Nightfall (Devil’s Night Book 4)

Nine Years Ago

I walked into the school, the hallways dim and the music pounding from the gym. Prom was always held in Meridian City, at an expensive banquet hall or hotel.

Homecoming stayed at home.

The frilly pink, strapless dress I’d found in The Carfax Room brushed against my knees, cool air caressing my bare shoulders and back. My long brown hair, parted in the middle, draped around me and in my face, and I left the natural kink wild and shiny. I’d found some theater makeup in the room and used the mascara and eyeliner. Lipstick tinted my mouth.

Nothing covered the dried blood that had spilled down my temple, the blue and purple bruising around my eye, or the cut on my lip. My bare arms wore his handprints, no longer aching so much with the ibuprofen I’d taken.

I could hide in plain sight tonight because it was almost Halloween, the one time of year everyone could bring what was inside outside.

Opening the door to the gymnasium, I stepped inside, the hair on my arms instantly rising. Music blared, blue and pink lights swirling around the darkened room as decorations and balloons adorned every table.

A few dozen couples moved on the dance floor, and I could feel my heart thumping in my chest as I gazed around the room.

Was he here?

The dance had begun a while ago, the ticket takers and photographers having already abandoned their posts near the door, but I spotted a few sets of eyes turn toward me as I entered the room. Most people wore costumes, while others wore simple masks with their cocktail dresses and suits.

They stared, some leaning in and whispering to each other, and it might’ve been because I was here or because of how I looked, but I didn’t care.

My feet moved on autopilot, taking me farther into the room as I stepped in my heels through the noise, the dancing, and the looks.

Normally, I’d run. I’d escape into my phone or a book or another room. Normally, I’d—

But just then…he was there.

And I stopped.

He leaned against the wall, surrounded by his friends, away from the crowd and looking amazing in a black suit with a white shirt and no tie.

He hadn’t seen me yet, and I waited, suddenly paralyzed.

I wanted my phone or a handbag or something to hold. Something to not feel so alone and vulnerable, but I’d left my school bag with my wallet in Martin’s police car, as well as my glasses which were probably lying on the floor somewhere. My phone was at the cathedral, turned off.

I walked toward him, his scent and arms and smile beckoning me like food, because I was dry and hungry and empty.

I hated home. I didn’t love the gazebo anymore. I was tired of school and tired of never seeing anything that didn’t drain me, no matter which way I turned.

I wanted to see him. I wanted to feel his hand in mine.

Ignoring the whispers of others as I passed, I watched him talk and nod, one hand in his pants pocket and the other holding his keys like he was getting ready to leave.

I didn’t see a date anywhere.

He looked away from Kai, noticing me as he met my eyes, and stared, unblinking as he took in my appearance. The pink party dress, the blood and bruises… Nothing was funny about Reverie Cross’s demise, as there was nothing funny about mine.

Tonight I could be seen. Let them all see.

His friends turned and looked, following his gaze.

“Wanna dance?” I asked quietly, my heart beating so fast it made the words shaky.

I saw the guys shift out of the corner of my eyes, breathing out a laugh that didn’t really sound mean. Just surprised.

Will stared at me, and it took everything I had not to chew on my lip or squeeze my fists.

I’d gone too far. He might not be alone. I knew he’d probably have a date, and here I was, stalker girl. I was constantly messing with his head, sending him mixed signals, and yes, he pushed too hard and no means no, no matter how many times I’d changed my mind, but…

He and I both knew I wanted this. He just didn’t understand why I was holding back.

And maybe he was finally realizing that I wasn’t worth the trouble.

But to my surprise, he pushed off the wall, coming toward me with a soft smile playing on his lips.

He took my hand, looking down at me as he led me to the dance floor, and I could see his eyes trailing over the dried blood streaming down from my eyebrow and the bruises on my body.

“Part of my costume,” I explained.

I searched his eyes, unable to look away, because just the sight of him made my heart ache.

I had one night. Just one night with him.

“You didn’t dress up?” I asked.

His green eyes held mine. “I didn’t want to make it hard for you to find me.”

I felt the heat rise to my cheeks, and I smiled. He came alone then.

