When Sinners Play (Sinners of Hawthorne University 1)

But as I start to make my wordless departure toward the admin building, the approach of a new man makes me pause.

He’s walking toward us with purpose, his gaze focused on the two guys behind me as he lifts his chin in greeting. But then his focus shifts to me and his entire posture changes as he recognizes me.

I recognize him too.

Hell, I’d remember those piercing blue-green eyes anywhere.

It’s Gray.

The man who fucked me senseless in the bathroom of The Silent Hour all those months ago before doing it all over again in the alley behind the bar

.

My first thought?

Please let him be the other scholarship student.

Let him be the small beacon of much needed solidarity among these out of touch rich fucks that don’t have anything better to do than judge a poor person on sight.

My second thought?

I wonder how far away our dorms are from each other.

I think maybe he’s had the same idea. That smoldering, soul drenching gaze is turned on me, fiery as the night we fucked in a dirty bathroom like we were about to die.

He looks like he wants to pick up right where we left off. Like he wants to throw me over his shoulder and haul me into another alley, then push me up against a wall and fuck me so hard the entire building shakes.

I’m not really opposed.

In fact, my panties are already slick just thinking about it.

His long strides bring him closer, and we don’t look away from each other as he comes to a stop a few feet away from me. He’s far enough away that I’d have to take a step forward to reach out and touch him, but even so, energy crackles in the air between us, white-hot and electric.

“Sophie.”

His voice is the same deep rumble I remember, and my body reacts to the sound instantaneously, as if it’s been imprinted on my soul. Even my name sounds sinful on his lips, like it’s a promise of every filthy thing he wants to do to me.

“Ah. Well, we didn’t get her name.” Elias clears his throat, and although I can’t seem to tear my eyes away from Gray, I see the blond man glancing between us in my periphery. His gaze settles on Gray as he adds, “She’s the new scholarship student. The second one.”

Because I’m watching Gray so intently, I see every detail of his expression as he absorbs that information.

And if I thought the reaction from the other two men was harsh, the change in Gray is so fierce and so complete that it almost gives me physical whiplash.

His jaw tightens, his lips pressing into a line. The hungry gaze that was fixed on me a moment ago is no longer ravenous.

It’s cold.

Disgusted.

Like he’s looking at a slug making its slimy trail up the side of his bedroom wall.

My heart kicks up in my chest, a burst of adrenaline flooding me as my instincts prepare my body for a fight. I don’t know what the fuck just happened, I don’t know what these men have against me, but I’d be an idiot not to realize that something is wrong.

This isn’t just the mocking or derision that I’d braced myself for as one of the school’s few charity cases.

This is hatred.

And I don’t know where it came from.