Did he give Will a hard time when he saw him here?

I smiled a little, thinking of Will. I couldn’t believe he’d shown up. I remembered hearing a lot about him in high school, and I knew he was Damon’s best friend.

Was.

But all of a sudden, he was at the door, and I didn’t have to say much for him to understand what was going on here. I got the impression the rest of Damon’s old crew was behind Will’s visit, too, and before I knew it, he had me in the pool, working on moves. Like it would do any good, but I’d try. Plus, he made me laugh.

I should’ve used the opportunity to ask so many things. Anything to get the upper hand with Damon and learn something useful. Especially when I found out Erika Fane was now engaged to Michael Crist, another one of Damon’s old friends.

“You know, you can come stay with me, right?” Isa said.

I turned my head, offering her a half-smile. I couldn’t come and stay with her, but it was comforting that she offered. She had no idea what he could do. As much as I wanted to take her up on the offer, I wouldn’t.

I let out a sigh, not finding my leather slacks anywhere. Dammit, Arion.

“Come with me for a sec,” I told Isa.

Running my hand over Mikhail’s head on the way, I left the room, still hearing Jade in the bathroom and chatting on the phone as we passed. I followed the wall, down the long hallway, past my father’s bedroom door and down to my mother’s. Or what used to be my mother’s.

I entered Arion’s new bedroom—not hearing any shrieks as I barged into her space, so she must not be in here—and veered right, into the dressing room my mother and father used to share.

“Search for black, leather skinny pants,” I told Isa and got to work going around the room, touching fabrics on their hangers for the familiar feel of my favorite thing in the world to wear.

“Where’s the light?” Isabella asked.

But before I could answer, voices carried in from the other room.

“Did you bring me something, Arion?” Damon said, and I stilled.

“Shh,” I whispered Isa.

“A present,” I heard my sister say. “A little one.”

I felt my way over to the door on the other side of the closet leading to my father’s old room. I hovered behind it as it hung open a little, Isabella damn-near knocking me over as she hid in back of me.

“How old is she?” he asked.

“However old you want me to be.”

That wasn’t my sister’s voice.

“Oh, my God, is that him?” Isa asked in a hushed tone. “They don’t sleep in the same room?”

I waved my hand at her to shut up. I didn’t want to be found here.

“Her pussy’s dripping,” Arion taunted, all sensual and gross. “Young, tight, and hot.”

“Really tight,” the girl added. “My foster daddy used to say I’m tighter than his hand when he would do me.”

I winced. Oh, my God.

Isa moved around me to where the door was cracked, and I guess she was peeking through.

“Don’t let them see you,” I mouthed, barely a whisper.

“Fuck her bare,” my sister went on. “Look how wide she spreads.”

I held my breath, waiting for his answer and dreading it, but I didn’t know why. My sister had another woman in there. She was trying to get him into bed with them. Was he going to do it?

“He has a tattoo?” Isabella asked me. “I didn’t know that. It’s under his arm. Can’t make it out, though.”

A tattoo? I don’t know. I don’t care…

“Fuck her bare,” Arion urged him. “Fuck her as hard as you want, and make me watch. When it’s time to come, come inside me.”

I instantly took a step back. “I don’t want to hear any more.”

It was disgusting. I didn’t…want to hear that crap. Their sordid behavior. This only confirmed what I already knew. He was twisted and mean and used people for his enjoyment, like he would use my sister and that girl. He never cared about me all those years ago.

I started to leave, but Isa stopped me. “Wait,” she said. “Why is Arion doing this? I’ve heard about swingers, but this is…”

“We want you,” Arion said, interrupting our conversation.

“I know you do,” Damon replied. “But you have no clue what I want. Or what I like.”

“I know you like to watch.” My sister’s voice stayed playful. “Wanna watch us?”

I remained still, trying to hear his answer.

“He hasn’t slept with her yet,” Isabella whispered to me.

“Who?”

“Your sister,” she clarified. “She’s trying to entice him. She’s trying to get him into bed.”

“Obviously.”

“He doesn’t want her,” Isabella told me. “My sister told me about him. They were in school together, too. Damon had a really bad reputation. And I mean, bad. People were genuinely afraid of him.”

