Page 48 of Cruel Devotion

I furrowed my brow. “Is that a question or a command?”

“Yes.”

I rolled my eyes. “You would want to take me to that dumb dance?”

He kissed me. “You’re the only one I’d want to take.”

“Because we’re… dating?” I felt silly to ask.

“We’re doing whatever we want,” he replied smugly before he kissed me again.

“You would want to be seen at the dance with me?” I asked. We’d been keeping the PDA to a minimum because I didn’t want anyone to see me with him and tease me. A little part of me was still worried that this was all an elaborate prank. No matter how real it felt when we were together, I couldn’t dismiss that he’d been my bully for so long.

I wanted to believe he was capable of change, but it was a big change that happened so suddenly.

“I don’t care who would see us there. I only care that I’d be there with you.” He shrugged one shoulder. “I didn’t plan to go either. If you don’t go, I won’t.”

Way to put pressure on me.

He kissed me again, clutching my hip to encourage me to roll over and face him.

“We don’t have to,” he said, gazing down at me.

“Okay. We’ll go.”

He raised his brows. “That was fast.”

“Why not?” I worried that it was just lust motivating me, but it wasn’t that big of a deal. It was just one night. A dance and nothing more. After all, I had a dress already. “I’ll be graduating soon and leaving town. It’s not like I’d ever be on campus again.”

He regarded me quietly, almost frowning with how pensive he looked.

“I may as well live it up here now while I can.”

Because after this semester, I’d never see him again to go to any dance with him.

It’s now or never.

16

ELI

Ihated myself when I asked Haley to the dance. A big part of my soul turned blacker and more wicked when I told her to go to the winter formal with me. I hadn’t asked. I hadn’t demanded it. I posed it as a statement that just made sense because she was with me all the time. Because she was the woman I couldn’t stop thinking about.

I wasn’t so great at refraining from kissing her, either. And the taste of her sweet cunt? I wanted it again. All the time.

She’d gotten under my skin and came to matter so damn much that it almost gave me whiplash. I’d spent years shoving her away and not associating with her because I wanted to project the image that I was too cool for the girl connected to a family of whores.

Now I was fucking smitten, worried that I couldn’t pull this off.

“Dude. Doyouneed a hit or something?” Finn asked as I got ready in our dorm room. He wasn’t going to the dance. He’d offered to come as my wingman or something since he was well aware of how much this event mattered in Preston not telling his dad about my crashing that car.

The dare was to bring Haley to the dance and fuck her there.

I had the first part locked in. But the second?

I can’t do it.

I cringed at my reflection, seriously doubting that I could go through with trying to force Haley to have sex with me there. Even though we were speeding along and getting into a relationship at warp speed, I didn’t want to rush it. I couldn’t. I cared too fucking much, and I wanted to savor every minute I had with her.

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