by Huss, JA
Dress? Date? Sweetie?
“Isabella,” I start to say.
“Yes, Daddy. June fourth is perfect.”
“Excellent.” Mr. Huntington stands up and buttons his suit coat, his broad smile aimed at me. Then Isabella. Then the both of us. “The two of you will make beautiful children.”
CHAPTER FOUR - CADEE
My whole body goes stiff at the mere sight of Dane Valcourt.
“What’s wrong? Did I scare you, Cadee?”
I look around nervously. “Where is everyone?”
He unfolds his arms, still smiling at me. “The bursar’s office is closed for lunch.” He pauses. Like it’s my turn to talk.
“So what do you want?”
He unfolds his arms and takes a step towards me. I take a step back. “Come on, now. We’re old friends.”
“Friends?” I scoff. “Friends? We’re not friends, Dane. You raped me.”
“Please,” he huffs. “You wanted it.”
“Fuck you.”
“I already did that, right?” And then he winks at me.
Jesus. I throw up in my mouth a little. I swallow it down and tilt my chin up. He can’t hurt me. He thinks he can, but he can’t. Unless he’s planning on killing me—and if that’s the case, there is probably nothing I could do to stop that—he’s already displayed the worst-case scenario as far as I’m concerned. It’s a lot easier to deal with when you know what you’re up against.
Three and a half years ago I didn’t know what I was up against.
Now, I do. I scoff at him. “You think you’re so powerful.”
“I think, Cadee? I think? No. I don’t think I’m powerful. I am powerful.”
I’m shaking my head while he talks. “You’re not going to get away with it.”
“Get away with what? Pleasuring you? Do you remember how hard you came, Cadee? My thick cock was inside you and you were sucking on my fingers. Oh, God,” he moans. He closes his eyes and breathes heavy for a moment. Then he opens them and looks straight into mine. “Do you have any idea how many times I’ve jerked off picturing the way you came that night? Holy fuck. The way you sucked on my fingers—”
“Shut up!”
“The truth hurts, doesn’t it?” He pauses to smile at me. “You liked it. You liked the way I spanked your ass that night. And slapped your face. And called you a dirty little whore. Because you are a little whore, aren’t you? You were fucking all three of them that year. And you’re probably fucking them all again right now. God, if I was smart, I’d have been just like Cooper and passed you around with my buddies.” He grabs himself. Gives his cock a good squeeze. “And the only reason you talked yourself into the rape allegation is because you didn’t want to admit you liked it.”
“You’re sick, you know that? And you’re not going to get away with it.”
Dane slips his hand down his pants, begins rubbing his cock. I look away, refusing to give him the satisfaction he’s waiting for.
“I will get away with it, Cadee. You just watch me.”
I gather my courage and take a step forward, aiming for the stairway. But he quickly steps in front of my escape route, blocking me, his hand inside his pants, still playing with himself.
“You’re not leaving yet, Cadee.” His voice is a throaty growl. A threat. “Not until I’m done. In fact…” He unbuttons and unzips his pants, removing his cock. Holding it in his hands. “I think I want you on your knees. Just like you were that night. I want your mouth around my cock—”
I sneer at him. “Fuck. You.”
“Oh, yeah. I plan on fucking you. Many, many times.” Then he laughs. “Don’t you understand what’s happening here?”
“Do I understand that you’re a sick sex offender? And you deserve to be locked up so women like me can feel safe?”
“Women like you? Whores, you mean?”
“Rapist,” I seethe.
“Slut. You liked it.”
And then… I don’t know. I feel something inside me change. I haven’t talked to Dane since New Year’s Eve three and a half years ago. He scared the fuck out of me. Changed me. Tuned me into a different girl. One who stopped seeing the beauty around her and instead started looking for the dark things.
I have been avoiding him all these years, but it really wasn’t even necessary. He didn’t come over to the prep side of campus during the last half of his senior year at High Court and I didn’t go over to the college side. He was never waiting for me around a corner or in the dark woods. It’s like I didn’t even exist.
He was so secure in the knowledge that he was safe from any accusations I might hurl his way that he didn’t even bother to threaten me or buy my silence.
He’s certainly not worried about it now, either. Even though he must know that Cooper threatened their father. That Cooper has proof of—well, not the rape, but the abortion. And the fact that Dane has done this to plenty of other girls over the years.
But something inside me changes in this moment. In the lingering echo of his nasty words.
Slut.
Whore.
I would not call it a snap. I don’t have any burning desire to kill him or anything irrational like that.
But I’m not going to let him bully me, either.
“Move,” I demand.
“Hey,” he says, panning his hands wide to indicate the empty room. “I’m not standing in your way.”
I take another step forward, and again, he inches over to block the bottom of the stairwell, his hand still pumping his cock.
“What are you gonna do, Cadee? Scream? Make a scene? I’m just standing here. I haven’t even touched you.” He pauses to smile. “Yet.”
“Dane?” A woman’s voice calls down from the top of the stairs. He tucks his dick away and buttons his pants back up. “Are you still down there?” I look up as a pair of long, bare legs comes into view. Then the rest of the woman appears. Tall, thin, blonde. Red lips and dark eyes. “Oh, there you are,” she says.
