Page 44 of The Invite (The Massacre Ball #1)

Nessa

After a strange morning, I’m spending an even stranger afternoon.

Doing grocery shopping with Augustus like we’re a couple living together.

According to him, I’m not eating enough and will soon starve to death if cereal, bread, and ramen noodles are all I have.

After a short nap in my bedroom, he covered up my nakedness in his tee and roamed around shirtless, displaying his toned and tatted upper body for my hungry eyes. Downstairs, he fed me breakfast while making me sit on the kitchen counter.

His calculative gaze took note of everything in the cabinets and the fridge while I ate a bowl of cereal.

When he suggested—no, announced like an authoritarian—that we were going to the grocery store, I stopped with the spoon midway to my mouth.

With an amused glint, he slowly pushed the bite between my lips and told me we’d leave once I finished eating and got dressed.

It jolted me out of my stupor, and I croaked out, “Together?”

“Yes.”

“It’s the middle of the day.”

“So?

I narrowed my gaze and dragged out, “So… We can’t be seen together. I’m still your teacher, in case you forgot. Besides, I can do my own grocery shopping. I don’t need a chauffeur. Also, I have food for another week before I need to buy more.”

In other words, I’m waiting for my salary.

“We’re going to the grocery store in the next town.

Besides, nobody will recognize you since you live like a hermit and the only public place you visit is school.

Whoever sees us won’t know you’re my teacher unless you shout it yourself or get it tattooed on your forehead.

Lastly, what you have is unhealthy snacks, not food.

It proves that you aren’t capable of doing grocery shopping on your own if cereal is your definition of nutritious food.

We’re going together, that’s out of the question. ”

“Cereal is healthy and at the top of the food chart.”

His lips twitched. “Not if it’s the only thing you’re eating day and night.”

I opened my mouth for a retort, but he shushed me with a finger and a stern order. “No more arguments.”

Later in my tiny closet, which felt even smaller with Augustus’s large body standing inside, he picked out a pair of leggings and a cropped zip-up hoodie for me to wear.

I changed in front of him because he didn’t leave, nor had I requested him to since I already knew the answer.

I asked what he did to my old clothes after stealing them.

His response was to joyously say he burned them as if they personally offended him. Once I finished dressing with my hair loose and flowing in curls, his eyes burned a trail down my body.

Halfway descending the stairs, I asked him, “Why is taking me shopping such a big deal to you? The car, then the clothes. I don’t need charity, Augustus.”

I felt insulted. I wasn’t embarrassed I had less money and was struggling to make ends meet most days.

There was a time I didn’t have to worry about any of that, but life taught me it can all be gone in the blink of an eye. It made me humble and appreciate the little things.

How I was strong to live to see another day.

Many didn’t.

Nevertheless, admitting I was poor to Augustus, who was the heir to one of the richest families in the town, made me hesitate. I didn’t need his pity.

“Start taking better care of yourself and I’ll stop.”

I screeched to a halt. “What?”

“When was the last time you ate a decent and home-cooked meal?”

“Yesterday, actually,” I answered with a smirk. He had no idea I stayed at Ace’s place.

“By yourself,” he clarified in a clipped tone, as if he knew where my thoughts went.

This time I hesitated to answer.

His hand captured my wrist and tugged me to the bottom of the staircase. “I don’t have a charitable bone in my body, Nessa. I’m taking care of you because you’re mine. If I have to clarify that one more time, I’ll have my name tattooed on your skin so you don’t forget.”

I shut my mouth at the sort of sweet and scary threat.

Now two hours later, we’re strolling side by side along the produce section at the store. Well, he’s doing the shopping while I’m a nervous wreck and afraid of getting seen with him in public. The random eyes on us feel like a microscopic glass.

Can they tell he’s my student? Do we look weird together? Do they think I’m a creep? I’m young but I’m still eight years older than Augustus.

I don’t know how to act around him when he’s not touching me or deriving pleasure from my insatiable body. When he snuggles with me in my bed.

Augustus claims to be emotionless and I have firsthand experience of his sociopathic tendencies. Yet he can’t handle it when I have a meltdown. His dormant protective instincts rise to the core.

It’s research-worthy, which is exactly what my brain wants to do.

Shaking off the urge, I gape at the overflowing shopping cart he’s lugging around, wondering how in the hell I’m going to pay for all this. There are vegetables, fresh fruits, meats, eggs, and spices I’ll require to cook.