Walking to the middle of the dance floor, he stopped, and I turned to face him. “Mr. Sandman” by SYML began, and I started to move my arms up to his shoulders, but then I stopped.

“I actually don’t know how to dance,” I told him.

I’d never done this before.

Taking my waist, he pulled me in, and I gasped, my arms instinctively wrapped round his neck.

“Put your feet on mine,” he said.

Without argument, I stepped up on his shoes in my pink heels, happy to just hold on. Tipping my head back, I looked up at him as he held me close and started moving, turning in a slow circle and box-stepping small enough for me to easily follow.

“You look beautiful,” he said. “Despite that nasty spill you took down the rocks at Cold Point.”

He touched my face, thankfully only seeing the costume. People watched us, but I didn’t care what they thought. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, the slow, haunting tune playing just for us.

“Reverie Cross,” I mused. “She sounds like someone who had her own bathroom.”

“No.” He shook his head. “She was actually not well off. And she was okay with that, because he loved her anyway. Nothing else mattered to him.”

I tightened my arms around him, feeling my knees shake a little.

They were young, and I understood it. In that moment, everything prevailed and nothing else mattered. Why not let them have the dream?

But Will pinched his eyebrows together, studying me. “Something’s wrong.”

I shook my head. “Not tonight there’s not.”

Just one night.

And if it was just going to be one, I didn’t want to share him with anyone else.

“Can we leave?” I asked suddenly.

He stopped dancing. “You want me to take you home?”

“Not unless you want to,” I replied, still holding on to him. “I don’t want to leave you yet.”

He smiled, taking my hand as I stepped off his shoes. “Let’s go,” he said.

He pulled me from the dance floor, the people and the noise and every care I’ve ever had left behind as excitement heated my veins.

“Have you decided what you’re doing for your Devil’s Night prank tomorrow?” I asked as he pushed through the doors.

But he just smirked. “I have ideas.”

“I have one, too,” I told him.

• • •

“Are you sure about this?” he asked as we dumped our goods all over the grass. “Technically, it’s theft. A lot of theft. And vandalism.”

“I’m shaking in my boots, Will. Really.”

I set out the candles in a vigil on the step leading into the crypt, keeping my eyes peeled for the caretaker who lived on the grounds. No one was supposed to be in here after dark, but that didn’t mean someone wasn’t strolling around.

And it wasn’t like it was irreparable vandalism anyway. I had nothing against the McClanahans.

I just wanted to freak them out a little, so they’d rethink their agenda. Will and I had the same goal, albeit for different reasons.

The grave had become a local legend. In Will’s mind, Edward McClanahan belonged to everyone.

In my mind, if he stayed in his grave, my brother would be shit out of luck on buying it.

Will moved around the wrought-iron fence surrounding the crypt, fitting all the scarecrows we stole from Mr. Ganz’s Halloween yard display and the basketballs we also stole from the supply closet onto each head.

I stared at the McClanahan tomb, its dark, stained-glass windows and smooth, new stone, unmarred and clean. Brand new and ready for use.

“He shouldn’t be moved, right?” I asked, making sure we were still on the same page.

“Right.”

After we’d left the dance, I sent him to the gym while I raced to the bio lab and stole all the dead animals floating in jars full of formaldehyde. I put them on a cart, wheeled them to a window, and Will drove up with his truck and helped me load.

After making a couple of more stops, we were here. Ready to show the McClanahans what would happen if they moved Edward.

The vigil… would follow him. Year after year, unfailing, and complete with a Children of the Corn vibe.

If they didn’t want their final resting place to become a pilgrimage for messy, destructive, sexually active teens, they’d change their minds.

I took one more look around the cemetery, making sure we were alone as I lit the candles.

Only the shadows of the trees on the grass—blue in the moonlight—moved as the breeze shook the leaves free off their branches.

I half expected Will to try to take out his phone to film this, but thankfully, he didn’t. I didn’t want to wind up on one his videos.

Adding the dead animal offerings, I checked to see that Will had finished the scarecrows, complete with basketball heads and scary faces drawn in Sharpie with forbidding eyebrows and teeth.

I laughed and rolled my eyes, hearing him snort at his own cleverness as he moved around the fence.

