Page 35

CHAPTER 35

ARIELLA

T he liquor burned through my veins, turning fear into liquid courage. One shot, two, three, I'd lost count, but now the idea of kissing a stranger in the dark didn't seem so terrifying. What made my heart race was imagining Zaiden's face when he found out, when I proved him wrong.

I scanned the crowded room, watching bodies shift and separate like schools of fish, everyone finding their designated dark corners. Journey and Mila had already disappeared into the shadows, leaving me alone with my terrible decisions.

My fingers trembled as I unfolded the paper, the white slip somehow heavier than it should be.

Room 25 closet .

"Fuck my life."

Closets. Of all the places in this massive house, it had to be a closet. One way in, one way out, no windows to offer even a sliver of moonlight. Just four walls pressing in and darkness so thick you could choke on it.

The paper crumpled in my fist as my gaze lifted to the staircase in front of me and then shifted to the front door. No one would know if I left. No one but me, and for some reason, I felt like I had something to prove, not only to myself but to everyone at this party. Realistically, I knew no one cared, but it didn't change the way I felt.

"You better hurry, Ledger." The tall man's shadow stretched across the wall as he passed, his voice dropping to a whisper. "It's going to be dark soon, and who knows what evil will be lurking down here."

My skin prickled at his tone as my gaze followed his retreating figure. "What the fuck does that mean?" The question hung in the empty hallway, unanswered.

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head before sucking in a deep breath as I strolled up the stairs and searched the floor for room 25. This frat house had three floors, and the "2" indicated the bedroom was on the second floor.

Room 25 waited at the end of the hallway. Each step down the corridor made the floorboards creak, marking my approach. The doorknob was cold under my palm, resisting for a moment before giving way.

The smell hit me first, a suffocating mix of stale cologne and something distinctly male. Shadows stretched across rumpled bed sheets and discarded clothes, turning familiar shapes into lurking monsters. Everything about this room screamed warning, but the alcohol in my system translated fear into reckless courage.

The closet door creaked as I pulled it open. One step inside. Another. The lights died as I clicked it shut, plunging me into absolute darkness. The air felt thick, pressing against my chest, squeezing tighter with each shallow breath. "You can do this," I whispered, but the blackness around me swallowed my words. My fingertips found the wall behind me, anchoring me in place as I waited. "You can do this," I mumbled as I stood completely still, trying to steady my breathing.

A creak pierced the silence. My heart slammed against my ribs as I held my breath. "Hello?" The word disappeared into the void, unanswered.

Click.

The door sealed shut, and the air felt different—heavier, charged. Someone else was here, breathing the same thick darkness. Usually, company in the dark meant comfort. But this wasn't Journey or Mila or anyone else I trusted. This stranger with unknown intentions shared six square feet of pitch-black space with me.

"Hello?" Nothing. It was too dark to see anything. "Um?—"

I instantly regretted my choice to play this stupid game.

Deep, measured breaths cut through the silence, each exhale controlled. Too controlled.

"I'm Ari—Ariella Ledger." My voice sounded small in the darkness. "And you are?—?"

Large hands found my waist, fingers spreading possessively against my ribs. My pulse jumped wildly, a trapped bird beating against my throat. "Um—okay. If you want to just kiss and get it over with?—"

His grip turned to iron, and before I could process what was happening, he spun me like a rag doll. My back slammed against his chest, the impact forcing a yelp from my throat. This wasn't how someone moved for just a kiss. This was something else, something that made my blood run cold.

Panic raced through my veins. I had no idea who this was or what his plans were, but I had no intention of going any further than a kiss, and I honestly didn't even want to do that. I wanted to piss Zaiden off. Prove I wasn't his. To prove I didn't belong to anyone.

It seemed stupid now that I was in a dark closet with a stranger, and Zaiden would probably never even know I was there or what happened.

Sometimes, I had the stupidest ideas.

His large hands circled my waist, holding me in place as his lips dropped to my shoulder.

"Uh, hey," I tried to keep my tone calm, "I think I'm going to go." I pulled against his grasp, but he didn't budge. His grip only tightened. His hand wrapped around my throat as the other one slid lower to the waistband of my skirt.

"What are you—" The question trailed off as his hand slid over my waist, over my stomach to the waistband of my skirt, a new point of contact that made coherent thought impossible.

My chest heaved with fear, and I knew I only had one possible way out of this, and it was going to kill me to say it out loud.

"I belong to Zaiden Knight." The words tumbled out, desperate and raw. "And he will kill you."

He froze. His fingers retracted from my skirt, but his grip remained iron-tight around my throat. Seconds stretched into an eternity as I stood there, barely breathing, waiting for his next move. Then his chest shook—once, twice—with silent laughter, and my stomach dropped.

I was fucked.

"Just let me go,” I growled, but my voice trembled at the edges.

His lips brushed my cheek, breath hot against my skin as his grip tightened around my throat. "I told you I'd prove it."

That voice. My blood turned to ice as recognition hit, followed by a dizzying rush of emotions: anger blazing through my veins, fear clawing at my chest, and adrenaline making my hands shake. And underneath it all, a traitorous flicker of relief.

