Page 62 of Crush

“Thorne,” I say. “Just walk away.”

“Is that what you want?” His eyes sear into mine. “Why you came here? To tell me to leave my own home?”

I refuse to flinch. “I came to Briar mansion, as is my right as a Virtue. Now, will you let us enjoy your festivities, or are you going to lay your hands on me and push me back through the painting?”

“Oh, if I’m laying my hands on you, it won’t be to pitch you into darkness. I’ll drag you. Slowly. Deliberately. And make you feel each scrape.”

Thorne’s gaze sparks, burns, tingles against my skin. He truly embodies the devil, and with each slow blink, he fulfills his desire to make me pay for my sins.

I won’t let him intimidate me. “We’re just here to enjoy the party. I don’t want any trouble.”

“Oh, no? Is that why you didn’t use the front door and instead showed this prick how to secretly enter my home through yours? Tell me, did you fuck him first, or did you just let him hit the back of your throat before he spilled his cum all over your tits like I did?”

I turn to stone. Even my mouth hardens to granite.

But Thorne’s not finished. “What favors are you granting him, little pretty, that I haven’t gotten to claim first?”

Untangling from the safety of Zeke’s hold, I draw closer to Thorne. My dad’s text scrolls through my mind. The utter ache in my heart from reaching out to my parents first coats any pain Thorne tries to inflict. I’m aware of how insignificant I am at Winthorpe. I’m especially forlorn over what I had to leave behind in order to become nothing.

“If you want to call me a whore,” I breathe just short of meeting Thorne’s lips. “Then go ahead and say it. Don’t pussyfoot around on my account.”

Thorne lowers his chin, meeting my eyes, then whispers, “Whore.”

“Dude,” Jaxon admonishes, cautiously approaching our trio. “Maybe we should cool off, play your PS5 or something. We don’t have to go back downstairs, but…” Jaxon continues to prattle, but his voice falls into the tunnel of my ears.

I suck in a breath. Even though I expected Thorne to accept my dare, I didn’t anticipate how much it would hurt. And so, it makes me do the unthinkable.

I cut into Jaxon’s monologue and say to Thorne, “You’re angry. I get it. After the amount of time you’ve spent grooming and testing me, I go and give my virginity to somebody else. Gosh, that must prickle, huh? To know that Zeke felt the one part of me you never got to?” I reach up and pat Thorne’s stone-cold cheek. “Jealousy isn’t your color, sweetheart.”

Ohshitohshitohshit.

My heart’s a battering ram inside my chest. Thorne must feel it through the tips of my fingers, but I keep my voice level, my face serene. I don’t know how I do it, but I manage to get out my entire lie without a tremble.

Zeke laughs behind me. For the first time, I hear the vindictiveness in it.

Carefully, with utter calm, Thorne wraps his fingers around my wrist and pulls my hand off his cheek. He doesn’t blink while he does it, so focused is he on my face.

“Put your hand on me again after you’ve touched him,” Thorne says to me in a dead-calm whisper, “and I’ll hurt you in ways you can’t even imagine.”

“Ignore him, darling,” Zeke says behind me. “He’s an atrocious host. Luckily, I know his owner.” Zeke comes up beside me and winks at Thorne. “What would ole daddy say to my treatment when I’m such an asset to his business, unlike his son?”

Thorne drops his hold on my wrist.

Oh no. Not once did Zeke and I agree to bring up Thorne’s father.

“Zeke,” I say, pulling at his arm. “That’s not—”

Thorne’s punch lands smack in the middle of Zeke’s face.

Screaming, I jump back into Jaxon’s chest. He holds me by my upper arms, preventing any intervention.

Zeke crumples, testing his nose for one second. “You went after my fucking face, you piece of shit! This makes more money than your nepotistic sucking on your daddy’s titties!” he says before leaping up and meeting Thorne full force.

“Oh, my God!” I cry dramatically, then turn my head to the end of the hallway. “Fight! Fight! Someone help!”

There is nothing quite like the word fight to make it over the pounding music.

“Shit!” Jaxon shouts, releasing his hold on me once he hears a crowd running up the stairs. “No! Everybody back! Let them sort this out—are you recording? Stop fucking recording!”