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“Please,” I try again, the word dissolving into a whimper. My hands clutch at the sheets, looking for something, anything, to ground me in this spinning world.
“Shut up,” Stanley growls, looming over me. His eyes are dark pits of malice, and I know pleading is useless. But I can’t help it; it’s all I have left.
The room shrinks around us, walls closing in, trapping me with him. My heart races, a frantic drumbeat against the silence that has fallen. I push at his chest, my movements weak and sluggish. My mind screams at me to fight, to kick, to claw, but my limbs don’t obey.
“Get off!” It’s a yell, a command, but it lacks strength. Stanley just smirks, a predator savouring his prey.
“Make me,” he taunts, and I feel the last vestiges of control slip away as darkness creeps into the edges of my vision, muddying my thoughts and dragging me under. I’m drowning in shadows, and Stanley is the lead weight pulling me down. The idea of givingin terrifies me, but it’s getting harder to hold on to consciousness.
My eyelids flutter, heavy with dread, and the last thing I see is Stanley’s face, twisted with cruelty before I’m lost to the darkness.
15
DAMIEN
Sweat mingles with the sticky residue of spilt booze as I shove through the heaving mass of bodies, but all I can think about is Ever. Where the fuck is she?
“Move,” I grunt, nudging past a couple too wrapped up in each other to notice the desperation clawing at my throat. Their laughter rings hollow in my ears.
I scan the swarm of students in the house’s kitchen frantically.
“Shit,” I mutter, ducking as a cup arcs over the crowd, its contents raining down like a boozy meteor shower.
Turning back, I head for the stairs. “Screw this.”
I take them two at a time, my boots thumping loudly to my ears. Each step ramps up the tension, a coiled spring ready to snap.
“Damien!” A voice cuts through the noise behindme, sharp like a blade. I don’t have to look back to know it’s Alistair. His tone commands attention, always has, but right now, it’s just background noise.
Not breaking stride, I hit the hallway, eyes snapping to each door as I pass. They’re all closed, secrets tucked away behind flimsy barriers. I shove open the first one and see a couple making out. Not Ever. I slam it shut and move on.
Alistair’s footsteps thunder up behind me, his presence like an approaching storm and he kicks the next door open. He is taking no prisoners. He blames himself for this, for not locking her up and laying down the law.
The sounds of the party fade into a dull buzz behind the doors we kick open, searching. My demons are out and ready to play. It’s been too long since they tasted someone’s blood other than mine. They’re craving it, and I’m more than willing to give it to them.
One by one, we clear them. An empty study, a bathroom with a line of coke forgotten on the counter, another bedroom with a passed-out guy snoring on the bed.
“Ever,” I whisper a silent plea that she’s anywhere but behind this last door.
I grip the doorknob and twist, pushing the door open with a force that nearly snaps the hinges.
The scene hits me, and it’s like a red flag to a bull.
Ever is motionless on the bed, her golden hair fanned out like a halo on the pillow. Her dress isbunched at her waist, and Stanley’s fingers are hooked into the side of her underwear.
He looms over her, pants around his ankles. “Fuck off, will you? Trying to win a bet here.”
His head turns slightly as if he senses the sudden danger, but he doesn’t stop, doesn’t even pause. Anger—cold, brutal, and vicious—whips through me like a gale. I want to tear him apart.
“Stanley.” His name comes out as a growl, and I’m moving before I think, my body coiled and ready to strike.
Heat surges through the usual ice in my veins, a wildfire of fury that can’t be quenched. I launch at Stanley and rip him away from her. Ever is vulnerable and defenceless.
Stanley’s sneer is revolting. The bastard actually thinks he’s got control here, like he’s the king of this sordid castle. “Jealous?”
His words are a match to the powder keg in me. But instead of exploding, something colder settles over my rage.
“If you’ve touched her, I’m going to slice your guts open and burn them,” I snarl, ripping off my black tee and throwing it over Ever to cover her up as best I can. I should be kicking his fucking head in, but I need to know first if he’s violated her. If he has, his death will be slow and painful instead of quick and over too soon. Every line of my body is coiled, tensed for the moment he makes the wrong move.
