Page 122 of Cruel Elite (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 3)

He followed me right into the trap I’d set for him.

I spin around and grab his shirt. “Noah, I—”

“Stop.” His voice is ice cold, and he tears my hands away, backing up. The look on his face breaks my heart. It’s utter and complete betrayal.

“But Noah. Please—”

“Really, Angel,” Tank says, gently brushing past me. “You’ve done more than enough. Go ahead and skedaddle. Unless you want to stay and see what just desserts looks like.”

Then, before I can do anything to stop it, Tank and two of the Hell Princes grab Noah and pull him further into the woods.

37

Penny

The run back to the cabin seems to take three times as long as the first time.

I’m panicked, crashing through branches and stumbling over roots and rocks in my hurry to get back to the cabin.

To find help.

From someone. Anyone.

I have no idea what Tank has planned for Noah. I don’t know if they’re going to keep him in the woods or drive him somewhere else.

If they do leave with him, what chance do I even have of finding him again?

I push the thought away and keep running.

The cabin comes into view. The windows are steamed over from how many people are inside.

No one sees me running through the grass.

And the music drowns out my screams.

I save my breath and run even faster.

Inside the cabin, the air is thick and warm. In the short time since I’ve left, the party has devolved into a sex club.

Couples are grinding against each other on the makeshift dance floor, other people are making out on the couch and heavy petting on the floor to a ridiculously loud soundtrack of bass-heavy hip hop.

I scan the room, looking for J.C., but I don’t see him. His blow horn is sitting on the bar unattended.

I move out of the main room and go up the stairs.

The cabin is massive, way bigger than it looks from the outside. There’s a basement with a few bedrooms, a main floor with a hallway of bedrooms, and the second floor which wraps around the back of the house and hangs over a large patio that looks out on the lake.

In the tangle of bodies and people, it could take me twenty minutes to find him.

Noah doesn’t have that long.

I open one door and shout J.C.’s name. The people inside, all in various stages of nakedness on a bed, yell for me to get out.

None of them are J.C.

I do the same thing in a second room and then a third.

Finally, as I’m about to open the fourth door, it opens…

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