Trevor and his father were planning to lock Monroe away in their basement like a fucking dog and use her in ways she would never survive. Thinking about it had me wanting to bring that motherfucker to life so I could kill him myself. I almost didn’t believe the shit they were planning to do. Not until I did a quick inspection of their house while they were gone which showed me everything I needed to know. They had a mattress pushed in the corner and a chain mounted to the wall to imprison her. Trevor never had any intentions of delivering her to my father. His father wanted revenge against me for convincing his wife to leave his abusive ass. Turns out, his mother wanted to leave years ago but couldn’t escape. She’d been beaten and raped by both father and son for years.

I don’t know what made me help her. To be honest, I couldn’t stand Trevor. I never could. Maybe I did it to hurt him. His mother was able to leave with my assistance and never looked back, not even when he was murdered. I hadn’t heard a peep out of his father since he lost his job. He was still on my to-do list because no way was that sick fuck walking away. I wouldn’t even give him the option to waste himself away by drowning in booze. For Monroe, he will answer to the grim reaper.

I finally caught up to Monroe just before she disappeared in the gym. She must have sensed me because she whipped around and her eyes immediately landed on me.

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, unknowingly pushing her breasts up. “You just don’t know when to quit, do you?”

I didn’t bother to respond as I walked up on her, grabbed her by her delectable throat, and backed her into the gym doors. “I realize you haven’t been owned by me for a while. Believe me, baby. I know it’s been a while—too fucking long, but this shit right here,” I bit her lip and looked deep into her eyes, “will get you into a lot of fucking trouble. Quit acting up.”

“What am I? Your two-year-old?”

“You sure as fuck are acting like it, but I don’t fuck children, so if you keep it up, you’ll never get back into my pants.”

She rolled her eyes. “Woe is me.”

“There’s that mouth again.”

“So what are you going to do ab—”

My lips slamming down on hers cut off the smart remark that would surely get her fucked right against these doors for all to see. There was no way I would let anyone see, though. The hounds were always lurking and ready to sniff around my girl. It was a full-time job beating them away for the last few years and making sure she was none the wiser. The need to possess was even worse now because I had her, and there was no one who fucked like Monroe. No one.

“I don’t hear you.” I kissed and bit down on her bottom lip. She still sported some of the bruising from Friday. I almost grinned when I thought of how she might have explained it to her dear aunt. “Let me hear you say something smart.”

“Something smart,” she whispered and met my eyes challengingly.

Such a fucking handful. Little bitch.

I flipped her around to face the wall and smacked her ass drawing out a shocked squeal from her. The button of her jeans flicked open with my fingers and I worked my leg in between hers, pushing her legs apart. “One might think you want me to fuck you… Is that it? Are you purposely trying to piss me off?”

“Keiran, we’re in a hallway in our school!”

“And yet you keep pushing your ass on my dick.” My hand slid down her pants and cupped her through her panties. Her heat was scorching. I could barely concentrate on what I had come to do. Generally, when I would seek her out for my fix, I would try to humiliate or scare her, but we were playing a different game now. One that affected me just as much as her. Go fucking figure.

“So you think I’m going to just let you fuck me right here?”

“I don’t think that’s an answer you really want. Besides, I can feel how wet you are. I wouldn’t need to persuade you.”

“My body’s betrayal doesn’t change the fact that I despise you.”

My finger slipped inside her panties and entered her heat causing her to lose her breath and grab the wall as an anchor for support. “You feel that?” I asked and added another finger. “The fact that you despise me doesn’t change the way your body betrays you. I could fuck you right here, and you would take it because you want it, and you would love it.”

“What makes you so sure I would love it?” The rhythm of my fingers increased their tempo, making her whimper and beg. Music to my ears.

“Tell me yes, and I will show you.”

“Not here.”

“Fuck.” I was already searching my head for places to drag her off too when we were interrupted.

“Mr. Masters, the bell has already sounded for class… What on Earth are you doing?”

“Oh, my God,” Monroe squeaked. She frantically ripped my hands away, and I cursed the loss of her body. I waited until she fixed her clothing before moving away.

“Miss Monroe,” Principal Lawrence acknowledged disapprovingly. “Don’t you have class?”

“Yes, um, sorry.” She shot me a murderous glare before disappearing inside the gym.

“As I recall, you were ordered not to approach Lake Monroe. Is there any particular reason why you are violating that agreement?”

“None of it concerns you.”

I walked off leaving her baffled. I was pissed that once again, Monroe managed to slip through my fingers.

Chapter Nine

Lake

“Can you believe that prick?” For most of gym, and after in the locker room, I ranted and raved over Keiran’s latest stunt. To be honest, I wasn’t sure how to react when he approached me in the hallway. In the past, whenever we were in the same vicinity together, as briefly as it may last, I would try to make myself as invisible as possible. But when I saw the unmistakable heat in his eyes, I was frozen to the spot. All I could do was to hope I could survive another encounter unscathed. .

“It sounds to me like you were enjoying yourself just as much as he was.”

I turned on Willow and planted my fists on my hips. “Whose side are you on?”

“I’m on yours. I’ll always be on your side, but you have to decide whether you are going to hate him or fuck him. Apparently, the two don’t mix well together.”

Oh, how wrong she was. “This isn’t just some run of the mill romance or school rivalry. He threatened to kill my aunt and to leave my best friend,” I indicated her for emphasis, “heartbroken.”

“And yet, despite all that, you still want him. Look,” she took a deep breath and released. “I’ve gotten over it.”

“No, you just blame Dash. You’re still angry too, Willow.”

“Are we here to talk about you, or are we here to talk about me?” she snapped, defensively. That was my cue to bow out, but instead, I continued to stand with her, holding her stare. It seemed neither of us would back down until she sighed and asked, “Do you realize we almost never argued before them?”

There wasn’t a time I could remember ever arguing with Willow. The biggest disagreement we’d ever had was choosing a movie or pepperoni over sausage, and even then, we’d compromise. We’d spend all night at the movies to please each other and order a specialty pizza because neither of us was willing to see the other unhappy.

But I couldn’t deny how something had changed for us these past few months. I only hoped our friendship would survive it.

“Forget about it. Let’s just go to lunch and hope they have something half decent or edible.” We finished dressing in silence and met Sheldon outside of the cafeteria. I could immediately tell something was wrong from her sunken expression.

“Sheldon, are you okay?” I asked as I took in her wrinkled clothing and unkempt hair. She looked as if she’d rolled out of bed and gotten into a fight with a bull.