Chapter 8 The Consequence
The Consequence
Harper
Someone moves through the crowd toward the back, and a brief twinge of hope floats through me. But it’s Caden, his dark hair and height unmistakable. That hope fizzles and dies. He makes his way toward the back, grabs a guy by his neck, and pulls him forward to stand before our table.
The guy is gangly compared to Caden and keeps dragging his feet. He’s average-looking, and honestly, I could do worse.
The horsemen are all incredibly good-looking, but again, there are four of them. I’m pretty sure if I’m it for the year, they’ll find a way to make me want it. And often.
My insides tighten, and I resist the urge to lean into Luke to absorb his heat.
A part of me really likes the idea of having the horsemen as mine for a year.
I should be appalled that the thought of four guys passing me around like a blunt doesn’t bother me as much as it probably should.
That the thought of each of these guys with their hands on me doesn’t make me recoil at all.
Fuck, that’s some scary shit to realize and all the more reason I hope this guy is serious.
Because I could totally hold off on giving up anything to him, and the horsemen would never know the difference.
“Grant Perkins.” Luke grips my hips and pulls me back against him, then rests his chin on the top of my head. It’s a possessive gesture that makes me want to settle back into him.
I think I’m losing my mind, but being held feels good. Maybe hiding all those years deprived me to the point that any attention, even unwanted attention, feels wonderful.
Fuck, I need to focus. I’m sure I’ve had a class with Grant before. I don’t know him, but what do I care? Is he volunteering? Because I just need one guy.
“I was only having fun.” The voice is the same as the heckler. I almost hiss in recognition as I recoil into Luke. Caden releases him but stands behind him.
“Do you want our girl, Grant?” Luke curls his fingers possessively around my waist.
Not exactly the guy I want to hang out with for an entire year. A coward who makes lewd comments. That would make my mom proud, for sure. But if it’s him or the horsemen…
Then again, cowards are always cowards.
“Nah, dude, I was joking.” Grant shifts his gaze uneasily between the horsemen. His eyes skip over me. No surprises there. He looks like he’s a minute from bolting or peeing his pants.
“No one here wants this virgin sacrifice?” Luke’s voice rings out, and I flinch.
Just bury me now. No one is laughing, but no one is stepping forward either. I rolled the dice and bet it all on a lost cause. No one will stand up to the horsemen. No one will go against them.
I just gave away my freedom on a stupid game of chance, where the odds were never in my favor.
Yeah, I’m not exactly feeling like one of the smartest girls in the room at the moment.
Of course, it doesn’t really change anything.
They were still going to keep coming at me if I didn’t agree.
At least I got them to give up something they didn’t want to.
“Take off your underwear.”
I swallow at Luke’s words. My heartbeat ratchets up to a new level. I tilt my head to look at him, but he’s not looking at me. Relief flows through me.
“What?” Grant stammers. “Nah, dude.”
Luke gives him a predatory grin. His fingers tighten against me. “Caden, beat the living shit out of this guy if he doesn’t give us his underwear in ten, nine, eight—”
Caden closes in on Grant, looking way too happy about fighting someone half his size.
“Wait.” Grant shoves his jeans down and kicks off his shoes. “Wait.”
Luke covers my eyes and whispers in my ear, “Can’t destroy your innocence so soon.”
“I’ve seen a dick before.” I take a breath and my body brushes against Luke’s.
His heat bleeds into me from behind. I can feel his hard cock against the base of my spine. He slips the fingers at my waist under my shirt and massages the skin of my stomach. Sparks scatter through my system as he chuckles low and dark in my ear.
“You haven’t seen anything yet.” His lips caress my ear, sending a delicious shiver down my spine. My insides melt.
Screwed. I’m screwed.
“Here,” Grant says. I assume he’s holding out his underwear for Luke.
“Put your jeans back on.” Luke doesn’t remove his hand from my eyes. There’s rustling as Grant works to do as he’s told and giggles of girls in the background.
I try to remain perfectly still because his body tempts me to relax into him. Like he didn’t negotiate to own me.
Maybe I like the idea of being owned?
Yeah, fuck that.
Luke removes his hand from my eyes and lowers it to join the one currently still on my stomach, making even more sparks flood my system. I want to curl into him. These urges will hopefully go away.
Grant stands there with a pair of tighty-whities in his hand.
“Put them in your mouth,” Luke says as easily as if he just ordered someone to pick up a piece of trash and throw it away.
Ew.
