Brutal Heir (Court University 1)

I watched, brave when I forced away any kind of fear to be visibly shone on me face, his thumb moving and encircling my mouth before bringing my ear to his lips. “You’re going to be a good, little dove. That’s what’s about to happen.”

My chest jumped. “Little dove?”

His fingers flicked my white blond hair, tugging at it. “A sweet, little innocent dove that does exactly what she’s told.”

“Which is?” I played his game but mostly out of fear, trying so hard not to tremble in his hands. I didn’t want to show him weakness, that I truly was terrified of him as much as that final day in the woods, a boy over a dead dog with a bloody rock in his hands.

Knight tugged my lips apart. He made me pout when he suddenly gripped my jaw and jerked my head up to look at him. His eyes narrowed. “You’re not fooling anyone, you know? I see what you’re doing. All those thoughts moving around in your head.” His fingers folded into my hair, gripping that

next. He tugged at the root. “But if you know what’s good for you, you’ll shut that shit down. You’re to forget what happened at the frat tonight. You’re to deny you were ever even there. As far as the world is concerned, Bryce Coventry blew his fucking brains out, and you were back on campus wherever the fuck you were, doing whatever the fuck you freshman do.”

I gasped, his grip in my hair hurting. “Why?”

“You don’t ask why.” He pointed a finger. “You just do what you’re told. You do that because you’re a good little dove who answers to me.”

Forcing the lump down my throat, tears burned my eyes. “I don’t understand.”

“And you won’t. Maybe not ever. Just know that after I leave you tonight, we weren’t together. You didn’t see me and you weren’t at my frat house.”

He was… letting me go? I trembled. “You’re not going to hurt me?”

He let go right away, getting up from the bed, and I nearly passed out when his weight left up. He grabbed the bag at the door, then after, grabbed me. “I won’t do anything unless I have to. I won’t do anything until you stop being a good little dove.”

Shaking, I nodded. His hand left, but I stayed there, holding my arms.

“You coming? Or am I going to have to carry you out?”

Not willing to give him a reason to, I quickly gathered my bearings. He wiped down the room, then I followed him out. Eventually, I trailed him over to a dark Escalade, and I realized that was how we’d gotten here tonight. I had been passed out.

The lights flashed when Knight unlocked it, and when I got inside, I found my purse right away. He’d left it there, and it had actually managed not to get slathered in Bryce’s blood.

I checked the thing as Knight got behind the wheel, well aware of his eyes on me as he started the car. I had just a couple text messages from my roommates. I had three, but nothing dire. They just wanted to know how things went with Bryce and me tonight. We’d all been at the club earlier when I met him.

Me: Good. On my way home.

Haley: Did you fuck him?

Keisha: Oh, my God you can’t ask if she fucked him… did you?

Sophie: Yeah, tell us.

I hadn’t… fucked him and the night couldn’t have gone worse.

Knight noticed my thumbs hovered over my text message, his eyes darkening before returning to the road. “Friends of yours?”

“Roommates.”

He nodded. “Well, I hope you told them you had a good time whatever the fuck you were doing tonight.”

My throat closing up, that’s exactly what I did, shoving my phone back in my purse right away. Knight ran his hand over his steering wheel, that ring on his finger glistening before he stared my way. “Where do you live? That’s where you’re going next.”

A command, not a request and one I didn’t disagree with.

I told him Thurston Hall, silent the rest of the drive. I wasn’t really very talkative after being shoved on a bed, then forced to shower a guy’s blood off my body, but I had a feeling Knight rather enjoyed that. He actually turned on music, heavy rock, and threw his beefy arm out the window. He alternated between that and hip hop, his tastes diverse and varied. We pulled up to Thurston Hall in the back, which was okay because I had a key to the back entry, all residents did. This was a freshman only hall so it was pretty quiet tonight, most people in bed before Monday’s classes. Knight turned off the car, and I didn’t move right away, fearing a change in the air might goad the madman inside. He stayed silent, running that ring across his steering wheel again.

“Promise tonight won’t be a problem for you,” he said, and for the first time, I heard something in his voice. It wasn’t as hard, as he swung his dark eyes on me. He frowned. “Because if it will be that’s something I need to know now.”

I was to say nothing about what happened tonight. I was to keep quiet, a certainty obviously needed from him.