Rival (Briarcliff Secret Society Series Book 1)
Page 28
“Would you just—”
“Don’t worry, I didn’t breathe a word to anybody how much you lowered your standards. Your popularity status is intact. We never have to—”
I’m lifted off my feet. His fingers barrel into the soft skin of my upper arms. And he crushes his lips against mine.
“Have you ever thought,” he growls after he pulls us apart, “that it isn’t me who lowered my standards?”
“That’s … that’s absurd,” I stutter. “I’m not stupid. You used me to avenge Piper. I didn’t think about the consequences of how we’d end, how it would affect me—”
His mouth molds with mine, his fire melting my iron with nothing but a match’s flame.
That’s the kind of hold Chase has over me, and it tilts my world until it’s on his axis.
His lips move over my own, his tongue dipping out to taste, then retreating. “Is this cold to you?”
No. You’re the danger of blue fire. “It’s wrong.” I breathe the words into his mouth. “It was stupid to ever let you into my bed.”
Chase pulls back again, the merest of inches spaced between us. “Why couldn’t you just assume I was pissed over the fact you kept her diary from me for so long and lashed out?” he says, gliding a finger down my cheek. “And that I wasn’t doing anyone’s bidding and leaving you for trash under the stairs?”
“Because that’s not how you operate,” I say. “You made that clear when we met. And every other time we slept together.”
He smiles, his eyes like chocolate melting through his lashes. “That’s a solid amount of times.”
I feign an attempt to get out of his hold. Chase is weakening my defenses, and I rein in the yearning to punch him for it. “You’re following someone’s orders.”
Chase grows serious. “There’s no one but me and you. Some kind of shift in my reality happened when I met you. And I’m not talking about death and destruction following both of our lives. Or maybe I am. I see the darkness in you, Callie, and maybe I like it. I was beside you when that part of you took over with Dr. Luke. Perhaps, I enjoy it more than any of the other hollowed-out, happy girls who’ve skipped into my path, then walked away limping.” He tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. “Your past with your dad, I haven’t told a soul. There’s a strength in you, like you can withstand the rusted and mangled pieces inside me.”
“You’re dangerous,” I whisper, remembering how he looked when he beat up Dr. Luke. How he felt in my grip when he did it, cold and unyielding.
He may be content that Piper found her justice, but where will that energy go now? Where will Chase direct the curse of his endless anger that he keeps in a block of ice inside his soul? His sister’s unsolved case? Or … does he want to place it in me, for safekeeping, instead?
Chase responds without hesitation. “You’re my compass, Callie. Redirect me.”
“I’m no one’s morality beacon.”
“Didn’t say you were. Now.” His hands fall to my lower arms, squeezing. “Can we try for a truce? Or if you don’t want that,” he adds when I open my mouth, “can we fuck the angst out?”
“Chase…”
He brings my hand to his pants, and I feel the length there, the growing hardness that mirrors the throbbing at my core.
“Tell me that finding Piper’s killer, that putting it to rest and beating the police to the punch, doesn’t turn you on,” he says, and my stomach lurches at the truth of it. “I’m so fucking glad he’s caught. So pumped I got to lay him out, but it wasn’t enough. I need to expend this … this firebolt inside me, Callie. I need you.”
It will never be enough, I try to say, but can’t.
Maybe Chase has a point. I’m as dark as he says I am, and like recognizes like.
“We’re in public,” is the meager defense I can come up with.
“Then let’s make it private.”
Chase takes me by the hand and leads me the rest of the way to Thorne House. I won’t say we’re holding hands, because that’s not what this is. His grip is too powerful, his physical intent too direct. We’re not showing affection in public. Rather, he’s demonstrating to the scattered students outside that I’m his. Those people will tell their friends, who will tell their friends, and on it will go, until it reaches the entire school’s ears. Not even the scandal of Dr. Luke is sufficient to distract from Chase’s claim of ownership.
Don’t mess with Callie. She’s Chase’s now.
She’s the Nobles’ prize.
But, I can’t be hasty. Chase’s attention and the Nobles’ protection, however surface-level, could provide me with the time to finish out the year.
And discover the truth behind the secret society.
I tell myself that’s what I want as we race to my dorm room, our classes long over and dinner a passing afterthought. I focus on the unveiling of secrets instead of the hard certainty of my downfall planting its seed at the base of my skull.
The buzzing of my phone pulls my awareness to the surface, tugging with the type of urgency shaking me awake would.
“What time is it?” I mutter, the cold air of my room hitting my body as I sit up and scrub my eyes.
I’m shivering more than usual and realize I’m naked and just left the comfort of the warm, hard form beside mine.
Chase.
My phone goes silent. I figure it was Ivy blowing up my phone again with her shocked emojis and exclamations once news hit that Dr. Luke was arrested for Piper’s murder.
But Chase is here. In my bed. We screwed our brains out and fell asleep. And he … stayed.
