by Eden O'Neill
“No, why would you ask that?” I said this too fast, enough for them to both notice when they narrowed their eyes. I pushed around my hair. “I mean, not particularly. I ran into him.”
“Did you? How is he?” Mom asked, and though I maybe had ill will toward Knight and his grandpa for firing her and making us homeless all those years ago, my mom wasn’t nearly as petty. She’d moved on, and when the whole thing went down, I hadn’t recalled her really being mad at all. If anything, she’d just been more sad. “Greer?”
I jumped. “Yeah?”
She smiled. “What did he have to say? How is he now? He used to be such the little adult back then, Ben. Seriously, I’d never seen a child direct a house just like his grandpa. He liked things a certain way, a terribly bossy little thing.”
More like entitled as fuck. Dampening my lips, I said nothing. “Sorry, and it’s nothing. I just ran into him.”
“Are you sure—”
“I said it’s nothing.” And really, this whole thing was fucking stupid, coming here to eat with them. For all I knew, he was still watching me. I gathered my things, tossing my trash before reaching over and hugging Ben. “Thanks for the food.”
It’d been on his tab, always, and after he returned the hug, I reached and kissed my mom, doing the same with a hug.
She rubbed my back. “Okay. You got homework or something? It’s not that late.”
Yeah, that. I nodded. “And sorry. I’ll try to do the dinner thing more.”
They both smiled at me, but mine couldn’t really be full. Knight Reed was in my freaking head, and the way Ben talked about him and his rich grandpa, you’d think he was one of the Reeds’ biggest fans. Maybe he was, blinded just like Haley, Keisha, and Sophie had been. Even my mom held no ill will toward the Reeds, myself the minority.
Mom offered to drive me back to my dorm, but since the transit authority ran every ten minutes and I had a pass, I just hopped on, holding the bar on the short trip home. Getting off at my stop, I just wanted a shower and found my roommates belly down with their textbooks on the floor. I’d missed our nightly study session tonight due to family dinner.
“Hey,” I said, passing quickly through the room. I didn’t really want to talk to anyone, just wanted to shower, and was in and out of the room before they’d barely been able to say hi. Sophie called down the hall for me, and as I opened the door, she said his name.
“Knight’s waiting for you in your room,” she said, but it was too late.
My hand had already been on the knob, steps made to go inside, and I couldn’t even stop my momentum if I tried. I was jerked inside my bedroom by a hand that encased my entire wrist, and once pulled in, the door was slammed behind me.
I was forced up against it, a knee between my legs and warm breath breezed against my ear. Knight Reed smelled like heaven laced with something hellish, the devil in designer threads staring back at me.
“Big mistake, little dove,” he said, dragging his nose along the shell of my ear. He put hands on either side of my head. “Going to the cops?”
Chapter Seven
Greer
My heart beat like a jackrabbit, Knight’s lips brushing my earlobe. “Stop.”
“Or what?” he breathed, a smile in his voice. “You’ll tell on me? Go back to the campus police?”
“I didn’t tell—”
His hand slammed the door, and I jumped, quivering between his arms. What the hell was he doing?
He curled a finger against my throat. “I own the campus, baby. Fuck, own the real police.”
“I didn’t…” Braving up, I stood tall. My jaw tightened. “I didn’t say anything to them, asshole.”
His chuckle dry, he angled a look away, a fake out before his hand folded around my throat. He squeezed ever so slightly, making it so hard to breath.
“You’re strangling me.” More so panic than his actual hand, more so fear than anything else and the madness in his eyes I’d seen too many times before. This guy was seriously crazy, mental, and here I was stuck in a room with him. I reached back for the door, trying to turn the knob, and his hand found mine.
He pulled it away, my lips trembling.
“I’ll scream.”
“And I dare you.” His lips came closer, his knee raising and pressing against the heat between my legs. I gasped, and his smile widened, his fingers tipping down my chin. “This turning you on, dove?” he asked me, hovering his nose over my cheek. “Turning you on like it is me.”
