But they couldn’t forgive.

And this couldn’t happen.

“Hey, where have you guys been?” Rika walked over to us with Winter in tow.

I looked at her, but her head was down and turned away, as if she were trying to be invisible.

Michael went over and pulled Rika into him, hefting her up into his arms. “We were doing manly things.”

“Manly things?” she asked, not believing it for a second.

But he just slapped her on the ass, gripping her flesh through her dress. “Let’s go to the car for a minute.”

“Michael!” she scolded as he carried her away, what he wanted clear.

The rest of us stood there for about two seconds, the wait of their silence enough to kill the fun I’d just had.

I grabbed the backpack with my mask inside and looked at Will. “If she’s not home by two,” I gestured to Winter, “my security will bring her home. Don’t test me.”

I left, strolling past her and definitely wanting another piece of her soon, half-tempted to drag her home now, but I wasn’t giving in. I didn’t want her to know I craved it. The sex would not become habit. It was a move in the game, and I needed to figure out my next one.

Later that night, I woke with a start. Two sharp pangs hit me, one on my neck, next my throat, and another on my side, between my ribs. I sucked in a breath, feeling the sting of broken skin.

“What is it about me that makes you so angry?” I heard Winter ask in a soft voice.

I raised my eyes, finally realizing she was straddling me on the bed, two blades dug into my skin.

Kitchen knives?

I spread my fingers where my arms laid at my side, itching to grab her and throw her off me. I knew I could do it before she stabbed me, but…

I’d been concerned with my next move instead of anticipating hers.

I remained still, the sheets cool and soft and the room silent and black.

“What about me makes you so angry?” she asked again, still just as calm.

“Three years,” I said.

Three years in jail for doing something she wanted me to do.

“But it started before that,” she prodded. “In high school. You terrorized me. Why? What did I do?”

I didn’t terrorize her. I never hurt her. I just wanted what I wanted.

The points of the knives poked too hard, and my breathing trembled.

“I was a kid,” she said, pain in her voice. “I thought I was in love. I was a naïve, stupid kid. Do you know what it’s like to think someone loves you and then you find out you were nothing but meat?”

I curled my fists, taking the sheets with me as I shut out my own memories that tried to spring up.

“Yes,” I whispered.

Yes, I did.

I knew what it was like to have horrible things being done to your body, and watch it betray you and make you think you’re bad for liking it when you knew you didn’t.

I shot out my hands, grabbing her hips and lifting my head as the blade threatened to sink into me. “And I killed her for it,” I told her. “So do it then.”

She breathed hard, and I could feel her grips shaking as she held her weapons.

“Because I won’t stop,” I said quietly, smelling her shampooed hair.

She’d showered, all the makeup and the costume now gone, replaced with silk sleep shorts and a white T-shirt with her hair still wet.

“Do it,” I egged her on.

The sharp points burrowed, threatening me, and I loved the view of her like this. Taking control of me, her power painful but demanding, and I wanted her to demand anything she wanted from me right now.

My cock started to grow hard under her, drawn to her warmth as she sat on me, and I was very prepared to let this happen again tonight. Just for tonight.

She came to me, after all.

“You weren’t lying,” she finally said, looking thoughtful like a memory was playing in her mind.

I’d told her in the janitor’s closet seven years ago that I killed my mother. She thought I was talking shit. Now she knew.

“When did it start?” she asked, her brain deciphering what happened.

But I wasn’t going there. Never, ever again.

“In the fountain when you were eight and I was eleven,” I told her.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“That’s all that matters.” And I dug my fingers into her ass as I lifted my hips and pressed my cock between her legs.

“Ah, yeah,” I gasped, my rock-hard ridge soaking in her heat through her lacy, silk boxers.

I couldn’t fucking think.

Breathing faster, I dove into it all, the demand of her questions and the threat of the knives ready to hurt me and end me right here, right now. Sweat cooled my skin, the rustle of my body in the sheets filled my ears, and every other sense heightened with awareness as I let go, wanting to feel this. To be filled with anything of her.

Moving one hand to where her neck met her shoulder, I took hold of her body and rode her from the bottom, her clothes still on and the torture making it all the more insane.