“Dude,” Grant whines. It might as well be a why or do I have to?
Eli stalks forward and stops a foot in front of Grant. “Do what you’re told.”
Caden closes in on Grant’s back. “You disrespected our girl.”
Something soft twitters through me at them standing up for me. It’s stupid and girly, but I can’t deny it feels good. Almost as good as Luke’s fingers tracing the edge of my low-cut jeans.
Grant levels his eyes on me, and I almost flinch at the hate in them, but I didn’t force him to say what he said. I lift my chin. He should know by now what the horsemen are like. Fuck him.
Luke steps into me until his front is flush with my back. “Now.”
Grant shoves the underwear into his mouth.
Jack walks over with a roll of duct tape. I wasn’t even aware he left. He tears off a strip and puts it over Grant’s mouth.
“Leave it on for the rest of the day.” Luke lifts his hand from me and waves everyone else away. “Show’s over. Go back to your lunch.”
Caden slaps Grant on the back hard enough for him to jerk forward and let out a muffled oomph. When Eli walks over to me, he holds his hands up for mine. Pressing on my hips, Luke guides me forward a little.
I take Eli’s hands as he helps me step down from the table.
The fact I lost hasn’t quite sunk in. I feel almost numb about it.
Like I didn’t give my senior year to the horsemen.
Like this whole thing is a huge joke, and I’ll wake up in my bed yesterday before school and laugh at the stupid dream I had.
When I sit and everyone else returns to their places at the table, Eli hands me my apple again. Fuck it. A girl’s gotta eat.
“We’ll find a suitable punishment for that stunt.” Luke leans back in his chair and smiles. “Maybe a more private one.”
I remember what he said yesterday about spanking me in private. I nearly choke on the bite of apple in my mouth. What the hell did I do now? It’s not like these guys even like me. They only want to use me. And I gave them permission to use me for the entire year.
I don’t say anything, and the guys finish their lunch chatting with each other about football. No matter how I twist this, I can’t seem to think of a way out.
Fortunately lunchtime is almost over. Unfortunately my next class is with Luke.
“We’ll discuss this more tonight at Caden’s.” Luke makes his way around the table to stand next to me. “From now on, you’ll do as we say.”
I press my lips together and stand, but I’m not going to agree to that. Luckily he doesn’t appear to want a response.
As we walk down the hall, the others fall in line around us as if they’ve done this a hundred times. Each of them splits off until it’s just me and Luke. Before we make it to the classroom, he backs me against the wall again.
I wince as he presses himself against me. Of course, he’s hard again. I’m wondering if he’s ever not hard. I try not to think of what that will mean for me, because that part of me I’m ignoring practically swoons.
“Don’t be a sore loser, Harper.” He lifts my chin with his fingertip. His gloating smile is almost too much. “We have so much to teach you and all the time in the world to practice.”
I press my lips together, knowing anything I say right now will only get me more punishment. I want to yell and scream and tell him where he can shove his dick.
His gaze falls to my mouth, and he brushes his thumb gently over my lower lip. His soft touch stills all my internal fight. That should not feel as good as it does.
“Maybe I’ll even give you a choice again.” His gaze lifts to mine. “Tonight, you can choose your first lesson.”
I want to say gee thanks as sarcastically as possible, but all I can think about is Luke’s hand on my bare ass and exactly how he’s going to figure out how wet I am. And what it would feel like to have his hand between my thighs.
Fuck me. My body doesn’t know what’s good for it apparently. I can’t trust it to not fall into line with whatever they want from me.
“Maybe we’ll start with your mouth.” He pulls down my lower lip and dips the tip of his thumb in between my lips, tracing my bottom teeth. “After all, you haven’t even kissed a guy before.”
That reminder pisses me off again. I glare up at him.
That falls on their shoulders too. If I’d dressed to find a boyfriend, they would have noticed me.
Maybe I could have snagged a boyfriend before they developed an interest. Or sure, I could have been like some others and gone to camp where no one knows the horsemen.
Of course, that would have meant being able to afford camp.
But part of me doesn’t want to give up that piece of me to just any guy.
Forgive me for being picky. Now I have the cream of the crop wanting me, but it’s not by choice. And it’s not like they want me. They don’t even know who I am. They just want my virginity.
They want a body with no personality. Maybe they should find a blow-up doll.
“After school, wait in the library. I’ll come get you myself.” He lowers his head until his warm breath caresses my ear. “I can’t wait to play with you tonight, unicorn.”