“I don’t care,” I fired back, keeping my voice low. “I don’t want to hear about his sex life.”

“Girls hated him,” she went on as if I’d said nothing. “Man, they hated him with a passion.”

“Didn’t stop them from going after him, like it was going to be some big surprise when he screwed them and then ditched them,” I pointed out.

I mean, honestly, in all fairness, I wasn’t sure why he was hated more than the other horseman. They did the same thing. They all slept around.

“That’s not what he did, though,” Isabella explained. “Didn’t anyone tell you how he was? I mean, with other girls. Not you.”

The reminder that she knew—that everyone knew and saw the video of Damon and me and how he was with me—sobered me for a moment, making me forget what was happening in the other room.

“I think that’s part of the reason you had to leave school after that video,” she pointed out. “They hated you.”

“Who?”

“All the girls he wouldn’t sleep with,” she replied. “Rumor has it, Damon’s appetite is not always fun to satisfy.”

All the girls he wouldn’t sleep with. So he didn’t sleep around? Sure.

And then I remembered what my sister just said a moment ago, and how I met him when I was a teenager, and I paused.

“He likes to watch,” I said, finally understanding.

“No,” Isa corrected me. “He likes to fuck with heads and then watch.”

Seemed about right.

“Sex doesn’t turn him on,” my friend continued. “Deviance is what he likes. Stories abounded, so I don’t know what’s true, but there were rumors that he got Abigail Clijsters’ sister to screw her older sister’s boyfriend. Another story about a gang of guy students at a young teacher’s house one night. Will Grayson and some hotel maid. A couple of football players getting drunk and going at it in a car in the woods…”

She trailed off, and I didn’t know for sure if anything she said was true, but…a small part of me wanted to believe it was. Maybe it made me less his victim to know he was the fucked-up one and not me for falling for his lie.

“He would take girls out,” she went on, “let them think he was interested, and he was, but his pleasure was harder earned, let’s just say. After he got them to do whatever he wanted them to do, sometimes he’d get off on them and sometimes he wouldn’t.”

“And if he didn’t, they felt like even bigger shit afterwards,” I added.

“Used,” she agreed. “They degraded themselves for him and got nothing in return. He coerced but never forced. He kept you to himself, though. I wonder why.”

The voices in the next room were barely audible as I thought about her question. She was one of the few people who saw that video and didn’t see me asking for it. She knew he committed a crime. The other girls resented me after his arrest, because in their eyes, I got what they wanted.

Well, they could have him. I—

“Huh?” I heard my sister blurt out, sounding suddenly upset.

Her soft, sexy voice had changed. What happened?

“Get out,” Damon said.

“What is your problem?” I heard her demand, but I wasn’t staying to get caught here if he was kicking them out.

I pushed at Isa, backing away and signaling we needed to leave.

“Out,” Damon shouted as we left the closet, and we dashed into the hallway as I heard the closet door swing open and my sister come flying through.

“Told you,” Isa shot in my ear as we dove into my bedroom.

Strange appetite, indeed.

Whatever. I was just glad whatever my sister was trying to make happen failed miserably. I blamed her as much as him for our current situation, and I hoped she was unhappy with her new husband.

Her husband.

I shook my head clear, feeling something hit my body. I reached up and caught it.

“I got your pants,” Isabella said. “Get dressed, and let’s go.”

Go where?

Although I no longer cared as long as it was out of this house.

I had no idea what she and Jade had planned for tonight as long as I didn’t think about him.

Or her.

“Do you want me to read it to you?” Jade asked.

“Just paraphrase.”

She put a pen in my hand and led me to the wooden makeshift counter, placing the tip on the line where I was supposed to sign.

“It’s a disclaimer,” she explained, “talking about how the haunted house is a 4D experience, and the actors will engage with you and touch you. They’re not responsible or liable for any health problems. If you feel like anything is too much or you want it to stop, simply yell “quarter” and they will stop and offer assistance if you want to leave.”

My hand started to shake as I pressed the pen to the paper and signed my name. I laughed at myself. You would think I’d be used to being scared by now, but the idea of mad doctors, ax murderers, and chainsaws was even freakier when you couldn’t see them.