Chapter 2
Iforced a smile as Luce rambled on about our latest English assignment, trying to ignore the pointed giggles and whispers coming from the table where Julia and Hannah were sitting nearby.
The dining hall was packed with students enjoying their lunch break, but somehow their snide comments seemed to carry perfectly to our table.
Megan scowled over at them before rolling her eyes and turning her attention back to Luce.
Kieran, a Regent from Syndicate, sat with us, one arm possessively around Megan’s shoulder and his free hand holding his phone.
He looked like he wasn’t paying anyone any attention, but the way his arm tightened around Megan told me he was fully aware of every word that the bitches on the next table were saying.
Part of me loved seeing how he and Megan interacted; they were clearly seeing more benefits to the Consort arrangement than we were at Covenant House.
“And then Professor Matthews said the essay is worth forty percent of our final grade,” Luce was saying, her voice pulling me back to our conversation about English Literature. “Cade? Are you even listening?”
“Sorry,” I mumbled, pushing my barely touched burger around my plate. “Just distracted.”
It had been hell since the First Offence Protocol Punishment.
Three weeks of walking on eggshells while maintaining a perfect facade of compliance.
Three weeks of desperate, frustrated nights alone in my bed, or worse, sharing a bed with one of the bastards that were doing this to me.
I knew the guys were suffering too, and I was glad about that, but fuck me if I wasn’t almost at climbing the walls phase of horniness right now.
I was only human, and despite the class A dickishness of the three men who tormented me, they were still unfairly sculptured walking thirst traps, and I was long overdue a release.
Of course, I was working to get my own back on them and had started being strategic in what I wore around the guys.
If I was going to be frustrated, then I was damn sure going to make sure they were feeling it too.
Sylvia reached across the table and squeezed my hand.
“You okay? You’ve barely eaten.”
I nodded, though we both knew it was a lie. Nothing had been okay since that night. The memory of being on my knees, surrounded by the three Regents, and what they-
No, I shut down that train of thought before it could take hold. I couldn’t let them see how their “punishment” still affected me.
“I’m fine,” I assured her, forcing a chip past the knot in my throat. “Just not very hungry.”
A sudden shift in the atmosphere made my spine stiffen.
Both Luce and Sylvia glanced behind me and then back at me with worried looks.
They knew something had happened, but Regent contracts were strict about what went on behind the closed doors of the three clubhouses.
Megan grimaced before looking away, and I even caught a glimmer of sympathy on Kieran’s face before it was back to the bored mask he wore.
I knew the reason for the change, though; I could sense him the moment he walked into the room.
It was like I could feel his eyes on me, even before I knew he was here.
My stomach clenched as familiar footsteps approached our table.
Ryder. Of course it would be Ryder.
I kept my eyes on my plate, counting breaths until I felt his presence behind me. His cologne, expensive and masculine, wrapped around me like a physical touch. Three weeks of this dance had taught me exactly what would happen next.
“Poison,” his voice was honey-sweet with an edge of steel. “Miss me?” I turned, plastering on my best smile as I looked up at him.
“Of course, my Regent.” The words tasted like ash in my mouth, but I’d learned to say them perfectly. Just like I’d learned to accept what came next.
Ryder’s hands found my waist, lifting me effortlessly onto his lap as he took one of the vacant seats next to mine.
I went willingly, resistance would only make things worse, and settled against him with practised ease.
His arms wrapped around my waist, one hand splaying possessively across my stomach while the other rested on my thigh, just below the hem of my skirt.
“You smell divine,” he murmured, nuzzling into my neck.
His lips brushed against my pulse point, and I couldn’t suppress the shiver that ran through me.
“So responsive, even after all this time.” I bit back a retort, knowing it would only encourage him.
Instead, I maintained my smile, even as his teeth grazed my skin and his hand inched higher on my thigh.
“Ryder,” I said softly, keeping my voice sweet despite the warning in it. “We’re in public.” He chuckled against my neck, the vibration sending unwanted sparks of pleasure down my spine.
“Just reminding everyone who you belong to, Poison.” The possessive growl in his voice made my thighs clench involuntarily.
