Page 233 of Filthy Elites

“Oh,” she murmurs, surprised, but not unpleasantly as she splays her hands over my muscled chest.

I guide her hand up to cover the spot where my heart should be, then I hand back her phone. “Take a picture.”

She smiles, inexplicably thinking I’m flirting instead of plotting. She runs her hand over my body and repositions herself so she’s straddling my pelvis. Once she’s satisfied with our positioning, she snaps a photo of me smirking up at her, her hand splayed across my chest.

She turns the phone to show me. It’s a good picture, so I nod my approval. “Now, post it. Caption it, ‘I fucking love him so much.’”

She’s surprised, but catches on quickly enough and does as I tell her. “Done,” she says, dropping the phone on the sand and shifting positions on top of me. “Now, can we stop focusing on your pet project for tonight? I’m horny.”

I take a swig of beer, too distracted to stop now. Ishoulddrag Anae to my room and take my frustrations out on her pussy, but there’s more work to be done, and there’s no time like the present.

I’m not discouraged that mypet projecthasn’t panned out yet. I’ve hardly exerted any effort. But Iamunable to focus on anything else because she just admitted to blatantly lying to me earlier today, and I didn’t pick up on that. I believed her when she said she’d come to my bonfire tonight. I expected her to show up. I didn’t expect her to be thrilled Anae was here, but I thought she’d come. Even when it became clear she wasn’t coming, I imagined her agonizing over the decision for a bit first, but she didn’t.

She never had a single fucking thought about coming.

That means I thought about her more than she thought about me today, and that’s unacceptable.

While Anae is kissing her way up my flat stomach and letting her hands roam over my cut muscles like she was when she was posing us for the picture, I look at that new manicure she’s so proud of and feel a wave of malice pass over me.

I reach down and grab one of her hands, dragging it off me. I bring her palm to my lips and kiss it to lower her guard. When she smiles at me, my grip turns steely so she can’t yank her hand away as I grab her thumb and break her new nail right off.

“Dare!” Pain flashes across her face. She cries out—the first thing she’s done all night to make my cock stir.

She doesn’t like the pain, though. She scoots off me and curls her legs up on the sand behind her, cradling her hand against her tits like it’s an ailing baby bird—if she actuallycaredabout ailing baby birds.

“What the fuck?” she demands, shooting me a wounded look.

I tip back my beer bottle and drain the rest before tossing it on the sand by her legs. “I’ve gotta go.”

“What? Where?” Confusion plastered across her face, she looks up at me as I stand. “You can’t leave. We’re atyourhouse. What if your dad gets here and you’re gone?”

“He won’t. He’s out fucking his girlfriend tonight, won’t be home until early morning. Just make sure everyone goes home before you leave.”

“Are you serious? Dare!” she calls as I walk away. “Where are you going?”

I don’t answer her.

I just tuck her acrylic nail into my pocket and head to the house for a knife.

SEVEN

Aubrey

I’m already running lateas I rush out the front door.

I couldn’t sleep last night. Too much on my mind. I kept hearing things, imagining an ominousness in the air that made no sense.

Or, I guess it did, and that’s the problem.

I ended up giving up on sleeping in my own bed altogether. In case that feeling of dread was because something was going to happen to Mom in the middle of the night, I made Dad’s old side of the bed my own and curled up beside her.

I didn’t sleep much. I just watched her, made sure she kept breathing.

When the sun came up, my eyes were burning. I knew I would regret staying up all night, but I knew I wouldn’t, too.

I made coffee and consumed the whole pot by myself. I no longer feel the exhaustion as I tap the button on my key fob to unlock my car.

The car looks strange, though. I can’t put my finger on it. Does it look lower to the ground? Did I drink too much coffee and now I’m losing my mind?

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