Hang on… what am I doing? I don’t want Quinn to look at me like that. I might be his date, but I wasn’t trying to snare him, especially not when Courtney had her claws in him.
Then why are you going to this party? I admonished myself. Why is your heart racing at the thought of him perving at you in a dress?
“Us?” Loretta’s voice held a note of suspicion. “And you’re going? Come on, Hazel, it’s another trick. They’re trying to lure you out so they can do something terrible.”
Probably. Her words stabbed at my chest, like a knife twisting in my heart. The fire Quinn had stoked within me fizzed out.
“Why would you trust Quinn after what they did to your hair?” Loretta added, twisting that knife deeper.
But Loretta was also asking a very good question, one I should have already answered for myself. My fingers folded over the hanger. Why did I trust Quinn? Why was I going? Just because Quinn said I owed him a favor? What was he going to do to me if I refused? It couldn’t be any worse than the things they’d already done.
I wanted to go to the party, and I wanted to go with Quinn. I wanted his eyes on me and his hands on my body and I wanted to see his face light up with that beguiling smile because of something I said. That was fucking ridiculous and impossible because Quinn was a King and I was the nobody, the gutter whore, but there it was.
Well, fuck Quinn and his smile. I might be going to his party but that didn’t mean I’d play by his rules. I shoved the dress back in the closet and settled on a pair of skinny jeans, a white tank, and my leather jacket. I secured the chain holding my room and locker keys around my neck and lifted up the corner of the mattress, where I kept the mirror shard. I shoved it into my pocket. With my new short haircut, I looked more like a Badlands street fighter than a prep school girl.
At least I’m me.
When I opened the door again, Quinn’s eyes bugged out of his head. “Yeah, you looking damn fine, Hazy, but that’s not going to cut it as an outfit.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I left all my cocktail dresses and Louboutin heels at my summer house in the Hamptons.” I pulled up the collar of my leather jacket. “This is what you get. So either deal, or go to the party by yourself. Personally, I couldn’t care less.”
“You’re always a surprise, Hazy.” Quinn cocked an eyebrow at me. He stuck out his hand and pulled me through the door, crushing my body against his. My breath caught in my throat as he pressed his chest against mine, as his scent invaded my nostrils and his lips danced tantalizingly close to mine. The air between us crackled with fire.
“Mmmmm.” Quinn’s voice rumbled in my chest as he ran a finger over my lips. “You know, we could just skip the party altogether, go up to my room.”
It took all my self-control to tear my body from Quinn’s and dart away. With my face hidden from Quinn by the gloom of the corridor, I sucked in a deep breath, trying to get my pattering heart and flame-kissed skin under control. “Let’s hit the party. I’m dying to see the rich kids of Derleth trying to tap a keg without ruining their manicures.”
“Ladies choice. We’re going this way.” Quinn grabbed my hand and led me in the opposite direction, away from the stairs. At the end of the hall, he jiggled the handle on the last door until it opened. This room didn’t have a number scrawled on the door. Quinn picked something metal off the floor, and after a few flicks, a small flame inside an old-fashioned lantern leaped to life.
I gasped and staggered back, shocked by the fire, but after I moment I realized it was under control, of course it was, and my breathing calmed.
In the flickering light, I recognized the space as a mirror image of the room Loretta and I shared, except instead of beds and a desk and closet, there were old desks and boxes stacked around the walls. There was no window on the other end, only a tall mirror coated in dust.
Quinn went straight up to the mirror and slid his fingers under the frame. After a moment, the glass swung out into the room, revealing a set of dark stone steps twisting upward.
“Ladies first,” Quinn gestured with a bow.
A shiver ran down my spine. “Fuck no. Your favor was for a party, not stepping into Narnia.”
Quinn sighed. “It’s a secret passage. Old rich eccentric people like the family that built this house had them installed so they could escape if the Japanese invaded or some shit. It’ll drop us out near the party and I won’t have to sneak you through the halls with teachers on duty.”
Scritch-scritch-scritch, went the rats in the walls as they scurried along the roof and circled the walls of the tunnel.
