Page 37 of Unforgivable

It was a false sense of security, like a beautiful snake disguising how dangerous its venom truly was. He was slithering into my life intent on causing me pain as he believed I had caused him.

A torrent of emotions hit me, anger colliding with humiliation that kept me frozen on the floor. The one feeling curiously absent though was regret. I couldn't fathom why, but I didn’t regret what we had just done. Somewhere inside me I craved his severity and roughness. The fear of it all dialed up my arousal to unbearable levels, and I didn't understand why. It was frustrating to think I was so damaged, so messed up that I got high on the fear and brutality he showed me.

Had I been a victim too many times that my brain interpreted it as something I wanted? Maybe I was too damaged to be fixed.

My chest ached as I stood up on shaky legs, pulling off my shirt and turning it inside out to clean myself up. I had been gone entirely too long and I didn't want to worry Fin anymore than I probably had. I took a steady breath and followed the sound of screams through the dark that matched the ones going off inside my head.

After sneakingin behind a group of dudes who were cowering together through the halls and dodging more characters ripped straight from my nightmares, I managed to make it to the exit. The fresh air engulfed me and I sucked down a lungful, hoping to clear out my tumultuous thoughts.

As I pulled my phone from my pocket to call Fin, I heard laughter filtering through the air from around the back corner of the haunted house. One of those laughs in particular prodded at my memory. I was moving before I registered what I was doing, and I peeked beyond the edge of the makeshift building to see what was happening.

A group of three guys were standing in a cluster talking and laughing. One was dressed in casual clothing, another in bloody ripped garb, and the third was all too familiar with the Jason hockey mask hanging from his hand.

“God, I feel fucking disgusting. I can't believe you roped me into this shit, Griff,” Cal griped with a smile on his face. That stupid smile had my chest fluttering because I was a world-class bully groupie apparently.

“From what I saw ten minutes ago, you weren't exactly suffering,” the bloody guy chuckled, swiping his auburn hair out of his face. “So, how was he? Did that nifty little service get you what you need yet?”

Nausea swamped my stomach and I had difficulty swallowing.He had seen us??

Was that Cal's plan all along? For someone to get their sick voyeuristic kicks from watching him humiliate me as another level in his twisted game?

“Now Griff, that was business, not pleasure. I saw an opportunity and I seized it. Eventually this twerp will cave and finally clear my name with Coach, then I can be rid of him and on to better things,” Cal stated nonchalantly, but not making eye contact with either of the men.

A choked noise escaped my throat against my will and the auburn guy's head swiveled in my direction. I darted back around the wall, freezing on the spot and praying he hadn't seen me. It was really dark, so there was a chance I'd gotten away with it. Then again, luck had never been a friend of mine.

“Hey, I'll catch up with you guys in a little bit. I just need to checksomething out real fast,” one of their voices reached me. I was so in my own head that it took me a second too long to recognize the sound of footsteps headed for me. I nearly tripped over my own feet in my haste to leave, but I was stopped in my tracks by the voice just inches behind me.

“So you're the infamous Rhys.”

I quickly weighed my options and decided to face my problem head on. That was my first mistake.

I turned to see the same guy who had apparently spied on Cal and me. He was crazy attractive like Callum, but in a different way. His reddish-brown hair was short and straight with the top part spiked up and about a day's worth of growth lining his strong jawline. From here, I could see the glint of the silver ring nestled in his left nostril, and a black stud in his right earlobe. Lean muscle rippled under his white t-shirt and he gave off just as cocky an air as Cal did. As it were, Callum had orchestrated a hostile takeover of my brain and libido, so this guy couldn't even spike my interest now.

And it seemed like the feeling was mutual since he looked me up and down with a strange look on his face. It was a blend of disgust and…maybe sadness?

“So you're the Peeping Tom,” I retorted, sounding much braver than I felt inside. I was still queasy and fuming over the fact that he had caught me in one of my worst moments, and even angrier still that Cal hadn't seemed to care.

“More like Peeping Griffin, but then again I clearly wasn't the only one eavesdropping tonight, so let's not cast stones just yet. He's right, you know?” Griffin said, eying me intently.

“Right about what?” I asked curtly.

“What Hawk said about you caving. Things are only going to get worse for you if you don't get smart and drop that fucked up complaint you made against him,” he warned, but his tone held no real concern for me. Not that I expected him to. He was more than aware of what Cal had planned for me from the beginning, and most likely knew about our previous interactions too.

This night just keeps getting better and better. I wonder if I could bribe one of the lovely slashers inside to put me out of my misery. It'd make great interactive theatre if nothing else.

“I don't see why that's any of your business,” I bit out. “I've said all I needed to say to his coach and it obviously made no differenceanyway. He hasn't seemed to learn his lesson about not being a monumental asshole.”

Griffin let out a short laugh and shook his head at me, his lips twisted in a smug smile. “You'd have better luck getting the Pope to wear drag than Hawk changing his asshole nature. It's just who he is. And I'm pretty sure you'll be the one with a lesson to learn soon. Hawk can play pretty dirty when he wants something.”

I couldn't stop myself from snorting at his comment. “Yeah, I'm well aware. I've already seen just how…dirtyhe gets,” I snarked, a smug smirk of my own tugging at my lips.

In the time it took me to blink, Griffin was in my face and shoving me against the hard wall. I stared wide-eyed up at his features now contorted in anger, baffled by his sudden shift in mood.

“You knownothingabout him. You only think you can get through to Hawk, but you're nothing to him,” he snarled at me. I couldn't move and tried to steady my breathing, not in the mood to get pummeled by a pissed off jock. However, something in me must have been wired wrong because I couldn't help but provoke him just a bit.

“Sounds like someone's jealous. Guess he doesn't give you as much attention as he does me,” I said breathlessly.

Yep, I'm gonna die. And the Darwin Award for stupidest death of the year goes to…

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