Chapter Fourteen
I shut the bedroom door and collapsed against it.
Then, I remembered he could see my silhouette through it and found the willpower to casually push off it and walk away.
The bathroom seemed like a safe place to collect myself.
If that was even possible.
“Holy shit.”
Not being allowed to have my phone through this challenge hadn’t been a problem for me. The only person I talked to was Gia. And since she’d spearheaded the campaign for me to join this thing, we’d accepted the unfortunate separation.
But at that moment, I needed my best friend.
I was one day away from winning the Honor Challenge.
One freaking day.
I could do it without her. I had to do it without her.
But dammit, I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to do this by myself because I was a wanton, sex-crazed ho bag, and I couldn’t be trusted anymore. To be honest, I had serious doubts about surviving the six days if that was Max Dread actually trying to seduce me.
If that wasn’t even his worst?
Game over.
Granted, if he’d been trying to seduce me the whole time, I wouldn’t have seen the side of him that made me want to give in, but still. The guy had sex appeal oozing out of his pores. Climbing him like a tree had been my initial thought, and one I suppressed the rest of the time by reminding myself I hated him, he was only using me, and I’d have to see his stupid, smug face afterward if I ever crossed that line. Except…
One—I didn’t hate him.
Two—I actually believed him when he said things were different and he wasn’t trying to use me to get to Kingston and Landon anymore.
And three—I liked the asshole’s stupid, smug face, alright?
So, sue me!
It was a damn good face, and that smirk triggered a Pavlovian response in my body at this point.
Floodgates? Open for business, people!
Was I freaking out?
Was I spiraling?
Probably. But the guy just ordered me to get off in front of him and imagine his hands were mine while I did it. That had to be a move from the Master’s Level Knights’ Seduction handbook, because I didn’t even try to think of anyone else.
I didn’t want to think of anyone else.
Talking a big game about how I didn’t want anyone or anything more than The Quest had been going perfectly fine for me until Max flipped everything I thought about him on its head.
I sank to the bathroom floor, burying my head in my hands.
He hadn’t touched me.
But what if that was part of his plan?
Lower my defenses. Seduce my hormone-riddled body with his general hotness and my fragile heart with his charm. Then, go in for the kill.
No matter how hard I tried to remind myself that I needed to win this for all the reasons I started it and came back, in the last five days, Max had stripped me of those as well.
I mean, not entirely.
I still had to eat and pay my bills and chip away at a mountain of never-ending debt.
But if I really planned to reevaluate my future in dance, then I could get a nice, normal job for that. I could leave here tomorrow and never look back. Couldn’t I?
Couldn’t I?
The resounding no echoing in my head filled me with doubt.
I needed answers.
Not even because of them, but because of who I was. Now and before this. The girl my parents—my dad, especially—raised me to be. The girl who hunted for secret messages and clues.
Yes. I’d, admittedly, let go of that when I got here, accepting that I wouldn’t get all the answers. Letting things lie when I shouldn’t have.
And it had gotten me exactly nowhere.
Staying offered the benefit of enough money to clear my debt and set myself up for whatever future I wanted. It bought me time to get answers. And yes, it also gave me the chance to get to know three guys who’d found their way under my skin, into my pants, and through the walls around my seriously so-poorly-guarded heart.
I wouldn’t give that up for one moment.
Deep down, I knew that.
Lifting my head, I took in how I’d curled into a ball on a bath mat and rolled my eyes. I pushed up from the floor. And bracing my hands on my hip, I stared myself down in the mirror.
“You are a bad bitch. Don’t forget that.” I pointed at my reflection. “You’re going to win The Quest, get answers, and you’ll bring those three guys to their knees.”
Then, I growled.
“You can also get on yours, if they’ve earned it and the mood is right.” I nodded to myself, squaring my shoulders and feeling much better since I’d talked myself out of a spiral. “Now, stop talking to yourself, and go get some rest.”
The resounding yes, ma’am echoing in my head gave me nothing but confidence.
The next day, it rained, and Max insisted we needed to stay in the cabin. Despite my arguments, historical data, and scientific proof that it was perfectly safe to drive in the rain, he wouldn’t budge.