I didn’t move. My mind raced with all the things that could go wrong if I stepped into that dark passage with Quinn.
“Come on, Hazy. We’re missing the party.”
“I’m not going first so that you can slam the door on me and leave me trapped in a hole in the wall.” Especially not with those rats scritch-scritch-scritching inside.
“You’re so paranoid.” Quinn stepped inside with the lantern, folding his bulk into the narrow space. He moved up two steps and then held his hand out for me.
“Gee, what reason would I have for being paranoid, I couldn’t even think.” Thinking about the shard in my pocket, I accepted his hand, climbing into the mirror. His fingers were hot against mine, sending a line of fire straight into my core.
Inside the cramped space, Quinn’s coconut-and-sugarcane scent rushed over me, tropical and tantalizing. The lantern light flickered in front of them, illuminating just enough to that I could see the curve of his ass in his designer jeans.
After twenty steps, we entered a narrow tunnel. The rough stone floor sloped downward. Somewhere in the distance, water dripped, and the air had a damp quality that made my sinuses itch. “This runs under the fields,” Quinn explained, holding the lantern high so that I could see as well.
I remembered what Ayaz had said, about Thomas Parris building secret caverns and tunnels into the bedrock beneath the house, so that his coven could meet in secret to perform their rituals. Was this one of them? A faint chill wafted over my bare neck, but it did nothing to quell the fire inside me ignited by Quinn’s touch.
We walked for what seemed like ages before I could see a faint dot of light. Quinn pulled me forward, and we exited the mouth of the cave. A freezing wind whipped up from below us, and I pressed my back against a rock face.
“Here’s the rule, if you use this tunnel, you’ve got to cover up the entrance,” Quinn swung a mess of vines and branches over the cave. “We don’t want anyone else finding it.”
“Who’s we?”
“Trey, Ayaz, and me. There are three secret tunnels that lead out of school. We’re the only ones who know about this one. And now you.”
Why was he sharing this with me? What made him think that he could trust me when his friends so obviously hated me? “Quinn, what is—”
He held a finger to his lips. “I know what you’re going to ask, Hazy. I’ll tell you one day, but it’s a long story. Tonight, we party.”
Confused, I let Quinn grip my hand and led me away from the cave entrance. “Where are we?” I asked, suddenly afraid. In front of me, there was only a narrow ledge. Below my feet, waves crashed against the cliffs below, the ocean rumbling through my bones, deep and resonant, like Ayaz’s voice.
“We’re on the eastern tip of the peninsula,” he said. “The eminent Thomas Parris created a pleasure garden here for his Bacchanalian orgies. You know about the history of the school?”
I nodded, then realized he wouldn’t be able to see me. “Yes. Ayaz told me, in a rare moment when he wasn’t scowling.”
“I wouldn’t take it personally. Ayaz scowls at everyone. Even Trey, and they’re practically brothers. So yeah, apparently, this Parris guy loved to party. Apparently, the shindigs here used to be out of this world. It’s said that they summoned all kinds of demons and dark things that terrorized the whole area. The school owns it now, of course, and we’re not supposed to go down here. It’s too dangero
us, which of course is part of the appeal. Hold on. I’ve got you.” His hand tight around mine, Quinn made his way down the narrow path. I kept my eyes on my feet. One wrong move and I’d slide over the edge and dash myself across the rocks below.
Is that such a bad thing?
I pushed the dark thought aside. I hadn’t thought something like that in a couple of months, not since I watched the flames tear through the apartment and wondered if I should throw myself upon them. I’m a survivor. I don’t give up.
But was I? Being at Derleth made me doubt everything I thought I knew, even about myself.
Our path joined others snaking around the cliffs. The paths joined and widened, and I started to notice details of the garden. Deliberate beds and niches were set into the rocks, housing weird statues and wilting plants. Nature had re-asserted herself after the garden had fallen into ruin – weeds twisted through the rocks, overtaking the beds and choking the statues.