He pressed his big body against me for emphasis, his cock rock hard against my tummy, and my belly jumped. He was hard for me, steel and getting off on this.
My eyes watered. “You’re sick.”
“Am I?” His knee pulsed my mound again, his thumb tapping my throat. Reaching, he grabbed hold of my thigh and curled it around his hip, his knee rubbing friction against my pussy lips. “So what does that make you since you’re riding my damn knee?”
I wasn’t. At least, I thought I wasn’t. I honestly didn’t have too much experience with this, a man making me do this. His knee between my legs did feel good, though, hence more of that confusion in my head. Hell, we were both messed up. Completely—fucked.
I gripped his arms, pulling. “Let go of me.”
“Not until you tell me why you decided to do something stupid. I told you to keep your mouth shut about the other night.”
The fact that he did know about my visit to see my stepdad told me he had been watching me. He had been stalking me or at least had someone tailing me. I swallowed. “I didn’t. My stepdad Ben is campus police. I told you he and my mom work here on campus.”
“Not helping your case, Greer.” His hand replaced his knee, and before I knew it, he was gripping my pussy.
I called out, my mound rubbing his hand. I couldn’t stop it. It felt good…
And damn did he know it.
He grinned at me, his tongue wetting his lips as his hand went from a grip to a pinch. He pinched my lips with three digits, his handsome smirk one of the devil.
“I like you like this,” he said, his voice husky and aroused. “Submitting to me. Knowing your place.” He honed in, his mouth covering my ear. “Just wait until I have my dick in you.”
“Dream on.” I said the words, but they proved to be just as rough and aroused as his own. I loved his hands on me, loved how hard and rough they were. They matched who he was to the nines.
Fuck, I really am fucked up.
I closed my eyes as he pinched my earlobe between his teeth, tugging just once. “So how much does dear old stepdad know? I told you. I own them all.”
The Reeds sure did, and tonight had proved that when I’d gone over there. I’d barely mentioned Knight and his grandpa and my stepdad was telling me about them. I gripped his wrist, hand still around my throat. “He doesn’t know anything.”
“Don’t lie to me, Greer.”
“I’m not. I swear. My mom and I just took him dinner tonight. We usually do it every week.”
“And what does she know?” His gaze panned and found me. Using my neck, he forced my head back to touch the door. “What have you told her?”
“Nothing.” True fear this time, yes, at threatening Ben but even more at my mom. She wasn’t a part of this, neither of them having anything to do with this. I shook my head. “She doesn’t know anything. I swear.”
“Swear to who, Greer?” he asked, his hand reaching up and unhooking one of my bib straps. I didn’t wear shortalls today, but a romper. The strap falling before he went to the other. “Swear to me.”
He unfastened that one too, a tug and the material fell down to my ankles. His hand reached between my legs again. Pinching me hard through my underwear.
“Knight, stop.” But I didn’t want him to stop, my arms hooking around and bracing his big back. I rode his hand and wasn’t even reluctant about it. I wanted his touch, to feel him pulsating inside me.
His nose ran down my neck as he did, and letting go of my throat, h
e braced my hip. “Want me to make you come, Greer?” he asked me, his voice velvet and gravelly. “Want me to show this pussy who’s in charge?”
So dirty, but the threat made me grip him harder. He picked me up, tugging my romper right off my legs and leaving my shoes on. That quick he was trying to get this done, tossing me on the bed before working his shirt off.
He was chiseled marble, perfect in all the right sections. His abs actually looked like a fucking chocolate bar, each section a clean line. I wanted to touch him, but he wouldn’t let me, grappling my hands with one fist before using the other to tear my panties clean off my body.
He balled them up, giving them a lick before stuffing them in his pocket. His eyes were completely wild, and using my own hand, he stuck them between my legs.
