19. I Like the Torture
I LIKE THE TORTURE
Axel
Moments after turning off the security cameras and using the code to unlock the side door of the huge white colonial, the quick clatter of heels hit the pavers trailing from the front yard. I groaned internally, knowing who would pop out around the corner any second.
“I told you to wait in the car, Lorelei.”
She flicked her blond locks off her shoulder. “Maybe I would have if you hadn’t parked in the darkest corner of the street. Someone could have attacked me.”
I scoffed. “We’re in a gated community full of millionaires. The crime rate is nonexistent.”
“You never know.” She peered around me at the opened door. “What are we waiting for?”
I shook my head and slipped inside with my fake girlfriend on my tail. She’d refused to stay at her parents’ house, which I understood, but I had to be an idiot for allowing her to tag along while I broke into a house to steal a computer.
As we stalked through the gigantic kitchen, Lorelei’s heels thundered against the polished tiles, and she cursed when her hip bumped into the center island.
“Why are we stumbling around in the dark?” When she reached for a light switch on the wall, I snatched her hand.
“Don’t turn that on.” My gaze flickered to her designer shoes. “And please, try to walk a little quieter.”
Her brows slammed down as she studied my serious expression. “Are we supposed to be in this house?”
“Of course.”
“Does the owner know we’re in the house?”
I chewed on my bottom lip to prevent the grimace from breaking through. “Not exactly.”
Lorelei’s jaw dropped, and she yanked her hand out of my grip. “Are we breaking in?”
“I did tell you to wait in the car.” I dug a small flashlight out of my pocket and pointed it toward the exit on the other side of the kitchen. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get this over with.”
Her fingers curled around my bicep, the whole length of her body pressing against my side. “What if we get caught?”
“No one’s home.” I smoothed my palm over her arm to calm the frantic pitter-patter of her heart. “I’m just being cautious. Better safe than sorry.”
Lorelei nodded and finally relaxed, but instead of releasing me, her hand wrapped around mine, our fingers lacing together. “Lead the way.”
Of course committing a crime didn’t scare her off. Blondie had bigger balls than that little weasel Vaughn.
He just had to text me at The Battenberg’s house to demand I conduct this stupid fucking mission immediately while the mansion was empty. I felt like such an ass for leaving dinner early.
We traveled through the foyer and up the grand, double-sided staircase, Lorelei’s footsteps almost as quiet as mine now.
I’d studied the floorplan and memorized the quickest path to the office on the second floor, but the hallways of slick marble, plush carpet runners, and gilded fixtures seemed to go on forever.
“Your dad’s kind of a dick,” I blurted as we turned a corner.
Lorelei frowned. “He’s not the easiest guy to impress.”
Understatement.
“What’s the deal with him pairing you up with that asshole Brock?” I asked, peering at her out of the corner of my eye, her expression hidden in shadows. “Haversham is loaded, but so is your family.”
Her hand flinched in mine. “My father doesn’t always reveal the motives behind his decisions.”
“Yeah, but—”
She jerked me to a stop, her head tilting. “Do you hear that?”
“Stop messing around, Lore.” Was she trying to divert the conversation away from her father and the arrangement with Brock?
“I’m serious, Ax.” She flicked her hand toward the right where we were headed. “Is that whistling?”
A faint tune suddenly infiltrated the darkened hallway.
“Someone’s coming.” I yanked Lorelei through the nearest door, shutting it quietly as steady footsteps approached.
“I thought you said no one was home!” she whisper-hissed.
No one was supposed to be home. Unless, of course, Vaughn set me up.
Did he really want to fuck with me that badly that he’d have me break into a home only to get caught?
“Whose house is this anyway?” Lorelei searched the bedroom for hints, but the generic cream, gold, and white décor some designer probably charged an arm and a leg for didn’t provide a single clue.
“No idea,” I muttered under my breath.
Vaughn hadn’t given me enough time to conduct any research before springing this shit on me tonight.
The whistling and footsteps grew louder, and the doorknob began to turn.
I lifted Lorelei, dashed into the closet on the other side of the room, and eased the door closed until barely a crack remained. A middle-aged woman in a white and gray uniform strolled inside and flicked on the lights, her lips pursing as she perused the bedroom.
Had she heard us?
She tucked graying strands of dark hair back into the low bun at her nape. When she spotted the worn leather purse on the pristine white dresser, crinkles formed around her eyes as she smiled.
“There you are!”
“The maid,” I mouthed to Lorelei as she panted beside me.
The woman drew a pair of keys out of her purse, jingled them, and then tossed them back. “Can’t drive my car without these.”
She had to be on her way out.
Hopefully.
I quietly shut the door and leaned my head against the cool wood. Boxes packed the closet, so we barely had any room, squeezing us together in the small space. Lorelei’s scent permeated the air and filled my lungs with every inhale, making my head spin. And my dick twitch.
“Why do you have to smell so damn good, blondie?” I whispered, angling toward her as she arched a brow.
I couldn’t stop the memories of us in the hallway at her charity event from bubbling forward. She’d tasted even fucking better, and the filthy thoughts that had invaded my mind while I kissed her, while I pressed my cock between her thighs, had nearly driven me out of my mind.
