Page 1 of Lethal Truths

1

Asher

I’m leaning back on my bed with a cold beer in my hand while Creed paces holes into the rug in front of me. The TV is on, some baseball game that I’d normally pretend to be into, but I can’t pay attention for the life of me. My drink sits untouched, resting on my thigh since the second I sat down. I’m on edge tonight. Fright Night is a big thing in Greek life at B.U. If Prudence survives the woods, she’ll prove herself and undoubtedly get pinned into the sorority next month.

A part of me wants her to fail tonight, just so I can feel better about ruining her life. If she can’t make it out of the forest, then she never belonged here and my actions against her have been truly justified. Not that I care either way… but I mean, it would be nice if my guilty conscience would stop trying to make an unwanted arrival.

Creed grinds his jaw, fisting a hand through his unruly black hair and looking at the large clock on the wall above my desk.

Rolling my eyes, I finally snap and say, “Will you fucking relax, man? You’re making me anxious. It’s only been two hours since I left her.” Two hours alone in the woods, blindfolded and bound, probably chilled to the bone. Has she cracked yet? When she emerges from the woods, will she still be so eager to fight me at every turn, or will she be more inclined to crumble under my constant pressure?

I really can’t wait to find out.

The fight in her is a surprising source of entertainment, but to finally watch it drain from her eyes will be so delicious.

Creed glares at me, his warm brown eyes darkening with every second. “That’s one hundred and twenty minutes where shit could go wrong. What if she’s tripped and cracked her head open? What if she’s just sitting on the dirt, freezing to death because she had no clue which direction to walk?”

“Less work for us,” I mumble with an easy shrug. My dad told me to make tonight count, to push her as far as I could. She needs to be so fucking shattered that she’s lost her last scrape of will to keep fighting by the time I bring her to The Celestials. She’s proven harder to beat down than I planned, though. The semester is going to be over in less than two months, and if we — if I — haven’t secured Prudence’s horrible fate by then, he all but told me I’d be packing my bags and living life on the run until The Celestials find me and deal a fitting punishment for my failure.

Death. That’s what the punishment would be, I’m sure of it.

So no matter how many doubts and questions swirl through my mind about Prudence lately, I dragged her out to the woods tonight and left her there. I walked away while she called out for me, and I pretended like every step I took wasn’t so damn hard.

I don’t know if it’s because of the old memories that try to flicker through my mind whenever she looks at me a certain way. Maybe it’s the way she makes me grin when she juts her chin up in defiance, the way she’s always pushing back against my every move. Or maybe it’s simply that she’s a female and I’m a male, and biology is riding me hard whenever she’s around.

I can’t claim she hasn’t wormed her way into my thoughts while I’ve got my dick in my hand. Maybe it’s even happened more than once.

Whatever the reason, she wasn’t supposed to mean shit to me, but every interaction leaves me hungry for more. At this point, I’m not sure I want to be done with her. Ever. It’s far too much fun to torture and humiliate her. Maybe I’ll just keep her. I can buy her that damn collar and really make her my pet.

She’d look so delectable with some pretty, jeweled strap of leather wrapped tight around her pale neck.

My cock stirs at the thought, but I shake myself out of it. There’s no world where I have the choice to do such a thing. It’s like I’m being pulled in two different directions; where my dad wants me to go, the man he wants me to be, and where I might actually want to end up if I ever had a say in who I become. It’s excruciating, but ultimately, my dad will win, as he always does. I’ll follow his orders like I’m still some scared thirteen-year-old, begging for just a simple, proud smile from the man. Maybe I’ll even get it one day, if I can pull this off.

But that means, no matter what I feel about the matter, Prudence has to go. And soon. Two months is all I’ll get with her, but I intend to make every second count.

“We didn’t agree on binding her wrists,” Creed points out darkly, snapping me out of my wayward thoughts. He’s looking at me like I’m the fucking bad guy here, even though we’re supposed to be on the same team.

I lean forward with my elbows on my knees, spearing him with a glare. “If I didn’t tie her wrists together, she would have taken off the blindfold and followed me out of the forest. Then what? Not only would she fail Fright Night, but so would we. We’re supposed to scare her shitless, and you know it. Stop bitching about it.”

Creed rolls his manic eyes, checking the clock again. He blows out a harsh breath and then paces some more.

“Christ, just sit down,” I murmur before tossing back my beer and finishing it with a few deep gulps.

“I’m going out there,” he grits out, his tone holding no room for argument. Creed walks out of my room, grabbing his jacket off the back of my desk chair as he flings the door open.

“Creed, dammit!” I snap, standing and following him down the hall. I grab his arm before he can make it halfway down the stairs, yanking him around to face me. “You can’t interfere tonight,” I remind him. “You may not like it, and trust me, I’ve been having more than my fair share of doubts lately, but the rules are set in stone. Every pledge has to endure Fright Night and come out on top by morning. If you go out there and rescue her, it’s forfeit, and our asses will be on the line in this frat. Not to mention what The Celestials will do if they hear about it.”

He rolls his lips together as he thinks, taking in a deep breath. “I know that. I won’t do anything, okay? But I’ll feel a hell of a lot better if I at least have eyes on her.”

I study his hard expression and the hidden softness in his eyes. I don’t know what happened or when this change took over my cousin, but without him actually saying a word, I know he’s fallen into Prudence’s allure. I know he feels something for her. And between him and Griffin, the weight of our initiation task is now solely on me.

Fucking great.

There’s no sense in arguing with Creed, not when he’s likely to deck me and run if I push too hard tonight. “Don’t make a sound,” I warn him instead, my voice low and lethal. “She needs to believe she’s completely alone. She has to be able to separate her fear from everything else, keep a level head, and find a way out of the woods on her own.”

What I don’t say out loud is that I know she can do it. Prudence is nothing if not a fighter. She proved that to me over and over again, showing strength and determination through everything. And now that I know more about her mom’s condition, it all makes a lot more sense; she would have had to be strong for herself with her mom being so sick.

I don’t want to admit this — I fucking hate that I’m even thinking it — but I’ll be damn proud when she strolls out of the woods, holding her head high, and ready for the next blow. I can’t wait to see what I can think up next, how we’ll butt heads, and most of all, what exactly will finally push her over the edge. I want her sobbing at my feet when I’m through with her. And if I had things my way, I’d put in the time to build her back up afterward. Make her into the perfect little pet, starving for my affection after I’ve broken her down, again and again.

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