The cold stole my breath. Bitter wind rushed up from the ocean below. Salt water misted my legs as I picked my way down the path after Quinn. Despite the cold, girls sauntered past in sleeveless dresses and towering heels. How are they not human Popsicles? I rubbed my arms through my leather jacket as I surveyed the party.
We stood on a wide, oddly-shaped terrace carved from the cliff. Students spread out along the craggy rocks, laughing and drinking from red plastic cups or passing around pipes filled with God knows what. The terrace had been set up with a dance floor along one end. No shitty playlist from someone’s phone at this elite party, but an actual live band made up of juniors I recognized from the drama department played weirdly out-of-date 90s emo music while girls swayed and ground against each other. Behind the band was an elaborate grotto carved into the rocks, inlaid with a frieze depicting satyrs and maenads in all kinds of lewd poses. A waterfall cascaded off the rock-face and trickled through a series of pools, where students bathed surrounded by hundreds of twinkling candles.
At the other end of the terrace, a stone gazebo stood on top of a rock ledge, appearing to float above the ocean. The roof had caved in, leaving the structure open to the sky. A brazier in the center held a blazing fire, and I could see students huddled around, covered with blankets and talking in low voices. In the darkness, I couldn’t make out any faces. I didn’t like not knowing where Courtney was, not when I stood this close to the edge of a precarious cliff.
I followed Quinn through a crowd, glancing back over my shoulder every few steps in case she snuck up behind me. Quinn led me straight to a folding table heaped with alcohol. He grabbed us both cups and set about mixing a couple of drinks. I watched his movements like a hawk. If he put something in my drink, I didn’t see it. But I swapped our cups around and waited until he took a sip first before I did the same.
“You’re paranoid,” he grinned, clinking his plastic cup against mine.
“I’ve seen Carrie. You and your girlfriend could have planned some humiliating stunt.”
Quinn rolled his eyes in an adorable way, and despite myself, a laugh rumbled up through my belly. “If you’re talking about Courtney, she’s not my girlfriend.”
“She believes she is. And I’m probably going over a cliff or drinking rat poison tonight because of it.”
Quinn threw his arm around me and thumped his chest. “She’ll have to get through me first.”
My heart soared, and I hated myself for being sucked in by Quinn’s charm. I wanted so badly to believe that this guy actually genuinely wanted to hang out with me. I was even starting to like the silly nickname he’d given me. But the wind bit against my bare neck and I stiffened, sliding out from under his arm. “Is there any food?”
Quinn pointed to another table, where someone had laid out platters of food. Lots of weird-looking fishy stuff on crackers, no thank you. Ooh, cocktail sausages. I popped two in my mouth. Wheeee, they’re quite spicy.
I grabbed a handful of chips and munched on them while Quinn watched, mouth agape.
I stared at him, mouth still filled with sausage and chips. “What? You never seen a girl eat before?”
Quinn whistled. “No, not really. Most of the girls here are on some annoying diet. No starch! Only two hundred calories! No sugar! Boring, boring, boring. I’ve never seen a chick plow through a bowl of chips like that.”
“Yeah, well, where I come from, you never say no to food, because you don’t know how long it will be until your next meal.” I licked salt off my fingers and reached for another cocktail sausage.
“I can’t even imagine,” he said. The way he said it, it wasn’t mean. It was just a statement of fact. He literally couldn’t imagine, because being hungry was so far out of his realm of experience.
“I can’t imagine living the way you do, where you could have anything you possibly wanted and every opportunity at your fingertips. I can’t imagine snapping my fingers and having people jump to do my housework or make my food or get me off.”
“When you put it like that, it does sound pretty amazing,” Quinn agreed. He flashed me a smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
Ah, now there’s something real behind the trickster King’s mask. “Isn’t it?”
“You want to swim?” Quinn asked, changing the subject with a swiftness I couldn’t help by notice. “The pool is fed from a natural spring. It’s actually quite toasty once you get your clothes off.”
“I’d love to swim.” The words came out too fast. It was reckless to risk taking my clothes off here, but the thought of seeing Quinn with his shirt off, in the water, all those muscles and tattoos on display… I glanced around again. Courtney was nowhere in sight. In fact, no one seemed to have noticed Quinn here with me. I dared to believe it might be okay.