When he caught me eyeing a few of the snacks and sweets in the bakery section, he put them in the basket even though I said no.

I gave up arguing with him after that.

How much does Augustus expect me to eat? This is way too much, even for two people. And it’s not like I have guests over.

Wait… is he shopping while keeping himself in mind?

Is he going to visit me during the day too?

We reach the frozen food aisle. Augustus stops to peer down at me, raising a curious brow. “Do you know how to cook?”

“On the scale of one to being a pro, I’d say…” I squint my eyes as I think. “Two.”

“I’ll add some frozen meals.” He turns toward the rows, inspecting them. “Which ones do you want?”

I grab his elbow and step in front of him. Pointing at our cart, I say, “I think this is more than enough.”

“What about when you’re in a hurry and don’t have time to cook?” He stretches his arm to grab a frozen pasta meal off the shelf.

I snatch it and put it back, whispering as I hide my burning cheeks, “I can’t afford all of this, Augustus.”

He tilts my chin from where I’m staring at my feet. “Who says you’re paying?”

Realization dawns and I lurch back. “You’re no—”

“I’m buying. It’s not up for negotiation.” Flicking his chin toward the shelves, he orders, “Now pick your cravings.”

Well-versed with the determined set to his square jaw, I pick a random packaged box and dump it into the cart.

He narrows his gaze. “I’m going to buy the entire aisle if you’re purposely buying just one, little prey.”

“Ugh… Fine.” Lifting my chin, I stab a finger into his chest. “But I’m paying you back as soon as I get my paycheck. It’s not up for negotiation either.”

He bites the inside of his cheek, fighting a smirk, and nods.

An hour later, he pays at the checkout. After stashing the bags in the SUV’s trunk, we drive back to my place.

Parking in the driveway, I notice something familiar at the end of my neighbor’s sidewalk, my neighbor is hardly ever home. I stare, unblinking, ensuring I’m not hallucinating.

I gasp as a shameful current zaps straight between my thighs when I realize I’m most certainly not imagining it.

Oh my god!

It’s Augustus’s beautiful beast of a bike.

How did I miss it before?

I blame it on the daze I was in when we left for the grocery store. I can’t believe it’s only a few feet away from me after repeatedly watching and staring at it on my phone’s screen for countless hours.

It’s so sexy and sleek. Just like the man who rides it.

Muscular, gritty, and bold.

I can’t pull my eyes away and don’t move a muscle to get out of the driver’s seat. I’m not sure my legs will even work.

Two fingers snap in my face and I blink away the trance.

I sense the heat of a telltale blush warm my cheeks as I lock gazes with a smirking Augustus. He curls his hands against the base of my open window and leans forward. “Thinking about riding it?”

I blush even harder, flickering my gaze between him and the bike.

“I know how much my bike turns you on.” His voice drops to a purr as he teases, “So much that you can’t resist playing with your pussy on the couch like a filthy little girl who stalks me on the internet.”

My thighs press together of their own accord, trying to lessen the ache he ignites.

It was futile thinking he missed watching such an intimate moment on camera.

“I don’t stalk you,” I retort past the ball of lust in my throat. “Your video randomly showed up on my feed.”

“Lying is a sin, teach.”

Rolling my eyes, I unlock the door and get out. Ignoring him and his smug face, I stomp to the rear of the car and open the trunk. He appears at my side and yanks the bags from my hand.

“I’ll grab them.”

“You aren’t a gentleman. So, drop the act.”

“I recall you complaining that I wasn’t one last night.”

“If there was one thing I’d want to change in you, this would be very low on the totem pole.”

“And they say women don’t send mixed signals,” he mutters to himself, shaking his head and walking past me while handling all the bags at once. “How about you be a good girl and open the door for me, hmm?”

I glare at his back and follow after him.

I frown when he abruptly puts down the bag near the short flight of stairs leading to my porch. I reach his side right as he bends and stands after picking something up.

My stomach drops when I catch a glimpse of a familiar black envelope.

Anonymous .

Without waiting for my permission, Augustus rips it open and reads it. My anxiety notches higher when his hands ball into a fist, crushing the paper.

“What does it say?” I ask shakily.

Augustus turns around, his shoulders rigid. His angular features are locked tight as he replies in a cold voice, “He wants his price at midnight tomorrow.”

“Or?” A gut instinct tells me there’s more.

“Or one of us dies.”