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His words sting in a way I don’t expect. Like some small, stupid part of me feels… rejected.

Even so, he’s probably right. That’s how guys like Cage are. And what could it hurt if he’s wrong? At least I won’t die a pathetic virgin. The girl who waited for the right guy to come along and ride off into the sunset together. A wasted fucking fairytale.

“So?”

I open my mouth, but a cold, gravelly chuckle cuts clean through the air before I get a word out. Sounding like it belongs to the villain in a horror movie.

“That’s where you’re wrong, initiate.”

Where the fuck—

Every trace of color drains from Parker’s face, his eyes widening and lips parting. His body begins to tremble against mine just as a tall figure steps out from the tree line.

The masked devil has joined us.

Cage cocks his head. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. Trying to steal my girl’s virginity behind my back, initiate?”

Parker nudges me behind him, trying to shield me with his body, but I can feel how badly he’s still shaking.

The moonlight washes over something in Cage’s hand, catching along its worn edge. He walks closer, and I get a better view of it. The knife from the bathroom.

The metal looks well-used. Bloody. I instinctively press closer to Parker’s back.

Cage stops a few feet away. His stare is locked on me, even masked. Possessive. Hungry. A monster out for blood.

“Number seven,” he says through clenched teeth. “Look at me.”

I whimper at the acknowledgment, shrinking farther behind Parker.

“Now.”

The tone of his voice sends an electric shock traveling through me, and I flinch. Panic and arousal tangle so violently I can no longer tell one from the other. My feet move, sheepishly carrying me from behind Parker’s body shield.

“On your fucking knees. Now.”

Another whimper, this time louder.

God, what is he doing to me?

“Three seconds, little bird. You do not want me to get to one. Three…” He takes a step, making sure the blade and the blood on it are visible. The clear warning he whispered so casually in the bathroom flashes through my mind.

“Do you want to die, Blair?”

Every atom inside my body protests, but I sink anyway, knees hitting the cold ground. The rough stones bite into my skin through my now torn-to-shreds stockings.

If I win tonight, he’s still buying me a new damn pair, and I mean that.

“That’s it. Now be a good slut and crawl to me before I drag you over here myself.”

I gaze up at Parker. Do something.

He does something, alright. Shoves his hands into his pockets and averts his gaze like a coward. The betrayal burns hotter than the shame, if that’s even possible.

I start crawling, because what choice do I have?

My palms scrape against the soil as I move toward Cage on my hands and knees, my short skirt riding up my thighs with every inch.

“That’s it, almost there,” he coaxes.