I stuck in the tiki torches from Will’s garage around the crypt, lighting them, and then fished some light green chalk out of one of the bags that I’d grabbed from bio lab.

Running inside the fence, I raised the chalk to the stone, about to start the vandalism part, but I looked up at the stained-glass windows once more, hesitating.

“It is empty?” I said again. “Right?”

I didn’t feel bad about the vandalism or petty theft, but I would if people were laid to rest in there right now.

But he just shook his head. “They just finished it. No tenants yet.”

I nodded, squeezing the chalk. Go to hell, then, Martin.

Hurrying, I drew triple Xs all over the wall, reading in one of my coffee table books about a ritual where you draw the symbols on a tomb, making a wish. If the dead grant it, you have to come back and leave an offering and circle the Xs.

It was washable, and the tomb would be good as new when they cleaned it, but if the spark caught fire with the public, they’d be continually cleaning this tomb for a century.

Will grabbed a blue piece and helped, both of us smiling and rushing, because it would be no good if we got caught, especially me, and he knew it.

I grabbed the bag off the grass that I used to haul the candles, and we backed away, staring at the McClanahans’ newest nightmare.

“Hey!” someone yelled.

I sucked in a breath.

“Oh, shit.” Will grabbed my hand and pulled me, running down the slope. I looked behind me, seeing a man in a khaki uniform jogging after us.

Oh, my God!

I squealed, laughing as Will dragged me through the trees, around a tomb, and past the fountain.

I dug in my heels, trying to keep up as the cold air whipped across my face.

Will yanked me behind a massive headstone, and we hid, Will peering around the corner to see if we’d made it.

He’d left the truck parked just on the other side of the tree line, otherwise anyone would’ve known his vehicle. It was a pain in the ass, dragging all that stuff in three trips, but man, that was worth it.

I hugged his arm, still shaking with laughter.

He turned, smiling as he gazed into my eyes. “I love seeing you laugh.”

I dipped my forehead to his, my body filled with excitement and more freedom than I’d ever felt in my whole life.

“More,” I begged.

He took my hand in his, caressing my jaw. “Yeah? I have just the place.”

• • •

An hour later, I laughed, squeezing his hand and feeling that drop in my stomach as the pirate ship swayed back and forth.

Shit. I squealed, butterflies swarming my stomach as the ride slowed, the tires screeching against the bottom as we went up, caught air for a split second, and then fell back down, the wind blowing through my hair.

Why the hell didn’t I come here more often? How many people could have roller coasters in their lives every day?

It was kind of pricey, I guess. The cost for a ticket kept getting more and more expensive as Adventure Cove struggled to stay open over the years.

The bars came up, and Will and I climbed out, laughing down the steps.

“It’s my favorite ride,” he said. “Nothing quite like the sensation of free falling.”

Nope. It was better than the best roller coaster. I looked up at Will, seeing him pull cash out of his wallet and then take a stick of pink cotton candy, handing it to me as he took his change.

“You want my jacket?” he asked as we started to walk again.

I picked off some of the fluffy sugar. “I’m okay.”

I stuck the candy in my mouth, honestly a little chilly, but I was loving the wind too much. I was like my grandmother that way.

We walked, the sounds of the park raging around us—screams and coaster tracks and bells ringing from the game booths…

The sea air wafted through my nostrils, and I looked past the Ferris wheel, deep into the dark where I couldn’t see it, but I knew it was there.

The coast and the ocean and Cold Point—the edge that dropped off onto the rocks and into the sea.

Will leaned over and picked off some candy, and I did the same, warming when his arm brushed mine. His other hand rested on the small of my back, and I felt his eyes on me.

“Have you ever heard of The Carfax Room?” I asked, picking off more candy and eating it.

“Sure,” he said. “It’s like Edward McClanahan and Blackchurch and EverNight. Another Thunder Bay urban legend.”

I turned my head, looking up at him. “What’s Blackchurch?”

“A house.” He shrugged. “Supposedly.”

He paused, eating more, and we passed game booths where a few people played. The park wasn’t too crowded tonight, some middle schoolers making it louder than normal.

