The Invitation

Then he squeezed harder. “Come in her pussy.”

The thrill of it all caused my grip on Lacey’s throat to tighten.

But instead of panicking, Lacey fucking came.

Her pussy clamped around me coupled with Tobias’s firm grip on my neck, sent me hurtling over the edge.

I came, twitching and grunting as the orgasm ripped through me like a wildfire.

Tobias’s hold on me tightened until black spots dotted my vision. He growled out my name like a curse, then pulled out of Lacey’s ass and ripped the condom off.

He moved to the side of her and shot his warm come over us both. And fuck I wanted to be cursed by him, poisoned and tainted entirely.

11

Preston

“Chad Davis, Brendon Walters, and Christian McClure have been arrested in connection with the brutal murder of Leah Andrews, a sophomore at the local university.”

The news report cut off when Tobias opened the driver’s side door to his Mercedes.

He’d done it, followed through on everything he promised. I was free of my burden… as long as I wasn’t free of him. And though, at that very moment, I didn’t want to be, I had no doubt if ever there came a time when I did, this would all come back to haunt me.

I stared through the window at the cemetery. Rows upon rows of tombstones dotted the hillside, the city skyline a distant mirage behind the sea of people dressed in black.

Tobias opened my door it. The warm wind wrapped around me as I placed my foot on the uneven ground.

Was it morbid as fuck that I was coming to the funeral of a girl I killed? Absolutely. But it would be suspicious if I didn’t attend. As far as the world knew, I was the heartbroken, grieving boyfriend of a murdered girl.

“I’m so sorry for your loss, Preston.” Tobias pressed a kiss to my temple, and I fought a smile.

He was such a twisted fucker. I had to come, of course, but the fact he’d insisted on coming with me for “emotional support”. He truly was warped.

We stepped behind the group gathered at Leah’s graveside, and my gaze almost immediately met her mother’s.

An uncomfortable feeling stirred in my chest when I took in the woman’s tear-stained face. I didn’t really have the capacity for true guilt, but I also didn’t want to witness the pain I’d caused.

Maybe it was denial. Maybe it was indifference.

“Death is such a cruel part of life, isn’t it?” Tobias asked.

I turned my attention away from the consequences of my former dark fantasies, to my new one—Tobias. “Tragic,” I said.

After the funeral, I was taken back to the dorms, but instead of dropping me at the front of the building, the driver pulled to the side of the lot, cut the engine, then got out.

Tobias watched through the window as the chauffeur walked to the median in the middle of the lot and lit a cigarette.

Seemingly satisfied with that, he turned to face me, and took my hand in his. “I want to give you a choice.”

Choice. The word wasn’t synonymous with Tobias Benton. “Okay…”

“Go back to your mundane life…” He waved his free hand toward the dorms. “Or stay with me and enjoy everything. Money. Women. Games…” His lips pulled into a devious smirk, one that promised wonderfully dark things.

I’d ask him what the catch was, whether he’d turn up new evidence to get me arrested, but none of it mattered. And maybe I didn’t want to know. Because I knew I’d choose him regardless of blackmail, or how devious he was. He wanted me enough to dig up a body for me, to frame three strangers for murder. And I wanted him, wanted the shiny yet tainted future he painted for us. His obsession and possession.

“Tobias.” My hand landed on his firm thigh. “Why would I ever want to go back?”

Cupping my jaw, his narrowed eyes searched mine. “What I’ve shown you is only the beginning, my dear, sweet Preston. We’ll build an empire together—become monsters no one will ever believe to be anything but gods.”

Ah, Tobias and his god complex. He was right though, we were monsters. And we belonged together. I knew it. I felt it in every fiber of my being.

“This is your last chance to tell me no, Preston.”

“You almost sound like you want me to run from you, Tobias.” I lifted a brow. “Would you chase me?”

He smirked. “You think I already haven’t?”

“I suppose you have.” I laughed, my gaze sweeping over his body in that dark suit. He really looked like a god. “So, are we going home or fucking in the car?”

Apparently, Tobias was above fucking in a parking lot because he signaled the driver, and then we drove away from the university campus that suddenly seemed so inconsequential.

* * *

The moment we stepped inside the penthouse, Tobias shoved me against the wall in a brutal and unforgiving kiss.