A Hurt So Sweet Volume One (Elite of Eden Falls Prep 1)

“Dexter?” Caspian nods, and I furrow my brows. “I don’t think that’s quite right… We are engaged, after all.”

“Do you want to marry him?”

I hesitate before shrugging. “I don’t really have a choice, so what does it matter?”

“You could have so much more than that poor Booth boy,” Caspian mutters, touching his fingertips to my burning cheeks and stroking the soft skin there.

My eyes flutter open and closed. I’m desperate for more of his sweet caresses. They feel so much different than Dexter’s punishing touch. I find myself leaning into his embrace, resting my cheek in his palm and hoping he takes the next step before someone bursts in and stops us.

“Has he kissed you yet?” Caspian’s voice is soft and kind.

I shake my head no, and he smirks in response. He likes my answer. I realize he wants to be the first to taste me, and my hands tremble as he leans in closer, my hair falling in a curtain around us and shielding us from the outside world.

“You want it?” he mutters against my lips, his fingertips lingering on my jaw. “Do you want me to be the first one of us to kiss you?”

I swallow thickly, ready to answer, when I finally let m

yself hear the resounding ‘No’ echoing in my mind.

No, I don’t want him to kiss me.

No, I don’t want him to be the first.

No, I don’t want him to have this moment.

I want to choose who does this to me. I don’t want to be told what to do.

I’m about to deny him the pleasure, but his fingers slip from my jaw to my neck, squeezing down on my pulse points. I take a breath, raspy and strained against his punishing fingertips.

“I can’t breathe,” I manage to choke out.

“I know,” he replies sweetly, pressing down even harder. “I like it that way. Girls are so much prettier when they struggle.”

Horror washes over me and I attempt to get away, but his grip on me is vice-like, not letting me move a single inch. He brings my face closer to his, contemplating how to hurt me further. I hate myself for falling in his trap. Not only because I don’t want it, but also because I know there will be hell to pay – for both of us – once Dexter finds out about this. And he will find out, or at least so my gut tells me.

“I need to taste those pouty lips,” he mutters to himself, leaning in to steal what he can never have.

Luckily for me, and unfortunately for him, the door flies open that minute, and my enraged fiancé stands in the doorframe, regarding us with distaste.

“What the fuck is going on here?”

“Well,” Caspian drawls out, making me turn my head and look at Dex with his fingers still wrapped around my neck. “I was just inspecting the new addition to the Eden Falls family, is all. She doesn’t look as tragic as you described her.”

I flush with embarrassment as Dexter walks up to us, slapping Caspian’s hands off me without any regard to whether he’s hurting me in the process. My tormentor laughs, getting up from the bed and watching me closely, devouring me with his demon-like eyes.

“She’s had a makeover,” Dexter mutters before motioning to the door. “Why don’t you leave us alone now, Caspian? I need to discipline my fiancée for running away with you.”

I swallow, a part of me hoping Caspian declines. But I’m not sure whether that would stop Dexter. The most it would do is give him an audience to do whatever the hell he wants with me.

“How about I stay?” Caspian seems to sense what I’m thinking, and his cruel eyes darken even further as he glares at me. “I want to see how you deal with such a disobedient little toy. And I might even give you some pointers.”

“Hardly needed,” Dexter hisses, glaring at his rival. “But sure, why don’t you stay. Let’s make her squirm a little more.”

I shiver at the thought, standing trapped between the bed and the door with one of the boys on either side of me.

“You know, I had something special in mind for you tonight, Pandora,” Dexter tells me with a cruel smile, and I feel goosebumps erupting all over my skin as he touches his fingertips to it, exploring my flesh with his cool hand. “Don’t you want to know what it is?”

I stay stubbornly quiet as his fingers explore my skin. He tugs on my dress, making a disapproving sound and muttering, “This covers you up too much.”