Page 516 of Filthy Elites

“What? Why? You look hot as hell in that dress.”

“It’s not the dress, he bought it for me, it’s me in the dress going to a party around other guys. He’s more than just standard jealous and possessive, he’s, lock me in the house, fuck me until I’m comatose and his cum is dripping out of me, then make me wear the dress and go to the party so everyone will see and smell that I belonged to him.”

“Wow,” Sammy says, elongating the word.

“Yep. I wore these tiny booty shorts and a shirt that barely covered anything to dinner the other night around his friends and he never said a word. I was practically climbing the counters in nothing but a towel and he was too busy texting to notice. He had an entire team of security guys following me around and reporting my every move to him for two years while I was in Maine, but the other day, I went for a run, then sat, chatted and got propositioned by a guy and nothing.”

“Starling, I hate to say it, but you seem to be putting in an awful lot of effort into getting back a guy you said you hate.”

“I can’t help it,” I groan. “It’s like he exorcised his own obsession with me, and it immediately took root in me for him.”

“The best way to get over someone, is to get under someone else, so that’s what you need to do. Let’s do a little drinking, a little dancing and then we can find you a target for the night. Even if all you do is grind against him and let him kiss you, it’s a step in the right direction.”

I nod, agreeing. “Thank you for not giving up on me when I was an emo bitch to you. My ex-bestie turned out to be a real POS and I haven’t tried to make any friends since, because I was always worried Sebastian would find a way to use them against me. You could have just walked away and never spoken to me again, but I’m so glad that you didn’t.”

Waving her hand around, she smiles. “I’m a stage-five clinger, you’ll never get rid of me now. Plus, I live in a permanent live-sex show, I need you more than you need me.”

Her giggle is enough to make me smile and I settle back into my seat and resolve to not think about Sebastian again tonight. Maybe she’s right, maybe instead of thinking about him and how good the sex was, I need to focus on how amazing it will be with someone else. Perhaps it’s always that good? I mean, people wouldn’t be as obsessed with it as they are if it didn’t make you feel good.

I’m giving him all this credit and more than likely it’s just that sex feels good, orgasms make you feel epic and together we had a lot of them. But I can find someone else to make me feel just as good without the mindfuck that Sebastian brings to the table.

Unlike the last party, there isn’t a parking space conveniently empty and waiting for us, so we abandon the cart at the back of a huge pile of carts and then proceed to make our way through the woods on foot.

Heels and hidden tree roots don’t really mix, but eventually we emerge from the path and into hedonistic chaos. I never went to any high school parties, so I don’t know if this is usual party behavior, but this is nothing like the college parties I’ve seen in films.

The freshmen welcome party had a chilled bonfire vibe, this is nothing like that. Instead of fires with lawn chairs, there’re glass heaters full of dancing flames, dotted between the trees that have been wrapped with LED strips that pulse and flash along with the heady music.

At the last party I refused to drink, so I never really considered where the various drinks the guys were fetching me were coming from, but tonight there’s proper bars set up with bartenders mixing cocktails.

The music is so loud the bass feels like it’s pulsing in my chest and I immediately start to move to the beat. Sammy grabs my hand and tows me over to one of the bars, ordering us Long Island iced teas and two tequila shots each.

“For courage,” she smiles, leaning forward and speaking into my ear to be heard over the noise of the music and crowds of people. Lifting her glass, she throws back the first, then second shot and I follow her lead, swallowing the disgusting liquor and trying to hold back a grimace.

“Tastes awful, but it works,” she says with a wink, dropping a twenty into the bartender’s tip jar and handing me another drink in a tall plastic cup. I take a sip and sigh when it’s sweet and doesn’t burn all the way down to my stomach.

Sammy reaches her hand back and grabs mine, leading us both onto the makeshift dance floor. She immediately starts to dance, so I do the same, sipping at my drink as the pulse of the music drags me under its hypnotic beat.

For a while we dance together, ignoring anybody who approaches us, but as my glass gets emptier, my confidence increases and when a cute redheaded guy with freckles and serious guns curls his arm around my waist and dances in rhythm with me, I don’t push him away.

TWENTY-THREE

Sebastian

Allowingher to leave the house, wearing that dress, was a lesson in control. Her long legs and toned body were wrapped in the tight white fabric and it took all of my resolve not to drag her back to our bed by her hair.

She was waiting for me to react. The dress, the hair, the party, it was all for me, she’s testing me, seeing how long it’ll take me to break. She’s been seeing how far I’ll allow her to push me all week and tonight I almost hit my limit, until I saw her face when the gates opened to allow her to leave.

She was hurt. For all the times that she’s told me she hates me and wants me to leave her alone, now she’s sad that I’m not following. We’re both still playing a game, only I’m not sure who’s winning anymore.

The moment the girls drive away in the cart, Evan, Clay and Hunter barge into my room. “Did you see what she was wearing?” Evan growls. “Are you seriously just going to let her go off to a party on her own looking like that?

“She’s not mine,” I answer, hating the way the lie sounds on my lips.

“How long are you going to carry on with this bullshit?” Hunter asks, his eyes narrowing as he dares me to lie to him.

“You all told me what we were doing was wrong, that I needed to let her go, to set her free. What did you think her freedom was going to look like? Did you seriously think she’d want to spend all of her free time locked up in the house with you guys? She was always going to make friends, go to parties, move on. This is what we agreed.”

“Her security detail will stop anyone from approaching her,” Clay says, like he’s reassuring himself.

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