Page 39 of Deadly Sacrifice

Creed chuckles under his breath, and Griffin shakes his head subtly, like he’s trying to warn me not to pick another fight. But it’s not my fault when Asher is the one who always starts them.

Asher tilts his head to the side, studying me closely until my skin crawls. “Come over to the Beta Ep. house after your last class.”

I drop my fork, giving my pasta dish a glare. It was just starting to taste really fucking delicious, too. “And why would I do that?” I drawl, looking to Creed and Griffin for answers, but both look just as lost as I am.

“Because I won’t ask so nicely if I have to repeat myself,” he warns, losing that false, sarcastic kindness in a second. “Unless you’d rather pay for four new tires? Though I doubt you can afford it.”

It’s difficult to keep my face perfectly blank. I so badly want to cheer about the damage I did to his car, but I restrain. Barely. Blinking innocently, I say, “Something wrong with the four you have?”

Asher stares at me, a muscle twitching in his jaw and his green eyes full of burning hatred. “Show up after class. Don’t make me hunt you down, because you won’t like what I do to you,” he tells me in a low voice that squeezes my lungs with fear.

***

Knowing that I have a date from hell with Asher at the end of the day makes every second drag on. I don’t know if I’d rather get through classes quickly, so I know what he wants from me, or if I want my math professor to continue droning on in his monotone voice all damn night.

Of course, the choice isn’t mine to make, and class eventually lets out.

With heavy feet and a sinking stomach, I make the ten-minute walk through campus and onto Greek row, stopping with a huff of irritation in front to the Beta Ep. house. It’s like walking to the gallows. The front door is right there, looming and terrifying, but it’s my only option.

I get up to the porch, glaring at the stupid door and imagining the stupid face I’ll meet on the other side of it. But before I can actually knock, the door swings open, and oh, look, just the little shithead I was thinking about.

Asher smiles down at me, scrubbing a hand through his milk chocolate hair. “Wow, you can follow orders,” he muses, stepping aside to let me in. “Such a good pet.”

I roll my eyes, not dignifying him with a response as I pass by. “What am I here for?” I ask once he shuts the door behind me, sealing my fate for the rest of the night.

Asher throws his arm around my shoulders and guides me up two flights of stairs. “Before I buy that collar, I need to make sure I get you house trained. After all, it seems you’ve got a nasty habit of tearing shit up,” he says on the way up.

“Asher, knock it off. I’m really not in the mood for your bullshit right now.”

He stops me in front of a closed door in the middle of the hallway, letting his arm drop while he faces me with a faux pout. “Well, that’s unfortunate for you.” He opens the door with a sly grin, showing me the inside of a bathroom. “See all that dirt and gunk in the grout?” he asks, so kindly pointing it out for me.

“Yup,” I reply, popping the p. Other than the filthy floors, though, the large bathroom is pretty clean, which is a shock all on its own, considering we’re in a frat house. The walk-in shower is enormous, with sleek gray tiles and white accents, and all the bottles inside are tidy against the wall. The double sinks aren’t jammed up with facial hair trimmings or globs of toothpaste like I would have expected, and the room doesn’t reek like sweaty socks and questionable things.

It’s actually a nice ass bathroom, and I’m instantly jealous, knowing that while the guys have this, I have to slip into one of the empty stalls with a nearly see through shower curtain where twenty other girls could easily walk by and see me.

Asher comes back to my side, patting my back a little too hard and causing me to jerk forward. “You’ll be here every night this week until the floor shines. Consider it payment for my tires. Cleaning supplies are under the sink.” Then he turns, shutting the door behind him, and leaving me inside.

The first thing I do is grab the doorknob and give it a testing pull, but unsurprisingly, Asher has somehow locked it from the outside. Fucking dick. I could bang and scream and cause a scene, but do I really think he or any other guy in this house will let me out?

No.

Well, Griffin would, but I know for a fact he has a late class on Mondays and Wednesdays, so until he comes home, I’m screwed.

With a groan, I drop my backpack to the ground against the door, tie my hair up into a bun, and get to work pulling out cleaning supplies. It’s not that I actually want to clean — obviously — but like Asher has pointed out time and time again, my options are limited here. He has the upper hand in our battle of wills. One word from him and I could be kicked out of Greek life. Not only that, but if he’s to be believed, he’ll have me turned away from Blackwood University too, if I don’t behave.

And I refuse to leave here without answers.

Honestly, slashing his tires was probably taking things too far, and I’m shocked he hadn’t jumped the gun then and there. After I did it, I fully expected him to storm into my room and help me pack all my shit to get me out of here sooner. I don’t know why he hasn’t, but I’m not willing to risk pushing any more of his buttons right now.

So, I do what I do best.

Push it all to the darkest part of my mind, where I can’t feel the shame and disappointment as I pull on yellow gloves and drop to the floor. I let my mind wander as I grab a sponge and grout cleaner and start scrubbing.

My fingers are sore and my knees are stiff when I finally stand up again. Forty minutes on the tile and I’m going to be hurting for the rest of the week. But even so, I smile, looking down at the clean floor. I worked my ass off and inhaled a lot of chemical fumes, but the grout looks like new. Asher has no reason to bring me back the rest of the week. He must think really poorly of me if he expected this to take longer than a day.

I get everything put away and then wash my hands for good measure. Then I knock on the door, feeling like an idiot as I do, but I’m trying to get Asher’s attention.

“I’m done,” I call out, trying the doorknob. “Hello? Asher, get me the fuck out of here!” I shout louder.

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