He continued, “No one knows where it is, if it’s even real, but stories abound of rich, young men who can’t behave being ferried away there to be hidden.”

He’d hesitated, like he couldn’t think of a better word.

“Hidden?” I pressed.

He laughed under his breath. “Well, we can’t be arrested,” he pointed out as if I should’ve known. “It looks bad for the family, you know? So, moms and dads will send you to Blackchurch if you become too uncontrollable. You just disappear. Overnight. Legend has it that it’s remote, secluded, and wild.”

I realized I’d nearly stopped walking as I stared at him. “And you get sent there forever?”

“Until we learn to behave,” he said. “But for some, it has the opposite effect. They go feral. So yes, they would stay there forever.”

I gaped at him. Who does that? Who sends their kid away because they’re afraid of publicity?

Were they getting help while they were away, or were they just marooned and abandoned?

He looked at me and started laughing. “It’s not real, Em. Just bullshit people like to spew because we’re bored.” He took some more candy, sticking it into his mouth. “And if it did exist, my parents would never send me there. Everyone loves me.”

I shot him a look. He was too self-aware. But came off adorable.

“But The Carfax Room,” he continued. “I can see that being true.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a fabled, hidden room somewhere in town,” he told me, “which is entirely plausible since this town has lots of hiding places. It’s like a panic room, from what I understand. It’s passed from one person to the next, each occupant searching for the next who has need of such a place. There are no limits on how long you can have it. Just pay it forward when you’re done. Or something like that.”

Now the note made a little more sense.

A panic room. Someone who needs it.

Use it. Pass it on.

But…

Someone gave it to me. Out of everyone in town, someone gave it to me.

I opened my mouth, tempted to tell Will I had found it.

But I wasn’t sure I wanted anyone to know I had it.

“So it’s like the Room of Requirement from Harry Potter.”

“No idea what you’re talking about,” he replied, “but… if it does exist, each occupant must be carefully chosen, and the place must command a lot of respect.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because we would’ve found it by now.” He looked down at me. “If it is real, the location would’ve been divulged at some point over all the years, don’t you think? Whoever it’s being passed on to must need it for more than just keg parties or…”

I caught his eyes. Or hookups, he didn’t finish saying.

That’s true. Whoever had it before me kept it quiet, and they trusted me—for some reason—to do the same.

I took another bite of cotton candy but noticed Will still looking down at me. He stared at my arm, pensive.

“Doesn’t seem like makeup,” he mused, reaching out to touch the bruise.

I pulled away but flashed him a playful smile for good measure. “Take me on another ride?” I rushed to change the subject. “Something dark.”

He broke into a grin and took my hand, the bruise forgotten, and pulled us back around, leading me toward the back of the park.

I tossed the rest of the cotton candy into the trash and followed him past the boat races and the Gravitron, bells and whistles echoing in the night and middle school kids racing up and down the walkways.

Heading up to Cold Hill, the ghost train, Will nodded at the blond guy running the ride, the man opening the gate and signaling the next person in line to wait.

My cheeks warmed in embarrassment at cutting others in line. We could’ve waited our turn.

But I kept my mouth shut, glancing up at Will.

I’d never liked Cold Hill because it was dark, creepy, and you were confined indoors in a car that only allowed one vehicle per section, so by the time you pushed through the doors and entered the next theme, the car ahead of you on the track was gone. Not typically a big deal, unless you were alone. Then it was scary.

Right now, though…I didn’t want to be anywhere else with him. Maybe his connection would even let us go around twice. Or more.

Walking past the candelabras flickering their lights, we stepped onto the moving walkway and into an empty car, settling in as the bar came down on our laps.

Leaving the last of the light behind, we traveled down the track and around a corner, the darkness and cold hitting me as I glanced side to side. Groans and howls filled the air as the wall to my right shook, a red light shining between the panels of wood like someone was banging against it from the other side. Then a shot of air blasted us as smoke drifted around and the sound of chains being wound cranked above us.

The hair on my arms stood on end, and I huddled closer to Will, keeping my eyes peeled.

We traveled through Hell, the Underworld, and Hades—masks and mirrors flashing their terror on the walls, while skeletons and beasts jumped out at us.