"Fuck you, Zaiden." I jerked my body against his, but his grip only tightened. "I thought you weren't here."

"You belong to me, Ariella Ledger." His breath fanned across my jawline and up to my ear. "If you thought I would ever let anyone else in this closet with you, you seriously underestimated me."

His hand slipped past my waistband, dipping into my panties. "You're soaking wet for me," he breathed against the shell of my ear. "Your pussy is begging for my cock to fill it." His fingers slid through my slick flesh, and I moaned. "You want to give me your virginity, Ariella?"

My body screamed yes, but the stubbornness inside me that was still so angry with him was screaming fuck no. "I don't want to give you anything, Zaiden."

He froze, his hand stopped slowly withdrawing from my waistband, and I immediately regretted my answer.

And then the heat of his body was gone.

I whipped around, wishing the lights would come back on. "Zaiden?"

"You don't want to give me anything," he repeated, his tone a low rasp.

My face twisted with confusion, but I didn't dare say anything. The small closet was silent except for my rapid breathing.

"Zaiden?"

And then he was there.

His body crashed into mine, driving me back until the wall stole what little breath I had left. The wood bit into my shoulder blades, his weight an inescapable force pinning me in place.

"You don't want to give it to me." His lips ghosted across mine, each word a spark against my skin. The heat of his breath made me shiver despite the inferno burning between us. "Because… You want me to take it." I sucked in a harsh breath as his hands raked down the sides of my body. "Is that it, Ariella?"

His nails curled into the bare skin of my outer thighs, and I literally couldn't form a coherent thought. He pressed his hips into mine, the evidence of how turned on he was pressing into my lower stomach. "Do you want me to pin you down and take it?" His lips grazed over my jaw and down my throat. "Do you want it rough? Do you want me to fuck you hard and fast? Or slower? Do you want to fight me? Or will you give in?"

"Zaiden—" His name escaped as a desperate plea, hanging in the darkness between us.

"Does this turn you on, Ariella?" His words ghosted across my skin, making me shiver. My fingers twisted into his shirt, caught between pushing him away and pulling him closer. "Is it the fear that gets you? Or the adrenaline rushing through your veins right now?"

His hands slid around my thighs, rough palms against bare skin, and my breath hitched when his grip tightened, and he lifted me off the ground, wrapping my legs around his waist.

The closet door burst open. And we were quickly moving through the darkness.

There was a couple standing at the end of the bed.

"Get out," Zaiden roared, and they rushed out of the room.

With me still wrapped around him, he crawled onto the bed, and my heart began to race.

"What are you doing, Zaiden?"

The room was dark except for the moonlight seeping through the window, giving me enough light to see him.

"Taking what's mine." He pressed my body into the mattress with his. "Put your arms over your head." He pushed up, leaning back on his knees as his hands worked to unbuckle his belt.

"Why?"

He froze, jaw muscle ticking. "Because," he ripped his belt from his pants, "I said so." He didn't wait for me to obey him as he grabbed one of my wrists and then the other, looping his belt around them before securing it to the rod iron headboard.

I pulled against the restraints as he shifted lower on the bed. "Zaiden—" The words died in my throat when he pressed his lips to the skin above my waistband as he worked my skirt up. His mouth dropped lower, pressing his full lips to my inner thigh as he spread my legs, settling between them.

"What are you doing?" I was desperately fighting a war within myself. I shouldn't have wanted this, but I did.

"I'm getting you ready," his breath was hot against my skin, "to take my cock." Chills raced over my body despite the warmth spreading through me.

He ran his nose up my length over my panties, inhaling deeply. "Fuck." His chest rumbled with a groan. "I love the way you smell when you're turned on."

Jerking my panties to the side, his tongue swiped up me striking my clit, and my lips parted on a moan as my head tilted back and my eyes closed. "Oh my God," I purred as the heat of his breath mixed with the pressure of his tongue made my body start to tremble.

"Fuck," I groaned. I wanted to slide my hands into his hair and ride his face, but he was in control.

I was already so fucking close. His tongue flicked over and over again, finding the perfect rhythm with just the right amount of pressure. He slipped a long, thick finger inside of me, and my eyes widened at the feeling. "Oh—" was all I could manage.

"I need you to come all over my fingers, baby," he hummed against my pussy. "I need you soaking wet to slip my cock inside this tight pussy."

My back arched off the bed as his finger and tongue moved in sync, finding a rhythm that set my body on fire. He paused, adding another finger. The feeling so exquisitely foreign. He held them deep and still, letting me adjust around them for a moment, but I wanted more.

My hips lifted, grinding against his hand.

He slowly withdrew his fingers. "You want my fingers to fuck you?"

"Yes," I panted, and his finger slid back. This time, there was no pause as they pumped in and out of me. His tongue found my clit as he increased speed, and that was all it took for me to fall over the edge.

"Zaiden," I screamed out as I came all over his hand. "Holy shit," I breathed as he withdrew his fingers and shifted on the bed.

