Page 11 of The Deceived

Absolutely not. It’s just the way that he worked my body.

I swirl my fingers through my most intimate of areas, gasping at my own touch as I’m assaulted with visions of Rex. I need this release. I need this to calm myself and my overworked nerves from seeinghimagain so unexpectedly after all these years. I twirl my fingers faster against my flesh.

The way his hands traced my pussy.

The way his eyes focused solely on me.

The way I wanted to explode all over his fingers. Exactly as he commanded.

Why am I thinking of him? Why in the hell did his touch feel so damned good?

“Shit! Shit! Shit!”

I turn the shower off, my own moments of intimacy shattered as I storm out, grabbing a towel on my way, wrapping it around me as I make my way toward my closet. I grab the first thing I see and throw it on. The black jogging pants stick to my damp flesh as I yank them on.

My hair is dripping water onto my gray t-shirt as I shove my feet into my house shoes. I grab my favorite cardigan, and I head out of my room and straight toward Lila’s.

She’s got the night off so I’m hoping she’s in her room and not in what we call the library. The library is the common area of the house reserved for the ladies that live here. It’s the only communal space we have to hang out.

Really, I’m in no mood to be around a bunch of people.

You can’t have this many women cooped up for a year and not give them any place to go. The Manor has truly thought of everything.

I knock on her door and I’m practically holding my breath until the door opens and I see Lila’s dark brown eyes.

“Winter? I didn’t expect to see you tonight. Weren’t you on a hunt? Everything okay?” She moves to the side, ushering me in and shutting the door behind me.

“Hey. I’m okay. My night was... insane,” I reply.

“Why? What happened? Tell me everything.”

She curls up on the sofa, waiting patiently for me to join her but I can’t sit. My mind and heart are racing. I pace, wringing my hands as I recount the night.

“The Hunt began and it was this weird, almost ceremonial type thing, you know?”

I look over at her, and she fingers one of her perfectly bronzed, ringlet curls. Her attention is fully focused on me as I take a breath and continue to pace.

I’ve never had a real friend until Lila. That should make me sad except that every moment of my life has been laser-focused on revenge. I’ll be sad about it later when I have time to reflect.

“And I just ran like crazy into the forest. It was scary but it was also thrilling and I know that makes me sound like I’m insane. Maybe I am, but it was kind of powerful knowing that all these men paid who knows how many hundreds of thousands of dollars for the privilege of hunting me. Me.”

I take a deep breath. The details of the night are still clear in my mind as I gaze out Lila’s window.

“Anyway, I’m running through the woods in this huge fucking dress and there are a couple of drunk guys that were working together.”

Lila gasps, her finger stills, she’s no longer twirling her curl. “Wait. What? They can do that? They can work together on a hunt? Were they going to share you?”

I inhale and exhale slowly. As much as I despise Rex, I’m thankful those two men didn’t catch me.

“I think they can pretty much do whatever they want on a Hunt. I just knew I didn’t want to end up with them.”

“Jesus, Winter. This is insane.”

“I’d have to agree.”, I reply. “I took a moment to look around me, to get my bearings and to try to figure out my options. There was a stream in front of me and it was like out of nowhere; there he was.”

Even now, thinking of him at that moment, my heart thunders against my chest. I would have never guessed in a million years that fate would place Rex before me. Here, of all places.

“Who?” Lila gasps as I pace another lap, back and forth trying to wrap my mind around this night.

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