Page 43 of Deadly Sacrifice

Asher and Griffin… sure, their parents are tough on them, but mine are dead. If I don’t pull this off, if I don’t carry my own weight, no one is going to make a case in my favor. Asher’s dad won’t want to keep paying for me. Hell, I’m expensive, and I know it. College and psych care add up. Not to mention all the little shit; clothes and food and whatever else I may want.

If I even look like I’m not putting in the work to end Prudence, nobody will hesitate to call me a lost cause — too crazy, too erratic, too unpredictable — and they’ll send me away. For good this time.

I won’t let that happen.

So I’ll walk and plan, and hopefully give my thoughts a direction to scream in, otherwise I’ll be dragging ass all day.

***

By the time my first class of the day is in session, I feel… well, I still feel like a train wreck that’s caught fire and been left to fume. But I’m more confident that I can win Prudence over. I made one little drunken mistake. She can learn to forgive me. I just have to turn up the charm.

I sat in the back of sign language today, next to Asher, but don’t think I have taken my eyes off my sweet Ember for a second. Honestly, I’ve probably missed most of the lecture, but it’s not my fault. She’s just right there, a few rows in front of me, and she’s got these little quirks while she writes down notes and gives her attention to the professor.

She bounces her pencil against her notepad when he says something interesting. She tilts her head to the right as she jots something down. She tugs on her left sleeve every so often, even though the damn thing doesn’t rise an inch.

When class ends, I’m the first out of my seat. Asher mumbles something about a frat meeting later, but fuck if I care. Jogging down the aisle, I wait at the end of the row for Prudence to pack up her things and stand.

Then she sees me.

I smile meekly, really trying to play into the apologetic, desperate look. Gag.

Prudence looks around for another way out that doesn’t involve walking past me. Sorry, baby, you’re trapped. Turning back to me, she lets out a sigh, hitches her backpack up on her shoulder, and then holds her head high as she closes the distance.

I open my mouth to say something cheesy and disgusting, knowing girls eat that shit up, but she beats me to it.

“What do you want?” she asks with an arched brow, all confident and sassy. Fuck, I love it. If only I could keep her and see just how much attitude she’s got.

I shrug with a pathetic grimace, tucking my hands into my pockets. “To earn another chance and prove to you that I’m not that guy. I don’t want to be that guy, not when it comes to you,“ I answer softly as students shuffle out past us.

Prudence rolls her tongue over her teeth as she studies me, tilting her head to the right again. I offer a crooked smile, hoping to sway her. I think it’s working, too, until she says, “No,” and tries to skirt around me.

I blink, so baffled by her curt denial that I let her slip right by and head out of the classroom. Shaking myself back into the moment, I choke down my frustrated groan and chase after her. “Ember, wait,” I call out. She ignores me, of course. I guess she wouldn’t be as fun if she was some easy pushover type. “Dammit, Prudence!”

She stops in the hallway, turning around and glaring at me while I try to slow down enough not to slam into her. “I’m really not interested in going around in circles over this, Creed. So let me make myself perfectly clear,” she says darkly, dropping her eyes down my body and leisurely bringing them back up to my face. “I don’t want you. I never really wanted you. You’re hot, yeah, and I’ll admit that I let you lull me into some idiotic state where I thought getting to know you would be worth my time, but then I snapped right back out of it. I’ve told you before, and I’ll say it again, so keep up, alright? I’m not here to date. I’m not here for dumb boys who think they’re the hottest shit on campus and that their dicks make them gods or some other ridiculous bullshit. Thanks for a fun night, thanks for the orgasm, now kindly fuck off.” She cuts me open with a sharp, deadly smile, then turns and continues her trek down the hall.

A few students had paused long enough to hear her chew me out, and the looks and giggles pointed my way make me uneasy. More than that, they make me feel enraged. Make me see that colorless void again.

“Prudence,” I warn as I follow her, quickly closing the distance between us. Her short legs could never run far enough away from me.

“Drop it. You took your shot, you missed,” she snaps, trying to speed up, but I keep pace with her easily.

“Can’t you at least talk to me? Or is that it? I fucked up, so you drop me like a bag of dog shit? Already on to the next, like every other desperate fucking tease on campus?” I hiss, feeling myself get further from the surface, where rational thought doesn’t exist. She continues walking and ignoring me, and more people have tuned into our heated exchange, and I fucking snap. “I bet Griffin would fuck you if you just looked at him for long enough. Asher, too. Just call him sir again, and he’ll screw you raw until you can’t walk. Then maybe you’ll come back to me, right? Once you’ve tested everyone else out? Because I’m the best you’ll ever have, and you haven’t even had my cock yet.”

She slams to a halt, looking at me like she’s physically wounded. Like I’ve gone way too far. “Fuck. You. You have no idea who I am or what I want, so don’t try to slut shame me, you fucking asshole,” she seethes, angry tears brimming in her hazel eyes.

“You let me into your pants on the first date,” I muse with a cruel twist of a smile, speaking loud enough for passersby to hear. “I call ’em like I see ’em, baby.”

For a moment, I feel like I’ve won. A tear slips free and leaves a wet track down her pale cheek. For just a second, I feel prideful, like I should crow in victory. Not how I planned to get here, but she’s breaking all the same.

Then she slaps me. Fucking hard, shocking me with all the force behind her small frame.

I react before I think, snapping my hand out to grab her arm and yank her along with me. She tries to pull herself free, but even if she’s stronger than I expected, she’s not stronger than me. I march her into the first door I find, shoving her inside and slamming the door behind me.

I barely give the small, dark space a glace, but we’re in some kind of janitor’s closet, I think.

“I’ll scream,” she pants, righting herself after tripping on a bucket on the ground. “If you don’t let me go right this second, I will scream bloody murder and the campus police will be on your ass before you can think of any plausible reason you dragged me in here.”

A pleased, gritty laugh falls from my lips as I brush my hand through my messy hair. It’s dark enough in here that I can only make out the shape of her body, so I can’t see the rage I know is swimming in her eyes.

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