CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - COOPER

 

 

Lars snickers as he disappears into the kitchen. He knows what I’m going to do. And it is pretty funny. Cadee Hunter will laugh, no doubt about it.

I look over my shoulder at her. But she’s not laughing yet.

She looks scared.

What could he possibly do to me with rope? I can read her mind.

Oh, Cadee. I can think of lots of fun things to do with rope.

This wasn’t my original plan for her on opening day, but fuck it. That other one will hold until later. When she thinks the day is done and she made it through. That’s when I’ll spring my original plan on her.

If she makes it that far.

Lars returns with the rope and hands it to me.

“Thank you, Lars.”

He grins. “Any time, Coop.”

I turn back to Cadee. Hold up the rope. “You can walk out, you know. You have all the power here, Cadee. All you have to do is say, ‘No, thank you’ and get the fuck out of my face. Forever.”

She thinks about it. But I’m not surprised when she shakes her head no and whispers, “I’m not quitting.”

I shrug. “Fine with me. But when you leave here today, leave here knowing that this was your choice. Your decision.” I glare at her. “This is you. Giving me permission.”

She frowns. Shakes her head again. “I can take it.”

“Can you?” I laugh and turn to my pledges. “She can take it! So let’s get the first show on the road. Ivan.” I point at him. “Come stand right here.” I beckon Cadee with a single finger. “You. Come stand right here.” I point to the space between Ivan and me.

She barely hesitates. This is what I’ve always liked about Cadee Hunter. She’s dumb. She knows what’s coming and she obeys my commands anyway. Her eyes are even locked on mine the whole time she walks over to me. Still defiant.

I place my hands on her shoulders and turn her around so she has to face Ivan.

Ivan looks like he’s about to bust his nut before this party even gets started. Fucking boys.

I lean down and press my lips up to Cadee’s neck and whisper, “Put your hands behind your back.”

She sucks in a deep breath, but complies.

I take her wrists and start tying the rope around them. Tight. She doesn’t move. No one moves.

But then the door opens and Ax says, “OK, we’re ready for you.” We all look at him and he laughs. “Fuck them, this looks way more interesting.” He leans against the door and folds his tatted-up arms across his chest.

I finish tying her wrists together and then lean down again to whisper, “Last chance, Cadee.”

“Permission granted, my king.”

Everyone laughs and starts talking.

“God, you’re dumb.” My whisper is lower now. Private. “You’re not going to win.”

She turns her head so I can look her in the eyes. They are a very light brown color. Almost amber. When she’s angry, those eyes make her look like a demon. When she’s sad, they make her look like a child. And when I’ve got my fingers between her legs and she’s screaming out her climax, they make her look like a goddess. “I’ve already won,” she whispers back. “All I have to do is limp across the finish line.”

I slide my hands to her hips and kiss her neck. She sucks in a breath of air, not expecting this. I pull up her t-shirt just enough to show off her belly to Ivan and the others while I play with her nipples. I bite her earlobe and whisper, “Tell me to stop and it’s over.”

She shakes her head.

I slide the tips of my fingers up and down her ribs. It’s a light, fluttery touch that sends chills through her body and the skin on her arms pricks up. The next time I touch her nipples, they are hard, tight bunched peaks.

She likes it, I realize. And why shouldn’t she? I know how to turn this girl on. She told me exactly how she likes it. She spelled it all out for me back when she was just fifteen years old.

But when she actually moans a little, I pause for a moment, my eyes going to each of the other boys in the room. Lars looks concerned. He knows what I’m going to do. Ax looks excited. He knows too. Ivan looks like he’s having a hard time keeping his hands to himself.

He meets my gaze and I caution him with a fierce look. “Follow my lead,” I say loud enough for everyone to hear. “Understand me?”

Ivan nods. “Sure. Fine. Whatever.”

“You may touch her, Ivan.”

Cadee gasps a little.

“Is that a stop, I hear, Cadee? Ready to walk away now?”

She holds her breath and shakes her head. “No. I’m staying.”

Ivan grins. They’ve all heard about what they do during summer rush. They have probably spent the last several years jerking off to the fantasy.

But they don’t know. They don’t have any idea. And not just because it’s different every summer. The King makes the rules and plans the games. No two summer rushes are exactly alike. But because they think this is about sex the same way the girls think it’s about money.

And summer rush isn’t about either of those things.

It’s about power.

And how they don’t have any until it’s bestowed upon them.

And if I have to be stuck here running this shit, I’m gonna make damn fucking sure I have fun.

I peek over Cadee’s shoulder and watch Ivan’s fingertips caress her stomach. I wish I could see her face. Lars has moved closer to get a better look, his hesitance nothing but fascination now.

I kiss Cadee’s neck and massage one of her breasts. This makes her knees buckle a little. Like I make her weak.

Ivan takes a step forward, pressing his hips up to hers. He wants to kiss her. Even makes a move to try, but I turn Cadee’s head and claim her lips for myself.

She kisses me back immediately and my cock grows in my pants.

That wasn’t in the plan, but oh, well. I grind it against her ass as I play with her tongue, then slip my hand down her ribs, right past the waistband of her shorts, and find the wetness between her legs.

Ivan’s hand follows mine and I pause, holding my breath for a moment. Because I want to stop him, but I want to leave it there too. And when I look at Lars, he’s shaking his head at me.

I crossed a line there with Lars, so I pull Ivan’s hand out and he doesn’t protest, but his fingers are already wet.

The room is totally silent. Like… I’m pretty sure everyone is holding their breath.

