The Ritual: A Dark College Romance

SMILING, I MOVE the knife to her neck, and she leans her head back, her chest rising and falling quickly with each breath. No matter how much of a hard-ass this bitch is trying to play, she’s terrified.

“Moving on,” I say, “Did you know where Blake was when she ran away?” I’m not going to waste much of our time. Gunner and Prickett got the Lords out here for a show, so I’m going to give them one.

“No,” she growls.

I lower the knife, slicing a piece of skin off the top of her shoulder. “That’s a lie.”

She screams, blood flowing down her arm and the chair as the piece of skin sits on the floor by my shoe.

If Matt knew she was back and sent Cindy to get Blake out of her way, then Matt had to have known where she was the entire time, which makes sense. It’s just more pieces of the puzzle that I needed. Since I have Cindy’s phone now, I have access to a lot of their secrets. All involving my wife and keeping her from me. “Again. Did you know where Blake was when she ran away?”

“Yes,” she manages to get out through a sob, dropping her head forward.

Now we’re getting somewhere. “How did you know?”

Sniffing and licking the snot and tears that cover her upper lip, she answers me, “Matt told me he was going to talk to her in your room. And that she would run out afterward …he told me to follow her and let him know where she went.”

I hate how much Matt outsmarted me. I knew he told Blake those things to get her to leave, but he knew exactly what she would do, and he wanted eyes on her. I thought it was just the fact that she was leaving me, but he wanted to know where she was when he knew I couldn’t reach her.

“You didn’t find that odd?” I wave the bloody knife in the air. “That your Lord wanted you to follow his ex?”

“He … he told me that he just wanted to make sure she didn’t return.” She yanks on the restraints, and I watch blood start to run from her wrists due to the tightness of the zip ties. Her hands are turning blue. She keeps clenching and unclenching them.

“But she returned,” I add. “Because I found her and brought her back.”

“No.” She shakes her head quickly, throwing her hair around. “She came back for Matt.”

I frown. “What makes you think that?”

A soft sob comes out. “He told me so. Said that she returned for him. That she wanted to divorce you …” Not a total lie when I dragged her back. “And that I had to help him take care of her.”

Matt told Cindy that Blake was at the house of Lords—which was true—and that if she wanted me, she needed to get Blake out of the way. The man is just putting every bitch he knows on my wife, hoping someone takes her out. Over my dead body! “That’s not what Cindy told me.”

Her head snaps up, and her wide, watery eyes meet mine. She doesn’t know that I’ve already played this game with her bestie. “Cindy … no…”

I drag the tip of the blade down her arm, splitting the skin, and she screams. “Try again.”

“Stop,” she sobs. “Please … you don’t understand.”

That’s also what Cindy said. “Explain it to me in the simplest form.”

Spit flies from her mouth when she speaks. “Blake had been blowing up Matt’s phone while she was gone.”

“Another lie …” I grab a handful of her hair and shove her head forward, running the blade across the back of her neck, making sure to only cut the skin and not to cut too deep and sever her spinal cord. “Tell the truth!” I shout, getting tired already.

She sobs. “I don’t know …”

I slice along the top of her bare thigh. I’m not stabbing her because I don’t want her to die. Yet. I just want to make her feel the sting enough to bleed.

My black combat boots step in the puddles of blood on the floor while I circle her, leaving bloody shoe prints around the chair. Ignoring her cries, I walk over to the table and pick up the cell phone that Gunner put up there for me. Opening up a chat, I read it out loud.

“You know Ryat will look for her again, Cindy tells Matt,” I say, jumping midway into their convo. No need to rehash the entire thing. She was part of it, after all, so she should remember it.

“Yeah. I’m counting on it. This time, he won’t get so lucky. The only thing of her he’ll see will be the videos I choose to send him. That was your boyfriend, by the way.” I clarify to Ashley, who just sits there bleeding and crying. “This is where it gets interesting.” I scroll down a little. “You join the conversation, Ashley.”

“I can get you a sedative to give her. That way, you don’t have to fight with her. Just one poke, and she’ll be out. You send with a sleeping emoji.”

“Don’t give her too much. You could kill her. I want her out, not dead, Matt responds to Cindy about your lovely idea.”

“But how will I be able to get her to you? Cindy asked your boyfriend.”

“I’ll be close by. Just message me when it’s done , Matt answered.”

Lowering Cindy’s cell, I look at her. “Do I need to continue?”

Her eyes are narrowed up at me, and her lips pulled back, baring her teeth. “You fucking ruined him!” Ashley growls. I’ve hit a nerve. Good. Finally, we’re getting somewhere. “His chance at being a great Lord. Then you choose his girlfriend? You both deserve what you’re going to get.”

“And you were more than willing to help him?” I ask, tilting my head to the side.

