Ritual - Palm South University

But I can’t help but feel like there’s something else going on, something he won’t tell me…

“You okay?” Grayson asks, nodding toward my death grip on my phone with the open text message still glaring back at me.

I shake my head, finishing my text and shooting it back to Adam before I tuck my phone away again. “I’m fine.”

“Mm. Fine. That’s lady talk for nothing is okay and I’m two seconds away from burning this whole motherfucking campus down.”

I roll my eyes, but a soft smile finds my lips. “I really am fine.”

“Didn’t you say you’re waiting on Adam?” he asks casually, picking up his guitar again. “What time is he coming by?”

“He’s not,” I say, checking my bitter tone as soon as I realize the way I said it. “Uh… he has a fraternity thing I forgot about. Got my days mixed up.”

Grayson holds his guitar in his lap, balancing his arms on the top of it and watching me carefully. “Everything okay with you two?”

At that, I chuckle, pulling the strap of my backpack onto one shoulder and standing. “Not happening, Grayson.”

“What?” he asks, feigning innocence.

“I know we’re trying to be friends again, but you’ll never be the one I lean on when there’s something going on between me and Adam.”

“So there is something.”

I swallow, heart ticking up a notch at the realization that I let that slip.

“I’ll see you Thursday at lab,” I say instead of acknowledging his assessment, and I can tell in his eyes that he doesn’t want me to go, that he wants to know more about everything I’m not saying, but I turn my back on him and start the walk toward the sorority house without another word.

When I get back to my room, Ashlei, Jess, and Skyler are piled in a fluff of blankets in the middle of the floor, their laptops in front of them. They all smile when I walk in, and Skyler scoots over, patting the space next to her.

“Grab your laptop and take a seat, Little,” she says with waggling eyebrows. “It’s time to plan our Halloween costumes.”

Then, Jess hands me a flyer — one confirming what my own boyfriend hadn’t even told me yet.

Alpha Sigma is hosting another Halloween party on the sandbar, and with a live DJ, fireworks show, and open bar sponsored by one of the local clubs, the neon orange flyer promises it will be even bigger and better than last year.

I somehow manage a smile despite the rollercoaster dip of my stomach, and I pull my laptop from my bag, plopping down next to my Big to surf costume ideas as she hands me the open bag of Doritos, taking one before she passes it.

But before I pull up Pinterest, I text Adam.

We need to talk.THERE IS NO BETTER feeling than having Kade’s face buried between my thighs.

My hands are tangled in his hair, grabbing and pulling as I arch off his bed and grind my pelvis against his mouth. He already had a solid foundation in going down, but thanks to my expert teaching, he now knows just how to suck my clit, just how to curl his fingers inside me and make me writhe with aching need.

I finally understand that old saying now.

Hard work pays off.

When he releases the pressure, withdrawing his finger and rubbing the seam of my lips while he kisses inside my knee, I peer up at him through heavy lids, my lips parted, chest heaving.

“No,” I whine, trying to drag his head back down. “Don’t stop.”

Kade smirks, balancing on his elbow with his face still fully between my thighs. Only now, he’s stroking me between my wet and swollen lips, his fingertips skating over my clit before they dive back down again.

And all the while, he’s sitting there with his stupid smirk, watching the show.

“Someone’s close,” he muses.

Something between a curse and a moan rips through me when he flattens his palm, rubbing it over the length of me with just enough pressure to have my whole body tensing and releasing at once, making me shiver and shake at the touch. I’m so wet from his mouth and my own desire that his hot skin slicks over me easily, and the more he rubs me, the more I feel that pressure mounting in my core.

Until he stops.

My eyes shoot open at the loss of heat, of connection, the cool air from his ceiling fan wafting over me uncomfortably.

“Damn it, Kade,” I say, but before I can even lift my head to properly curse at him, his mouth is on mine, still covered with my salty taste as he backs me into the bed even more somehow.

His hand rests tentatively over me again, cupping me in warmth, and I gasp into his mouth at the sensation.

“If you want to get off,” he whispers, sucking my lip between his teeth and holding it there before releasing it with a pop. “You’ll have to get there yourself.”