I picked up a set of gloves and tugged them on as I approached Monroe. That was his one condition for training with me. He wasn’t a pussy, but he couldn’t very well get into bare knuckle brawls with a student so we had to wear the right equipment. This way, our bouts together were real lessons so we weren’t technically breaking any rules. I was just having private training sessions. Though I guessed that the school board might frown on the fact that we split the takings I won from the illegal fights I took part in.
Monroe finished up his set and turned to me as I approached him.
“Was the party that bad?” he taunted, giving me that assessing look which said he could see right into my soul. Or at least like he could have if I’d had one.
“It was alright.” I shrugged. “Just didn’t give me what I needed.”
I stumbled as I moved onto the mats before him and he paused as he gave me a closer look.
“You still managed to consume plenty of alcohol by the looks of it,” he growled, dropping his fists like he was about to refuse this fight. But that shit wasn’t gonna fly with me.
“Yeah, well, maybe that’ll give you a chance to win for once,” I taunted.
He snorted dismissively and shook his head. “Sleep it off. We can do this in the morning before class if you crawl out of bed in time, or-”
“No,” I snarled and he cut me a look that warned me to back down, but it wasn’t going to happen. “C’mon, sir. I thought you had dreams of beating the shit out of entitled little pricks like me? You know I deserve it…”
His jaw tightened and I could see that hatred brimming beneath the surface, looking for an outlet. It wasn’t aimed at me really, but I’d happily make use of what he felt for the douchebags I had classes with. It did seem strange to me that he’d taken this job at all when he clearly hated the way we abused the money we’d all been born to, but whenever I’d questioned him on it he’d just brushed me off.
I lunged at him with a right hook and he ducked aside before slamming his fist into my gut in return.
My body sang with the flash of pain and a savage grin pulled at my lips.
“You seriously want to fight me like this?” Monroe asked, but I could tell he didn’t feel that bad about the idea of kicking the shit out of me. His monster needed this too, even if it wasn’t as hungry as mine.
“Fuck yes,” I replied, throwing all of my strength into my next punch and grinning as I caught him in the ribs. This was the only place where I felt like I really knew myself, deep in the thick of a fight was where I’d been born to live. Throwing punches felt like smashing down walls, receiving them was like breaking chains. It was the only time I was free of anything and everything else and I was wholly, truly living in the moment.
“Well don’t come crying to me about it in the morning,” he taunted as he finally gave in.
The next attack he launched was brutal and my sluggish brain made it hard for me to battle back against the moves.
Pain bled through me again and again as his fists connected with my flesh and I bathed in it, fed on it, drowned in it. Sparks ignited in my brain and every thought in my head was electrified, urgent, angry, real.
This was where I died and was born again. This was what I lived for. Pain and blood and agony. It was true and it was pure and it was oh so fucking real.
Mila caught my hand, dragging me up to dance with the rest of the girls and I was soon wedged between hot bodies, the haze of rum making me feel like I was floating on air. Pearl Devickers and Georgie Penfield were giving me the cold hard bitch treatment since Kyan had rejected them. Even despite the fact I’d made it clear to them I thought Kyan Roscoe was a dickwad and an asshole. A dickhole if you will. But the sharpness of lemon, lingering tequila and a demon’s flesh on my tongue reminded me that he was also going to be visiting me in my fantasies in the very near future.
I was seriously pissed at him for screwing up my hard earned friendship badges with those two girls. I was trying my best to fit into this new life. And even though I kinda judged Pearl and Georgie for being angry at me for something I hadn’t even cared to do, and the fact that Kyan had been the one who ditched out on them, I still wanted them to accept me into the fold. Because I’d never been in any fold before, dammit. And I was determined to make a life here. So now I was gonna have to start from scratch all over again. The music was too loud to attempt it now, but later, I was gonna be their best damn friend.
Firm hands snared me from Mila’s grip and I was tugged against a hard body, looking up to discover that Blake was my captor. He finished a beer and didn’t even have to ask as someone plucked the empty bottle from his grip and his free hand quickly landed on my waist, dragging me even closer.
He grinned cheekily at me and I grinned right back as I danced with him, unashamedly grinding against his muscular body as he clutched onto me like the world might fall away if he let go.
I tipped my head back and he dropped his mouth to my throat, a growl of desire rumbling through him as his lips raked against my heated flesh. I locked my arms around his neck, lust clawing at me and making me fist my fingers in his hair.
He was all I could think about, his presence entirely absorbing as we danced like no one was watching. I was barely aware of the world around me as I fell into the blissful lack of inhibitions my drinks had offered me. Blake was clearly unaware too as his hands grasped at my hips, my ass. He tugged me firmly against him and I inhaled sharply as I felt the rigid length of him pressing into my hip. Holy fuck he was big. And that was the second boner I’d given a Night Keeper this evening. Now I just needed to find Saint and tame his devil dick so I’d have a hattrick.
I tip-toed up to find Blake’s mouth and his lips met mine with a hungry passion. I pulled him closer, meeting every stroke of his tongue and tasting all the bad things he wanted to do to me. And I had a list as long as my arm that I wanted to do to him too.
No, I wasn’t going anywhere. Blake Bowman was the prize catch of the bunch. Hot as hell, sweet as pie. The kind of pie that had a few razor blades hidden in it, but still. Definitely the safest option.
“Do you wanna go somewhere more private?” I asked against his mouth.
Shit, I knew this was a bad idea but my libido had taken over. She was screaming, wild and in need of a good lay. And Blake clearly wasn’t looking for anything more than sex. Neither was I. So why not?
A small voice in the back of my head reminded me that I’d have to see him at school every day after this for the rest of like, the school year. But screw it. We were both adults. It didn’t have to mean anything more than this one night and releasing this burning tension that was mounting between us. Besides, Mila said he’d ghost out on any girl he slept with. So that would solve my problem of staying off the Night Keepers’ radar. By tomorrow, Blake would lose interest and the rest of his friends would no doubt follow suit.
I smirked at my plan, grasping his shirt in my fist and tugging him through the crowd. Not that I needed to drag him, he was panting like a dog as he hounded after me, his hard on straining against his fly with his need for release.
His fingers slid between mine as we made it outside and he took the lead, tugging me down the pier and onto the path through the woods, turning left as a wild laugh left my throat.