Quinn grinned and grabbed my hand, dragging me to the edge of the rocks. Clothes and shoes were strewn everywhere. I peered into the water, noting the number of couples pressed together in the dark corners. In the middle of the pool, where the water was so deep the bottom was only a black abyss, Amber and Madison splashed around with a couple of guys. My chest tightened. If they were around, then Courtney and Tillie couldn’t be far away—
Quinn tugged off his jacket and laid it down on the rocks, stepping out of his jeans to reveal those lean, muscular legs. My mouth dried as he shrugged off his shirt, revealing broad shoulders and a tight, toned chest crisscrossed with tattoos. My finger flew to the burn on my wrist as he looped a finger into his boxers and tossed them aside, too.
“You coming, Hazy?” He grinned at me, enjoying himself.
I tried to stop looking, but I couldn’t. I’d never seen a guy completely naked before. And here was Quinn, standing around all tight muscle and bad-boy swagger like it was the most natural thing in the world. His cock bounced as he clambered up the rocks. How can he be that big? How can something that big fit inside a girl?
I pressed my finger into the scar as my body flushed with heat, jamming my thighs together in a vain attempt to quash the violent urge that flared inside me. I do not want to find out. That’s not why I’m here. I do not want to find out… “Quinn, wait—”
He sat on the edge of the rocks, swinging his legs, giving me ample view of that glorious cock. “Yes, Hazy?”
“I didn’t bring my bathing suit.”
“Too bad.” Quinn couldn’t have sounded less upset if he tried. He swung his legs over the side and lowered himself into the water. My mouth dried as his taut buttocks disappeared beneath the surface.
Oh, fuck it.
Before I could change my mind, I slipped out of my jeans, tank top and jacket and balled them up inside Quinn’s clothes. I left my room key and locker key on the chain around my neck. Luckily, I’d chosen a black bra and underwear that, while not exactly Victoria’s Secret, at least wasn’t sagging or riddled with holes. I was more covered up than most of the other girls in string bikinis.
Cold ocean air caressed my arms, raising rows of goose pimples across my skin. I scrambled up the edge of the rocks and sank into the ho
t water beside Quinn. I gasped as heat pooled in my body, partly from the hot water and steam, partly from Quinn’s fingers trailing along my arm.
Only water separated us. Only a few flimsy molecules between his completely naked body and my nearly naked one. I was grateful for the cloak of darkness that hid the heat flooding my cheeks. I crossed my arms over my chest, anxious to pretend everything was cool, that I wasn’t falling apart because I was sitting in a hot spring with Quinn Delacorte.
I settled onto a shelf of rock that acted as a seat and looked around, trying to recognize the other faces in the candlelight. Ayaz sat opposite us across the pool, with a girl under each of his arms. He talked to them in his low, sexy voice, and even across the water, the sound of it vibrated through my body. Something about the Kings of Derleth was impossible to resist.
Quinn’s arm went around my shoulders. A thread of panic rose up inside me, and I pushed myself off from the edge to give myself space. I needed to breathe. I needed to figure out what I was doing here, how I’d let myself be tempted into this grotto, in my underwear.
I blamed Quinn Delacorte’s fucking smile.
The rocks were slippery, and the middle of the pool was deeper and hotter than I’d expected. I couldn’t see or feel the bottom, just a black hole of water stretching down into infinity. I tried not to think about eels and other things that might lurk down there.
Quinn swam up beside me. “I’ll beat you to the other side,” he said, dog-paddling toward a crag of rocks near Ayaz.
I followed him, hauling myself on the rocks. Here, I could see over the edge of the pool. Surprisingly, the garden carried on beyond, the terraces stepping down through an avenue of trees to a heavily wooded area at the bottom enclosed in a high metal fence.
“What’s that?” I asked, pointing at the metal gate.
Shunned: a reverse harem bully romance (Kings of Miskatonic Prep Book 1) Page 11