I laughed, squeezing his hand and gazing up at the chandelier above us. Its faux candles cast a soft light against the black ceiling, changing the darkness from frightening to mysterious in a way that made me want to live in its beauty.

I almost snickered at myself, but it was true. Will was right. Something changed in the air when nightfall came, but…

The allure for me was in the glow that softened the shadows. It was more beautiful than the sun.

A lantern, a candle, a—

An idea occurred to me about the gazebo and the trees around it in the park—decorating them with chandeliers. A dozen chandeliers hanging in the branches above, lighting up the canopy of leaves.

I smiled again, tipping my head back and gazing at all the lights glimmering across the crystals above me, suddenly excited to get back to work. I could do it. There had to be lots of old chandeliers collecting dust somewhere. I’d bet I could find them cheap and get it done.

I looked over at Will to tell him my idea, but he was already staring at me. He gazed down with an entranced look in his eyes like he’d just been watching something so interesting as he stared at me.

Something swelled in my chest, and all of a sudden, I could barely catch my breath as the chandeliers were forgotten. Red lights flashed across his face and then dimmed, his eyes barely visible and then lighting up again, still watching me.

I…

God, I just wanted to wrap myself around him and never let go.

Screams and screeches went off around us, and my fingers tightened more inside his as I hovered over his mouth, letting my eyes fall closed.

“Will,” I breathed out, the torture of the centimeters between us making my blood race.

I took his hand and guided it under the bar as I tugged my dress up and slid his fingers up the inside of my leg. He exhaled hard, his nails immediately digging into my skin.

I sucked in an excited breath, my clit throbbing, and I wanted him to keep going.

Opening my eyes, I held his stare as he slid deeper between my thighs and I grew warm and wet the farther up he drifted.

A werewolf caricature jumped out of the wall on the other side of Will, and I gasped, every inch of my skin on fire. His fingers peeled my panties away from my skin and dipped inside the fabric as I reached behind my back and unzipped the dress.

I glided a hand around the back of his neck, leaning in and whispering again, “Will.”

The doors in front of us opened, the room going dark again, and we entered Davy Jones’s Locker as I held his eyes and slowly peeled down the top half of my dress for him.

Yes. I couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to.

Cool air tickled my bare breasts, making the skin of my nipples tighten and harden as his gaze fell and his lungs caved.

I loved his eyes on me. I didn’t know if he liked what he saw, but I didn’t care about anything right now. I knew this was over before it even started. I knew he’d lose interest eventually.

I just wanted tonight.

He dove in, grazing my lips with his, but not kissing, as I propped up my foot on the front of the car, arching my back and opening myself for him. He rubbed me, soft and slow, between my thighs, teasing again and again as he worked his fingers inside to my clit.

Reaching around with his other hand, he covered my breast with his palm, kneading and gently squeezing as his hot breath fell across my lips.

He tickled my clit, and I moaned, pleasure sweeping through me and fire pooling between my legs. I needed more. I needed everything.

He slid a finger farther down, teasing my entrance, but I grabbed his hand through my dress, stopping him.

He tensed, his brow knit in pain. “Emmy…”

“Not your fingers,” I whispered. “You. I want you in me.”

He hissed, fisting the hand between my legs, and then he let out a painful groan.

Taking both hands off me, he lifted the bars.

But they wouldn’t give.

He grunted, lifting them, fighting to free us now, and I leaned in, taking his face in my hands and kissing his cheek again and again.

“Fuck,” he growled, jiggling the bar harder and faster so we could climb out.

It was no use, though, and he attempted to try to slip out from underneath it, but he was too big.

I laughed in his ear as I nibbled his lobe. “Get us out,” I begged. “I want you, and I’m not going to say no tonight.”

“Shit,” he exclaimed, fighting the bar again and growling desperately. “Goddammit.”

He grabbed me and kissed me, zipping up my dress as we devoured each other.

“When we get off, we’re hurrying to my truck,” he breathed out. “And then to my house.”

I caught his bottom lip between my teeth, his warmth and taste too intoxicating to even open my eyes. “Just to your truck,” I whimpered. “I can’t wait. I need you in my hands. In my arms…”

The next set of doors opened, and light washed over us as we held each other.

