Chapter 53 The Lure
The Lure
Eli
I stand in the hallway as she comes out of her class.
“Penny Wright.”
Her brown eyes are wide as she turns to me. Startled, like a little rabbit. I swear she wants to bound away, but I need to make sure she’s not playing games with my girl. I don’t have time for wannabes.
Vicky Martinez stops behind her, looking like she’s going to stay with Penny. I raise an eyebrow. Vicky touches Penny’s arm and then heads down the hall to her next class.
Penny hasn’t said a word and just stands there looking at my chin.
“Come with me.” I don’t look behind me to see if she’s following. She will if she knows what’s good for her. I stop once we turn into an almost empty hallway.
Leaning against the wall, I look down at her. “You want to be friends with Harper.”
She nods, still looking at my chin. Girls like her make me angry. They want us to want them, but if we show them any attention, they curl up into balls or run and hide behind their mommy’s skirt.
“What do you expect to gain from it?” I wait because I know it’s going to take her a hot minute to open up. When I look down the hallway, I see Ashley glaring at me and Penny. She’s wearing my jersey. I’m tempted to walk over and ask for it back. But that would cause trouble for Harper.
Ashley meets my gaze, and her eyes narrow before she stomps away.
For fuck’s sake, that girl thinks I’m her possession.
I don’t belong to anyone. Except temporarily to Harper. I never promised Ashley anything more than a rough fuck, which I know she likes. Bringing my focus back to the nervous rabbit, I clear my throat.
“I don’t have all day.” I let my exasperation slide into my words.
Penny trembles as she dares to lift her gaze to mine. “Harper’s always been a nice girl. But she didn’t want attention, so we never reached out before.”
This part I know. “So what do you get out of this?”
She blows out a breath. “Until last year, we were all in relationships, which meant dates and sex, but it also meant we didn’t get to go to parties and have fun. So this year…” She gestures toward me.
“You want to fuck a horseman?” I raise a brow.
“What? No.” Her eyes go wide before she blinks.
“I mean, maybe, but not necessarily.” Penny looks down at her shoes like she wrote the answers on them.
“We want to go to the parties and be single our senior year. We want to be seen with the hottest guys because that’s how you become someone at this school. Doesn’t everyone want that?”
“Harper fits in how?”
“She has you guys. She needs friends. We can be that for her. You don’t know what the other girls are really like.
” Her eyes bounce up to mine for a second before looking down the hallway.
Finally she sighs. “You gave the cheerleaders power, and they’ve capitalized on it. They control us. Keep us in our place.”
I kick off the wall and step into her space. She swallows but doesn’t look up at me. “You want to take their place.”
She’s not strong like Sidney and the others.
“Fuck no.” She steps back and finally dares to meet my eyes and hold them. “We don’t want their power. We just want some of our own.”
I nod. Power I can understand. “You don’t fuck with our girl’s head, or you’ll need to find an alternative way to graduate.”
Penny ducks her head and nods. “We don’t want to hurt Harper.”
I turn on my heel and walk to class. I need Jack to dig through these girls’ lives and find something we can use to keep them in line or something that could destroy them. Either way, it will make me feel better about this whole arrangement. I don’t trust them.
Harper
“Her name is Penny Wright,” I say for the fifth time, like it’s going to change in the last hour. Maybe Mom thinks I made up the name and will slip up. “Do you want me to pull out a yearbook and point out her picture?”
Mom lifts an eyebrow at the exasperation in my voice. “How do I know this isn’t just a ruse?”
“Honestly you don’t.” I swallow because it is a ruse. “But I’m eighteen, and being alone in this house while you work sucks. Especially after that night. So I’m being proactive.”
I also haven’t been alone in this house, but she doesn’t need to know that.
“I don’t know, Harper.” Mom sets her fork on the side of her plate. “Who is this girl again?”
Pushing my food around my plate, I sigh. “Penny. I’ve gone to school with her since kindergarten, just not in the same classes. We’ve been in art together and have gotten close. We’ve hung out at the football games. Do you want to see our group chats?”
I’m stretching a little, but only to make Mom feel better. It’s really not that big of a deal. “It’s no different than when I stayed at the party the other night.”
Actually, it’s exactly like that, with the exception I’ll only be sleeping with Caden and Luke, not all five guys.
“I guess this is what I’ll have to expect now that you run in the popular crowd.” Mom pushes from the table and takes her plate to the dishwasher. “I’m not sure if I miss the days you only had Kenz or not.”
“I’ll be fine.” Though I don’t know what Eli has planned for tonight. After the previous time he played with me, I’m excited to see what he has in mind. Before Jack drove me home, everyone took another turn kissing me until I almost needed a cold shower to cool down.
“Call me if you need to come home.” Mom gives me a pointed look.
Grinning, I shake my head. “How about I just come home and text you about the change in plans?”
“I guess that would work.” She leans back against the counter. “What’s the plan?”
“I’m going to hang out with the guys to study and then I’ll go to Penny’s.” Not daring to look my mom in the eye, I rise and busy myself with my plate. I’m still wearing Caden’s jersey and I know she knows that’s his last name on my back.
“All the guys? Not number thirty-four?”
