Page 46 of River of Deceit

There has to be a way to make her fight more. Something she cares about.

Something like… I smirk and bend forward again.

“If you don’t play along, I’ll not only makeyourlife hell,” I say. “I’ll have River blacklisted and humiliated. He’s going to have the worst pledge experience in the history of Kappa Alpha—and the entire school will know it.”

Her eyes widen, and she curls her nails on my arms, drawing them down with just enough force that I know I’ll have scratches.

“You wouldn’t,” Pandora hisses. “Isn’t your brotherhood crap sacred?”

I grin nastily at her. “You should have considered that before you convinced your boy to join. You just gave me another pawn to play with, Pandora.”

“River isn’t—” Pandora says, but she cuts herself off when the door opens again.

I don’t bother to move. Let Asch and River see.

Let them see how weak she is, how she bends for me.

How much control I have over her.

Let River know that Pandora ismytoy.

“Are we interrupting?” Asch asks, his voice deceptively mild.

River lets out a low growl, and he pushes past Asch. “Get off of her, Bouchard.”

I step away from Pandora with my hands up. “Chill out, River. You’ll get off to a bad start with Kappa Alpha if you beat up a frat brother.”

“What about if I kill one of them?” River retorts.

I focus on River, trying to figure out if he’s serious. Many people have threatened to kill me, but few actually had the backbone to even attempt to follow through.

River’s expression is dark and vicious, and I think he might actually be willing to do it.

So he isn’t one of the soft, weakboysthat usually attend Dyschord.

That story about his father having ties to Giulio Pavone might have merit after all. Asch grabs River’s arm, yanking him back.

“I’m fine!” Pandora says. She sits up and rubs at her neck. “Honestly, there’s no need for all of this.”

I’m surprised at how she can say that without her voice even wavering.

Not quite as weak yet as I’d thought.

How long would it take to truly beat the fight out of her?

“See? You’re defending honor that doesn’t even need defending,” I say to River with a smile. “Calm down, or your career at Kappa Alpha will be over before it even starts.”

River’s jaw clenches, and he shakes Asch off of him. “So is every Chaos brother a fucking?—”

“River,” Pandora interrupts.

River flashes her a disgusted look, but he falls silent.

“Maybe there’s just a misunderstanding,” Asch suggests. “I don’t think Pandora is the monogamous type. Let’s keep jealousy in check.”

“Who said anything about monogamy?” I meet Asch’s gaze. He hasn’t even had a proper turn with her yet.

If River hadn’t shown up to derail everything, I would have letAsch have a go at her. He could have fucked her after I did and gotten my sloppy seconds.