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‘I don’t know. I’m looking into it with Lu. But John left the party with her the night she died. Someone who was there told me he was driving her car. But that wasn’t in any of the newspaper articles.

‘You think it was John Novelle?’ he whispers.

‘Yes,’ I say, not bothering to lie.

He lets out a breath. ‘This is fucked. Does anyone else know?’

‘Just Lu.’

‘Daisy,’ he says, touching my hand. ‘I’m sorry you didn’t feel that you could come to us with this. I’m sorry we made it so you couldn’t.’

‘Please don’t tell the others,’ I say.

‘I can’t keep this from them,’ he says, putting all the papers into a rough pile. I put my hand over them so he can’t take them.

‘What if it is one of them?’

He snorts. ‘I’ve known those guys for years. There’s no way. There’s just no way.’

‘How can you be sure? This person knows things that someone who isn’t close to the Novelles wouldn’t know. Please keep it a secret, just for a little while, until I can find out more about my mom’s death.’

Blake stares at me, eyes slowly moving. His lips turn up into the ghost of a smile. ‘Say I do keep it a secret. What will you give me, beautiful?’

My eyes roll and then narrow. ‘Blackmail again?’

‘I am very good at it,’ he murmurs unapologetically. ‘And I didn’t do anything too bad last time, did I?’

‘I guess not.’

‘Plus, want to know what I think?’

I let out a small sigh. ‘Not really, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.’

‘I think,’ he leans closer. ‘I think the thought of being under my control turns you on.’

I huff. ‘That’s not so. I like having autonomy, making my own decisions.’

Blake smiles. ‘Maybe that’s true when it comes to everyday life and Shade. I mean, he does love laying down the law and I know you hate that. His big brother bullshit even grates on me.’

He takes a step back. ‘I’ll tell you what, I won’t tell the others for a little while like you asked, but only because I want to look into this some more myself and figure out who this fucker is. We need more information.’

He winks. ‘This little thing between us is just an extra perk.’

‘But—’

He puts a hand up.

‘I’ll help you get to the bottom of this and, as for the deal, I won’t do anything bad, and you can safe word out whenever you want. It’s sort of like a game.’

‘Helluva game,’ I mutter. ‘This is how you got your kicks growing up on the wrong side of the tracks?’

He doesn’t gainsay me.

‘We tell the others everything if this gets any worse, okay? And you have to tell me immediately if you get any more of these notes or emails.’

I nod.

He cages me in against the desk, making me gasp as his hips roll against mine. ‘And I won’t fuck you.’

‘You won’t?’

He shakes his head. ‘I have plenty of other bad things I want to do with you before that.’

My eyes widen.

‘Like what?’ I whisper.

‘I think I’ll keep them as surprises. But tonight, I want to be in here with you, not Mav. Deal?’

I take a deep breath. ‘Okay. Deal.’

He gives me a wink. ‘Are you ready to go to bed?’

‘I...’

‘C’mon, I can see you’re dead on your feet.’

I huff, but I limp across the room to the bed and pick up my coat. I hang it in my closet.

‘I’ll just go...’

I grab my phone and towels and leave the room, my heart beating wildly. But I’m not afraid , just nervous.

In the bathroom, I message Lu to tell her I’m not dead and I take a shower, trying not to second-guess myself as I go through the motions. I’m trying not to imagine the things he was talking about. I mean, I can’t really. I don’t know enough to come up with much at all. I really need to do some research on sex stuff, so they don’t always know more than me. Though I guess actually doing it is research in itself.

I giggle under the water, wondering what Blake would say if I told him I was messing around with him purely for research purposes.

He’d probably find a way to be into it.

I dry off and wrap the towel around me, shuffling back to my room. I find him already lying in my bed without a shirt on, the rest of him covered by the sheets.

I freeze, my eyes traveling over the tattoos that have always intrigued me, the cubes that run down the side of his neck. I can see more of them than ever. My eyes dance over them, seeing that they begin to change as they go down, the edges growing softer, but I can’t see any more than that because the blanket is blocking my gaze.

I want to see more, I want to trace them with my fingers. I want to know what they feel like. My fingers twitch with the urge. Will he let me touch them?

‘Are you naked?’ I ask, tearing my eyes away from his mesmerizing body and glancing at the pile of clothes he’s left on the floor.

He smirks. ‘Want me to be?’

‘I’m not sure,’ I say.

‘I have my boxers on,’ he says with a chuckle.

He pats the bed. ‘Lose the towel.’

I take in a deep breath and let it fall from me, balling my hands into fists and making myself leave them at my sides. I had very little privacy at The Heath so it’s not as if no one’s seen me before. In fact, he and Mav did that night in Blake’s room, so why does it feel like, in front of him right now, that this is the first time?

I glance up, trying to gauge his reaction. I didn’t do that last time, not properly. His eyes rove over me slowly, leisurely. I think appreciatively, but I haven’t memorized that expression on his face yet.

‘Like what you see?’ I hear myself asking aloud and then cringing inside because why did I think for a second that I was that bold?

‘You’re beautiful.’ The words come out on a sigh, wistful and almost sounding...lovesick.

