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Riley.
I’m not as close to her as I am to Vi—she’s always busy with her Raventhorn club things—but she’s friendly, sweet, and thoughtful. I remember she’s married to Magnus Goltz, his brother. The fact has always confused me because I rarely ever see them together, and when I do, they seem like they want to strangle each other more than anything else.
I find myself nodding.
Part of me wonders if he’s going to go get her—and give me a chance to run like hell the moment he walks away—but of course he doesn’t. Marius just waves his free hand and I spot Riley already staring at us from a loveseat where she’s quietly sipping a drink.
She was already watching us, I realize. There’s something like curiosity and confusion in her gaze, but she doesn’t seem shocked, or apprehensive on my behalf.
Riley is naked, legs wide, while another girl licks her out.I didn’t know she swung that way. Or both ways, I suppose, given her marital status.
She tells something to the girl between her legs, and the slender, dark-skinned woman sits up, before walking away. I note it’s Kayla, another one of the group’s casual friends.
Christ, is everyone except me into this?
I don’t spot Bex, the girl I met earlier. There’s so much going on, I could very easily have missed her.
The tall, green-haired Raventhorn girl struts over, her generous breasts swaying freely.
I’ve never been exposed to so much casual hedonism. She’s utterly comfortable in her nudity, not even blushing.
“Hey,” she tells me with a huge grin as she approaches, like we just came across each other at the library. “I didn’t know you were coming!”
Before I can say I didn’t know either, Marius answers for me. “She’s gatecrashing.”
I shoot him a glare. “And he’s behaving like an animal.”
I am struck anew by my lack of terror. Why are we all acting like we’re having tea, dammit? Me included.
Three days ago, I locked myself in a toilet cubicle, head between my legs, to try to breathe after panicking because some guy had called the name Brandon.
That Brandon looked nothing like the one in my nightmare. But I was terrified all the same. My body, my mind, are consistently teetering on the edge, ready to fall into a pit of despair where I can’t even control my breath. I can’t move. I can barely exist.
But today, with a man casually strangling me, and intending to force me to get naked, I am…fine?
It makes no sense. None. I make no sense. I really do need a shrink.
Not nearly as much as Marius needs one.
Where’s the freaking panic? I expect it. Panicking is my reaction to everything. But it never comes.
Maybe it’ll hit once I’m out of this mess.IfI get out of it.
“She doesn’t want to sign the NDA,” Marius tells her, wrinkling his nose.
Riley frowns, looking between the two of us. She doesn’t seem upset, and that in itself serves to calm my nerves even more.
Her face falls. “Oh.”
She looks at me likeI’mthe problem. Shit, am I the problem? I don’t even know anymore. All I know is, I was hiking in the woods to get back home and minutes ago, I thought might get raped.Now, Riley’s presence alleviates that fear…but not my confusion.
I want to feel justified in my anger, but Riley’s reaction suggests I could be the one in the wrong.
I try to be objective. I’m trespassing. I’ve seen something I shouldn’t. And shit, if I told people…
I lick my lower lip.
Wanting an NDA was logical.
