Page 92 of Ricochet

Even though I was able to somewhat restrain myself, we still lost.

Callum seemed more rested, but there was still something that worried me. Like he wasn’t fullythere. Too inside his own head. Not that I’m blaming the loss on him. None of us playedour best game. I’d sooner blame all the guys who went out to celebrate last night.

They’re definitely not celebrating tonight.

As I leave the locker room, I see Callum heading for the back exit. I haven’t seen Jesse here tonight, so I wonder if he’s planning on walking home. I have to head out to the lot anyway, so it’s nottechnicallystalking when I follow after him.

We’re halfway through the staff and student parking lot, and Callum continues on. So, yeah, it looks like he’s walking home.

Or planning on it anyway.

But I’ve been planning something different.

What would surviving the darknessof my mind look like? Beyond what I’ve already had to do.

I know what it would look like.

I’d belong to Stone.

I’d give myself over to him completely. I wouldn’t give a damn who he killed, as long as he killed for me.

I’d be his.

Utterly, unequivocally his.

But he’d be mine too.

I heard him that night in the hotel room while he was warming his fingers in my ass and I was drifting off. He’s given himself to me, so why can’t I give myself to him? Is it just stubbornness? Is it fear? Is it that what little light my soul might possess is trying so damn hard to keep the dark from snuffing it out before it turns black?

I’m so tired of being stubborn and afraid that I almost don’t care about the rest.

That’s where my head has been all night. Not on the game that we just lost. Not on where my feet are taking me. They’re on autopilot, and I can only hope they’re taking me in the direction of home.

If they took me to Stone’s instead, I wouldn’t be surprised.

I’m so far out of my head that I don’t realize I’ve made it to the end of the parking lot until I’m starting down the path between two of the academic buildings on my way through campus. I also don’t register the sound of footsteps behind me until they’re right on top of me.

A hand comes over my mouth, keeping me from crying out in shock. The next thing I know, my back is pressed against the wall of the nearest building, a second hand on the back of my head to keep it from hitting the brick.

“It’s just me.”

Stone’s voice reaches me less than a second later, preventing me from panicking for longer than two spiked heartbeats. Why he couldn’t have announced himself sooner is beyond me.

Did he think I’d run from him?

I’m guessing that’s exactly why because his hand is still over my mouth, his body trapping me between him and the wall.

“I have to break my promise to you again, Callum.”

Well, that sounds ominous.

However, I don’t freak out or struggle because despite what he said, I’m not afraid of him.

“I have to force you to do something. I need you to come with me somewhere tonight. It’s not my apartment, but I can’t tell you where.”

The first place my mind goes is that he’s finally going to kill for me again. I didn’t realize how much tension I was holding onto until it fades away.

Stone must feel it because he says, “It’s not a kill.”

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