by Lily White
THIRD CIRCLE (GLUTTONY)
SAWYER BLACK
FOURTH CIRCLE (GREED)
TAYLOR MARKS
FIFTH CIRCLE (ANGER)
DAMON CROSS
SIXTH CIRCLE (HERESY)
SHANE CARTER
SEVENTH CIRCLE (VIOLENCE)
EZRA CROSS
EIGHT CIRCLE (FRAUD)
GABRIEL DANE
NINTH CIRCLE (TREACHERY)
TANNER CAINE
A betrayal of trust; deceptive action or nature
Never listen to the people who tell you evil doesn’t exist in this world. Never smile and nod, never pander, never walk off with the belief that you’re guarded against everything that can go wrong. I can give you that advice because I’ve been the stupid woman not to follow it. I can promise you that evil does exist only because I’m the woman who has stared it in the moss green eyes, the same woman who dared it to do its worst and stood dumbfounded when it delivered.
Tanner Caine is just one of the deceptive and tantalizing demons waiting to be summoned at the crossroads. He is an underground giant forged in fire and stamped with the Devil’s personal seal of approval. He is a man barely challenged and a barrier never crossed. He is also a specimen of the male form that is a siren song to the unlucky women who run across him.
I’ve seen better woman ruined because they dared to play a game with him they had no business playing. I’ve seen smarter women on their knees before a man who managed to remain one step ahead while laughing to watch them fall.
You see, that’s what happens when you make a deal with evil. Everything goes fine until the day comes when he calls in his debt. Tanner doesn’t mess around with interest rates or repayable loans. No. If he does something for you, you can bet he’ll extract his pound of flesh in the most creative of endeavors.
We are all pawns to be played in Tanner’s world. Man or woman, it doesn’t matter.
I didn’t know what would happen when he waltzed back into my life after running from him in law school. But what I did know is that, where Tanner is involved, yours is a story that can never end well.
. . .
Luca
“Go with the white booty shorts, Luca. You have the ass for them. Mine’s a little too flat.”
A sigh burst over my lips as I dug through my roommate, Everly’s, closet. Standing in here was like searching through a fashionable slut’s dream, everything way too short, dangerously tight, and designed specifically to highlight a woman’s curves.
Her style was opposite to mine. Never one to cater to what men wanted, I preferred casual clothes, my comfort taking precedent over what most would consider sexy.
The deep bass of some popular rap song pounded behind me, Everly’s shoulders bouncing in my peripheral vision as she sat at a makeup table to apply what had to have been a third layer of foundation.
“I don’t know about this, Evy. Maybe you should go alone tonight. I have some homework to catch up. It’s probably best I spend the next few hours in the library.”
“Shut your hole, Luca. You’re coming with me. This party is all everybody has been talking about on campus and there’s no way in hell I’m letting you miss out all because you’re scared of being social.”
Grabbing the white shorts she’d suggested, I pulled them from the hanger and held them up to my hips. These were more suited to be a bathing suit for how tight and short they were.
My head spun to look at her just as she turned to glance at me. “Plus, Clayton will be there. And I know you have the hots for him.”
She had me there.
Clayton Hughes was a big man on campus. Not as big as the Inferno boys, but he ran with them all the same.
Normally, just his association with the Inferno would have put me off and sent me running the opposite direction, but we worked together on a mock trial and had gotten to know each other better.
He was the son of a Senator and had money coming out his ears. Not to mention he was hot as fuck…and intelligent, which was a bonus in my book.
After working together, we’d hit it off and had been texting back and forth for the past week.
But that didn’t mean I had to go to this party just to see him.
“I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if I didn’t go. I’ll see him in class on Monday.”
“Shut. It.” Everly spoke in time with the music’s beat.
“I have a hot night planned with Jase, and you, my bookworm friend, are going to be my wingwoman.”
Rolling my eyes, I sat in a chair just outside her closet to tug off my jeans.
“If you already have a hot night planned, then you don’t need a wingwoman.”
Shaking my head, I couldn’t believe she was stupid enough to get involved with any of the nine men who lived in the Inferno house.
All of them were bad news, each one a known manwhore that couldn’t keep it in their pants long enough to carry on a week long relationship with one woman.
Evy had been sleeping with Jase for a full week, however, and it made me wonder how in the hell she’d pulled it off. I suspected she wasn’t the only ass he was getting.
As if reading my thoughts, she answered, “He might have some stupid bitch all up on him when we get there. You know how he is.”
“I’m surprised you put up with that,” I commented under my breath. She heard it regardless, her lips kicking up into a grin.
“He’s Jase Fucking Kesson. Are you kidding me right now?”
Laughter poured over her lips.
“I’m determined to tame that man, even when everybody else assumes he can’t be.”
Yeah, except Jase Kesson, also known as Lust in the Inferno circuit, was just one of the nine guys who practically ran the school.
Each one was someone I wanted nothing to do with and had, until now, been able to avoid. I’d never actually met any of them, which was surprising, but after tonight, I’d finally know what they looked like.
It was akin to meeting a celebrity…or a character from a fable. You know they exist, but actually meeting them in person makes them more real.
