Chapter 3
The scratch of Cade’s pencil against paper was driving me fucking insane.
Each hesitant mark, each frustrated sigh, each shift in her chair sent sparks of irritation through my already frayed nerves.
We’d been at this for over an hour, and she was still struggling with the basic problems I’d assigned.
Or maybe she wasn’t struggling at all. Maybe this was just another way to push my buttons, another calculated move in her campaign to drive us all mad.
“That’s wrong,” I said flatly as she started writing out another incorrect solution. “You’re not even trying anymore.”
Cade’s shoulders tensed, but she didn’t look up at me.
She’d been avoiding direct eye contact since the drive back to the house.
In fact, she had been acting weird since I found her in the bathroom with Megan.
The mix of what looked like fear and guilt on her face as I stormed into the women’s bathroom flashed through my mind.
I was sure it was nothing, but I made a mental note to speak to Megan’s Regents about it, just in case.
Or maybe I was overreacting. Stress levels were high all around right now, and maybe she just couldn’t stand to look at any of us after what happened three weeks ago. After what she made us do to her.
The memory hit me like a physical blow. Cade on her knees, tears streaming down her face as she took my cock in her mouth.
The way she’d fought us at first, then submitted when she realised resistance was useless.
The sound of her choked sobs, the feel of her lips wrapped around my shaft, the taste of her tears…
I shifted uncomfortably in my chair, trying to push the images, and my quickly hardening cock, away.
But they kept coming, mixing with older, darker memories.
Times when I’d been the one on my knees, when I’d been the one crying and begging for mercy.
Times I’d sworn I’d never make anyone else feel that helpless.
Until Cade forced our hand. Until she made me become the type of person I had been avoiding coming.
The very reason I didn’t want to end up back under the power of Dominic Blake and his many circles of Palace hell was because he wanted to strip my soul and turn me into one of his monsters.
I had fought so hard, done things I’m not proud of, all to avoid that fate.
Yet the purple-haired temptress sitting next to me had succeeded with ease where Blake had failed.
“I am trying,” Cade muttered, erasing her work with enough force to tear the paper.
“Maybe you’re just a shit teacher.” The words sparked fresh anger in my chest. She had no idea of the torment I was going through just being this close to her.
Three weeks of nothing but my hand was taking its toll.
I’d even avoided Ryder, knowing that he would be all too willing to help relieve some of the tension.
But I was determined, now more than ever, to break this woman.
I wanted her to know that when she finally gave in, that when she begged for us, that I was stronger than her.
But, fuck me, if she didn’t break soon, then I wasn’t sure if I could hold out.
“Or maybe,” I shot back, “you’re too busy plotting with McIntyre to focus on actual schoolwork.” I noticed as she flinched and her pencil snapped in her grip. Finally, a reaction.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said carefully, but I could hear the tremor in her voice, and fury built deep inside me. She was lying. She was such a terrible liar.
“Don’t fucking insult my intelligence, Pet.
” I leant forward, dropping my voice to a dangerous whisper.
“I can see the guilt on your face even now. And before in the bathroom with Megan. Do you really think that you can hide anything from us?” It pissed me off that she was still lying about her involvement with that bastard, McIntyre.
The guy was a grade A dick, and he was dangerous.
Even if she hated us that much, how could she not see what he was?
Especially with Luce being her friend. Surely she would have told Cade what McIntyre and his friends did to her back in high school.
Hell, it took me, Logan and Ryder to get involved before they backed down, and I would have killed all of them back then if it wasn’t for Ryder’s dad saying a certain crazy bastard was to remain unharmed.
Colour drained from Cade’s face, but she lifted her chin defiantly.
“What? Have you got cameras in the public bathrooms now? That’s a new low, even for you three.”
“We have cameras and eyes everywhere,” I hissed. I watched as a series of emotions flew across her face. My eyes were drawn to the lump in her throat as she gulped. But then she met my eyes straight on, the look of defiance shining in them.
“Then you will fucking know that the only thing that went on in that bathroom was girl talk,” she snapped back.
“Feel free to watch and see, of course, that is, if you get off on menstrual cramps and makeup.” She was trying to be vulgar on purpose.
Most men would cringe away at the thought of that time of the month.
But I was definitely the wrong person to try that on.
I had a fascination with it that bordered on obscene, and my cock twitched at the images of fucking into her bloodied pussy.
Fuck. I tried to think of something else, anything else, before I gave in and forced her onto the desk to find out if she was telling the truth or just bluffing.
But just seeing her sitting there, the way she leant against the desk, causing her skirt to rise up just enough to tease.
“Do you really think that I don’t see what you are doing?
” I growled, my jaw clenched so tight the words scraped raw in my throat, fingers curling like claws into the arms of the chair, leather creaking under the strain.
“You’ve been trying to manipulate us since that first day you forced that fucking rule into the contract.
” My voice dropped, low and guttural, as I leant forward.
“Playing innocent, acting like you don’t know exactly what you do to us.
