Page 42 of Prey

She hesitated as fear drained the color from her cheeks, as those eyes suspiciously searched the room for something. Perhaps she was looking for a scythe or a Glock to use against her. She had been hurt a lot, this one. “Um, okay,” she replied with doubt, swallowing nervously.

I faltered for a few seconds, deciphering what to tell her and how open I should be with my personal life at this early stage of the meeting. But she’d relax a little if I was frank with her.

“Okay, so my mom is an addict,” I went straight for the complex, emotional stuff, hoping to convince her that I was trustworthy.

She fell quiet and played with the rice with her fork as if churning on a thought. “Same,” she finally answered, then made a strange face as if she instantly regretted confessing it.

“Really? So…where is she now?” I gently pushed, hoping her armor would drop.

“Um, I don’t know…It’s hard to talk about,” an abstract, confusing answer. “What about you? Do you still speak to yourmom?” Those bright green eyes twinkled in curiosity. I’d never seen that color before.

That heavy burden landed in my chest when the topic of my family arose. Mikky and Gunner knew not to mention that topic much because it got me down, but not talking about my mom didn’t stop me from thinking about her. Every time I spoke to her, I’d need to retreat somewhere alone, usually in the forest, to assimilate the disgust that came with it.

“Sometimes.” My phone buzzed and flashed Betty’s name. Gritting my teeth, I opened her message, knowing she wouldn’t contact me unless necessary. Damn. “Betty said they need you down in the kitchen.”

“Oh,” she swiftly pushed the chair back as if she couldn't get out of there fast enough. “Um, thank you.”

“Sure,” I replied, watching her go and liking how she moved. Four minutes with her was long enough to know that I wanted more. More of Petra Black and more of Selkie.

21

Shaun and Callum played pool in the campus headquarters in the basement underneath the Science Library. At the same time, I sat on the leather couch and watched the footage on the flash card from the camera I erected in Riley’s room on my laptop.

Every morning, she got up at 7 AM, put her glasses on, and checked her face and hair in the mirror before heading to the shower room. Annika had good eyesight unless her vision drastically changed in three years, so doubts arose on whether my hunch was wrong. A girl who pretended to be someone else wouldn’t need to keep up the pretense while she was in a room alone while no one was watching.

The other two features that were different were hair and eye color. So far, I hadn’t seen her fiddle with contact lenses or straighten and color her hair. Still, more evidence was needed.

Once classes started, she was in that room less frequently, so I had to skip through hours until she returned. She was always alone; even on campus, she wandered the halls and gardens alone, but yesterday, I spotted her sitting with a girl in the Science Library, only two stories above where I am now.

That’s fine. I’ll allow Riley to have a couple of friends as long as she doesn’t start fucking anyone. I’d consider inflicting punishment as a deterrent on both her and him if I caught her bringing home someone. Anger struck my chest just thinking about it. Fuck, I’d cut his fucking throat, siphon some of his blood, then send it to her as a warning.

If she knew what was good for her, she wouldn’t get romantically involved with anyone except me.

She had noticed me on several occasions, watching her behind a mask in various places on campus, and smiled and waved. Riley was so pretty and sweet, and her face lit up whenever she saw me, as if seeing me made her day. Weird since my original intention was to scare the shit out of her.

Naturally, I couldn’t follow her 24/7 because I had my classes to attend and Kaiser's business to run. It crossed my mind to delegate Shaun and Callum to follow her and take notes, but I’d rather keep her to myself.

The boys hackled when one of them hit the black ball, and I studied them for a few moments because Shaun had been giving me strange vibes like his loyalty might not be as solid as it used to be. The stuff that went down with Riley seemed to sway his balance. He lost interest in fake-friending her because she was boring and was messing up his opportunities to get into the panties of other girls.

Like my father used to say, ‘Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.’

I kept scrolling through Riley’s bedroom footage, not finding her behavior suspicious. I paused at my favorite part when she changed into her PJs before bed. She’d lie on her bed and read or scroll on her phone, then roll off and strip her clothes off.

One night, she walked around naked, and I paused and rewound the footage to watch it again as my cock pressed against my zipper. She stood in front of her mirror as I had the perfect angle of her perky butt cheeks. A growl escaped my lips when she started caressing her tits and running her thumbs over the nipples, and I hissed in frustration louder than I intended, and the guys glanced over at me.

“You’re alright, Gun?” Callum yelled out, and I paused the footage and placed the laptop snug over my crotch so they couldn’t see that I was getting off. If they could tell, they’d assume I was watching porn, although classic car porn was more my talent.

“Yeah, just an assignment,” I groaned, slouching further into the couch.

I exhaled to compose myself, then clicked play and got off on the girl getting off. She was still wearing her glasses. I supposed she needed them to see herself in the mirror, but the ‘good girl’ pleasuring herself made it a hundred times hotter.

Then, all my wishes came true when her naughty little hand traveled down her flat stomach to that soft, warm place between her legs. My lips parted as those fingers moved further inside her, then she leaned forward and placed her free hand on the desk to steady herself as her dark hair fell over her face. Damn, I wanted to see erotic elation on her face as she fucked herself.

A second later, and fuck, she was going full banjo, thrusting and grinding, rolling hips, butt cheeks swaying against herfingers. Tits jiggling, thighs contracting, but fuck, I still couldn’t see that pretty face.

“Jeezus fucking Christ,” I murmured as the pressure in my groin built up because it looked like she was about to cum.

With my laptop still strategically placed, I unzipped my jeans, slipped my hand down, and started discreetly rubbing my cock in rhythm to her movements. When I planted the camera in her room, I didn’t expect this because I pictured Riley Laws as a nerdy virgin who viewed masturbation as dirty, but even a geek girl needed to offload her tensions sometimes. I could help her with that.

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