Page 28 of Make Me Lie (Rich Demons of Darkwood 1)

“Only in the best of ways,” she purred.

I was unconvinced that she wasn't just lying for the sake of the men around me. They were smirking. That could mean that she was telling the truth, or it could mean, they knew they had the upper hand in this situation, as they seemed to have in almost every situation.

But there was a spark of life in her eyes. It really did seem as if she'd been having fun.

Her chin rose as she stared at me. “Who do you think you are, anyway? Do you think you can just come into the Order of the Sphinx and ruin our—"

“Shut up,” Cain cut in. “I don't want to hear anything more from your greedy little mouth, slut.”

She just smiled up at him, pressing her breasts against his thigh, as if she were eager for him, but he didn't even bother to look down at her.

“It's funny that you seem to think we're villains, Aurora, when it certainly seems we could learn some things from you.”

The words struck me deeper than they should have, maybe because they were accompanied with a sudden flash of almost certain knowledge. These guys somehow had found out who I was. And they had been the ones to reveal it to the entire campus. They had ruined my second chance.

Underneath the sudden pounding sense of loss, I felt a constant thrum of rage.

Remington stirred on the floor, then sat up, rubbing his face with his hands. “Fuck. That didn’t just—fuck no.”

The other guys all laughed. Cain offered him his hand and boosted him easily to his feet. “This is definitely a special day, Remington. You’re buying tonight.”

“I’ll buy every night if you promise never to bring this up again.”

Victoria let out a sharp burst of a giggle. Cain turned a look on her that made her wither slightly before he picked up the whip again. He let the tail tease over her thighs, and she rolled her hips forward as if she was desperate for him to beat her more.

Although he didn’t look my way, I still knew Cain was talking to me when he said, “We only play with willing participants, little girl. You should be so lucky.”

Remington’s gaze fixed on mine. His eyes seemed to burn right through me. I took an involuntary step backward that just slammed my shoulder blades into the wall again.

“No hard feelings, new roommate,” he said, his voice dry. It didn’t make me feel any better.

“I’ll take her to her room.” Pax gestured for me to go ahead of him.

No one had to ask me twice to head to the door. I moved quickly, afraid that it was just a setup and I wasn’t going to be able to make it out. But I escaped into the hallway, grabbing my bags from where I’d dropped them.

I should give up on college entirely. Hit the road and run. My identity was already burned.

Remington was behind me, closing the door just as there was a whip crack and a scream from inside. There was a breathy note to it. She and Cain had begun their game again.

He was studying me in a way that I couldn't make sense of. As if I were an interesting puzzle he was curious to figure out. I didn't like the idea of these men figuring out anything about me.

“She was indeed having fun,” Pax said. “But chin up. No need to be too embarrassed by the way you just floundered in there.”

“Floundered?” I shot back. “I thought she was getting hurt.”

“She was. She just happens to like it. Are you some kind of prude?”

I never thought I was until today, but maybe I was, maybe that was where I drew my line in the sand because the degrading way that Cain had talked to that girl, and the way she practically writhed in pleasure at every degradation he had to offer, had left me feeling a little bit uncomfortable.

Pax opened the door to the next room. “Sorry, there must have been a slip up,” he said, giving me a devilish grin.

He held it for me, pretending to be a gentleman. I peered warily under his arm, convinced that there must be some new nightmare waiting inside. But the room seemed to be just another large bedroom beautifully furnished with a big window looking out onto the campus lawn and trees beyond. No sign of the dungeon—had that been one of the guys’bedrooms?

Should I run or should I stay?

There was a terrifying part of me that was riveted by Cain and the others, that was curious what might happen next. That thought I could beat them at whatever game this was, convince them I was sweet and innocent…make them want me.

But given that I’d been bottle-fed trauma from infancy, maybe I didn’t have the best instincts.

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