Page 40 of Alluring Darkness
“That’s not begging. That was me being uncharacteristically polite. And we’re getting off topic. Are you going to stop the car and let me go in and shower, or what?”
“No.”
She throws her arms out. “Why the hell not?”
Taking my hand off the steering wheel, I slide it over her bare thigh and down between her legs. She sucks in a gasp as I flick her cunt. Then I give her inner thigh a pat before returning my hand to the steering wheel again.
“Because I want you to walk around campus all day with your own dried cum on your thighs from when I made you climax on my bed.” I flash her a smirk. “As a reminder of who controls your body.”
17
RAINA
The gun feels all wrong in my hands. It’s too clunky. Too unwieldy. I barely even know how to hold it properly, even though the instructor took pity on me and showed me the basics that everyone is already supposed to know.
Raising it, I try my best to aim at the paper target across the grass. Then I squeeze the trigger. The gun jerks in my hands, and the bullet shoots through the air and hits the wooden barrier that has been built behind the row of targets. I heave an annoyed sigh.
I truly despise performing poorly. And right now, I feel like a worldclass loser. It doesn’t matter what class we have, I’m somehow always the worst one at everything we do. The only thing I know that I’m good at is chemistry, but we haven’t started those classes yet. So for now, I sneak off to the chemistry lab in my spare time and work on my own, just so that I can build up my crumbling confidence again.
“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Gabriel suddenly says. He steps up to the line, fires two perfect shots at his target, and then moves back before turning to me again. “Were those rope marks on your wrists this morning?”
Thankfully, my cheeks are already flushed from irritation at my own failures, so I don’t think Gabriel notices the added heat that creeps into them. “Uhm, yeah.”
A mix of amusement and confusion blows across his features. “What happened?”
My gaze drifts down the field towards where Eli is standing. For this class, we’ve been split up and also joined by parts of both the second year and the seniors. So that the first-years can learn from their seniors’ technique, or so our instructor said anyway. Eli is here, and Kaden is among the second-years. At least Connor, Jace, and Rico were assigned to different groups today. I’m incredibly thankful for that because I don’t think I would’ve survived if my brother, as well as all of the Hunters, had seen just how bad I am at this.
Tearing my gaze from Eli’s expert shooting on the other side of the field, I shift my attention back to Gabriel. “I was, uhm… detained.”
His sparkling blue eyes flick up and down my body in surprise.
Another wave of heat sears my cheeks, as if I still had dried cum on my thighs. But I skipped lunch today and instead ran back to my dorm room to shower and change clothes before I biked back to school again, so no evidence of how I spent last night remain on my body.
“That sounds like a story I need to hear,” Gabriel says as he lets out a light laugh.
Chuckling, I shake my head at him. “Trust me, you really don’t want to know.”
Stepping up to the line again, I raise the gun once more. I’m not even sure if I understand where I’m supposed to look in order to aim, but I hope for the best as I narrow my eyes and stare at the target. Then I pull the trigger.
The bullet shoots through the warm afternoon air and slams right into the target’s left knee. I scowl at the man-shaped paper.
Once I have flicked the safety back on and lowered the gun, Gabriel slaps my shoulder with the back of his hand and flashes me a brilliant grin. “Great shot! The target would be thoroughly incapacitated by now.”
Glancing up at him, I scratch the back of my neck and grimace. “I was aiming for his head.”
Gabriel blinks. “Oh.”
I just laugh and shrug, but even I can hear that it sounds a bit self-conscious. Clearing my throat, I let my gaze drift back to Eli instead.
I really need to figure out who tampered with Connor’s rifle. Even though my conversation with that senior by the name of Thomas O’Connell was cut short by Eli and his caveman behavior, I managed to get enough of a feel for what kind of person he is. Ambitious, lethal, and mostly without morals. But there was also a strong sense of honor about him. I don’t think he would stoop so low as to use dirty tricks on his competitors.
A sudden thought hits me like a lightning bolt.
What if the sabotage wasn’t aimed atConnor? What if Eli was the real target? What if someone tried to actually take him out with that tampered rifle, and Connor just happened to be the person that they chose to use as a patsy?
My stomach bottoms out.
If that’s the case, if Connor was just unlucky enough to be a random scapegoat, then I’ve been searching in the wrong place.