He’s never done that before. I don’t cover my awe as I memorize the planes of his face, dewy with moonlight, his lashes casting long shadows under his closed eyes.
Chase is softer in slumber. His full lips are supple with dreams, his brows smoothed by the removal of reality.
The buzzing starts up again, and I snatch my phone off the nightstand, reluctant to wake him.
“Hello?” I whisper without checking the ID.
“Calla? Hey, sweetie. Did I wake you?”
“No. It’s okay,” I say to Ahmar while delicately sliding out of bed. I creep into the main room and shut my door with a soft click.
“I’m sorry to call you so late. There was a gang murder in the Bronx, and I was caught up in that, couldn’t get to my messages until later. And, well … you’ve had some criminal fun since we last spoke. You good?”
“Fine. Great.” I can’t help but glance at my closed door with the knowledge of who sleeps on the opposite side. “Piper’s killer was caught.”
“I know. I heard your voicemail. The fuckin’ teacher, huh? What a turd.”
“It’s shocking.” My gaze skirts away from my door, remembering how fury transformed Chase’s face when I told him of Piper’s affair. That she was having sex with someone else.
Quit it, Callie. It’s never like you thought you could have his heart along with the sex.
But it still feels vacant inside my chest.
“Guess you don’t need any digging from me, then. I’m sorry I didn’t come up with much. It’s been nothing but crime sprees over here.”
“That’s okay. Maybe if you could keep me updated on the process Dr. Luke’s gonna go through,” I say, perching delicately on my couch. I’m butt naked, after all. I pull a throw blanket over my legs as I talk. The shivering doesn’t abate. “So, I can make sure he stays where he should. Did you find anything at all that points to him? There’s his confession, but, I dunno, it could be argued it was made under duress…”
Ahmar chuckles. “Always your momma’s daughter. Wanting the hard evidence, never the statements.”
I’m ecstatic we figured out Piper’s killer, but strangely disappointed that Dr. Luke’s reasons had nothing to do with secret societies or Briarcliff history. Shouldn’t I be relieved that Piper’s killer was so obvious, once the connection was made?
But, the stealing of my phone, the interception of Piper’s diary, using
the distraction of horrendous photos … it was all them, not Dr. Luke. It has to be, and I’m not crazy for thinking that.
Or is that my desperation coming through?
“I gotta say, Calla, I didn’t find much.” Ahmar sighs into the phone. “Though I tried, kiddo. Called all the connections I have over in Rhode Island. I did get to reading the coroner’s report, though, before it’s been made public.”
“Oh?”
“It’s sensitive information, but I know I can trust you and you got my back. Right?”
“Yeah, of course.” Ahmar’s like the dad I never had. He can trust me with anything.
“It’ll come out once this Luke guy is finished with processing. The victim, your roommate, the girl…”
“Piper,” I nudge.
“Yeah. This all goes toward the airtight motive of an affair and spurned love.”
“What is it?” I ask.
“Well … Piper was pregnant. Once DNA comes in on the fetus, that’ll be a strong case against your teacher…”
I don’t hear anything else Ahmar says, though he rattles off sentences. The roaring dread in my ears won’t let me.
I’m frozen, naked, and shivering, and I can’t stop staring at my closed door.
Chase is there, sleeping soundly due to an exhilarating round of sex, where he showed me his skills, his prowess, and the utter addiction he’s become in my bed.
And Piper was pregnant.
We’re done … for now.
The Nobles formally request your presence in Book Two, VIRTUE.
TAKE ME THERE.
Afterword
Thank you so much for reading RIVAL! I can’t tell you how this story haunted my thoughts, day in and day out, for months. If you have the time, I’d love for you to leave a review on your preferred platform. Those golden little stars are what drive me to keep writing.
Book Two, VIRTUE, is up for preorder! TAKE ME THERE.
You can also join my new readers’ group, Ketley’s Crew, on Facebook! I’d love to meet you there!
If you’d like to read more of my books, check out the next page.
xoxo, Ket.
Also By Ketley Allison
Players to Lovers
Trusting You
Daring You
Craving You
Playing You
Rockers to Lovers
Sing to Me
Strum Me
Sync with Me (Coming Soon)
Falling Paper Duet
Play the Man
Win the Game
Vows Duet
To Have and to Hold
From This Day Forward
Briarcliff Secret Society
Rival
Virtue (Coming November 12)
Fiend (Coming Soon)
About the Author
Ketley Allison has always been a romantic at heart. That passion ignited when she realized she could put her dreams into words and her heart into characters. Ketley was born in Canada, moved to Australia, then to California, and finally to New York City to attend law school, but most of that time was spent in coffee shops thinking about her next book.
Her other passions include wine, coffee, Big Macs, her cat, and her husband, possibly in that order.
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You can also join my new readers’ group, Ketley’s Crew, on Facebook! I’d love to meet you there!