All this enforced celibacy had left my body hypersensitive to their touch, even as my mind rebelled against it.
The worst part was that they knew it, knew exactly what they were doing to me with their constant teasing and touches, and Ryder took advantage of it.
He was the most skilled at edging along the line of the new enforced rules without breaking them, and he knew he was getting to me.
“I think they know,” I replied, proud that my voice remained steady despite the way his fingers were tracing patterns on my inner thigh.
Luce cleared her throat awkwardly, reminding us we weren’t alone. My cheeks burned as I caught Sylvia’s concerned look and Megan’s carefully averted eyes. This was part of their game too, the public displays, the casual dominance, ensuring everyone knew exactly who controlled me.
“How are your classes going, cousin?” Ryder asked Luce, though his attention remained firmly on my neck. His other hand had slipped under my t-shirt, fingers trailing along the bare skin of my stomach.
“Fine,” Luce answered quickly, her discomfort obvious. “We were just discussing the English Lit essay-“
“Ryder.” Logan’s commanding voice cut through the tension like a knife.
I looked up to find him and Cole approaching our table, and something in my chest tightened at the sight of them.
Logan looked immaculate as always in his fitted black t-shirt and jeans, every inch the powerful leader he was.
Cole followed a step behind, his eyes carefully avoiding mine as they had for the past three weeks.
“Put her down,” Logan ordered, his tone brooking no argument. “This is where people eat.”
“Mmm,” Ryder purred against my neck. “I know what I could eat.” My cheeks flushed again, and I resisted the strong urge to clench my thighs, knowing it would tell him he was getting to me.
“Ryder,” Logan snapped again, and Ryder’s arms tightened around me for a moment before he reluctantly complied, helping me back into my own chair. I smoothed my skirt, trying to ignore the way my skin still tingled where he’d touched me.
The rules. Everything came down to the rules now. Rules they’d created, rules I’d turned against them, rules that were slowly driving us all mad. But hopefully, rules that would be the key to my freedom, if I could hold out long enough.
Logan took the seat on my other side, effectively boxing me in between him and Ryder. Cole chose the seat furthest from me, pulling out his English textbook without acknowledging anyone at the table.
“I trust your morning has been productive?” Logan asked, his question directed at me, though his eyes scanned the dining hall with calculated interest.
“Yes, thank you,” I replied automatically. The words came easily now, part of the perfect Consort persona I’d crafted. “All my assignments are up to date.”
“Good girl,” he murmured absently, and I hated the way those two words made heat pool between my legs. Ryder raised an eyebrow at me, clearly amused by my discomfort.
This was my life now, caught between three powerful men who seemed determined to break me, even as I fought to maintain my sanity.
But I wouldn’t break. I couldn’t. Because the moment I gave in, the moment I begged for their touch like they wanted, I would truly belong to them, and then I would lose the only chance I had to get out of this fucking contract.
And that was something I refused to let happen.
The tension at our table was thick enough to cut with a knife. Julia’s periodic giggles from the nearby table weren’t helping matters, especially when I caught snippets of their whispered conversation that seemed to revolve around me and my “situation” with the Regents.
“The English essay,” Luce tried to diffuse the situation, her voice slightly stronger as she addressed Cole.
“I was thinking about focusing on the symbolism of power in-“ Cole’s head snapped up, his eyes fixing on her with such intensity that Luce physically recoiled. The cold stare continued until she looked away, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. My hands clenched into fists under the table. Cole’s hostility had been one of the hardest things to deal with these past weeks, but it was me he was angry at, not Luce, and she didn’t deserve to be on the receiving end.
I was about to step out of good girl Consort mode to snap at him, but Ryder beat me to it.
“Cole.” Ryder’s voice carried a warning edge. “That’s my cousin you’re glaring at.”
The tension shifted, morphing into something darker as Cole and Ryder engaged in a silent battle of wills across the table. I could feel Logan tensing beside me, ready to intervene if necessary. These moments had become more frequent lately, cracks showing in the Regents’ usually unified front.
“Whatever,” Cole muttered finally, slamming his book shut. He pushed back from the table with enough force to make the dishes rattle and stormed off without another word.