Heat floods my face as I load the dishwasher. “Yes, Mom, all the guys. We’re just hanging out. It’s senior week, and the guys wanted me to wear their jerseys. It’s not a big deal.”
Unless you ask the Cheermonsters, and then it’s a huge deal.
“I’m serious, if you need more condoms and don’t want to buy them, I’ll get you all you could need.” Mom watches me carefully now.
I straighten and look her in the eyes. “I don’t need condoms, Mom.”
Not a lie. Not sure the guys would use them if I asked at this point. We’re clean and monogamous, so it’s fine.
“One of those guys will get under your skin. Passion can be overwhelming.” She’s not wrong. She shakes her head. “You need to be prepared for when it happens.”
“And with all the condoms you’ve gotten me, I will be,” I tease.
She glances at her phone and sighs. “I need to get ready for work. Give me a hug.”
I step into her arms, and she holds me tight, stroking her hand over my back like she did when I was little. Her coconut scent fills my senses.
For a second, I relax into the feeling of Mom. Feeling like nothing could ever go wrong. That she’ll always be here to protect me.
“Don’t let those boys get away with anything.” She pulls back and meets my gaze.
Smiling, I roll my eyes. “Way to be vague, Mom.”
“All encompassing, not vague.” Mom smiles and taps my cheek. “Knock ’em dead, kid.”
She heads upstairs to get ready for work, and I pack for a night at Luke’s house. We need to get Nico’s jersey from Hannah, which I’m not looking forward to, and I really don’t want to see her in Caden’s jersey for the rest of the week, but we have a deal.
I figured we’d go to Caden’s again tonight, but Luke informed me earlier we’d be at his place. My memory of his place is dinner with his father.
Shuddering, I grab my toiletries from the bathroom. Mr. Foster is intimidating and cold. Just like Luke.
I pause. Well, kind of like Luke. There are moments with Luke that don’t feel cold or intimidating. Little moments I want to capture and hold onto, because they’re fleeting and don’t always feel real even as they happen.
I grab my bag and my backpack. As I head down the stairs, I call out, “Good night, Mom. I love you.”
“Love you! Be safe.” Her voice comes from her room.
When I leave the house, the sky is definitely dimming. But it’s still light out as I throw my things into the passenger seat. Something makes a scraping noise. My heart stops as I spin around.
Nothing’s there. I clutch my keys in my hand so hard it hurts.
I’m alone out here. I scan the area, but nothing moves. The neighborhood is as quiet as it usually is.
Fuck. It’s fine. Probably a small animal. I shake it off and round the car to slide into the driver’s seat.
Butterflies fill my gut as I start my car and pull out of the driveway.
Once again, I’m willingly going to a horseman’s house. It still feels weird and forbidden. When I pull up to Luke’s house and into the open garage spot he promised would be waiting for me, I drag in a breath and press my hand to my stomach to calm my nerves.
When the garage door goes down, I jump and clutch at the steering wheel. My eyes search and find Luke striding toward me. The butterflies riot. Everything about Luke is a teenage girl’s wet dream.
He’s hot and confident and commanding. Everything he does has purpose. His hair is slicked back from his shower after practice. His blue eyes capture and hold mine as he opens my car door.
“Let’s go.” He jerks his head toward the door he came from.
Drawing in a breath, I release it. I’ve been alone with Luke before. I shouldn’t be nervous. But of all the horsemen, he’s still the one who intimidates me the most.
When I grab my things off the seat, he takes them from me before I can protest or get out of the car. As I stand and close the car door, he turns and walks.
Following, I glance all around. The garage has multiple cars, most of which have covers over them. I smooth my skirt down, self-conscious without panties on. Defying Eli didn’t even pop into my head.
If Luke had commanded it, I probably would have done something like I did last time. But Eli doesn’t want my defiance. I’m sure he’d punish me for it, but defiance lights Luke up better than most things. He’d prefer to conquer me than have me submit meekly.
We walk through the darkened house. I saw a little of it when I was here before, but I’m curious to see where Luke grew up.
It’s dark and tastefully designed with absolutely no heart in it.
It’s beautiful and cold. When we reach the stairs, I hesitate.
I didn’t think about being alone with Luke in his bedroom.
Luke stops and turns back to me. I back up a step. I’m not sure why. Self-preservation? But then his eyes soften, and he holds his hand out to me.
Little moments.
Unable to resist, I take his hand, and we walk up the stairs. He leads me down the hallway and into a room I recognize from the webcam. His scent is heavy here. It fills me, making my insides flame higher.
Luke sets my stuff on the chair in the corner and returns to me still in the doorway. “What’s wrong, princess? Shy?”
It’s a challenge, and everything in me wants to answer it.
“Not particularly.” I shrug and look up at him through my lashes. All day they’ve touched me and keyed me up. This will be my first opportunity to do something about it.
Grabbing my arm, he tugs me out of the doorway. Pushing me against the wall, he closes the door and locks it. I swallow, suddenly trapped with him and not hating the feeling.
I get wetter as he presses against me. All hard muscle and strength.
“The others should get here at seven.” His hand slides into my hair and tips my chin up.
My heartbeat surges. “But you told me, six thirty.”
He smirks, lowering his lips to hover over mine. “I know.”