” My cock strained against my zipper, aching and relentless, pulse pounding where it pressed trapped and desperate against fabric.
“You think that you can escape us, but you really are going to learn that it’s just not that easy.
” My cock was painfully hard now, memories of the punishment mixing with fantasies of bending her over this desk and showing her exactly what she did to me.
“I’m trying to manipulate you? Are you fucking serious?
I never wanted any of this!” Cade exploded, shoving away from the desk so violently her chair toppled backwards.
“You three forced me into this contract, forced me into this house, and now you have the audacity to act like I’m the one playing games?
Hell, I wouldn’t even be surprised if you were the ones who manipulated me into the bloody Courts house and that savage hunt in the first place.
” Shit. Panic rushed through my system. If anyone found out that we were the ones responsible for faking Cadence’s application and acceptance to the Courts, there would be severe consequences.
Everything that we had worked for, everything we had done to get us to this position, would be for nothing.
Not to mention that men had disappeared into the Hole for lesser crimes.
I had to shut down that train of thought straightaway.
I was on my feet before she finished, boots slamming into the floorboards, crowding her backward as she stumbled. Her sweet scent wrapped around me, thick as smoke.
“You want to talk about games, Pet?” I snarled, my breath hot against her temple as she hit the wall.
“How about the way you parade around in those tiny shorts,” I dragged a fingertip down her trembling arm, goosebumps erupting in its wake, “when you think we’re not looking?
” Her breath hitched, a sharp, wet sound.
“The little sighs,” my thumb brushed the hammering pulse at her wrist, “moans when Ryder touches you at lunch.” She jerked against my grip, her hip bumping mine, the contact sending a jolt of electricity straight to my groin.
“The way you bend over in front of Logan,” I growled, pressing closer, my thigh slotting between hers, the heat of her burning through denim.
“Like you’re begging for his hands.” My voice dropped lower as I cornered her against the wall.
“The way you look at me during these tutoring sessions, how you bait me, like you’re imagining all the ways I could make you scream?
” All the rage inside me was heating up into the pent-up desire inside me.
It was ready to come crashing down around me, and I wanted to bring the beautiful tease in front of me down to her knees with me.
“Is that it, Cadence? Do you want me to make you scream?”
“Fuck you,” she spat, but I could see the way her pupils dilated, the way her cheeks flushed and she looked like she was looking for an exit. “You don’t know anything about what I’m thinking.”
“No?” I pressed closer, caging her between my arms. “Then why are you breathing so fast? Why haven’t you pushed me away?
Why do you look like you are seconds away from giving in entirely?
” Her hand shot out to shove at my chest, but I caught her wrist, pinning it to the wall beside her head, feeling her pulse as it beat wildly under my palm.
“Don’t start something you can’t finish, Pet. Remember your precious rules.”
“My rules?” she exclaimed. “Rules you forced on me!” she snarled, struggling against my grip. “Rules designed to keep me trapped here as your personal whore!” The word hit me like a slap.
“Is that what you think this is? You think we see you as just another whore?” I leant in until my lips brushed her ear.
“A whore would have given in by now. A whore wouldn’t drive us crazy with need and then deny us.
A whore wouldn’t make us want to break every fucking rule and ruin our whole lives, and the lives of those around us, just to hear her beg for our cocks. ”
Her whole body shuddered at my words, and I felt her press almost imperceptibly closer.
“I hate you,” she whispered, but there was a tremor in her voice that betrayed her. I chuckled, brushing my nose against her neck, taking in her sweet scent.
“No, you don’t,” I replied, nipping at her earlobe.
“You hate that you want us. You hate that even after everything we have done to you, your body still craves our touch.” My free hand slid down her side, fingers splaying possessively over her ribcage, the hitch in her breath as I grazed the curve of her breast. “You hate that right now; you’re wet and aching for me to break your rules.
And you hate that I am playing your game, and I’m playing it better than you. ”
“Cole...” Her voice was barely a breath, somewhere between a warning and a plea.
“Just ask for it,” I murmured against her skin. “One word, Pet. That’s all it would take. Just beg me to touch you, and I’ll give you everything you’ve been denying us, and everything you are denying yourself.”
“Please…”
“One word,” I promised, teeth scraping her jaw, her moan a hot, damp puff against my neck. “I’ll make you forget every rule. Every lie. Everything but my name.” I traced the pulse on her neck with my tongue, feeling her shudder. “One word and I will ruin you and have you begging for more.”
For a brief moment, I thought she might actually do it. Her body was practically vibrating with need, her breath coming in short pants against my neck. But then her spine stiffened, and she turned her face away.
“No,” she said firmly. “I’ll never beg you for anything.
” I knew she was lying. I knew that if I pushed a little harder, she would lose the fucking stubborn streak and fold for us.
But before I could respond, a slow clap echoed through the office.
We both turned to find Ryder leaning against the door frame, a predatory grin on his face.
“Well, well,” he drawled. “Looks like tutoring is getting interesting.”