Shrugging a shoulder, I leaned back in the chair.
“I’m not comfortable being around them. I’ve heard horrible things-“
“Rumors,” Everly laughed. “Don’t let it get to you. They’re actually pretty cool guys once you get to know them. Gorgeous, too. All except…”
My eyes snapped her direction.
“All except what?”
Her hair fell over her shoulder when she shook her head and dropped the tube of deep red lipstick on the desk. Turning off the lights of the makeup mirror, she spun in her chair to look at me.
“It’s like I said: every one of them is sex on a damn stick, but Tanner gives me the creeps. There’s something about him. Like his chest is empty of a beating heart and instead of being warm to the touch, his skin would be ice cold. I have no idea how any girl climbs into bed with him, but he’s never without, you know? Those idiots line up to be with him and I don’t understand it. Thankfully, he hasn’t said so much as two words to me, and I’m fine with that.”
Pausing, Everly checked her makeup in the mirror one last time before pushing to her feet.
“Just avoid him and you’ll be fine. It’s time to go.”
She flashed me a wicked grin and I groaned.
Grabbed by the arm and pulled from my seat, Everly walked me out of our dorm room. We were halfway down the hall when I asked, “How the hell am I supposed to avoid this guy if you’re forcing me to go to his house?”
Laughing, she tugged on my arm, leading me down a back stairwell past a group of girls climbing up to our floor.
“That’s easy. You suck face with Clayton the entire time and then you won’t have to worry about coming face to face with Tanner.”
“And how will I know which one is Tanner?”
Another laugh, “Oh, trust me. You’ll know him when you see him.”
She wasn’t wrong.
There was no mistaking Tanner Caine when we walked into a large room in the Inferno House. And just as she’d described him, the man had a way of sending an ice cold chill down your spine the second you laid eyes on him.
After paying the driver of the Uber we’d taken to get to their off campus house - a sprawling three story monstrosity of a mansion, complete with winding driveway and manicured lawns - Everly led me inside the front door and dragged me through a rowdy crowd that was packed wall to wall through the rooms of the first floor.
Reaching the stairs, she continued leading me without saying a word until we reached the third floor, swung a left and walked down a hall to a large room at the end.
People lingered outside the doors of the room, talking and drinking, laughter rising up their throats as Everly shoved between them to drag me along behind her.
As soon as we passed the doors, her eyes scanned the men seated on chairs and couches, my eyes immediately taking in the half-dressed women dancing and sitting on their laps.
The scent of pot smoke filled the room, loud music pounding the walls with a steady bass beat.
“There’s Jase,” Everly whisper-yelled against my ear. “And of course, some bitch is all up on him. It’s time to teach these sluts who the Queen Slut is around here.”
Leaning into her, I answered, “I’m not sure you should brag about that.”
She laughed and tossed her hair back. Rounding her shoulders, she set her eyes on Jase, her lips pulling into a grin that meant trouble.
“Clayton should be here soon. Stick around and I’m sure you’ll find him.”
Off she went, leaving me awkwardly hovering by the doorway, my eyes scanning the room before turning to watch her approach Jase.
It wasn’t hard to see why she was practically tripping over herself to get with the guy. Relaxing on a leather sofa with legs spread and his arms stretched out over the backrest, Jase was any girl’s wet dream.
Rugged and sculpted in ways that would have made the Greeks jealous, he had disheveled brown hair that framed his face. I couldn’t see the color of his eyes, but his nose was straight, leading down to a set of lips that tipped up at the corners as if he knew a secret.
Wearing a tight black t-shirt that struggled to contain broad shoulders and a strong chest, he lifted his eyes to Everly as she crossed the room toward him, a hint of his trim waist and perfect abs peeking out from beneath his shirt when the girl straddling him ran her hand up his abdomen.
How Everly put up with that shit, I didn’t know, but it was entertaining for me to watch what she would do about it.
I stared at the scene curiously, noting how Everly approached with a clipped stride, her gaze meeting Jase’s when she was within reach. Leaning down, she whispered something in the other girl’s ear before straightening and curling her lips into a devilish smile.
The girl quickly crawled off Jase’s lap, red burning her cheeks as she turned to leave immediately. The girl brushed past me on her way out the door, tears glimmering in her eyes, barely visible beneath the low lighting.
Across the room, Jase just shook his head, crooked a finger and grinned as Everly took the former girl’s place, her hands running up his chest as soon as she was settled over his lap.
To each their own, I guessed, making a mental note to ask her what she’d said to the other girl that had her running from this room like it was on fire.
Pulling my eyes away from them as soon as she leaned forward to press her mouth to his, and his hand moved to cup her ass, I scanned my gaze over the rest of the room, noticing the four other guys that sat around, all of them with drinks in hand while women giggled and danced beside them, one set of cold dark eyes catching my attention in particular because they were focused directly on me.
It’s common courtesy among strangers to look away during moments of unwanted eye contact, but the one staring at me now didn’t seem to give a damn about courtesy. The hard lines of his face tightened as soon as our eyes met, his glare boring into mine with a ferocious intensity.