Twitterpated.

Stop thinking about Bambi!

I snigger, covering my face with my hand.

I look through my fingers and find him still exactly where he was.

‘Are you okay over there?’

‘Yes,’ I groan. ‘Intrusive thoughts, I’m afraid. Happens more when I’m nervous.’

‘Do I make you nervous?’ His tone is low and gravelly.

I nod. ‘Sometimes.’

‘Like now?’

‘Definitely like now,’ I mutter.

‘Come on.’ He pats the bed, and I limp over quickly, wanting this first part to be over.

I’d rather be in bed under the covers and not out here on display. I glance at where the camera is hidden. What if they’re watching right now?

‘No one can see,’ he says, having caught where I looked and correctly deducing my thoughts.

‘How can you be sure?’ I ask, slipping into the bed quickly and pulling the blanket up to my neck.

I groan. I still have a hand towel wrapped around my hair. I take it off quickly, sitting up and grabbing the other one I left on the bed. I spread it over my pillow and then lie back, looking at him expectantly.

He’s lying back as well and is facing me, propped up on his elbow. He’s eyeing me with a small smile. ‘I’ve disconnected yours. Until I can be sure no one else can see, it’ll stay off. What’s with the...’

He gestures to the towel I’ve put over my pillow.

‘My hair’s wet. I don’t want the pillow to get wet too.’

‘Oh,’ he snorts. ‘Makes sense.’

‘You turned it off?’ I ask, needing clarification. ‘No one can see? Not even you?’

‘Not even me.’

‘Thanks.’ I let out a sigh. ‘I want you to know... I wasn’t sure that they were using the cameras, but they know things that happen in here. I was scared and I knew you had access. It made me think it might be you, or all of you. That’s the only reason I was sneaking into your room to look. I wasn’t trying to spy on you or invade your privacy.’

‘The way that we’ve invaded yours from the moment you entered the house?’ he says a bit self-deprecatingly.

‘That’s not where I was going with it,’ I murmur. ‘But yes. Lucky for all of us, I’m used to surveillance. There are cameras all over the place at The Heath. Thanks for not actually sharing them with anyone outside of you three.’

Blake’s fingers trace my jaw. ‘The thought of the whole house seeing you vulnerable doesn’t really do it for me, sweetheart.’

I feel him trace the other side of my face, up to my forehead and down my nose, over my lips, and descending to my jaw.

‘Stay still,’ he says quietly when I shift a little.

He draws his fingers down my neck to my collarbone and then travels across to the other one before he returns to the middle and caresses down the valley between my breasts.

I watch him, wondering if I’m allowed to touch, too.

He takes one of my breasts and weighs it in his hand, thumb stroking over my nipple, making it tighten.

‘Do you have a word if you want anything to stop?’

‘Mav said to use red,’ I murmur. ‘Do you want me to have another one?’

‘Red is good.’ He frowns. ‘But I like yellow for slow down and red for stop, personally. Are those words you’ll remember in the…middle of things?’

I nod. ‘Those words are logical. I’ll remember.’

‘Good. And if you can’t talk, tap me like we said before, okay?’

I nod again.

He doesn’t waste any more time, descending over me and sucking my nipple into his mouth. I gasp at the sensation. He pulls it a little, rubbing his tongue over it at the same time and I whimper loudly, slapping a hand over my mouth in surprise.

He draws back, grinning wide.

‘Like that?’

‘Yes.’

He leans over the same nipple, and I grab him by his hair, stopping him.

‘What is it?’

‘The other one feels different.’

He quirks a brow. ‘Different, huh?’

‘Yes. As in, not the same.’ My eyes narrow at him in suspicion. ‘You’re playing with me.’

He chuckles. ‘Just a little. Are you above begging?’

I smile. ‘Can you do the same thing with the other one so they’re the same, pretty please?’

The ghost of another grin appears on his face as he leans over and takes my other nipple between his lips.

I cover my mouth with my hand, and he does the exact same motion. This time when the whimper bursts out of me, it’s muffled.

‘I want to touch you,’ I murmur as he pulls back.

He smirks. ‘No.’

‘Why?’ I ask, frowning.

‘Because naughty little sluts like you need to earn it.’

My mouth falls open at his words.

Naughty little slut?

I frown at him. I shouldn’t like it. I don’t think I would from anyone else, but there’s something about him saying it that...

‘Something to say, my pretty little whore?’

His eyes are boring into me. He’s trying to figure out if I like it, I realize.

Do I?

‘I don’t know,’ I say out loud.

‘Don’t know if you have something to say?’

I purse my lips. ‘I don’t know if I like it. I like the pretty bit, of course, but the rest...It’s not true, you know. I’ve never had sex before. I’m not a whore, or a slut.’

He lets out a loud laugh, flopping back on the bed.

‘I know it’s not true, sweetheart, but I like the thought of you being one just for me, and no one else.’

I roll to my side, facing him. ‘What about Mav? Does it bother you that I...like him too?’

Blake shakes his head quickly, as if he’s already given this some thought. ‘No. Mav is fine. Shade is fine, but no one else.’

