Page 134 of River of Deceit

Would I have gone even if I had been? I want to say no, that I’d have had too much pride, but I know that if they’d offered even the slightest invitation, I’d have gone.

Pandora takes the wrap off my hands and bites into it. I watch as she chews and swallows.

She’s onlyeating, but even the simple movement of her throat bobbing draws my attention and makes me want to lick her skin.

“That’s stupid,” Pandora says after her bite. “Just invite yourself next time. I always want you there too.”

The words reach a part of me that I’d thought I’d blocked off ages ago, and I flex the fingers on my left hand to remind myself that one of them is missing because of her. “It doesn’t work that way, Pandora,” I tell her.

“Of course it does.” Pandora wipes her mouth and sets the wrap down on the table, pulling her books closer to herself again. “I kept wondering what it would have been like with all three of you together. Like, the DP was good, but is there triple pen? I might haveto find porn. I mean, I could ask my parents, but I think Mama would explode in flames of embarrassment and Papa would only laugh. Oh, wait, there’s Aunt Lucia too. She’d tell me.”

Double penetration.Triplepenetration.

I want to say nothing Pandora says shocks me anymore, that I’m calm and cool, but the truth is, imagining her fucking Blaze and Asch makes my body heat up and my stomach roil.

The image is hot.

But I wasn’t there to experience it.

What did she look like as she was writhing between them? What were they doing, that she ended up with so many marks and bruises?

My hands clench. She wants to get a rise out of me. She won’t.

“I… would not suggest asking your parents,” I say, partially because I agree that her mother would pass out and partially because I don’t want them realizing that I’m in the picture again.

My stomach churns at the idea of going up against Slayer, Damien Rossi, and Giulio Pavone again.

I don’t think I’ve been forgiven. Far from it. I’d hurt their poor, helpless baby girl in the most minor of ways, but they’d made sure I’d never forget the offense.

“Yeah, I don’t need to hear another lecture from them.” Pandora pulls her phone out though, and starts a text toBitch Auntie. “Anyway, do you have porn recs? For triple penetration?”

I realize we have the attention of a few people around us, and I look back at Pandora. “Didn’t your mom ever teach you about your inside voice?” I ask her, gesturing subtly around us.

Pandora looks around. One of the male students averts his gaze, blushing strongly. Pandora gets a very familiar grin on her face, and I groan.

“You, buddy! The eavesdropper!” Pandora calls out. “You have recs, right?”

The guy covers his face and shakes his head. The woman sitting next to him looks a lot less amused than Pandora.

His girlfriend, probably.

“I wouldn’t know…” the guy says with a sideward glance at his girlfriend.

Pandora rolls her eyes. “Boring. Then stop listening to my conversations and pay more attention to your girlfriend.”

That makes the woman laugh, and the guy groans loudly before grabbing his bag and leaving.

I watch the woman, half-expecting Pandora to askherif she has any recs. For once, she doesn’t, and I turn back to Pandora. “Anyway,” I say. “You missed class this morning.”

“Yeah, we were all dead tired and couldn’t get ourselves out of bed.” Pandora meets my gaze. “And I wassosore. All over. But especially my?—”

“I don’t need to know,” I interrupt her tersely, but I give her another once-over. I can only imagine where she’s sore, and it makes jealousy flicker through me all over again. “I hope you were careful, at least.”

“What, you think Blaze or Asch have STIs?” Pandora scoots closer to me and gets her hand on my thigh. “Did you want to give me a complete inspection? To make sure they didn’t damage me?”

I grab her hand and try to shove it off of my thigh, but she refuses to budge. “No. I don’t need to give you a fucking inspection.”

I’m acting like a little bitch, I know. She’s a grown woman. She’s capable of making her own decisions.