Page 14 of Make Me Lie (Rich Demons of Darkwood 1)

"Let's go dance," Jenna yelled as music and the sounds of the crowd around us tried to drown her out.

Cissy and Jenna danced and giggled as we passed through another doorway into an even bigger room. There was a set of stairs off to my left where the DJ must have been set up because I could hear the thumping sound of the bass coming up from the stairway.

I took another sip of my drink as I furtively looked around me, sure that Stellan was going to pop out at any minute. I plastered a fake smile on my lips as I swayed a bit in place as Cissy and Jenna danced around me. The room was packed...really, the whole place was packed.

I blushed when I saw a couple going at it in one of the shadowed corners. I averted my eyes when I was pretty sure I saw the guy's dick. The corner was shadowed...but not that shadowed.

Jenna rolled her hips against me, almost spilling my drink, and I stopped being a creeper and staring at everyone and tried to dance a little too. I felt like a complete idiot as I moved since I had little to no experience dancing, and I threw back the rest of my drink, wincing as the strong burn of the alcohol went down my throat.

But it was working. I was already feeling a bit more relaxed. Jenna and Cissy moved us down to the stairs that led to the basement. The air coming from down there was humid, the result of what could be hundreds of people packed together like sardines. A group of girls passed by us on the stairs. They were sweaty and disheveled, and one of them tripped and almost fell down the stairs as she tried to drunkenly walk.

I shivered thinking about having that little control. It was tempting to think about getting obliterated, allowing myself not to worry...to forget about the monsters that lurked in my past. But as soon as those thoughts crept in, I pushed them away. I didn't have the luxury of escape. I would have done that already.

When you held as many secrets as I did, you didn't get to forget. There was too much to lose.

I shook off my depressing thoughts when we got to the bottom of the stairs. Another DJ was set up on the far side of the room, and Doja Cat was blaring from the speakers. I couldn't hear a word Jenna was saying as she tried to talk to me. Finally, she just yanked me to the bar down there where we all grabbed another solo cup of red punch.

I might not have been able to get messy drunk, but I could doa littledrunk.

The basement was lit by strobe lights like we were in a rave rather than a frat basement, and it added to the surreal energy in the place. The three of us danced our asses off until I was desperate for water. The bar down here didn't have any, so I was going to have to hunt for it.

"I'm going to go upstairs and find some water!" I yelled in Jenna's ear.

"Do you want me to go with you?" she asked, clearly not wanting to. A frat brother had been grinding against her for the past thirty minutes, and I knew they would be sneaking off to hook up any minute now.

"I'm good," I told her.

I wasn't too nervous about wandering around by myself. The Demon had been good for at least making sure I was dangerous myself. I pitied the frat bro who would try and do something.

I headed back up to the main floor. It was even more packed than it had been before, and a quick look at the bar on that floor told me I'd be lucky to get to the front in the next hour. That wasn't going to work.

Upstairs it was.

Couples were making out on the staircase, and I was sure that some of them were going to fall down it by the end of the night. I was thanking the stars for my Converse as I made my way up the stairs. The first hallway was packed up here too, so I just began to open random doors. The first door I opened got me a good look at some guy's ass as he writhed against a girl who was definitely faking it, but the second door revealed a bathroom that was miraculously empty.

I closed the door and leaned against it, taking a deep breath. I stared at the sink for a moment, tempted to just get water from the spout. But the sink was filthy. I wasn't quite that desperate yet.

I laughed when I saw my reflection in the mirror. My perfectly straight hair was now a wavy, crazy mess and my makeup was smeared from sweating. I grabbed some paper towels from a luckily still full dispenser and tried to fix my face. My hair didn't look half bad like this and there was a flush and glow to my skin from the alcohol and heat. Not terrible looking. Even if it was a stranger's face staring back at me.

I wondered how long it would take for me to get used to this new me.

Somehow I managed to use the toilet without touching the toilet seat, a trick that all college girls needed to master, but one that I had mastered from all the campouts I'd been forced into by The Demon when we were laying low. I opened the door and crept back out into the hallway. The desperation was becoming real. If I had to steal a bottle out of some frat boy's room, I would do it at this point.

I came up empty in a few more rooms after getting an eyeful of things I wished I could unsee. I ran up the next flight of stairs, because these frat houses were freaking huge, and practically threw open the first door I came to.

And immediately regretted every decision I'd made the whole night.

Becausetheywere in this room. All of them except for Stellan.

I'd stumbled into a huge loft where evidently the cool kids held court. There was an enormous couch in front of a projector screen. Behind the couch were a few pool tables and another table that had been set up for beer pong. I gulped as my gaze ran across the three other kings of the school who were sprawled out on the couch. Their adoring courtiers were in various spots around the room, obviously hanging onto whatever the guys were saying.

I thought about trying to back out, but it was too late. The whole slamming open the door to their lair had set me firmly in their sights.

A hush fell upon the room as everyone made me the center of attention.

"You lost?" the pretty, dark haired one drawled. I doubted he would like being called pretty, but honestly, that was the best word to describe him. He was so pretty it was ridiculous.

Remington.

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