‘Why?’ I ask. ‘Why them?’

He leans back. ‘Because we’ve been through a lot together. If I had to share, it would be with them, but it’s your choice who you’re with. I’d like it if it was only us, though. Did the whore and slut thing bother you?’

‘Not the words, only that the words aren’t true.’ I frown at him. ‘But I suppose if you know it’s not true, if it’s just a pretend game you like to play, then it’s all right.’

‘Glad we got that cleared up,’ he says with the hint of another smile.

‘Me, too,’ I reply, very seriously.

He closes his eyes and chuckles, and I take this opportunity to do what I’ve been wanting to. I pick one of the cubes on his neck and trace the line of them down. Like steps.

His eyes snap open and his demeanor switches. Laughter gone, he grabs me and flips me to my back, moving over me and pressing me into the bed. My eyes widen at his sudden movements, my heart and stomach lurching. What if he...

He frowns. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.’

‘It’s okay,’ I gasp. ‘I’m all right. Keep going.’

I want to see where this goes.

He nods and is careful with my leg as he moves. He doesn’t hurt me.

My wide eyes are caught by his narrow ones.

‘I said if you wanted to touch me, you had to earn it,’ he says sternly. ‘Bad. Little. Whore.’

He punctuates the last word by cupping me between my legs, making me gasp loudly.

‘Very smooth,’ he murmurs, stroking me over the outside, one finger moving up and down the central seam.

‘I shaved,’ I whisper.

‘Was that for me?’ he murmurs at my throat, nuzzling the juncture of my neck and shoulder.

‘No,’ I say truthfully. ‘It was for me. I thought I might like it smooth. From a sensory perspective. And I do.’

I feel another smile against my skin and let out a small sigh of relief that he’s not really angry with me. It’s just part of the game.

His hand keeps up the motions at the apex of my thighs.

‘So do I,’ he rumbles. ‘From a sensory perspective. ’

He taps my good leg.

‘Open for me. Are you wet? Does me calling you names turn you on even though you don’t think it should?’

‘I don’t know,’ I say quietly.

His fingers part my lower lips and I feel him touch me, delving shallowly into my pussy and letting out a pleased sound.

He brings his finger up and holds it between us. It’s wet.

‘Well, I think that answers that question.’

He puts it to my mouth and smears my wetness over my lips. In a burst of inspiration, I grab his finger with my teeth and lick the tip, holding his eyes. I still count the seconds, but I get to eight.

His expression darkens and his hips lower to mine and grind on me slowly, letting me feel how hard he is through his boxers.

‘Such a dirty girl for me,’ he growls, rolling so I feel the length of him and wish he wasn’t wearing anything.

I moan at the thought, at the feeling of his weight on me.

I want more.

‘Shit,’ he swears in a whisper. ‘You’re making it very hard to keep my promise about not fucking you, gorgeous. I want to feel that cunt around me so bad.’

‘Don’t keep it,’ I beg. ‘Just do it. I don’t mind. Please.’

‘Like begging me now, too? You’ll wait, slut.’

I groan.

His hips roll again, but then he moves down my body, his mouth sucking on one nipple, and then on the other exactly the same. I smile as I close my eyes, trusting him. He kisses down my stomach and lifts my legs, bending them and pushing them wide.

He lowers himself but then pauses.

I open my eyes to find his eyes on my face. ‘Want me to make you feel good?’

I nod.

‘What do we say?’

‘Please?’

He tuts. ‘Are you my willing, depraved little whore?’

I nod. Anything for him to keep going. I need more.

‘Say it,’ he growls low.

I swallow hard. ‘I’m your willing, depraved little whore,’ I whisper.

His smile is dark as he descends, sweeping his tongue up my slit and making me cry out.

‘You’re such a surprise,’ he murmurs. ‘I’m going to dress you in things as pretty as you are and take my time unwrapping you. But not today.’

Another sweep of his tongue makes me wail.

‘Today, I’m going to lick this sweet cunt until you come, and when you do, you’ll scream my name. Just for me.’

His mouth is hot on my center as his lips close over me, making my hips buck involuntarily.

The bed covers are suddenly uncomfortable on my back, and I squirm to find a smooth spot. He sees what I’m doing and pulls me down the bed where I’m flat and the covers under me aren’t rumpled. I sigh, focusing on what he’s doing again, the sounds of him, the sounds of me . That coiling low in my belly.

I pull my legs together as it begins to become too much and he snarls, a glint in his eyes, as he glances at me.

‘Take it,’ he spits out. ‘You take what I give you. You moan and scream for me. You give me your pleasure.’

I make myself let my body open again. I want to feel it, even if it’s too much.

His lips find my clit and suck while the tip of his tongue finds the spot that drives my body wild.

My back bows and he pushes my legs as wide as they’ll go, holding me in place as I writhe under his tongue.

I come hard with a scream, squealing out his name just as he asked while my legs shake in his hard grip and my hands curl into his hair, pulling hard at the strands.

He grunts and lifts his head to look at me, his dark grin half-pained, half-admiring.

‘Don’t move.’