“Knight…” I didn’t have time to tell him I’d never done this before. Well, at least with a guy around. Whenever I pleasured myself, I’d very much been alone, but he didn’t wait around for explanation. He merely entered me with my own fingers, using his own digits to strum me, and I started to scream so loud he had to cover my mouth.
“Quiet, Dove,” he said, his tongue lapping at my lips but he didn’t kiss me. He just teased me, the one completely in control here, and he wanted me to know. He didn’t kiss me unless he wanted to, made me come because that’s what he wanted to do. I had no control here at all, my sex bucking wildly against our hands.
“So hot,” he said, and with his tongue he wet a circle over my tank top, my nipple diamond hard even through my bra. He tugged it with his teeth, actually groaning, and I scratched his back. He chuckled. “God, you’re a freak like me.”
I hadn’t thought I was before this, but here I was, fucking myself and letting him do it. My eyes rolled back, Knight taking me to the brink, and that’s when he kissed me, full on with his tongue inside my mouth. He tasted like heaven, sweet with that rough edge. He tasted like power, and I breathed in his life force, his hand pulling mine out to replace with his own.
He fucked me wildly after that, stroking in and out while his thumb flicked my clit. They matched the strokes of his tongue tasting mine, and before I knew it, I was pooling wildly around his digits.
He had me come so hard down from the high, my lips between his teeth and after he found my eyes, stared right in them.
I think for the first time.
His hand left me after that, quick before reaching over and tugging his shirt on.
I sat up, completely confused. I was naked from the waist down, lying by myself with arousal between my legs. My fingers were sticky, my own cum, and Knight barely looked at me before getting up and heading toward the door.
“Knight…” I had no idea why I’d said his name, but it’d been enough to make him stop.
He turned, his dark eyes like something from behind hell’s gates. “Clean yourself up, Greer,” he said, picking up a towel off the top of my laundry pile. He tossed it at me. “Your whore is showing a little.”
Completely frozen, I watched as he slammed the door, making me jump once again. Tears in my eyes, I did clean myself, trying not to cry as I put my clothes back on. He’d called me a whore.
And basically tried to make me look like one.
Chapter Eight
Knight
The dumbbells clanked to the floor when I dropped them, Royal’s eyes twitching wide at me mid-curl. He smirked. “My gym piss you off or something?”
We always used his since he had his own personal one at his high rise apartment. He didn’t live on campus or the frat, preferring the city. The frat had a nice gym too, but the privacy of Royal’s was better. No need to have to elbow a motherfucker for some weights.
“Shut the fuck up.” My ass was in a mood today, clearly. Hence, why I was at the gym and not actually hitting a dude. An even worse scenario would be me anywhere in the vicinity of Greer, someone who’d given me the ultimate head fuck. I’d kissed her. Hell, but worse. I’d fucking liked it to the point where I hadn’t wanted to stop, and that drove me crazy. I’d wanted to teach her a lesson about talking back.
Not feel something for her.
Well, I think I proved to correct all that, calling her a whore and shit. She obviously wasn’t one. Fuck, the way I’d touched her it’d been like she hadn’t been touched, but I’d be hard-pressed to believe that. She may dress in her little kid overalls, but kitten was all fire cat. She knew how to use what she had to drive a guy crazy, and I couldn’t possibly be the first.
Throwing the dumbbell this time, I got more than a look from Royal, but he did spot me when I asked him to come over. He eased up on the weight on each side, and I gave him a look that told him I’d kick his ass if he didn’t stop playing around.
Chuckling, he added more weight, getting behind the bench when I lay down. He helped me with the bar, but then I didn’t need him, his hand under while I lifted and lowered it.
“So what kind of flowers do you like?” he asked, asking me fucking questions when I had the weight of like three dudes hovering over me. He smirked, helping me put the weight back on the bar. “I just want to know what to have at your funeral since you’re clearly trying to kill yourself today.”
