Lust (The Elite Seven #1)(31)

“Right. We have to do this,” I say, not just to him, but to myself.

“No matter what,” I reaffirm.

Following him back downstairs, he rummages through our cupboards, coming up empty.

“Dude, where’s the fucking food?”

Cocking a brow, I pull my cell phone out. “Chill, Gluttony, I’ll order some pizza.”




Two hours later, I’ve eaten two thirds of the pizza and a liter of soda, and God hasn’t touched his. Instead, he’s waiting not so patiently for me to get ready to go racing with him.

He’s going to be pissed when I bail. I just want to get high and try to crash.





God is absent from campus again. My text from him this morning was at four a.m. and he was still out.

God: Want to get high?

I was already high and tossing and turning in my sweat-drenched sheets.

Dreams of Robbie were mixed with dreams of an unknown female crying. A video was spread through campus of her being fucked in every orifice by me.

My soul was heavy. Maybe this chick will turn out to be a fucking cunt and then I won’t feel so bad.

Lies.

Pride is in the waiting area when I reach the counselor’s room. It’s going to be twice as hard to talk to her now knowing I have to fuck her stepchild.

Intrigue prickles my thoughts as to why Pride has to see her. Has he lost someone like me?

“What’s up?” he acknowledges me.

“You have an appointment?” I ask, checking the clock. It’s just ticking on ten, which is when my appointment starts.

He shakes his head no, then holds up a folder, but doesn’t elaborate on what’s in it.

“I have to drop these off.”

The door opens, and Lillian appears, well put-together and fresh. Her hair is pulled so tight, it lifts her eyes to almost slits.

“Rhett. Go on inside,” she orders, stepping out from her office and going to Pride.

Yes, ma’am.

Closing the door behind me, I hit a fog wall of stuffy air. Moving over to her window, I nudge the thing open. The weather is humid as hell, like being in a steam room. You can taste peoples’ sweat in the corridors, it’s so sticky.

My interest moves to her shelves dominating the back wall. Books, files, pictures. My heart stammers when my fingers trace over a family photo of Lillian, the dean, and none other than Chastity.

Shit.

The opening of the door alerts me to Lillian’s arrival. She catches me with the picture in my hand and raises one of her perfectly shaped brows.

“Chastity,” I say, pointing to the image like an idiot.

“Yes,” she confirms, taking the picture from my hand and placing it back on the shelf.

How have I not noticed it until now?

“She’s my stepdaughter, hence her knowing her way around the campus as well as she does.” She smiles.

“I have to go,” I tell her, hiking my bag up my shoulder and turning on my heel, fleeing her room.

Chastity is who I have to seduce and film?

This just got a lot more complicated. For one, she doesn’t even like me, and two, I know her, sort of. It’s immoral and sleazy. It’s…the price.

“Hey.”

Fuck, speak of the devil.

“Hey,” I mimic, looking around the corridor at anyone but her.

“Look, I want to apologize for what happened the other day.” She sighs, and it furrows my brow. Why the hell is she sorry? I was the one who didn’t let her run away to cry and then took advantage of her in crisis.

“Really?” I ask, apprehension coloring my tone.

“I was a mess and put that on you, and that’s not who I am. I acted out and made a mistake, but you haven’t made a point of using it against me and no one has mentioned it, so…” she says, pushing her glasses up her nose.

I’ve been too busy to use it against her, and who would I tell? Oh, of course, with her being the dean’s daughter, she’s no doubt been used in the past for that very reason.

“Rhett, I’m apologizing.” Her voice is firm, and a little peeved that I’m staring into space and not taking her words as serious as she appears to.

“Thanks.”

I guess.

Silence.

She looks at her shoes, then back up at me. Is that nerves making her jittery?

“Maggie is having a party this weekend. It would be good to see you there, if you want…to go…you don’t have to…I don’t really care either way…”

“I’ll be there,” I blurt, stopping her rambling. Why the fuck is she making this easy for me?

“As friends,” she states. “Be good to see a friend there…friendly face…familiar…”

“Right,” I stop her again. “Who doesn’t need more friends?” I smile.

Tucking her hair behind her ear, she bounces on her tiptoes and bites her lips.

“Right. Okay. Great.”

She walks around me, and I turn to watch her flee. She stops a couple feet away, and turns back to me. “Oh, you may need the address.”

I don’t tell her it will be on the party app because this flustered Chastity is the girl who bumped into me on the first day of class. I like this side of her.

“Phone?” She holds her hand out and waits for me to place my cell in her palm.