I opened my eyes, seeing we’d reached the end as the rain had started again, falling hard outside as people ran.

I pulled away from him, and when the bar lifted, we jumped out. He clasped my hand, and I ignored the attendant’s eyes as I tried to right my dress again.

It was all bunched up and twisted. Shit.

Will led me off the ride, took off his jacket, and put it around me before pulling me in a sprint across the park.

Rain fell on us, cold and sharp, but I could still feel him on my mouth as the slickness between my legs grew warmer.

I just wanted to be someplace small with him, feeling him and stretching the hours forever, and I didn’t care where.

“Dammit,” he blurted out, stopping us.

I halted, following his gaze out to the parking lot. Martin circled Will’s truck with a flashlight, rain coming down on him in his black uniform as people scattered to leave.

My heart sank. “My brother,” I breathed out.

I didn’t bring my phone. How did he know I was here?

“What the hell?” Will cursed. “Why does everything want to stop us?”

“Find us a place,” I pleaded. “Hurry.”

He grabbed the back of my neck, pressing his lips to my forehead, and then looked around. If Martin saw me with him, it would be over. I didn’t care if it was in a game booth or in a Tilt-A-Whirl car. I needed him.

“Come on.” He pulled me out of the gates and off to the right.

I threw a glance behind me, seeing Martin in the distance peering through the truck’s back window, and I picked up the pace, racing with Will.

He ran up to a yellow school bus, probably the one that brought the middle schoolers here for their Mayhem till Midnight, and punched the door with his fist, prying it open.

I dove in first, and he followed, closing it behind him again.

I threw his coat onto a seat and tried peering out the windows to gauge if Martin had seen us, but Will grabbed my arm and whipped me around. I crashed into his chest, he took me in his arms, and his mouth crashed down on mine.

I moaned, opening my mouth for him and feeling his damn tongue all the way down between my legs.

Dipping low, he lifted me by the backs of my thighs, and I winced at the pain in my body, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t stopping this. He carried me down the aisle, my legs wrapped around him.

I took his face in my hands, tearing my lips away from his. “You have something?” I whispered. “Please tell me you have something.”

He smiled. “Yeah.”

I sank my mouth into his again, whimpering as I locked my ankles behind him.

I trailed my mouth across his cheek, over his jaw, and down his neck as he gasped and squeezed my thighs.

“Ah, Em,” he moaned.

Reaching the back of the bus, the long bench seat in the last row looming underneath me, he dropped me to my feet and unzipped my dress, never leaving my mouth. He pulled down the top, the dress hanging at my waist as his hands ran all over my naked back and he kissed my neck, holding me to him.

“You’re mine,” he whispered in my ear.

I tipped my head back, savoring his warmth on my throat and ignoring the sting as his hand brushed the cut on my brow.

“For tonight,” I retorted with a smile.

He grabbed the back of my neck and covered my mouth, fierce and making me tingle to my toes.

I worked the buttons on his shirt.

“I’ll take care of you,” he whispered. “You don’t have to worry about anything.”

I ripped off the shirt as he worked the buckle of his belt, and I nuzzled into him, letting my fingertips glide over his narrow waist and stomach.

“I don’t need you to take care of me,” I said between kisses. “I just want right now with you. I don’t want to think about all the tomorrows.”

He growled and pushed me. I fell down to the seat, gasping as the cool air lapped at my sensitive skin. He bared his teeth, yanking his belt open and unfastening his pants.

My nerves fired as my eyes drifted up his bare chest, my entire body throbbing for him.

Jesus. Perfect golden skin. Toned arms, tight stomach, gorgeous pecs…

Beautiful smile.

Soft, funny, and sweet.

Was this mine?

I clenched my thighs, but he scowled down at me, unhappy I wouldn’t talk about the future, but it was kind of cute because his eyes kept dropping to my breasts as he heaved with every breath.

He couldn’t stop any more than I could.

Coming down on top of me, he grabbed my throat and pushed me down. I whimpered, arching my bare back and closing my eyes as he dipped down and sucked a nipple into his mouth.

“Ah,” I moaned.

