Page 63 of River of Deceit

I knew it wouldn’t be enough, but anything trulyjuicyisn’t getting unlocked. Not for them, not for anyone.

I could protest that it’s true, but protesting too much would only make it look even more like I’m lying.

I turn, presenting my ass like I’m about to get properly fucked, which would be far more preferable to finding out what the wooden paddle is going to feel like.

I can take it, though.

It turns out that it hurts, especially with the force that Blaze puts behind it. Somehow, I don’t think he’s gone that hard with anyone else, but he only gets a grunt from me.

He’s probably disappointed about that, too. The other guys have yelped from half the effort he had to put into it.

“I should mention, nobody is joining without sharing a good secret,” Zayden says.

One of the pledges suddenly goes for his clothes. “I’m out. Fuck… fuck all of you!”

He’s one of the guys who’s gotten paddled the most.

Before he can get far, Zayden grabs him and shoves him back into the center of the room. “You can leave,” Zayden says with a nasty smile. “But if you speak a word about this toanyone… Let’s just say, your life on campus is going to be hell. Don’t forget who owns the school.”

The guy shakes, but he nods quickly. “Yeah, fine, I get it, you asshole.”

I’m not surprised someone’s bailing this fast. If anything, I’m surprised there aren’t more people beelining toward the door.

I’m not going to be one of them.

Iamgoing to have to make up something they’ll think is “juicy” enough to qualify. It’s a ridiculous game. The whole point is to paddle us.

“Your turn, River,” Blaze says. “Let’s try again. Maybe this time you’ll give us something real.”

I open my mouth to lie, when Asch interrupts, “His finger. He should tell us how he lost his finger.”

I’ve had almost a year to think about valid excuses for how I lost my finger, but it never fails to knock the breath out of my lungs.

I hadn’t even fucked up that much.

I’d been a virgin who had come too fast.

I’d refused to eat Pandora out.

All right, and maybe I’d called her a crazy whore, which I did regret about five minutes after I’d left her house.

I’d planned on apologizing, but after her family had made it clear that making her cry meant body parts were on the line, that had gone out the window.

I grit my teeth. “It was an accident.”

That’s not a lie either.

I don’t want to talk about it, I don’t want to think about it, I don’t want to remember it.

They’re going to push, and I should make this easier on myself. I should tell the truth and be done with it. Zayden had said no one is getting in without a valid secret.

But I can’t bring myself to say the words.

It isn’t until Asch is grabbing me to force me back down so that Blaze can bring the paddle back down onto my ass that I realizeI’m shaking. I bite back another cry. The pain reverberates through me.

The pain, and the humiliation.

They ask again; I tell another half-truth.