“Are you laughing yet, Cadee?” I whisper these words past her lips as I kiss her.

She huffs. But she smiles too.

I stop kissing her and look at Ivan. He’s… transfixed. I’m pretty sure this kid has never, ever, even in his wildest fucking fantasies, thought about sharing a girl like this in front of a whole room filled with men.

But after today, it will be all he thinks about.

All of them will jerk off tonight picturing themselves as me and Ivan with Cadee between us. I mean… isn’t that why Ax, Lars, and I started the whole Cadee Hunter experiment back when we were seniors in Prep?

Because we heard about it?

And then we couldn’t stop the fantasy?

I hate to break it to poor Ivan here. Hate to burst his little bubble, but this is just day one. He’s not getting off that easy.

And neither is Cadee.

I pull my hands away from Cadee and step back. She looks over her shoulder at me, her eyes heavy for a moment. Then she squints them. Questioning what I’m doing. Wondering why I’m no longer touching her.

I point to my pledges one at a time. Michael, Dante, Roland, and Jamie. Then I say, “You also have my permission to touch her.”

Cadee gasps, squirming a little in Ivan’s embrace. Both Lars and Ax are on either side of her as the other boys step forward, grinning and laughing with excitement. All of them are hard beneath their shorts. Dante is even grabbing himself.

I slip back up behind Cadee and start tracing the back of my fingers up and down her ribs. Her shirt is up to her neck, her breasts round and firm and her nipples hard from all the hands on her. But they’re gentle hands. Because I am gentle. And I set the standard. The King always sets the standard.

I lean into her ear one more time. “Last chance to walk away, Cades.” Fuck. That nickname just slipped out. “Cadee.” I correct myself. “Say stop and we stop. Say nothing and this goes on until it’s over.”

She says nothing.

“You’re so stupid,” I whisper as I slip my fingers into her hair and wind it up in my fist. I tug on it. Not hard, or the boys might get the wrong idea. “Why are you doing this?”

She stretches her long, slender neck, her soft cheek right up next to my scruffy one. She looks me in the eye and says, “Why are you doing this?”

I’m instantly angry. “Because I belong here,” I growl. “And you don’t.”

She lets her cheek move away, releasing me. And instead, she presses it up to Dante’s neck, urging him to pick up where I left off.

They kiss.

And I rage inside.

Calm down, Cooper. She’s playing you.

And she’s not allowed to play. She’s just a pawn.

Remind her of that fact.

Oh, I plan on it. The fun is just getting started.

We’ve made her feel good—that’s for sure.

But we haven’t made her laugh yet.

I poke her pit with one stiff fingertip and she squirms and giggles. I do it again, and this time she tries to get away. “Hold her, Ivan.”

He looks confused for a moment, but then nods and holds her still.

I poke her again and again. In the ribs, in the pits. Dante starts making grabs at her knees. She buckles, laughing hysterically, squirming, and writhing, and wriggling as poky fingers come at her from all directions and make her jerk and squeal until she finally just collapses on the ground.

They don’t stop. They keep going. Grabbing at her ribs now, her armpits, her knees, over, and over, and over again.

She’s not laughing anymore. She’s screaming. Her legs kicking. Her back twisting. Her hands tied behind her back. Helpless.

And then she’s crying. Sobbing.

Ax is sitting on one of the loveseats with his hand in his pants, jerking off. Lars is leaning up against the wall, arms folded across his chest, wearing a frown.

I bend down and grab Cadee’s hair, make her look at me as they tickle her. “Say stop, Cadee. Say stop and walk away and that’s exactly what will happen.”

She manages to spit at me. “Fuck you.” It hits me on the lips and I wipe it away and just watch her cry as they torture her with tickling.

I just. Watch.

It only takes another minute before she loses control and pisses herself, the dark stain spreading between her legs.

“What the actual motherfucking fuck is going on in here?”

Everything stops—the poking, the wriggling, the laughing, the jerking, the frowning, the watching... and then the only noise left in the Glass House as we all turn to look at Mona Monroe standing in the doorway is the sound of Cadee Hunter’s jerky sobs.

“Fuck you,” Dante says to Mona. “This is none of your business.” He leans down and puts his mouth on Cadee’s nipple, greedily grabbing at her breasts.

Cadee doesn’t move. She just cries on the floor, tears streaming down her already stained cheeks, great heaving, blubbering moans coming out of her mouth.

But Ax does move. He’s up from the loveseat, his foot pulling back—and then he’s kicking the living fuck out of Dante Legosi. He pulls him up off the floor, screaming at him. “Did we tell you to suck her fucking tits? Did we give you permission to put your mouth on our Fugling?”

Ax throws Dante down on the floor, sits on his chest, and starts pummeling his face with both fists.

“You,” Mona roars, “are a bunch of sick fucks!”

Ax is still screaming at Dante. Dante has his hands up to his face.

“Shut up, Mona. Go back outside and wait for us. You’re next.” Then I pull Ax off of Dante and point a finger in his face as he backs up. “Calm down, Ax. Right now.”

Then I turn to look at Mona. Wait for her to tell me to fuck off.

She wants to. Oh, hell, yeah, she wants to.

But she knows what that means. She will be the next target.

We all know Mona doesn’t want to be here. Would do just about anything not to be here. But Mona is here.

And that means she has to be here.

She was put here.

She can’t quit.

I don’t know what will happen to her if she doesn’t cooperate, but it must be something pretty bad if she showed up to play the game in the first place.

She turns her head away and leaves.

Slamming the door behind her so hard, the whole Glass House trembles.