The Bet (North Woods University 1)

“Cally, babe, mind if I have a short little chat with your friend.” His deep seductive voice gets the blood pumping in my veins. I find myself shaking my head without thought. Scurrying from the living room, I all but run down the hallway and to my bedroom.

His heavy footfalls fill the space behind me, and I know there is no way I can outrun him. I should’ve listened. I shouldn’t have pushed him. Reaching my door, I open it, throwing my books to the floor. Just as I turn to slam it closed and lock it, his booted foot wedges into the door jamb. My gaze falls to the spot. He still wears combat boots which is a strange thing for me to be thinking about at this moment when he’s so close and clearly wanting to snap me in two.

“Didn’t I tell you… warn you?” His voice is deadly, and I shiver, wondering if it’s out of fear or something else. Since that night when he pushed me to my knees and ordered me to suck his cock, I’ve been feeling things, things I shouldn’t be for a man as mean and scary as Remington.

I shove against the door, trying to shut it, but it only takes one tiny push for him to overpower me. He opens the door and saunters into the bedroom, my bedroom, his eyes never wavering from mine, fire and rage simmering in his green depths.

Why does he have to look so gorgeous, and angry, and mean, and no, I cannot be thinking about him like that right now. He isn’t the same person I once knew.

His huge hand grips onto the edge of the door and then he’s shutting it. Trapping us both inside I take a step back, the room feels smaller than usual now that he’s in it. The sound of the lock clicking into place sends my heart into overdrive. It beats so loudly all I can hear for a moment is the swooshing of blood in my ears. Can he hear it too? How hard my heart is beating?

What happened to the boy I loved?

“Get out,” I whisper, my voice weak, my body weak. I should’ve listened to him, listened to his stupid warning. Never before was I a rule breaker, but Remington’s rules are dumb, more than dumb, they’re asinine.

“Nope. I’m here to show you a lesson,” he smirks, but it’s not his usual smile, no this smile promises heartache. His eyes move up and down my body, and I feel like I’m under a microscope.

“I didn’t do anything…” My lips tremble giving away my emotions, and I hate that he gets me to react this way. He takes a step forward, his body looming, rippling with anger, with a vengeance, and I know the boy I loved once, the boy who was my best friend, my everything, is no longer inside him.

“You fucking exist, and that’s enough of a reason for me.”

I don’t even get a chance to respond, before he’s on me, his fingers digging into my skin roughly. This time I know I won’t get to punch him in the nuts, but that doesn’t mean I’ll just let him hurt me. I kick and claw at him, but he overpowers me as if I’m nothing but an annoying fly.

He pushes me down onto the bed face first, his knee pressing into my lower back to keep me in place. My face is in the bed sheets, and I struggle against his hold. Fear claws at my insides when I hear the flick of the button on his jeans. He isn’t…he wouldn’t? Would he?

“Remington, stop it,” I order him, tossing my head to the side to get a much-needed breath and to make certain he can hear me. I feel his hands slip into the waistband of my yoga pants.

“You have no idea who the fuck you’re messing with. Who I am now. I own this school…girls want me to fuck them, guys want to be me, and I run the place like a king. I could kill someone, and no one would care, no one would even bat an eye.”

Panic grabs onto me, refusing to let go. He owns this school, and all the people in it, everyone except me. He doesn’t own me. I let that sink in giving me the courage I need to fight him off. I squirm, bucking my hips and rolling them, doing whatever I can to throw him off.

“Fight me, Jules, fucking fight me. It makes all of this that much more exhilarating.”

“You don’t own me…” I choke on the rest of my sentence when I feel the cool air against my panty-covered ass. He shoves my yoga pants down my thighs and sinks more of his body weight into mine.