She smiles at Dane once she reaches the bottom of the stairs and then hooks her arm into his. I recognize her, but don’t know her name. She went to High Court, I do know that. But she’s much older than me. Six years, just like Dane. So I was just too young to notice her and vice versa.
“Oh, hello, Cadee. How are you?”
I squint my eyes at her. “How do you know my name?”
She grins at me, then Dane. “Dane has told me all about you. He always points you out when we’re on campus.”
I look at Dane and feel revulsion just thinking about these two discussing me over the years.
“What did you call her, sweetie? Little woods girl?”
“Yes,” Dane says, hissing the ‘s’ on the end of the word. “My little woods girl. Cadee and I were good friends when she was small. Weren’t we, Cadee?”
“No,” I say, feeling sick. Did he plan that night? Was I his… target?
“So, did she agree?” the wife asks.
“Agree to what?” I reply.
“Dinner. Did you ask her, Dane?”
“Not yet,” he says.
“Dinner?” I huff. “Please.”
The wife tilts her head at me. “What’s that mean?”
“I’m not having dinner with you two.”
She pouts her lips. “Hmmm.” Then she looks at Dane. “Isn’t she one of the—”
But he cuts her off. “Yes. We were just getting started, Elizabeth. Can you please go back upstairs? We’re not quite done yet.”
“Oh”—I laugh—“we are so very, very done here, Dane.” And I make my move towards the stairs. I don’t care that both of them are now blocking the way. What are they gonna do? Not let me pass?
But then the wife actually does block me. “Hold on, honey.” She glances at Dane. Then back at me. “You don’t get to make the decisions here. You’re the offering.”
“What?” Just hearing that word makes me sick. Because I heard that word over the summer a couple of times. Not in re
ference to me, but to Sophie.
“She hasn’t been told yet, Elizabeth. Can you please go upstairs and wait for us? We’ll be up shortly. Cadee doesn’t want to miss her big moment.”
“What are you talking about?”
But they both ignore me. Elizabeth gazes at Dane with a loving expression. Gross. Then pecks him on the cheek and tilts her head at me. “We’ll see you soon. You will be coming for dinner.” Then she whispers, “You’re ours, honey,” and winks at me before turning and climbing back up the stairs.
I just stare at her legs as they disappear. And in those few seconds of silence she leaves behind, my heart has started to beat rapidly. Then wildly. Skipping and pounding. “What kind of sick shit are you—”
“Shut up, Cadee,” Dane barks. And he is not quiet about it.
I look up the stairs, wondering if anyone is up there. It was so busy when I came down here, but now it feels very… empty. And I feel very alone.
And vulnerable.
“Good girl,” Dane coos, walking towards me.
I back up. “Stay away from me.”
“No, sweetie. My wife is correct. I’m sorry no one explained it to you. But there is a reason we let you live on this campus your whole life. There is a reason why you are here.”
I swallow hard and then I can’t seem to catch my breath.
“And I’m going to spell it out for you right now.” He closes the distance between us. Quickly. And then grabs my arm. “I didn’t rape you, Cadee. Can’t rape you. Because you’re mine, honey. You were bred for me.”
CHAPTER FIVE - COOPER
“Isabella,” I hiss once her father is gone. “What the hell is going on?”
“What do you mean?”
My voice is low. I am not about to make a scene, but I have spent the last twenty-one years going along with these people and I’m not going to do it anymore. “I thought we were all on the same page. We have a place to live. We are not getting married. There will be no children. What line of shit are you feeding him?”
“Look around, Cooper. We’re not in charge here.” She hisses her words right back at me, strong and firm. And listen. I love me some strong Isabella. I do. Because she’s not that way very often. She is a weak person who falls in line and gives up way too easy. So I enjoy Isabella when she finds her spine. But her courage is pointed in the wrong direction right now.
“So you’re just going to give in. Again.”
“I didn’t say that. And fuck you for thinking it. But I know when I’m outnumbered. And everyone else in this room is falling in line, Cooper. We’re done. The little dream of living our senior year of school out at the inn is over. We’re here to celebrate the new Fang and Feather dorm. Everyone is moving in.”
“What?”
“See?” She points her finger at my face. “You don’t have any idea what’s going on.”
“So explain it to me.”
“I just did. We’re all going to live on campus—”
“No.”
“Yes. All of us. They have already agreed. I was the last holdout. And you know what? I’m tired of fighting a losing battle. I’d like to be on the winning side for once.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“You are the losing side, Cooper. You have been floating through school for three years, giving no fucks about anyone but yourself or anything but your own stupid future. And I’m done.”
“Oh, really?” I say it a little loud too. Actively displaying my anger. “I have spent the last three years propping you up, Isabella. I’ve been your goddamned champion.”
“And now?”
“And now what? I’m here, aren’t I?” I lower my voice just a bit. “Telling you to fight them. With me. Because we can win.”
“We cannot.”
“We have a place to live. Cadee is paying our tuition—”
“My tuition was paid yesterday.”
“What?”
