Page 12 of The Fallen Ones

Several long minutes later, I saw Caleb jogging across the campus toward me. He didn’t look happy, but fuck it. As long as he showed up, I didn’t care.

“Where the fuck were you?” I demanded when he stopped in front of me.

“Sorry. Lily needed me.”

I shoved off the tree, my body rigid. “What’s wrong with her? Is she OK?”

“She’s fine. She needed help getting her canvas and art stuff out to her apartment. I drove her over. Traffic was a bitch.”

I grunted. Traffic was always a bitch, but Lily didn’t live all that far from here. It didn’t matter though.

“You could have at least told me you were running behind,” I said.

“Right. I should have just whipped out my phone and called your ass right in front of her,” he shot back, glowering at me.

I ignored his shitty answer. “Did you talk to her about the party? Is she coming?” I held my breath, hoping he had some good fucking news for me.

He hesitated for a moment before looking away.

“Caleb. Is she coming?” I demanded again.

He finally looked back at me. “Yeah. She’s coming. She told me today.”

A slow, satisfied grin spread across my face at his words. I knew my rumor of me and Jessica would work. I knew my girl better than she knew herself. She would want to one-up me, hoping to hurt me with someone else after denying me what was rightfully mine. Lily could deny her desire for me all she wanted, but we both knew who she fucking belonged to. She wasn’t as in control as she thought she was. Once she stepped foot into Satan’s Hollow, she’d lose any sense of that control she tried to cling to. It was mine. I was in control.

Always was. Always would be.

“Jace, man, I’ve been thinking?—”

“Don’t fucking start. Stop thinking. This is happening,” I snapped at him, knowing the bitch wanted to back out. “You made a deal with me. Now you follow through on it. She’s agreed. If you ever want to have this chance, you better take it and stop being a pussy about it.”

“It’s not right, Jace. It could hurt her?—”

I closed the distance between us so he’d be sure to catch every clipped word I said to him. “I could hurtyouif you fuck this up. This is our fucking shot. She’s been playing with both our cocks for way too long. Now it’s time we get what we deserve. And that’s her tight, little virgin pussy and all. Don’t fuck this up for us.” I backed away from him to see a muscle popping along his jaw.

“Whatever,” he mumbled. “I’m not backing out. I just don’t want her to get hurt.”

“Love is pain,” I muttered, feeling that pain clear to my blackened soul. Lily didn’t know the real me. The broken guy. The dangerous one. The one willing to kill and die for her. She only knew me as the one who smiled and played her games. Now it was time she played mine.

“So you’re still in?” I asked, wanting to be clear on it.

“I’m in,” he confirmed, looking like he was sucking on a lemon.

I nodded. “Good. Let’s keep shit simple. Make sure she comes to the party. None of her backing out shit.”

“She is. Olivia is coming too. She was making plans with Lily today during lunch.”

That was good news. Olivia was pushy with Lily and always got her to do what she wanted. It wasn’t pushy in a bad way. I considered Olivia to be motivational when it came to Lily. If Olivia was going, I knew I could count on Lily coming.

“Perfect. I’ll talk to Dylan, the frat president of Satan’s Hollow. He’s one of my boys. He’ll make sure she gets a key to our room. Once she’s inside, we fuck her.”

“If she let’s it happen,” Caleb said.

I scoffed at that. “It’s happening whether she wants it to or not. I want what’s mine. Don’t you?”

He stared me down, that muscle back to thrumming along his jaw.

“I know you want to bury your cock deep inside her,” I continued. “Need I remind you about what will happen now if you don’t?”