I let out a cruel laugh. “She’s always crying. She shouldn’t be here, anyway.” I try to pull my hands free so I can remove my sweater, but he grips me tighter. “Asch. Come on. Be rough with me. I know you like it. Imagine, me bleeding for you. You can write your name on my skin. I’ll even let you use my knife.”
Asch massages my wrists. “When all of this is done, I’ll fuck you senseless,” he promises. “I’ll cut you up, I’ll hurt you, I’ll make you scream. But right now, we can’t afford to be distracted.”
I shake my head with a whine. “My blood, everywhere. On the sheets. The walls. Pouring out of the hole in my chest.” From the way Asch’s eyes widen, I realize that was the wrong thing to say. I quickly add, “That was a joke.”
“Was it?” Asch asks, his expression dark.
“Well, what else would it have been?” I laugh, but he’s right, it’s not funny. I end up with my head against his shoulder, laughing to myself, while he strokes my back.
I’m sure he’s trying to be soothing, but all it does is remind me of how fucking broken I am.
“I need to see him dead,” I whisper. “I need Rachel to be avenged.”
“And she will be,” Asch replies. “That’s what all of this is about. That’s why we need to stay focused. I need you in one piece.” Hekisses my forehead, then brushes his lips lightly against mine far too chastely.
I let him kiss me, barely reciprocating. It feels good despite how boring it is, and my breathing steadies.
There’s a brief knock on the door, then Blaze walks in.
“Okay, if you two want food, you need to come down,” Blaze says. “Kratos and Ares could probably eat all of it on their own. River’s doing everything he can to save your portions.”
He eyes us both, but he doesn’t say anything about how we look.
I nod, still clinging to Asch. “Okay. Thanks. Maybe I’m hangry. Or, wait, how do I combine horny and hungry? Horngry?”
Asch rolls his eyes. “We’ll workshop it.” He stands up and offers his hand to me. “Let’s get something to eat before there’s nothing left.”
I follow him. When we get to the door, Blaze stops us.
“Blaze?” I force myself to smile.
Blaze leans closer to Asch, and with me watching, kisses him full on the lips. Asch blinks, looking as surprised as I am, but he kisses back after only a moment of hesitation.
Huh. My chest is warm, but not like it wants to shatter from the inside out.
They pull apart, and Blaze turns to me. He presses his lips against mine, more forcefully than Asch had. I kiss back, chasing the lingering taste of Asch.
“Okay,” Blaze says. “You’re fine, Pandora.”
I laugh. “Sure.”
If Blaze believes it, itmustbe true, right?
Or, more likely, it means I’m even worse than I thought.
28
RIVER
I can’t believe Blaze pulled it off.
The warehouse space looks nothing like I remember it from the street fights. The lighting is still dim, and the cage is where it belongs, but Blaze and the Kappa Alpha guys set up proper seating with bleachers, and the sound system has been upgraded to be much higher quality. There are even refreshments, which would never have lasted for more than ten minutes at the usual fight nights.
The signs near the entrance give instructions on where to sit, where to place bets—for charity, of course—and the Wi-Fi password for the connection we’d set up for tonight alone.
Reception has always been a bitch in here. It rarely affected me, since I was fighting, but I’ve heard others complaining. Fenrir said it was by design, so it was harder for people to upload live content.
Rich people wouldn’t put up with shitty reception and no Wi-Fi, though. What if they get calls from their stock brokers or business rivals?
