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“I’ll do a lot more than that,” I warned, advancing on him like a lion preying on a gazelle. He took an automatic step back.

There was no anger on his face. Instead, he seemed sort of awed.

And if the heat in his eyes was any indication? A little turned on.

Sick, twisted asshole.

“Do you think you can go around drugging girls?” I asked, shoving his chest. This time, he barely staggered back a step. “Hurting people? You think that this is a fucking game you’re allowed to play?”

“If you would let me explain,” he began, irritated.

Still, I did not relent in my pursuit, venturing another step closer. This close, I could see a scatter of dark freckles across his tanned face. His hair was a light brown, longer than most men’s, with golden highlights streaked throughout. He was so fucking handsome that my heart hurt.

Why did all the hot ones have to be assholes?

“We did what we did to protect you,” he blurted. His eyes locked with mine. “We did drug you, yes, but we did it for a reason. We didn’t cause the hallucination. We wanted you tosee.”

“See what?” I hissed, jamming a finger into his firm, muscular chest.

“The food.” His voice was calm. Soothing.

“You wanted me to see the food?” I quipped, raising an eyebrow.

“The food is what makes you live in a happy, little bubble where everything is safe and fine and dandy. Unicorns and rainbows and all that happy shit. It’s what makes you believe that every day is the weekend, that students aren’t going missing, that this is just another fucking school.”

I gripped my hair that had escaped its bindings, pulling at the strands.

“I don’t get what you’re fucking saying. Is that what you’re trying to do? Confuse me? Because it’s working.”

Tanner, abruptly, grabbed at my shoulder, pulling me even closer to him. We were nose to nose, both of our breaths sawing in and out. His eyes traced my features, moving from my eyes to my lips before meeting my gaze once more.

“This school isn’t like the others. I was telling the truth about that. We don’t know everything, but one thing we do know is that they are drugging us. Every time you eat the food in the cafeteria, the drug is going into your system. It makes you believe things that aren’t true. It makes you believe that everything is normal. Those kids that were pulled out of the cafeteria? No one remembers. And if they remember, they believe that it is normal.” His warm breath caressed my face, eliciting goosebumps on my skin. “That was what Josie discovered before she went missing. She was…well…she didn’t like to eat.” His face tightened at the memory. “When she didn’t eat, she could see things with vivid clarity.”

Despite how bogus his story sounded, I held on to every word, filing them away for a later date. I would dissect his story in full when he wasn’t staring at me with wide, earnest eyes. Teeth glinting in the artificial gym lighting.

“She snuck into the employee’s only lounge and found this weird liquid. The professors have been drinking this to remain coherent when the rest of the students saw things through a blurry, distorted haze. A funhouse mirror, she would say. You only saw what the professors wanted you to see.

“She gave us the liquid, and suddenly, we understood. We saw what they didn’t want us to see. Do you understand? Do you understand what I’m saying?” He pleaded with me with his umber gold eyes to believe him. To trust him.

I knew he would continue to spin his lies like a spider spun a web. I also knew he was spewing nothing but bullshit.

All I wanted was for him to shut the hell up.

“You are so full of shit,” I murmured, grabbing the back of his neck and pulling his lips down to mine.

I kissed him with all of the pent-up anger and aggression I wanted to remain hidden. I kissed him like I was drowning, and he was my life preserver.

My hands tangled in his golden-brown hair, turning his head to angle him the way I wanted him to go. His tongue prodded the seams of my lips, and I opened up eagerly, taking him in. It wasn’t a dance, but a battle. A war. Kissing Tanner was a fight between two broken souls, only one able to emerge victorious.

His large hands cupped my ass, pushing me against his erection. I knew that he was large, and I wanted nothing more than to wrap my mouth around his thick girth. The need was almost painful.

Leaving my ass, his hands lifted my shirt over my head. His thumb brushed the upper swell of my breast before lowering, pulling my heavy mounds free of the confines of my bra.

“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he muttered, ducking down to pull one of my nipples into his mouth.

I slipped my hands underneath his shirt, touching his bare skin.

His lips moved from my aching nipple, up the swell of my breast, before landing on my neck. He alternated between licks, sucks, and kisses until he finally reached my lips. I desperately kissed him back, reveling in the contact. The comfort.