Like you didn’t come here to get a piece of that thoroughly used ass.”
The sharp sting of his words has my hand reflexively drawing back for a smack that he captures, so he’s holding both my arms captive now. “Fuck you.”
“You want to, don’t you? That’s why you agreed to this little dare, right?”
“You know exactly why I agreed to this dare.” Wriggling myself loose, I push off his chest and hold out my hand, flicking my fingers. “Pay up.”
“Price just went up. You want the goods? Suck me off first.”
A sound of exasperation carries over the crackling bonfire, from where Conner crouches rubbing his skull back and forth. “Just give her the fucking pills, man. She did what you asked.”
“Shut up.” Travis doesn’t bother to look at Conner as he slides his fingers beneath my bra strap. “You know, I once watched you in gym class, running the track. Watched your tits bouncing. The sweat on your neck. Your ass in those shorts you wore every day. You carry yourself differently than the other tight-ass prudes here. Like a girl who needs to fuck. It’s part of your DNA, isn’t it?”
“Forget it.” I swipe up my boots and spin away from him. “Bunch of cheating assholes. That’s the last time I make a deal with you, Jenkins.”
A tight grip of my arm brings me swiveling back around to face him. “’The fuck is your problem? I can get any girl I want. Any fucking girl. Girls who are smarter than you. Hotter than you. Girls with a future.”
“Then, why are you wasting your time with me? Give me the pills, and I’ll let you get back to those hotter and smarter girls.”
With a hard yank, he pulls me to his chest, and my boots fall out of my hand. “Rumor has it, the more desperate a girl is, the dirtier she fucks. And you are desperate, right now, aren’t you?”
A figure, where I last saw movement, out of the corner of my eye draws my attention away from him, toward where it stands along the shoreline. The outline of the body is cast in shadows, but the mask is stark white against the darkness. Bleached white bone and long horns that curve upright. The narrow muzzle of a goat.
Always standing on the fringes. Watching me. Waiting for what? I don’t know.
Cold prickles dance over my skin, as a wintry hollow expands inside my chest. My pulse quickens. Throat suddenly dry, I look away for fear that he might catch me staring back, or worse, that Travis will ask what’s captured my attention.
Shouldn’t have sipped that liquor. Alcohol always seems to make it worse, but even if I didn’t have anything to drink, I’d have seen it eventually. I always do.
Travis has no idea how desperate I am for these pills.
“Just give it to me. Please.”
“I want to, baby. I want to give it to you.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. Just lie down.”
“Travis, man. Quit fucking with her.” Conner’s voice draws my attention to where he sits at the opposite side of the bonfire smacking a skinny branch against the circle of rocks. The sound reverberates inside my head, echoing a memory that tugs for my attention. Shadows in the corner of my mind that beg to be seen. Over and over, he whacks the branch, and with one brutal smack, I flinch, as the tip of it cracks off into the flames.
The fire’s blazing crown flickers and dances against the darkening sky. Frantic. Erratic. Mesmerizing in the way it seems to reach toward me. Beckoning me to illuminate a memory that sits on the fringes, like some kind of ominous entity I can’t bear to face.
A dull and heavy dread stirs in the pit of my stomach. My surroundings shift, like liquid, sending me off balance, and I stumble backward a step. No doubt, the alcohol, coupled to the warmth of the fire, making me dizzy. Sleepy. That, or the aftereffects of hypothermia, which would suck, because I sure as hell don’t want to exchange naked body heat with these assholes.
A toasty sensation settles in my bones, rendering them soft and weak.
“Lie down, baby,” a distant voice inside my head commands.
Cool sand presses into my back as I continue to watch Conner. Drifting. Keep your eyes on him. Beyond the flame, he draws circles in the sand with the broken tip of the stick. Long, lazy circles. Over and over. Somehow, I can feel the tip of it across my