AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A typical young guy, I’d done it all. My parents had made sure to sign me up for every sport that had been in season, and after-school activities had been aplenty. We had taken family vacations, had attended family reunions, had holiday dinners, and whatever else you could think of when you thought about good, hard-working, wholesome families.
Now, was that to say that things had been perfect? That would be a no. Like any other teenager on the planet, I’d given my parents their fair share of headaches and sleepless nights. I’d been caught drinking while underaged, sneaking out of the house, skipping school, and I had even gotten caught with condoms, something that my mother had lost her shit over. It’d been one of the most embarrassing moments of my life when she’d told me that she had expected me to chase girls once puberty hit, but if I got someone pregnant, it’d be the very last thing that I’d ever do with my penis because she would cut it off. When Dad hadn’t advocated for the safety of the family jewels, I’d had no choice but to believe her. Luckily, her threat had worked, and I carried a condom around with me like I carried my driver’s license.
So, with a blessed childhood behind me, a memorable college experience, and my future as a chemical engineer already mapped out for me, I really had no complaints. I’d even been fortunate enough to find a good friend in Cree Edmond. Most people lose their high school friends after graduation, and I’d been one of those people. My life had taken me to Monarch University, and it’d been so easy to make new friends. Sure, social media made it easy to keep in touch with the people in your life, but liking a post and hanging out with someone was not the same thing.
Cree Edmond had come into my life during our sophomore year of school, and it’d been instant magic when he’d met me at basketball tryouts, asking me what does a White boy know about basketball. We had both ended up making the team, and it’d been a no-brainer to room together when our junior year at Monarch hit. While I knew lots of people and partied with anyone that was up for a good time, Cree was my best friend, and he was going to continue to be my best friend, no matter where our lives took us. He had a degree in mathematics, so it’d be easy to see our professional paths crossing in the future. Though we weren’t looking to work in the same city, we both had plans to live in California. I already had a job waiting for me at Lorax Engineering, and my father’s reputation was partly the reason why. With as impressive as my father’s resumé and reputation were, I’d been viewed as worth the risk of hiring.
Though, even as best friends, we were complete opposites. Where I was twenty-two, six-foot-two, muscular, had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes, Cree was also twenty-two, six-foot-two, muscular, and had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. However, his skin tone was a lot darker than mine. Cree was Black and if someone were to ask me to describe the exact shade of his skin, I’d say Black, but that wasn’t true. Black people had a million shades of color to their skin, and Cree fell into the mocha chocolate category. I, on the other hand, would say that I was a normal shade of tan. While Caucasian, I wasn’t of the ghostly-white variety.
So, back to why I was going to a creepy retreat for spring break, rather than going somewhere cool for our last hurrah of our college years. During the summer before our junior year, Cree had hooked up with Lulee Fable, and according to him, it was love at first sight. After about a month or so, Lulee had been over our place more often than not, and it’d been easy to see early on that they made a great couple. The same age as us, Lulee was about five-foot-five with blonde hair and blue eyes, and the girl was as smart as a whip. Her degree was in political science, and it was a good thing that she was so slender. As unfortunate as it was, people still found it hard to take blondes seriously if they came with a porn star body, and that really was a shame. Granted, she had a face that reminded me of that model Marina Laswick, so men were probably still going to get sidetracked by her beauty.
At any rate, with Lulee, came her roommate and best friend, Verity Mercer. The first time that I’d met her, I had almost swallowed my tongue. However, Cree had made her off-limits, not wanting to risk his relationship with Lulee if things hadn’t worked out between me and Verity. With respect to our friendship and knowing how much he wanted to make things work with Lulee, I had kept my hands off Verity, though it’d been hard as hell. Luckily, we’d all had such busy lives back then that I hadn’t run into Verity often. However, whenever I had run into her, my mouth would water with all the things that I wanted to do to her and that sweet body of hers.
Also twenty-two, Verity had dark brown hair, a shade darker than my own, dark blue eyes that I just wanted to drown in, and she had a petite five-foot-two frame that had curves in all the right places, and she reminded me of that model, Marlen Valderrama Alvaréz. Whenever I jacked off to thoughts of Verity, the fantasy was always fucking her against a public wall somewhere, holding her up with the power of my thrusts. Granted, she didn’t seem the type to fuck in public, but that’s where my dirty mind always went. Plus, the girl’s degree was in biophysics, so it wasn’t like she was stupid or/and gullible.
So, after keeping my crush the nation’s best kept secret for the past two years, two months ago, Cree had given me the green light to ask her out. He was confident that nothing could break him and Lulee up at this point, and since we were so close to graduating, even if I did fuck it up, the awkwardness afterwards would only last until graduation.
When Cree had handed me my dream on a silver platter, the first thing that I’d done was ask Lulee if it was okay with her. When Lulee had assured me that she wouldn’t mind, I had attacked her with all the important questions that needed to be asked, Verity having a boyfriend being the most important. When Lulee had promised me that Verity was very single, I had asked Verity out the very next day.
It’d been the worst date of my life.
The thing about sports in school-be that high school or college-there was never a shortage of sports groupies, and I had dabbled in my fair share of them. Playing basketball, even if it had been for only two years, the pussy had been never-ending and top-tier. Professional basketball hadn’t even been on my radar as a future career, but that still hadn’t stopped the females of Monarch University from climbing all over me.
