Page 25 of Sour Lollipops and Sweet Nightmares (The Society #1)

Ravi

M y brother was the golden boy of our family, and not because he wanted to be a football star—Slater fucking hated football. His role was a strategic move. While we were twins, we were very different people. The only thing we had in common was the hatred of our father.

Vengeance was our goal, but when dealing with General Pierce, that didn’t come easily or quickly.

It was a long game we’d been playing for ten years now.

It started with Slater being the twin who lived up to our dad’s expectations, while I was the disappointing one.

Why? Because no one paid attention to the disappointment.

My brother was the shining star, and I was the shadow they’d never see coming.

Strategy was important when it came to war, but there was more than one way to win it all, depending on what type of battle one was waging. Storming the beaches of Normandy versus being someone’s second was very different.

They were both wars, so to speak. One involved victory in battle, while the other was all about mind games. And I was good at mind games.

My phone dinged with a text, and I couldn’t help but smirk. I knew who it was before I looked at the screen.

Issac: Ravi, you motherfucker.

I guess Issac was out of the shower. Hope he enjoyed his cold shower cause his temperature was about to rise. If only he could jerk off. Sucked to be him.

Issac: I’m gonna kill you.

Me: You seem upset about something.

I couldn’t possibly imagine why.

Me: Are you feeling a little pent-up?

To say Issac was a formidable foe would be an understatement. The prick was a stubborn, controlling, egotistical bastard who wouldn’t bend if his own life was on the line.

The trick to pulling his strings was to make him think it was his idea, which wasn’t an easy task to accomplish. However, in this case, I had an advantage. A five-foot fuck-all green-eyed advantage.

Issac could pretend he didn’t want Georgia all he liked. However, I saw how he looked at her. He didn’t like her, but his dick did. After he kicked her out of the room, the bastard stood in front of the window and watched her run away.

Then, he went to have a cold shower, probably to get rid of his hard-on. That was one thing he couldn’t hide from me. I liked dick almost as much as I liked pussy, and Issac had a nice dick. I considered bottoming once or twice just so I could taste it.

Issac: You son of a bitch.

Hey now.

Me: If you’re going to call my mother a bitch, at least slap her first.

I didn’t know much about the woman who birthed me, but I knew my stepmother.

She was a masochist who had no morals, at least she didn’t the night Slater and I fucked her.

There may have been some alcohol and a little GHB involved, but thanks to that video, we now had someone on the inside who told us everything the old man was up to.

Issac: Did you take Georgia’s bag?

That didn’t take long for him to notice. What did he do? Get out of the shower and immediately go looking for it?

Me: Sure did.

He should’ve known better than to leave me alone with it. What did he think was going to happen?

Me: I left you a keepsake.

Her pink notebook was sitting on his bedside table, mostly because I wanted to know what the fuck she was recording.

It was times like this that I missed Aiden.

He was our code cracker. Unfortunately, he failed at his job of second and was probably dead now.

Not that we would be told if he was, and I sure as shit wasn’t about to follow in his footsteps to find out.

Issac: Bring it back right fucking now.

Me: That’s a big no can do.

Issac: I will hunt you down and kick your ass.

Aww, was he resorting to threats already? So much for his I don’t give a fuck attitude.

Me: You can try.

Don’t get me wrong, if Issac wanted to kick my ass, he could. I was agile but he was fast. I wouldn’t be able to dodge all of his strikes. But it wouldn’t get that far. He would never come to where I was.

He was too stubborn for that. His father had him pegged in that regard. Would Issac claim his bride? Yes. He wasn’t the type to go against Society doctrine. But would he do it in the timeline he was given? Fuck no.

That was where I came in. My job was to make sure Issac claimed Georgia as quickly as possible. Why the rush? I had no idea. All I knew was that it had something to do with her dad.

They didn't tell me anything beyond that. I had other rules and stipulations. They were the typical, no fucking anyone, push Issac towards her, I got two days with Georgia, and for some reason, I had to keep Levi in the loop.

Issac: If you’re not back here in five minutes, I will fucking kill you.

Smirking, I turned the corner and strutted up the flower-lined walkway while typing into my phone.

Me: Come get me, bitch. I’m at Craven House.

And my phone will ring in three…

Two..

The screen lit up with Issac’s call before I could finish my mental countdown.