I was probably getting blue balls. My dick had gotten used to daily play dates with Cordi.
“Are you flirting with me, Ax?”
“No.” I pinned her against the door with barely an inch between us, our breaths mingling. “I’m just wondering if you do that shit on purpose to drive guys crazy.”
Stop flirting, you idiot!
Blondie smirked. “I didn’t realize my choice of perfume had such an effect on you. I’ll forgo it next time.”
I pressed my hands on the doorjamb at the top and leaned into her, choking back a groan as her warmth seeped into my clothes. “Don’t. I like the torture.”
Stop flirting. Stop flirting. Stop flirting.
Even with the warning blaring through my mind, my gaze dipped to her lips as she licked them. It would only take a slight tilt of my head to capture them with mine and taste that delectable flavor of hers again.
The bedroom door closed, shattering the horny haze that had me by the balls, and I pushed away from Lorelei with a wry smile.
“I think we’re clear.”
She swallowed and nodded, probably freaked out by my behavior.
I needed to get my shit under control. I was head over heels for Cordelia.
Right?
My gaze drifted from Lorelei’s mouth to her delicate throat, and I found myself wondering what it would feel like to drag my tongue across her soft skin.
To feel her pulse fluttering like hummingbird wings.
To hear her gasps of pleasure while I parted her thighs and—
I shook the wicked fantasies from my mind before I came in my fucking pants.
We need to get the hell out of this closet.
Once we were out and Lorelei’s intoxicating scent wasn’t clouding my brain, I hurried to the study. Locking the door behind me, I unhooked the cords connecting the laptop to a power source and monitor. While I was distracted, Lorelei grabbed a silver frame from the corner of the desk.
“This guy looks familiar.”
I didn’t spare the photo a glance as I focused on the task at hand. “You’ve probably seen him around town.”
She lifted the frame into my line of sight. “Isn’t he the freshman who fell off the bluffs at the beginning of our sophomore year?”
The laptop slid from my fingers and dropped back to the desk with a loud clatter as my attention jerked to the copper-haired guy with faint freckles across his nose.
What. The. Fuck?
Peter Dupont’s grinning face stared back at me from beneath the glass, his ocean blue eyes brimming with life.
The life I stole.
Did the Duponts move? I’d spent plenty of time lurking outside their house on a different street for over a year, wishing I could resurrect their son.
I snatched the frame from Lorelei as my heart slammed against my ribs, and the memories of that night crashed over me.
“Take another shot, Peter.” I threw my arm around his shoulders, the liquor bottle sloshing in my hand. “Don’t you want to be like us?”
The shy freshman swallowed hard, his face already green like he was on the verge of puking. “I don’t feel so good.”
“Hey, guys! I have an idea.” I released him and motioned toward the cliff. “Let’s make our little pledges jump.”
Killian laughed off my suggestion. “I’m not trying to commit murder tonight, Ax. And if these little bitches jump and don’t come up, I’m not in any kind of condition to save their asses.”
Gage and Slate weren’t even paying attention, counting out push-ups for the other two pledges.
“Nah, it’s a great idea, right, Peter?” I pushed him toward the edge.
As I returned to reality, I dropped the picture frame onto the soft rug beneath the desk and stumbled away from the desk. My legs gave out, and I crashed onto the leather sofa in front of an unlit fireplace.
“Axel, what’s wrong?” Lorelei hurried over, her brown eyes wide with panic. “Are you sick or something?”
Sick with guilt.
“It’s all my fault,” I muttered, barely seeing her even though she was right in front of me. “He’d still be here if I hadn’t been so stupid.”
Her brows furrowed, trying to make sense of my words.
It wasn’t a secret that Peter had died during hell week while pledging our frat.
Shortly after I was arrested, the police reports were changed to deem his death a tragic accident.
The copious amounts of alcohol in his system were conveniently deleted from any written documents.
His family knew, though. So did my friends. So did the Serpents & Daggers.
And Vaughn.
That prick planned this. That was why he didn’t give me time to discover who owned this house before forcing me to break in. Did he even need this laptop, or was this all to fuck with me?
Lorelei disappeared, and the sound of running water filled the study, probably from the bathroom on the left. She returned with a cold cloth, dabbing my forehead and cheeks as she brushed the hair away from my face.
“You’re shaking, Axel. What’s going on?” Instead of pity, worry washed over her expression as she kneeled between my legs.
I’d never lost my shit like this in front of anyone except the guys, so I wouldn’t have blamed Lorelei if this freaked her out enough to send her running for the hills.
But she stayed.
As if she sensed what I needed, she dropped the cloth and pulled me into a tight embrace, her arms barely fitting around my torso. “You can talk to me, whatever it is, Ax. I won’t tell a soul.”
Somehow, I knew that if I spilled every dark secret, Lorelei Battenberg would take them all to the grave.
I pulled back and opened my mouth, needing so desperately to get it off my chest, but before I could speak, heavy footsteps sounded in the hall.
Ice crystallized through my veins. That gait was too loud, too forceful, to belong to the maid.
Lorelei’s eyes widened, fear streaking across the amber orbs. “Someone’s coming.”