Dre?”
“Fuck off.”
The blonde—Cadence—stretches, her eyes peeking open lazily, still half-dazed, half-hopeful, like she’s got a chance at round two.
I snap my fingers at the girls. Sharp. Commanding.
“Up. Out. Now.”
Talon, still smirking, tilts his head toward Cadence. “Yeah, fuck off, Cay.” His tone is all amusement when he gestures to the brunette. “Juliet, though? Wasn’t impressed when I had her. Has the head gotten any better?”
“Head was fine. Mouth’s just another hole if you hold it right.”
Cadence snaps her attention to Juliet.
Juliet shoves her. Fucking hilarious.
The two scurry, scrambling for their clothes like roaches when the lights come on. Meanwhile, I’m completely naked, just the sheet covering my cock—semi-hard, but not enough to give a fuck.
Juliet scoffs. “You Omega Chi Kappa boys are all the same.”
I drag a hand through my hair, rolling my shoulders, stretching out the tension.
“Sweetheart.” I sneer. “You act like you’re anything but a wet hole we let warm our cocks.”
Talon, who’s leaning against the doorframe, snorts out a laugh. “Jesus, Dre. You make me look romantic.”
That earns a shrill little groan of outrage. The girls storm out, heels clicking against the floor, perfume still hanging in the air.
I exhale hard, kicking the covers off, my body already shifting into fight mode.
I grab my gym bag, yank a hoodie over my head and a pair of sweats that were lying on my floor, and shove past Talon.
“At some point, you’re gonna fuck yourself out of distractions.”
I scoff. “Maybe. But today’s not that day.”