Page 24

Her essence. Her life force. Her vitality.

I look to the space next to me, noticing that Brady is gone, then at the place where Eli sits, directly across from Hazel, and see him jerking his hard cock in his hand while he watches. I quickly move my eyes back to Declan and Hazel. His head moves back and forth between her legs as he licks her clit, and I realize he's slipped his fingers inside of her, too, and the muscles in his right forearm flex as he works her pussy. It almost sounds like she's crying while she moans for him.

"Oh, god," she cries. "I'm gonna…gonna…don't s-s-stop."

Across the table, I hear a deep groan and from the corner of my eye, watch as cum drips down Eli's fist and coats his stomach.

"Oh, that feels so good," Hazel whimpers. I see her legs shaking, and she arches her back one more time before she screams—actually screams in the middle of a public space—while she comes on his face.

When she finally stills, he pulls away, his lips and chin covered in a mixture of her blood from earlier and her pussy juices. I watch as his tongue comes out, slowly licking as much of the area clean as he can, as if savoring it, before wiping away the rest with his forearm.

It's the sexiest damn thing I've ever seen in my life.

He turns back to me, and I realize my mouth is hanging open and quickly close it.

"You should have begged like you wanted to," he says to me, then turns back to Eli and Hazel, still breathless and exposed on the table. "Gather everyone up. It's time to go. I'll have the bus here in five."

With that, he pulls his phone from his pocket and begins making his way toward the staircase. Hazel casually straightens her clothes.

"Come on," she says. "Let's go find everybody."

"Um, yeah," I say, then stand and follow her.

Power.

He says that's his drug of choice, and maybe itshouldhavebeen obvious because I can see it. The ability to control and influence people and their actions, to do what you want free of consequences. River says he likes to test people. He said himself that he likes to watch people break.

I wonder if he can control it. I wonder if he knows when to stop or if he's taken his addiction too far before, too.

I'm the last one onto the bus, following River, Hazel, and Layla. I guess I'm not paying attention; maybe I'm a little too tired, a little too drunk, or both because I stumble into Layla, who has stopped in front of me, almost knocking her over.

"Oh, god, I'm so sorry!" I tell her. She doesn't even look back.

I follow her eyes as she watches Declan disappear with Alana.

"Layla?" Hazel places a hand on her cheek. "Are you okay? Do you want to sleep with us?"

"I'm okay," she says. "I'm not tired. I'm just going to stay out here."

"Okay…" Hazel says skeptically.

"Come on," River says, grabbing my hand. "Let's go to bed."

She pulls me around Layla, and I meet her sad eyes as I pass. I make a mental note to talk to her tomorrow. She must have known Bridget and clearly needs someone to talk to; maybe I can even help her. Maybe she needs someone to talk to who's an outsider, and we can help each other.

I change my clothes and crawl into bed next to River with Hazel on her other side. She curls up behind me, burying herhead in the back of my hair. "You smell like cherries," she whispers into my neck. "I want to keep you."

It doesn't take long for the sound of traffic on the highway to lull me to sleep.

SIX

Imust have slept like a rock. It's one of those mornings where I wake up confused. You know, when you're so sleep-deprived, it takes you minutes to process where you are and what happened the night or—in my case—nights before. Two nights ago, I left for the concert with a backstage pass and then got in my car and drove to San Francisco. Just yesterday, I found Declan in my hotel room.

And now, I'm on the tour bus with blood-drinking murderers.

I stretch, take a deep breath, roll onto my side, and find myself face-to-face with Luca.ShirtlessLuca, lying on the bed in a pair of grey sweatpants.

"Hey," he says. "You're a heavy sleeper."