“Everyone’s tuition was paid, Cooper. We don’t need her. And anyway, she’s not really one of us. You have to know that.”
“She’s as one of us as anyone in this room.”
Isabella shakes her head at me. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. You missed the meeting last night.”
“What meeting?”
“Exactly.” She huffs. “You were probably too busy fucking her to care that the rest of us were dealing with serious shit.”
I’m just about to lose my cool and start screaming at her when a chair scrapes across the floor. And when I glance across the room, I see Ax standing up, pointing his finger at his father.
Fuck.
I get up—done with Isabella—and head over to Ax. “What’s going on?”
His father is on his feet now as well. And even though Ax is very tall and very broad, his father towers over him. He is a looming threat.
“Ax.” My voice is low and even. But everyone is looking at us. “What’s going on?”
“This asshole is what’s going on.” Ax’s voice is also low and even. And I’m proud of him for that. His father is a trigger and Ax almost always pulls and shoots when they fight. But right now he is calm and focused. “I’m not moving home. I’m not moving on campus. And I don’t want a single penny of your money.”
Thank fuck. At least one person is sticking to the script.
“Your tuition is not paid,” the Judge says. And damn, that man is scary as fuck. His voice is deep. Like the low growl of a predator about to go in for the kill. “You are done here, son. I suggest you pack your shit and move on. Quickly. Quietly. And if you ever breathe a word—”
Ax’s phone dings a text, cutting the Judge off.
Ax pulls the phone from his pocket, glances at the screen, and then looks up at his father to laugh. “Fuck you, Dad,” he whispers. “My tuition was just paid. And I don’t need to live on campus. We have a house.”
His father’s face goes red.
But Ax ignores him. He turns away and starts walking out.
I follow him. “Where are we going?”
“That text was from the bursar’s office. Cadee just paid my tuition. Which means she’s down there. We need to get her.” He stops to look at me. “And we can’t let her out of our sight. Ever.”
“Why?”
“Let’s just go get her and I’ll explain.”
When we get down to the lower level there is a red velvet rope blocking the stairs to the basement, and who is standing in front of it? My fucking sister-in-law, Elizabeth. Dane’s wife.
She extends her arm across the front of the stairwell, trying to bar us from bypassing the rope. “You can’t go down there.”
“Get the fuck out of my way, Elizabeth.”
And then I hear it. Cadee’s voice. And Dane’s too.
I push Elizabeth aside and Ax and I jump down the stairs three at a time. When I get to the bottom I see Dane just inches from Cadee.
And then I see his hand gripping her arm so tight, her skin is white.
“Get the fuck away from her.” I cover the distance between Dane and leap off the stairs. I chop my hand down on Dane’s arm, breaking his grip on her, then maneuver myself in front of her.
Ax is right next to me. And now he and his father have changed places and it is Ax who looms over Dane. Imposing and threatening, but also protective and challenging. “Touch her again,” Ax hisses, “and I will break that arm in half.”
Dane laughs. And I want to punch him so bad. But that’s exactly what he wants. It’s one thing to start a fight in the mansion, in private. Quite another to do it in public. “You guys really are that stupid, aren’t you? I mean”—he huffs out some air—“I get it. You’re big bad Ax. Everything is a fist fight with you. And you win, too.” Dane shrugs. “So I get it. I get why you think you can punch your way out of this. And you.” Dane looks at me. “You’re give-no-fucks cool Cooper. Oblivious to everything going on around you. Even when it’s right in front of your face.”
He glances at
Cadee.
“Touch her again,” I say through gritted teeth, “and I will show your secrets to the world. I will expose you for the rapist you are.”
Dane guffaws. Like, literally throws his head back and barks a laugh at the ceiling. And when he looks at me again, his blue eyes are bright with…what? What is that look? Confidence? Security?
No. That look is power.
And it stops me for a moment. Ax too, I think. Because he goes quiet.
So when my brother Dane whispers his next few words, we hear him loud and clear.
“Don’t you get it, little brother? They’re not secrets. Everyone knows. And you three can walk away all you want.” He points a finger at the ceiling. “But you can’t stop what’s going on upstairs. And if I were you, I’d want to hear all that news. Because it’s going to dictate how the rest of your life plays out.”
Then he turns and walks back up the stairs.
CHAPTER SIX - CADEE
The three of us watch Dane disappear up the stairs. Then wait a few more seconds, just to make sure he’s really gone.
Both Ax and Cooper turn to me.
“Are you OK?” Cooper asks, just as Ax says, “I’m gonna kill that fucker.”
“I’m fine.” I take a deep breath to steady my heart. It’s still galloping inside my chest as it tries to catch up with my brain and accept that the threat is over now.
“What did he want?” Cooper asks.
I shake my head. “I don’t know. He said some very strange things. And what did he mean? What’s going on upstairs?”
“Predictably, the fucking pledges all caved,” Ax says.
“Not just the pledges,” Cooper adds. “Isabella and them too. Everyone gave in. They’re not coming back to the inn, Cades.”
“Well, I’m not surprised,” I say. “I tried to pay everyone’s tuition and they’ve all been paid.” Then I look at Ax. “Except yours. I paid that. And mine too.”