Being the good friend that I was, I hit the decline button and turned my phone off. If Issac wanted to yell at me, then he was going to have to drag his stubborn ass over here, which he would never do. That would mean being in close proximity to Georgia, whom he was desperately trying to avoid.

Issac was a master at hiding things.

How he felt—if he felt anything at all. What he thought, and whether or not he was going to kill you. But every time little Miss Sunshine walked in the room, he got this glint in his eye. I first noticed it in the dean’s office.

I loved the guy, but he was the perfect representation of reverse psychology. If Georgia hadn’t been the one given to him, he probably would’ve taken her already.

I wasn’t just up against him, I was up against his hatred for his father, which was almost as strong as mine. My original plan was jealousy. A task that could be tricky when it came to someone like Issac.

He liked playing the voyeur. That was the hard part of my job. Issac wouldn’t care if I fucked Georgia. He’d get off on it, except there was one person he hated more than his old man.

Kash motherfucking Murphy.

Kash’s family owned Murphy Media—the one company we couldn’t control.

They had the power to control public image of who they wanted, but they couldn’t be bought.

Even kings didn’t have enough money for that, hence why The Society stayed off their radar.

He who controlled the media controlled the narrative.

Issac saw the entire Murphy family as enemies. Personally, I liked Kash. I thought he was an alright guy, and he knew how to fuck. So, I decided to use our friendship to my advantage. As soon as I found out I was Issac’s second, I sent Kash a text, telling him about the hot new thing on campus.

Kash had a size kink, and Georgia was barely five feet tall. That plan backfired. He didn’t even take the bait, which was odd considering he was a bigger whore than Levi and I combined.

Leaving me to resort to other means. Like pure unadulterated anger. Rage was about the only thing that made Issac act irrationally. Losing his little trophies would irritate him to no end, but giving them back to Georgia would piss him the fuck off.

Stepping up to the small house, I rapped my knuckles off the cream-colored door.

There were a few responses I expected. A door slammed in my face. Georgia screaming. Maybe a muffled ‘go to hell’ through the wood. But none of those were what I got. It wasn’t even Georgia who opened the door.

When the door swung inward, wide, bright eyes blinked up at me. But it was the way her breath hitched, as if she’d opened the door to a nightmare, that caused the corner of my mouth to curl slowly.

This shit just got interesting.

“Rachel McMann.” What the fuck was she doing here?

She froze. “Ravi.”

Rachel uttered my name quiet and soft, like she wasn’t sure I was standingthere. Or she was hoping I wasn’t. Was poor Rachel haunted by what happened that night? Could she still feel my knife cutting her skin? Because I could still hear her scream.

I leaned against door frame and tsked, “Come on. We both know you can say my name louder than that.”

Rachel had a set of lungs on her. Even with tears streaming down her face, she belted out her anguish at a deafening volume.

Her chest puffed out, lighting a fake spark of courage behind the fear shining in her eyes. “What are you doing here?”

Aww, was Rachel trying to act brave? How cute.

“I’m more interested in what you’re doing here.”

Georgia was not the kind of girl Rachel hung around with. Rachel didn’t hang around with any girls. She didn’t like the competition. So, what the hell was she doing with Georgia?

“You need to leave.”

When she tried to slam the door closed, my hand shot out, pushing it back open.

“Not so fast.” This little bitch was two seconds away from being reminded why she was looking at me like that. “I think you need to be reintroduced to someone.”

I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my switchblade. Despite her firm stance, Rachel’s bottom lip quivered when I flicked it open.

“You remember him, right?” I trailed the tip over her shoulder and across her collarbone. “How he felt cutting into your skin. What your blood looked like dripping off the edge…”

Because I did. I thought about it when I jerked off at night. Don’t get me wrong, Rachel wasn’t my type. Sure, she was good-looking in a homecoming queen kind of way. But I wouldn’t fuck her with my enemy's dick, and I hated that guy.

“Do what you want to me,” Rachel lifted her chin. “But leave Georgia alone.”

“Since when are you protective?”

She was the type of girl who would step over her best friend to suck her boyfriend’s dick, in hopes that she could marry into money.

That, I blamed on Kash. When Rachel first arrived on campus, she was shy and timid.

Then Kash got hold of her. He fucked her for a couple of months while lavishing her with gifts and fancy dinners, then he tossed her aside.