He had a devil may care curl to his full lips, shadows dipping down beneath high cheekbones that gave him an aristocratic air.
In front of him, a pretty girl danced in only a short skirt and bra, her body on display as dark red hair fell down her back in a waterfall of waves.
Even with the eye candy he had bouncing around in front of him, those dark eyes remained locked to mine, a glimmer of some unspoken thought flashing behind them.
I knew instantly that I was staring at Tanner Caine, a man known as Treachery among his friends.
Giving in to the wordless exchange between us, I was the first to look away, my arms coming up to wrap around my stomach as if to chase away the chill he conjured inside me.
Despite not looking at him, I could feel his eyes on my face, somehow knew he hadn’t let me out of his sight while I stood waiting, my legs shaking beneath me because I was suddenly terrified.
Cursing Everly beneath my breath for dragging me here, I considered leaving the room, but then worried I wouldn’t find Clayton and would end up spending the night wandering among drunk students grinding against each other.
As for this room, I felt like I’d walked into a damn orgy, all the woman slowly losing their clothes while the five men who sat around like kings in their damn harem smoked joints and sipped from glasses of different liquors and alcohol.
No, the rest of the men sat like kings in their thrones, but not Tanner. He sat in the center of the room against a far wall, his demeanor that of a dark god.
I needed to get out of here, but as the seconds ticked by, a poisonous glare pulled me back to him, my head turning just enough to see that Tanner was still staring me down, the half dressed girl no longer dancing now that she’d crawled to straddle his lap.
Running her fingers through his hair, she leaned over to kiss the pulse point in his neck, but his attention was focused on me despite the promise of sex grinding against his crotch.
And fuck me, that man was beautiful, unlike anybody I’d seen before.
With dark hair and cold eyes, he had the face of a cover model. His cheekbones were blades that ran beneath his focused stare, his cheeks sinking in to darken with the days worth of black stubble that peppered his jaw. His lips parted just enough that I could see the bottom was full, and he had soot black hair that was shaved on the sides while longer on top.
It looked like silk running through the woman’s fingers, his arms casually relaxed on either side of her body.
When our eyes met again, his narrowed just a touch from where he was watching me over her shoulder.
Knowing better than to stare, I couldn’t seem to pull my gaze away from him a second time. It was like being stared down by a predator, cornered and shaking while he licked his chops with every intention of taking a slow leisurely bite of me to make it as painful as possible.
Where his eyes were tiny slits with a cunning soul staring out from behind them, mine were wide and anxious, my arms tightening around my center as if they could protect me from whatever it was he was thinking.
It was stupid to keep staring, but I couldn’t ignore my morbid fascination, and before I could snap out of it to do what any intelligent person would do, like turn around and haul ass, Tanner broke our locked stare to glance across the room, his chin nudging in someone’s direction just before the music suddenly stopped and the room was bathed in jarring silence.
I turned to see what happened, my gaze slowly drifting back his direction to see he was once again staring at me.
If that wasn’t bad enough, his beautiful lips parted, a deep tenor voice floating across the space that stilled me in place.
“Either join in or leave.”
Everybody in the room turned to look at whoever Tanner was talking to, my neck twisting left and right to realize that person was me.
Swallowing down the knot of apprehension clogging my throat, I looked back at him, his eyes now blazing with menace, the girl straddling him stil
l rolling her hips as she ground against his lap.
It was then that I noticed she’d abandoned her bra to the floor at Tanner’s feet, her full breasts shamelessly displayed to the entire room.
She was oblivious to the fact he had his eyes on another woman...that his dead stare was locked directly on me.
Opening my mouth, my voice came out as a weak croak. “What?”
The corners of his lips curled, a feline smile from a cat that couldn’t wait to pluck the feathers from the bird it had trapped.
“Are we entertaining you? Getting you off while you stand there deciding whether to touch yourself just to pretend you’re on one of our laps? Why be shy? I have enough cock to go around. Strip off your clothes and climb up.”
He shoved the girl away, a cry of surprise falling from her lips when her ass hit the floor.
Shaking my head, I couldn’t find my voice to respond, not that I would have known what to say even if I had.
Desperate for help, I turned to where Everly was watching me from across the room, her expression worried. Leaning down, she whispered in Jase’s ear and he laughed softly.
Jase took a hit off the joint he held pinched between two fingers, rolled his head over the back of the couch and said, “Leave her alone, Tanner. She’s Everly’s friend.”
“I don’t give a fuck who she is,” Tanner barked in response. “She wasn’t invited here and now she’s watching everybody like we’re fucking Pornhub or some shit.”
His eyes snapped back to me.
“So, what do you say, Everly’s friend? Are you going to join in or get the fuck out? There’s space on my lap if you’re feeling neglected.”
Laughter filled the room, all eyes on me while I stood dumbfounded. Terror rolled down my spine, anger chasing after it that I couldn’t seem to grasp onto enough to defend myself against the asshole.
He smirked, his voice a dark croon. “That’s what I thought.”
Tilting his chin toward me, he demanded, “Walk your ass out of this room if you’re not willing to take part.”
Mortified, I looked to Everly again, but she shook her head, a silent plea that I do as he said without arguing.