“Nothing.”
“Liar.” She giggles. “Where’s Seth?” She looks around the packed kitchen. The guy to female ratio is laughable. There are probably five guys to every one girl. Seth plays football for UT, so he’s popular with all the athletes at the college. He spread the word well.
“Somewhere.”
“What is up with you?” She shoves my shoulder.
When I don’t respond, her eyes follow my line of sight across the open kitchen to see Deke and Cole standing in the formal dining room, leaning up against the forest green wall. They came. Just as I knew they would. Deke can’t pass up a party. They’re talking to a couple of guys who Seth knows from UT. I watched them walk in an hour ago. Neither one of them has said a word to me. Cole hasn’t even looked my way, but I’ve caught Deke staring several times.
“Damn. Who the fuck are they?” she asks.
“Taken,” I say.
She snorts. “As in married?”
“The one on the right is engaged.” Cole might as well be married.
I finally finished Austin’s journal. And to say I was surprised to read about their love story is an understatement. They went through so much. He tortured her in such a way that it made me rethink what I’m going to do tonight. He is pure evil in the prettiest form, and I bet Deke could match him on any given day.
I’m going to find out either way.
“Then he’s available.” She winks over at me.
I turn to face her fully. She’s just like my sister. When she sees a pretty face, she wants to spread her legs, even if that means cheating on Billy. “He will eat you up and spit you out. And if he doesn’t kill you, his fiancée will.” Her green eyes widen at my words. I lean in and whisper, “Then she’ll burn your body and take a hammer to what’s left. Stay the hell away from him,” I warn.
She swallows nervously but chuckles.
I aspire to be a mini Austin—badass and untouchable. That’s why I decided to continue with my plan for tonight. It has to be done. It’s time. I’ve been holding onto something for too long that means so very little. Not to me. My sister tried to take it before, and now I’m going to throw it away.
For revenge. And it’s gonna be so fucking sweet.
I pour two shots of vodka and hand her one. “Drink up,” I order. She clinks her glass to mine, and I look over the rim, throwing it back to see Deke’s blue eyes on me. I smile to myself.
The song changes to “Left Alone” by Zero just as Seth enters the room. I give him a smile when his eyes lock on mine. “Hey, babe,” He grips my upper arm and yanks me from the counter, causing my drink to fall over. “Ow …”
“You did not do what I think you did!” he snaps so loudly that it causes people to look our way.
My eyes widen. “I don’t know what—”
“Don’t fucking lie to me, Demi,” he shouts.
I look around nervously, and I don’t miss seeing Cole and Deke looking right at us now. I quickly look away and back at Seth. “Can we talk about this somewhere else?”
“Fine!”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
DEKE
I PUSH OFF the wall the same time that Cole does, and we make our way out of the formal dining room, through the kitchen, and to the grand foyer. I watch Seth drag Demi up the stairs like a rag doll. My fists clench when I see how hard his fingers are digging into her upper arm.
“You’re hurting me.” Her small voice travels down the stairs.
“And you’re being a slut! Just like your sister,” he snaps.
“Seth?” I call out, already taking the stairs two at a time.
He looks down at me, then at Cole who I notice is following close. “Walk away, guys, this doesn’t concern you.”
“Actually, it does.” Cole crosses his arms over his chest as we hit the landing. “Let her go.”
The upper floor of the house is quiet because it’s off-limits to guests tonight. And I know that’s why he brought her up here. To be alone with her. The only sound is the song playing through the speakers.
He releases her, and she immediately cradles her arm to her chest.
“Fine.” He looks down at her with disgust. “You can have her.” He turns and storms back down the stairs, shoving a guy into a wall.
“Demi …” I reach down to look at her arm, but she pulls away and turns, running over to her bedroom door.
“Go,” Cole says, but I’m already moving.
“Demi?” I call out, but she ignores me.
I reach her before she can open the door and spin her around. She looks up at me with tears in her beautiful eyes. “You okay?” I ask, clearing my throat. I’ve had quite a bit to drink tonight, knowing that Cole was gonna be my DD. He doesn’t drink much anymore after the night of the car wreck. And if he does, it’s at his house.
She sniffs and looks away from me. I step into her, grip her chin, and force her to look up at me. “I asked if you’re okay.”
Her wet lips part, and she takes in a deep breath. “Fine.” She gives a clipped answer.
“Let me see your arm,” I order. Surprisingly, she holds it out for me.
Bruises are already forming, and I clench my teeth at the thought of him hurting her. “Does he do this often?”
She drops her eyes to the floor again.
“Demi?”
“No,” she whispers. “He’s never done that before.”
I run a hand through my hair. “What happened?” Not that whatever happened excuses what he did. I’m just being nosy.
She sniffs. “He found out about us.”
“Us?” I frown.
She nods. “I was texting my best friend about what we did at Silence … and he read it.”
“Fuck,” I hiss.
She looks up at me, and the first tear runs down her cheek. “He thinks we had sex.”
I have. Fuck, I have fucked her in so many different ways in my head. Each one more sinful than the last. She cried, she screamed, and she came so fucking hard. But I know the real thing could never live up to my imagination.
Stepping into her, I reach up and run my knuckles through the single tear, smearing it across her cheek.
Her hands come up and grip my shirt. “Deke.” She whispers my name, and it goes straight to my dick.
The alcohol swirling around in my head tells me to kiss her, but another part says back away and leave. I’ve watched her since the moment I walked through her mother’s front door. I attempted to follow pointless conversations with kids from school, but nothing kept my interest. Nothing but her. No matter how hard I’ve tried, she is there. In my mind, she’s naked and begging me to fuck her. “You’re with Seth.” I find myself saying out loud as if I’m trying to talk myself out of it.
Don’t touch her!
Her bright blue eyes meet mine. “He already thinks I’ve betrayed him.” She licks her lips. “Might as well give him a reason to put his hands on me.”
“Don’t say that.” I growl, stepping into her. I know there’s a darker side to Demi. I watched her the first night I snuck into her mother’s house. She sat on her bed watching that fucking documentary on YouTube about the serial killer. She’s curious, and that isn’t a good thing. She can push the wrong man to do something very bad to her. And my anger rises at that thought. If any man is gonna put his hands on her, it’ll be me.