Page 13 of Heartless Prince

What will I find out?I asked.

Him: What we really do. Last night was nothing. Just a few party tricks to get the new recruits interested. It’s nothing like our real world.

A smile played on my lips.Is that why it was so easy for me to get in? Your security is seriously lacking.

Him: You really think you’re the first person to sneak into a Tap Week party at the Tomb? We practically let people do it, just to get their little thrills and make them think they know what we’re really about. Everyone knew you were there, not just me. You weren’t as careful as you think. How was it sitting behind that gravestone, anyway? Comfortable?

My smile faded. I felt completely naked. Exposed. The whole time I’d been hiding in that grotto, the members knew. Every single one of them. I wasn’t that special for sneaking in after all… they let me do it.

No wonder so many rumors flourished about the society. They came from other people who’d sneaked in before me, years and years ago. The men at Crown and Dagger encouraged it, found it amusing to shock us and let the wild stories spread. The debauched parties, the drugs, the orgies… that was a side of their society that they wanted people to talk about. To distract from something else, perhaps.

That made me very suspicious about what they could be hiding behind all that.

I bet I’m the first person to film it,I finally shot back. In all my online searches about you guys, I’ve never seen a single video of the Tap Week party. But I have one now.

Him: Sure about that, sweetheart?

With a frown, I exited the text messages and went into my phone gallery. The video was gone. Undeterred, I checked the cloud storage app, because I knew my phone occasionally bugged out and deleted stuff by itself.

When the app loaded, I started to worry again. The video wasn’t there. The only way for it to be gone from the cloud was if someone accessed my account and manually deleted it. I certainly hadn’t done it.

I texted the guy back, my hands shaking with a mixture of fury and fear. You hacked my stuff?

Him:You came into our world, and now we’ve come into yours. Why does that surprise you? It’s what you wanted, isn’t it?

Me: I might’ve wanted a look in, but I didn’t ask for my phone to be hacked!

Him: You’ve been asking for that and much more for a long, long time. You’re heading down a dangerous path, little girl.

As pissed as I was that someone hacked my phone and cloud storage app, I had to admit I was starting to get excited. Very excited. The danger, the darkness… it was all so terribly appealing to me. I felt wide awake despite the total lack of sleep, and sugary little thrills were trickling down my spine.

Maybe I like danger,I shot back boldly.

Him: Oh, I know you do. I bet you can’t wait to be tied up and on your knees for me, can you?

I smiled and leaned back, a smile playing on my lips. Flames were licking up between my legs, filling me with pleasurable warmth. I shouldn’t be turned on by a total stranger texting me things like this, but I couldn’t help the way my body responded.

Somehow I knew that the angrier I managed to make this guy, the darker and sexier his messages would get. I decided to try my hand at it.

Me: So this is how you Crown and Dagger guys get your kicks? Stalking girls and threatening to tie them up?

Him: Not a threat. A promise. And you’re the only one.

Me: Oh yeah? What makes me so special?

Him: You’re a bad girl. A dirty girl.

I liked being called that. It made my nipples stiffen beneath my shirt. Biting back a grin, I replied. How do you know?

Him: Like I said, I know everything about you, Tatum. I know what you’ve done, and you need to be punished for it.

Me: Tell me how…

Him: I don’t need to tell you. You’re going to find out, and it’s going to hurt. But you deserve every ounce of pain. I know what you are at your core. You’re an evil little slut, and you need to be punished. You need to be destroyed.

The messages were getting a little toodark for my liking now. I needed to be destroyed? What was that about? It wasn’t hot. It was just plain creepy.

Me: Um, I think you’re taking it a little far now, dude…

---