“Stop,” she breathed out. “Damon, stop.”

“Get off me then.”

She was sitting on me. I had no control here.

“I may be married to Ari,” I told her, dying to get inside her body again. “But her little sister is who I really wanted to play with.” I yanked her down to me, the knives falling away as I whispered against her lips. “Always wanted to play with.”

She trembled, and her eyes watered, and I thought she was going to pull away and run, but she was frozen.

“You’re mine,” I said, kissing her mouth once as I humped her. “Mine.” I kissed her again. “Mine in that fountain. Mine in the locker room and in the janitor’s closet. Mine in the dean’s office.” I took her jaw in my hand. “You’ll have my kids and be my woman and fuck me, because that’s what I want.”

“No,” she said, barely audible.

But then she locked her hand around my neck and whimpered, her body arching to meet my hips.

“You’re different than them,” I whispered, pulling off her shirt to feel her tits against my chest. “Different than my friends. Different than Ari. Different than my parents, my sister, and every woman. You see everything.”

A sob escaped her, and I gripped the back of her hair, bending her head back to watch her face as I dry-fucked her, our bodies moving in perfect sync.

“Yeah, was that the line you fed my mother to get her to leave?” she spat out. “That I was everything to you?”

I flicked her lips with my tongue, so fucking hungry for her despite myself. “I told her the only way I could stay married to Ari for a year was if we were together as little as possible,” I said, both of us mouth to mouth and panting.

“I told her that I wanted you,” I went on. “That you loved me, because there was no faking what happened in that fucking video, and I told her that I loved you, too, and I was sorry for stealing you the way I did, but it was the only way I could get close to you.”

Her breath shook as she sucked it in between her teeth.

“I told her that I never intended for anyone to see that video,” I admitted, “and I needed time. Time to convince you that you were mine and that you wanted to be mine. We just needed to be left alone.”

It was true. I told her mother all those things. Things she wanted to hear. Things she wanted to believe.

I married Ari to get into this house and because she was easy, but they all knew what I was really after.

“I told her you’d be set for life,” I said, both of us rubbing on each other, “and I’d make all your dreams come true. You’ll dance and no doors will be closed to you ever again.”

Grunts and groans filled the room, while my other hand roamed, sliding down her back and feeling the light layer of sweat before I gripped her ass, helping her move.

Yeah, Ari left, because she did what she was told, and she wanted to believe I was joining them in a few days. Her mother left because she wanted to believe all the things I said to get her to go. That Winter and I were fucking in love, and we needed space to get through our shit.

My cock was so hard, and I wanted inside her, but just as I pulled her up, taking her nipple in my mouth, she came, rasping and shaking as I sucked on her.

And as she came down, quivering with her orgasm, I stopped moving and wrapped my arm around her, holding her to me as I licked and kissed her breast.

I wanted this. So much more of this. Her body in my arms, shivering and sweating, in a hundred different positions, no piece of her left untouched.

But as hard as I was and as much as I wanted to strip her down and take full advantage that I had the house all to myself with my sweet, new little sister-in-law… this bitch sent me to jail with no hesitation and no regret.

We weren’t in love.

I pulled her head down to me, teasing her with little kisses she didn’t return because she hated what she just let happen again.

“I love fucking you,” I told her. “There’s no struggle to connect in bed. No mystery with you.”

Her thighs were so warm, and my dick ached, thinking about how hot and wet she probably was right now.

But I simply tightened my grip on her, brushing her nose with mine and taunting her. “It’s comforting how it’s always the same,” I said. “How all you cunts turn into sluts once you’ve got a good dicking.”

She grew still, a slight tilt to her lips that looked like she was trying not to cry, but everything else was calm and stoic.

As if she finally understood… I was here to hurt.

Damon

Five Years Ago

I blew out smoke, staring at the back of Erika Fane’s head as we drove through the neighborhood, having just left the village. It had been a long day—and it would probably be an even longer night—and I was both intrigued and pissed Michael let her tag along for Devil’s Night tonight.

I’d been away at college, with my friends all at different schools, and it finally felt fucking good to be back where I was happiest, and now everyone had to guard themselves to not offend Michael’s pet project.