“Of course,” she snaps. “A Lady stands by her Lord.”

“Aw.” I nod my head. “I get it now. He promised you not only retribution but also Lady status.” Which has to be a lie because he was still planning on marrying Blake. Lords are a lot of things, but they are still only allowed one wife. Now they can fuck as many women as they want outside of their marriage, but legally—on paper—they have one wife.

“She wasn’t even supposed to return. I stayed behind and watched her for three fucking weeks for him. Day in and day out while she worked in that run-down piece-of-shit bar and stayed in that nasty-ass motel.” She snorts. “I told him I was done and was leaving to come back, and he sent Derek to watch her.” She gives me a chilling smile. “He wanted to pay you back, and she was the best payment Matt could give him.”

Taking in a deep breath, she places her nose up in the air, and I tap the bloody knife to my thigh, her blood staining my jeans.

“So, fuck you, Ryat!” she snaps, and then her eyes look out over the bottom level. “He’ll make her life miserable and make sure you get to watch.” Her bloodshot eyes shoot to look up at me.

“This has been informative. Thank you for playing,” I say, knowing all I needed to know. I actually was already aware of all of this, but I needed her confession to kill her in front of the Lords. I grip the back of the chair. “Your prize is death.”

“No … wait. Matt …”

I shove it forward, knocking it in the baptism pool with her still tied to it. Her voice rings throughout the cathedral before her head goes under. Her blood instantly turns the water red, making it look like red wine, and she struggles in the chair as it hits the bottom.

I’m being a little theatrical right now. More than usual, but I thought it’d be poetic to kill her how Matt almost did when he was in that water with her for the vow ceremony. I should have never stood and stopped him. That was a lesson I learned the hard way.

BLAKELY

I FEEL NUMB.

I’m not even sad that Ryat tortured the woman or the fact that he looked like he enjoyed it.

Sitting here, I realize that everything has been a lie. I mean, a part of me already knew that but thinking it and having it confirmed are two very different things.

Now I just look stupid. The entire time I was with Matt, he had someone else. And she knew about me. She was in on everything, pretending that she didn’t know who I was. Helping him when I ran. She kept tabs on me like my biggest fan.

All the Lords stand and exit the cathedral one by one, and I stay planted in my seat, unable to move. Instead, my eyes are trained on the glass that showcases the inside of the baptism pool.

Ashley’s dead body is at the bottom, still strapped to the chair in the red water. Every moment of my life over the past couple of months have been tracked or forced in some way.

The only real decision I’ve made was to stay Ryat’s wife. He was forced to pick me as his chosen. I felt forced to marry him to save myself from Matt. Ryat said I wasn’t paying attention if I thought he wanted to divorce me, but I chose not to sign those papers. I wanted to fight for him. For us. In a world full of smoke and mirrors, he’s something real. We got here by chance, but we’re still together by choice.

I can’t thank him enough for finding me when I ran. I thought Ryat was watching me while I was away, but it turns out it was Matt. He had eyes on me, and when he realized Ryat was getting close, he paid some piece of shit named Derek to kill me.

“Blake?”

I blink, lowering my eyes and see a set of green ones looking into mine. Ryat is kneeling in front of me. I don’t say anything. My lips won’t work.

He sighs heavily. Reaching out, he runs his thumb across my cheek, then wipes it on his already bloody jeans. Am I crying? Not sure why I’d be crying. I feel nothing for that bitch he just killed.

“Come on.” He takes my hand and pulls me to stand, but my legs give out, so he picks me up, cradling me in his arms.

My head hangs off the side of his forearm, and I look up to see Gunner and Prickett pulling Ashley’s lifeless body from the water. They’re still dressed in their cloaks, but their masks are on the floor. I watch them cut the zip ties, and her body falls onto the floor with a thud, then Ryat is walking us out the door, and I can’t see her anymore. A part of me wants to watch them bury her. It was satisfying knowing that Cindy was underground in a graveyard where no one would ever look. I want that same satisfaction with Ashley too.

Ryat places me in the passenger seat of his SUV, puts my seat belt on, and then closes the door. I lean my head against the cold window while he drives us who knows where.

I don’t even pay attention to where we’re going. His cell rings twice, and he speaks to someone on his Bluetooth, but again, I tune it out.

Does any of it matter anymore—Life?

Matt wants me dead. Especially now. What if he succeeds? I want more time with Ryat. I want us to have kids. Should I get that? Do I deserve that? No. I’m no different than the ones trying to kill me. But everyone else is also doing everything in their power to get what they want. I’m going to do the same.

“You either kill or be killed,” Ryat had said to me once. I didn’t understand how true that was, but I do now. It’s just a game, and who knows who will still be alive once it ends.