Flipping him off, I sat up, finally fucking winded. It took that and twice my regular workout today to do it, but I’d accomplished it. Royal went over to the gym’s cooler, tossing me a water and towel before getting the same for himself. I downed half. “Just need to tire myself out.”
“Clearly.” He sat across from me on another weight bench. “Wanna let me in on what’s going on?”
Try hell fucking no. I guzzled the rest of the bottle before he rolled his eyes.
He snapped the towel at my knee. “Are were really going to do this toxic masculinity shit right now? It’s really okay for two dudes to talk about serious shit, you know? Not really a thing?”
I sneered at words clearly from his girl coming out of his mouth. I smirked. “You can tell December she can rest easy now knowing that she’s gotten you in touch with your feelings.”
The fucker kicked at my kneecap, and I nearly fell off the weight bench, bent over in pain. His eyebrows dancing in response, Royal took a drink of water. If he wanted to prove something, he did there. He put out a finger. “Whatever. Just trying to help.”
“Well, don’t.” I stood, throwing my fists at a punching bag, and once again, he spotted me, going behind and hugging it. I got a few jabs before I took in a breath and looked at him. “Remember that girl the other night?”
“What girl?”
I gave him a look like it was obvious. “The one you brought December’s clothes for.”
“Yeah?” My punch sending him back a bit, he hugged the bag again. “What about her? She running her mouth?”
Just like me, that need to maintain the status quo serious amongst the brothers. Royal no longer wore his Court ring, the thing around his girl’s neck now, but Court blood ran hard through him. It was something that probably wouldn’t ever leave, and the only reason December had the ring was because of a statement he was making to everyone. He shared that part of himself with someone else, the two of them bonded.
My own ring in my pocket, I jabbed once, then twice. “She’s not. Not that I know of anyway.”
“Then what’s the issue?”
Nothing but the sounds of my fists hitting the bag, as hard as I could, until I tired myself out again. “She’s the same girl from when we were kids, you know?” I stated, then stood. “The one who used to live at my house?”
“Wait. The one you killed that dog over?”
I froze, a history I’d never actually dissected with him, but clearly, he knew why I’d asked him to help me take down Old Man Peabody’s dog that day. The thing had been chasing Royal and me, as well as other kids in the neighborhood for years. Almost got us a few times too…
But it hadn’t been until Greer moved into my house that I actually chose to do something about it. It had gotten her that day, a bite right at her ankle, an
d I’d snapped. Royal and I had just happened to be out playing in the woods, heard her screams.
I hadn’t told Royal back then why we should take out the dog, but I guess I hadn’t needed to. My friend, too fucking observant.
“Sure,” I could only say now, not letting that girl have any more power over me than she already did. “I’ve been keeping an eye on her to make sure she doesn’t talk. I guess it’s just been getting annoying.”
The understatement of the year how much she truly got under my skin. Some days, I just wanted to choke the shit out of her, others stick my cock inside her while I choked the shit out of her. It was some kind of evil and kind of did scare me a little. Royal and I came from some mad bullshit where he and I grew up, and I didn’t want to necessarily be like all the evil that came out of Maywood Heights. There were things a guy had to do sometimes to keep order, yes. But there were other times things could definitely go too far, something Royal himself could say.
After all, his father was in prison.
He let me continue to exhaust myself, saying nothing for a while before asking to switch off. I did, spotting him.
He punched. “So what are you going to do about her?” he asked. “You going to do something?”
“I don’t know.”
He smiled. “You wanna do something?”
Again, I didn’t know. More punches, and after, he stood tall. He touched a fist to the bag. “You know you don’t have to be so fucking rigid. If you wanna talk to a girl, you should just fucking talk to her.”
Wait. How did this go from me needing to control Greer to needing to talk to her? I shook my head. “That’s not what I said.”
“No.” He picked up his towel, wiping his face before tugging it over his shoulders. “But that’s what you meant, right?”