He pushed up my skirt and reached underneath, taking my underwear and tugging.

The fabric screamed, tearing clear off my body, and I spread my legs wider, feeling his other hand still squeezing my neck.

“God, I wanna knock you up,” he said, rising up and looking down at me as he took out a condom. “I want to ruin you for all the times you made me think you didn’t want me. I want to give you a piece of me you’ll never be able to escape.”

His eyebrows were etched in anger, and for a moment, I wished he could. I’d love to have an excuse to drag him into my hellish life and keep him there forever.

I shot up, looking up at him as I took the rubber, unwrapping it myself as I kissed his stomach.

“Then pretend you are,” I whispered. “Pretend you’re going to knock me up and we’re going to do this every day.”

I tossed the wrapper, and reaching into his pants, fisting his cock as a shock coursed up my arm. He groaned at my touch and helped pull down his pants enough for me to pull him out.

God, he felt so good, and my head swarmed as I looked down at his hard muscle and stroked the soft skin.

“You’re going to have me tomorrow.” I rolled the rubber on, trailing kisses across his abs. “After school in your truck. Against the stacks in the library at lunch. Reverse cowgirl in your lap at the movie theater.”

He fisted my hair at the back of my head, his cock steel-rod straight and reaching right for me.

“My sweet, little secret,” he murmured.

He breathed hard and pushed me back onto the seat, looking down into my eyes as he reached between us to guide himself.

The thick head of his dick crowned my entrance, pushing inside just barely, and I shifted uncomfortably. “Will…”

“You’ll be mine,” he whispered, pressing himself deeper and deeper.

I groaned, stretching for him.

“You can ignore me. You can run,” he said, grunting and tipping his head back as he closed his eyes. “You can leave. You can hide…”

He slid in, burying himself to the hilt and filling me so wide and deep that I cried out just once.

“But you’re going to be fucking mine someday,” he growled. “Come hell or high water, Emory Scott. You’re my woman, and you’re going to come home to me every day and sit at my table and warm my fucking bed.” He kissed me. “And you’re going to give me a Will Grayson IV. Mark my words.”

I whimpered, shifting under him and adjusting as he withdrew and sank back in faster and harder this time.

“Oh, God,” I moaned, the skin of my already sweaty back peeling off the seat as I arched it.

He gripped my neck again, propping himself up with the other hand as he stared down at me and entered me over and over.

I gripped his shoulders, the discomfort subsiding as the pleasure of stretching for him started to feel good.

So good.

“You’re gonna want it,” he promised, squeezing my neck. “You’re gonna beg for me and love me so much you can’t stand it.”

He picked up the pace, my breasts bobbing back and forth as he went harder, and my eyes rolled into the back of my head, his cock sliding in and out easily because I was so wet.

I spread my legs as wide as they would go, reveling in how deep he went. Yes, God, please.

“More,” I begged. “Harder, Will.”

I held on to him, and he groaned, sucking in air as he rolled his hips into me and fucked me.

God, I…

Sweat seeped out of my pores, and I opened my eyes, gazing up at his beautiful face and the sheen on his chest, all for me.

Reaching behind him, I slipped my hands inside his trousers, digging my nails into his ass and helping him come faster and harder.

You’re gonna want it.

I already do.

You’re gonna beg for me and love me so much you can’t stand it.

I…

“Will, I…” I gasped, feeling my orgasm crest and holding him as close as I could, but it was never enough. “Will, I…”

“Will, what?” he pressed.

But I squeezed my eyes shut, his head deep inside me hitting my spot over and over, and I cried out as the orgasm flooded me, the world spun around me, and my body wracked with euphoria and shivers.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck…

Oh, My God. I…

I crashed back onto the seat, and he wiped the hair off my wet face, thrusting into me again and again.

“What?” he asked again, wanting to know what I was going to say.

But I opened my eyes, unable to remember what it was.

I took his mouth with mine and hugged him close as he rode out his own orgasm, as tears hung at the corners of my eyes.

He wanted to give me a piece of him I’d never escape, but he had a part of me I’d never get back.

This would never be as good with anyone else. I was fucked, and he’d already had his revenge.