“I tried to convince myself I was done with you.” He shrugs. “Guess I’m not.”
Anticipation fills me, and I sit up straighter.
“Take a walk with me, Savage,” he says, his voice casual, the light in his eyes anything but.
Unease slips through me, along with a healthy dose of arousal. “I don’t think so.”
“I’ll show you something you’ve never seen before,” he practically croons, trying to lure me away.
I laugh. “I’ve already seen your dick, Whit. You don’t need to tempt me.”
He scowls, his lips twitching at the corners.
Almost as if he wants to…smile? Laugh again?
Well, he’s in a mood.
“Come on.” He offers his hand to me. “Let’s go.”
His voice is firm. A demand, not a request. I settle my hand in his and he pulls me to my feet, tugging me toward him. “You want people to see you take me somewhere on campus?”
“I don’t care what people think of me. Or you.” He lets go of my hand and starts walking.
I hurry to keep up. “Is that why you’ve ignored me the last few days?”
“I’ve been—busy.” He avoids looking at me.
“Busy ignoring me.”
“Maybe you’re not worth my attention.”
“So why are you with me now?”
His grin is evil as he aims it in my direction. “You’re the one who’s taking a risk. You shouldn’t go somewhere alone with me. Who knows what I might do?”
“You don’t scare me,” I say, my voice light and airy, as if I don’t have a care in the world.
It’s a lie though. He does scare me. He makes me uncomfortable. Nervous. He makes me want things I have no business wanting.
He makes me feel alive.
“I should,” he says nonchalantly, making a left once we’re at the back of the library. “Come on.”
I follow him as we take a path I’ve never been down before, toward a large grove of thick trees. He says nothing, his walk determined, as is the look on his face. I hurry beside him, not wanting to trail behind, curious to where he might be taking me.
“There are old buildings back here,” he says. “That used to be part of the campus.”
“Really?” My curiosity piqued, I wonder if I can ask more questions. Or if he will just shut me down. “Where are they?”
“We’re almost there.”
Birds are chirping as they fly over our heads, landing in the trees that surround us. The sunlight is warm, the sky a vivid blue, and I glance around as the trees become thicker, the buildings farther away, until I can hear the ocean waves in the distance.
A damaged building suddenly looms up ahead, its roof completely gone, as are most of the walls. I come to a stop, staring at it. A little spooked.
“Come on,” he says, tilting his head toward the building.
He leads me closer to the decaying structure, and I follow him as he walks around the crumbling walls. The brick is faded almost to white, parts of it covered in fuzzy green moss. I look around at all the destruction as I follow Whit up a set of rickety wooden stairs that I can feel giving way beneath my feet until we’re actually inside the building, though it’s completely open. No roof, no real walls, nothing remaining inside.
It’s a shell. A ghost from another time.
“What happened here?” I lean against an old window sill, the glass long gone. Glancing back, I prop myself up, sitting on the edge, watching him.
The air between us shifts, becoming electric. Whit approaches me, slow and methodical, much like a tiger stalking his prey. Carefully he undoes the already loosened knot of his tie, whipping it off his neck completely. He stretches the silk taut between his hands, stopping in front of me. “A fire. Happened over one hundred years ago. It was the original Lancaster Prep, the first building established here. At the time, my family and the staff didn’t have the heart to destroy it completely, so they left it standing and rebuilt elsewhere, buying up surrounding acreage to add to the school.”
I glance around, seeing the prominent chapel spear in the far distance. “It’s far from the rest of campus.”
“The entire staff used to live on campus. Where we stand housed part of their living quarters at one point. The building was close enough to campus, far enough to pretend they had some privacy,” he explains.
A bird chirps in the distance, and another bird answers him. Or her. Secret lovers, like us? Searching for each other in the forest?
My mind loves to spin a fantastic tale when it comes to my situation with this boy. Whit and I aren’t lovers. There are no emotions between us. We’re merely addicts, desperately seeking each other to help stave off the darkness that festers inside of us.
“I never knew it existed.” I trail my fingers along the wooden edge, careful not to give myself a splinter.
“Of course you didn’t, new girl.” His smile is treacherous and makes my heart pang in anticipation.
“Have you brought other girls out here?” I try to keep my voice casual, as if my question means nothing, but he knows. I’ve given myself away, wanting to learn more, anything about him.
“No. Why would I bring any girl out here?” He sends me a measured look.
“Why did you bring me out here then?” Because he wants to fuck me. When does he not? Outside, in secret. I imagine him lying me down in the nearby field, my legs spread, his head between them, his mouth hungrily licking my flesh. I love it when he goes down on me. Almost as much as I love it when he fucks me.
“Privacy. You made such a big deal about us being seen together earlier, and I realized you’re right. I need to keep us a secret.” He’s basically throwing my earlier concern back at me, and I suppose I deserve this.
“You’re ashamed of me.” I lift my chin, glaring at him.
“Aren’t you ashamed of me? Of what we have? We hate each other, yet here we are.” He gestures toward me.
“We make no sense,” I say in agreement.
“Yet you’re all I can think about.” He sounds disgusted with himself. With me. He yanks on either end of the tie, drawing my attention to it. “Sometimes I’d rather you didn’t exist at all. Then I wouldn’t have to obsess over you.”
His words light me up inside. They prove he’s drawn to me despite everything. “What exactly are you saying?” My words are a taunt. As if I want him to say something horrible and cruel.
Secretly, I do. I want to hear what sort of devious, awful thing he could come up with and see how it makes me feel.
“I could choke you right now with this and no one would ever miss you.” He curls the tie around his fingers, running the silk between them.
“You’re right.” My voice is cool, though deep down, I tremble. Can’t help but wonder yet again what makes someone so young so fucking diabolical.
He was dark even back then. When I first met him. When he called me a whore and kissed me to shut me up. He was brutal, but still unsure.
Now it’s as if he knows exactly what he wants, and exactly how to do it. It’s terrifying.
And exhilarating.
Whit steps closer, his body heat, everything about him invading me, and I draw myself up, my muscles braced as he presses the warm fabric against the delicate skin of my throat. “You’re not scared of me?”