Hooking a finger in each side of my panties, he dragged them down my legs before quickly shoving down his pants and crawling up to me.

"I'm going to take what's mine now," he purred against my lips as he settled between my thighs.

The sound of foil tearing echoed through the room, and I leaned up, the silver foil of a condom wrapper reflected off the moonlight.

I swallowed hard and sucked in a harsh breath holding it as I prepared for what was to come.

He slid his cock through my slit, coating himself with the orgasm that he'd given me. "Breathe, Ariella." I exhaled. "If you stop breathing, I stop fucking you." My gaze held his as I nodded.

The tip of his head nudged my entrance, and my hands tightened around the leather belt. Fuck, I wanted this.

He moved his hips, and I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek.

He slowly worked himself deeper inside me. "Fuck," he grunted. "You're so fucking tight." He was big, and I was a virgin.

He stilled with only the head of his cock inside me, and I willed myself to relax and breathe.

"More," I ordered. I wanted to rip that band-aid off. "Get it over with."

With one powerful snap of his hips, he thrust inside, filling me, and I cried out. A burning, stinging pain enveloped me, and I forgot to breathe.

His lip curled into a teasing grin as his hand closed around my throat, and he slowly withdrew from me. His fingers tightened around my neck as his hips jutted forward, filling me again, but this time, there was no pause as he started fucking me hard and fast. It was a mixture of pain and pleasure as his fingers tightened enough that I struggled for a breath.

His pace grew harder and faster. Each of my moans was a tiny gasp for air. "You're taking my cock so fucking well, baby."

I sucked in a sharp breath as white dots formed in my vision, and my entire body clenched. His grip around my throat tightened until I couldn't breathe as his hips snapped harder against mine, continuing to fuck me through my orgasm.

He released my throat, and my breaths came fast as he pulled out of me before flipping me over. The leather from the belt biting into my skin. He tugged my hips up so I was on my knees, and before I had a second to process everything, he slammed back into me. I cried out again, but this time, there was no mercy in his thrust, each one more brutal than the last.

"Oh fuck," I moaned.

"You are mine." He pushed himself deep, grinding his hips against my ass. "Say it, Ariella."

"I am yours."

With one more hard thrust, I cried out, and he buried himself deep inside me, stilling as he came.

"Holy fuck," I mumbled as Zaiden crawled off the bed. "Let me go."

He didn't say a word, his eyes locked on me with my ass in the air as he slowly dressed and panic set in. He was going to leave me like this. "Zaiden."

"Relax," he teased. "I'm not going to leave you. I'm just admiring the view."

My cheeks heated as I felt self-conscious. A thud echoed through the room, and my head shot to the door. "Fuck."

Zaiden climbed onto the bed and quickly released me. I flew off the bed and corrected my skirt as the lights exploded to life, reality crashing in like a wave of cold water. Coralee Mathers shoved open the door and stood in the doorway, her perfectly lined mouth forming an O of surprise. I scrambled to straighten my skirt.

"Holy shit," Coralee breathed, her eyes gleaming with the kind of hunger that made my skin crawl. "No one told me Zaiden Knight was an option tonight."

"I'm not." His eyes cut to mine, dark and unreadable. "Let's go." His fingers wrapped around my wrist, not the bruising grip from before, but something more calculated, a public display of ownership that made Coralee's smile falter.

She pressed herself against the doorframe, refusing to yield. "You don't have to be rude about it. We're all just playing a game here."

Zaiden moved past her like she was nothing more than furniture, pulling me in his wake. The party seemed to part around us, or him, really. Even drunk college kids recognized a predator in their midst.

The night air hit my flushed skin.

"Where's your car?"

Zaiden's pace never slowed as he led me toward my car, his grip on my wrist a constant reminder of what happened in that closet.

"Keys," he demanded, palm out. When I fumbled them from my pocket, his fingers brushed mine, sending aftershocks through my system.

He took them, pushing a button and unlocking the doors. "Get in." He jerked open the passenger side door and practically shoved me inside the car.

"Where are we going?" I asked, watching him slide behind the wheel.

"Home."

The car's interior filled with unspoken words, the heat from the closet crystallizing into something harder, colder. Each streetlight we passed painted shadows across his clenched jaw.

"What did Mila find out about Kacie's phone?"

The question hit like a bucket of ice water, dragging us back to reality. The monster under Kacie's bed was still out there, waiting, while we played games in dark closets.

Sucking in a deep breath, I exhaled slowly. "Her phone was on the scene, but he had no idea what had happened to it after they contacted her family."

"It wasn't with her things at the hospital."

"Maybe your parents?—"

"They don't have it." He cut me off, voice clipped. "It's the only thing we didn't recover."

"Maybe we don't need it." The alcohol made me bold, or maybe it was the lingering adrenaline from the closet.

His eyebrow arched as he glanced at me. "What do you mean?"

"Kacie used the same passwords for everything." I could feel a plan forming through the fog of alcohol. "Her MacBook?—"

Our eyes met, realization hitting him. Her MacBook would have almost everything that was on her phone. "I can get it and charge it tonight. I'll bring it to school tomorrow."