So, when the fourth girl of the night had stopped by our dinner table at Pollard’s to flirt with me openly in front of Verity, she had done what any girl with any ounce of self-respect would have done. She had tossed down her half of the dinner bill, lied about having a good time, then had gotten up to leave.
Now, that would have been all fine and well had I not gotten up to chase after her. After dropping enough money on the table to cover the check, I had raced out of the restaurant, then had made a complete asshole out of myself. I’d gotten rude, aggressive, and desperate, because I’d known that I wouldn’t get a second chance with her if I let her get away.
Well, Verity had gotten away, and out of respect for Cree and Lulee, I hadn’t lost my shit all over the place. However, feeling sorry for me, when Lulee had booked the retreat for her and Cree, she had done me a solid, booking a room for me and Verity, giving me one last chance to get the girl.
Now, was Verity going to be pissed? No doubt.
Was that going to stop me? Not in the least.
Chapter 2
Verity~
While I never would have booked a week at some godforsaken retreat out in the middle of a deranged killer’s paradise, I couldn’t lie and say that the idea of a peaceful week of nothing didn’t sound enticing. For four years, I’d been working my ass off for my degree in biophysics, and the finish line was only a couple of months away. Sure, I could celebrate by drinking until I puked my guts out, but that was unoriginal, something that I’d done countless times during my years here at Monarch University. Getting drunk and laid had lost its appeal for me a while back, even if the guys at MU were hotter than Hades.
So, when my best friend, Lulee, had announced that she had booked us two cabins at a retreat somewhere in the kiss of California, Oregon, and Idaho, at first, I’d told her hell no. The woods or wilderness weren’t my thing, and even if they had been, who planned a vacation at a serial killer’s premier destination for horror? However, after having a shitty week, she’d sold me on it with the pictures of the serene landscape and the promise that the jet tubs in each cabin were worth the trip alone.
Packing my bags, even my parents had been in favor of the trip. My parents, Moses and Felicity Mercer, were big on self-care, something that my mom pushed a lot. Dad was the CEO of Mercer Industries, the family business and my brother, Wayne’s, future. Wayne was twenty-five and already working with Dad, putting his degree in business and finance to work. Mom was in sports medicine, employed by the NBA as one of their top doctors. The NBA had team doctors and league doctors, and Mom was one of the league doctors.
At any rate, with all the injuries that Mom saw in her profession, she was all about physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. She believed that stress was the main cause of all physical injuries because if your head wasn’t in the game, then your inattentiveness could get you hurt. She believed that the same thing could be said of the Average Joe. So, when I’d told her about the retreat, she had encouraged me to go; both my parents had.
I also understood and appreciated how I was fortunate enough to have two parents that cared so much. My childhood had been a good one, and even now, I had no complaints in life. Wayne was also fortunate enough to be living his dream. Though our parents had been very gracious in allowing us to chase our own ambitions, it was lucky for Dad that Wayne’s dream had become the same as our father’s. Mercer Industries was going to stay in the family, at least for one more generation.
Now, while Wayne had been your typical guy, playing sports, running around with his friends, chasing girls, and getting into little bouts of trouble, I’d been the book nerd. Though I’d my own fair share of friends and had still managed to have fun during my early years, learning had been my drug and still was. I didn’t want to stop growing at any age, and the way to do that was to continue feeding my mind and experiences. I wanted to die with knowledge and a life well-lived.
So, when I’d gotten accepted into Monarch University, I’d been beyond eager to hit campus and take it all in. My first year as a freshman, I’d been…cautious. I had taken my time to learn what it was to be a college student, and it hadn’t been until my sophomore year that I had loosened up a bit. The first party that I’d ever gone to, that’s where I had ended up meeting Lulee, and the girl had taken me under her wing, becoming my best friend in no time.
Making the decision to move in together for our junior year had been a no-brainer. Though Lulee and I were complete opposites, we rocked the friendship department. She helped to pull me out of my comfort zone, and I helped her buckle down when she needed it. Lulee had a bigger social calendar than I did, and even if she didn’t, her boyfriend, Cree, took up a lot of her time, and that wasn’t me hating on them at all.
Cree Edmond was six-foot-two of male perfection. He had dark brown hair that he kept close to the scalp and soulful brown eyes that looked just so goddamn kind. He had the perfect shade of cocoa warm skin, and those muscles of his weren’t anything to sneeze at. Cree was tall, athletic, and according to Lulee, a god in the sack. He also reminded me of that model, Rob Evans, and anyone that didn’t think he was sexy needed their eyes checked.
Lulee was his complete opposite with her blonde hair and blue eyes, but they looked so damn good together. He dwarfed her five-foot-five with his big frame, but it was also in a protective way. Now, while Cree had been claiming love at first sight from the beginning, it had taken Lulee a bit longer for the love bug to hit her, and now they talked in that forever language that only couples could talk in. Cree was getting his degree in mathematics, and Lulee one in political science, so they really could make a life anywhere they wanted together; that was the great thing about today’s modern world.
Cree was also going on the retreat with us, but I didn’t mind. As much as I loved hanging out with Lulee, I could see her wanting to try every activity available at the retreat, and I was more inclined to staying in bed, reading or watching cheesy television. Plus, there were five cabins at the retreat, so there might be other people there that I could meet and get to know.