“Trust me, Princess. This area is prone to mudslides and falling rocks. Better safe than sorry, right?”
“I guess,” I muttered into my plate of waffles. “But what are we supposed to do all day?”
Max’s eyebrows rose, his lips pursing like he held in an answer I didn’t want to hear.
We hadn’t addressed the elephant in the room.
But his eyes darted to the couch before he hastily averted his gaze, so what happened last night was on his mind, probably as much as it was on mine.
“We could play some of those board games?” I offered.
The non-stripping versions.
“Sure.” He set his plate in the sink and turned back to me. “I’m assuming a game of strip poker is a…”
“No.” I laughed. “But I figured that’d be high on your list.”
“Damn.” He laughed and walked past me to the living room. “Should’ve gone with strip Monopoly.”
I couldn’t hide my smile as I followed suit with my dishes. Joining him in the living room, I sat on the couch since he’d taken up residence in his chair. Carefully choosing not to sit right where I’d been last night, I sat a little closer to him.
Which was practical. For game purposes.
We played a round of fully clothed Battleship and fully clothed Sorry before realizing most of the games had missing pieces. After another round of the games we’d already played, we shared a look. Unsure what to do next, we played war and a round of fully clothed poker before giving up on the games for lunch.
As I sat at the counter, Max whipped us up some BLTs on fresh sourdough bread. I glanced at the gift basket on the counter, and ended up eyeing it the entire time I ate my lunch.
Max nudged my thigh with his knee. “It’s not going to bite you, you know?”
Rolling my eyes, I hopped up from my stool and went over to it. Before peeking inside, I turned back to him, shooting him a pointed look.
“No funny business this time. Promise?”
He fought a smile but nodded his agreement. “Go on, then. It’s okay to be curious.”
“I know that.”
“Then, what’s the problem?”
I arched my brow. “Uh, you mean besides the last thing you pulled out of here being a butt plug?”
He laughed heartily at that. “I take it that’s not a kink you’ve explored.”
“Not like that.”
Eyebrows rising, he sat up straighter. “Do tell, Princess.”
“It’s definitely not as exciting as you’re imagining, so settle down over there.” I grabbed the basket and brought it to my stool beside Max. “My ex was really hung up on the fact that I wouldn’t sleep with him. A giant red flag, I know. He tried to talk me into butt stuff a few times before I broke up with him.”
Max’s body tensed. “Did he ever forc?—”
“No.” I shook my head. “Nothing like that. He was just…kind of a douche, looking back.”
“I have noticed your taste in men is questionable. Present company excluded, of course.”
I rolled my eyes, fighting a grin as I refused to respond to that. “Anyway, it’s not unexplored. I just never got to your level, apparently.”
“My level?”
“Yeah, you know? Butt plugs and all your dark promises to fuck my ass.”
He coughed, nearly choking on a bite of his sandwich. Hitting his chest with his fist, he cleared his airway and gaped at me.
“What?” I asked innocently, reaching into the basket and pulling out the first item I touched.
Max grabbed the bottle of lube from my hand, his voice slightly hoarse. “Okay! New rules. No more basket. No more talk of butt stuff. Unless you’re offering, obviously, but fucking don’t right now.”
“Wait! So you’re not going to share your butt sexual history with me?”
“No,” he snapped.
I narrowed my eyes, not thinking that question through and not liking the thought of hearing Max’s sexual history of any kind, knowing the company he kept.
Glaring, I jumped up from my barstool. “Fine. I’m taking a nap.”
Max groaned. “Okay. Nothing off the table, but from here on out, we’re playing a different game.”
He filched the wine bottle out of the basket.
“It’s lunchtime, Max.”
“You want to swap horror stories without alcohol?”
“Good point.”
After grabbing two glasses, he made his way to the living room. He sat back down in the oversized chair and got to work on opening the wine as I plopped on the couch.
“Okay, hit me. Which game are we playing?”
Max yanked the cork out with a pop.
He poured the wine and handed me a glass, his lips curving with that devilish grin.
“Truth or dare, Princess.”