Page 95 of Sinful Desires

I managed to arrive at the cafeteria early enough that there weren’t a whole lot of people here yet.

“Hey, Collin,” a feminine voice purred. Whirling around, my eyes settled over the girl, recognizing she was one of the new chicks we had. I’d seen her before but had no idea what her name was or what grade she was in for that matter.

“Hey,” I replied lightly, looking her over. She had medium-length dirty blonde hair and dark blue eyes. “What’s your name?”

“Skylar. I’m new, so you probably have no idea who I am.” She giggled nervously, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

A smirk tugged at the corner of my mouth. “I’ve seen you.” Her cheeks flushed pink, and she nodded slightly. I kind of liked how nervous she was around me.

“You’re dating Madison, aren’t you?”

And just like that, I was no longer in the mood. While I did want to prove to Madison that I could be a decent guy, it was a learning process for me. It wasn’t going to happen overnight.

Drawing my lips into a straight line, I shrugged. “In a place like this, are relationships even taken seriously?”

Her eyebrows tugged together as she processed what I was saying. When she did, her gaze snapped to mine.

“The Halloween party next week,” I continued. “Meet me there?”

Her face lit up comically and she nodded. “I’ll be the sexy witch.”

Smirking, I stepped forward. “I don’t doubt it,” I replied. “But I bet you’d be even sexier naked.”

Her face turned pink again, the flush slithering down her neck to her neck and then her chest when it finally disappeared down her low-cut shirt.

I didn’t say another word before strolling over to my table and slipping into the seat between Hunter and Foster. They were already immersed in a conversation of their own, barely sparing me a glance when I sat down.

“What are you talking about?” I inquired.

Hunter sighed. “What to do about Raven.”

“Myles wants to cut her limb from limb,” Foster cut in, shooting the guy in question a pointed look. Myles’ lip twitched in amusement as if killing someone was fucking normal. Though, it would make things easier. “I think we should torture them. Scare them so bad that they won’t think twice about fucking with us again.”

Hunter snorted in response with an eye roll. “Because that’s working so well with Aspen,” he retorted.

I nodded my agreement. We were all preoccupied with Aspen. Was he wanting to replace her with Hunter’s mistress? Unease swam through me at the prospect. I liked torturing Aspen. Specifically.

This time it was Foster’s turn to roll his eyes. “I think we’re getting close to breaking Aspen,” he began. “But we won’t be torturing her like we torture Aspen. It’ll be more…gruesome. Like how we tortured Omar.”

My breath got lodged in my throat. After what we did to Omar, I couldn’t eat for weeks without thinking about the things we did to him. Myles had disposed of his body. I wasn’t sure what they did to kill him; the torture had gotten too intense for me, and I ended up puking my guts out in my bathroom for the next two days.

Before I’d left, Myles plucked off his fingernails one by one with a pair of pliers. When that didn’t satisfy them, Foster got to work gouging out his eyes. The only thing I did to him was use my fists, unable to stomach the extreme torture. I left before it was Hunter’s turn, and I never asked him about it either.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I twisted in my seat, settling my gaze on Hunter. “I’m pretty sure you get the final say where Raven’s concerned,” I pointed out. Hunter just nodded in response, a frown tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“I don’t think he’s in the right headspace to make a decision right now,” Foster objected, drawing my attention to him.

I nodded in understanding. Something was going on with Hunter—has been for the last week or two now. While he wasn’t vocal about it, I think it was a mixture of everything getting to him. Losing Jessica, the whole situation with Aspen, finding out that we’re being watched. I mean, who the fuck knows what she saw.

“We’re not killing her,” Hunter said softly, his eyes darting over to me.

“No one’s killing anyone,” I agreed. “But we need to get this shit figured out.” Hunter’s shoulders relaxed at that, and he nodded, seemingly content with my response.

Rolling my lip between my teeth, my gaze moved over to Aspen’s table out of pure instinct. I could always feel her in the room somehow. The hairs on the back of my neck would rise and goosebumps would prickle my skin. I hated that she had any effect on me whatsoever. But this time I didn’t feel her. Instead, Gia and Raven sat there together with no sign of their friend.

I glanced back over to Myles, confusion gnawing at me. “You released her right?”

He didn’t bother looking at me as he tucked into his lasagna. “Define released.”