Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 89074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Hunter Knox shouldn’t be at my college.
My best friend’s brother is unhinged. Dark. Violent.
And now he’s in our secret society frat, forced to share my room.
I only kiss him on the first night to get revenge, because Hunter doesn’t usually kiss men, and I don’t usually kiss psychopaths.
But the spark that flares between us becomes a forbidden game we play.
Hunter starts to follow me around like a stalker.
Becoming a little too obsessed with me.
We share an all-consuming secret that his brother can’t find out. And when I’m attacked, Hunter snaps into chaos, hell-bent on protecting me like I’m his possession.
Onyx Society is a fraternity that shouldn’t have to play by college rules, but someone from the outside is targeting us.
Targeting me.
Now nothing is safe. My best friendship, my sanity, and my heart.
Lines blur between desire and control… and I start to think I might want him to win this brutal game
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
“I am drawn to you for the same reason insects are drawn to burning light; we are both compelled to jump into beautiful things, even if they have the potential to set us on fire.”
— Emma Bleker
Part One
Onyx Night
1
Rayne
I know I’m being followed as I run across campus.
My feet hit the cobblestone path that curves toward the meticulously cut grass of the quad.
A place that should feel like home.
A place that doesn’t feel like fucking home at all right now.
When things feel too perfect, I get a feeling deep in my bones, like a certainty that the other shoe will drop, or that I’m in the calm before a devastating storm.
Too perfect is bad.
Dangerous.
And I’m letting myself dwell and dwell and fucking dwell on the one thing I shouldn’t, a person who has clawed his way back into my psyche like a fever I can’t shake.
The way Hunter Knox absolutely fucking loves to do.
A twig snaps under my shoes on the path.
My vision darts all around me as I run beneath the canopy of trees.
Look behind.
Look in front.
Glance right, glance left.
When a psychopath is around, you feel crazier, too.
I’m out on a jog with Weston, but I’ve been gaining on him for a few minutes now. I pull in a lungful of air and hang back a little, waiting for Wes to catch up.
My best friend isn’t a slow runner.
He’s just a lot more chill about the whole Hunter situation than I am.
“Think he’s here yet?” I mutter to Weston as I match his jog.
Weston is silent for a moment.
“Quit thinking about him.”
“He’s your brother,” I say. “If he’s going to be on this campus, I’m going to talk about him, especially if I have to be his fucking roommate.”
The sound of Weston’s footsteps falls in line with mine.
For a moment, I listen to the sound of his breath. We cut off onto a small gravel path that curves onto the main quad, jogging at a steady pace.
“You’ve asked me about Hunter three times today. Pretend not to be obsessed, Rayne. I don’t know when he’s getting here, and I don’t care.”
Look behind.
Left.
Right.
“Wasn’t a single day of high school that your brother didn’t fucking piss me off,” I mutter.
The words spill out of my mouth before I can filter them. I wish I could shove them back in.
“Well, we’re not in high school anymore.”
“Damn right.”
Back then, Hunter was stronger than me.
That’s not the case anymore.
Look left.
Look right.
Behind me, then back in front.
“No more all-nighters for me,” I tell him. “Think I’m starting to lose it.”
“Stone and Flame party is tomorrow, so you better get sleep tonight.”
“All I ask is that it’s better than last night’s party.”
Wes makes a mock cooing sound. “Poor little Rayne didn't have his boyfriend around to get his cock wet? Aww, is that your pwoblem?”
“Shut the fuck up. Also yes, it is.”
Weston puffs out a heavy breath. “Mikael is such a fucking prick.”
“Talking shit about my boyfriend now?”
“I tell Mikael he’s a prick to his face all the time. Double Daggers fuckface.”
“Same, honestly,” I say. “His phone is turned off again today, I guess. Haven’t heard from him.”
He hums, casting me a glance. “Red flags just make your cock hard, I guess.”
Red flags make my cock hard.
Massive understatement.
It may as well be the title of my goddamn biography.
I slip out my phone and jot off another couple of texts to Mikael that he’ll probably never respond to.
You around?
Want to see you tonight. xx
Channeling a polite tone into my texts feels like trying to put a bandage on a broken femur.
I’m shocked when he responds right away, ignoring the messages I sent yesterday asking where he was.
Mikael: Maybe. Kiss kiss
Can you come over in an hour?
He doesn’t respond.
I know he probably won’t send another message at all.
He hates anything that isn’t vague.
I probably won’t even hear from my boyfriend again until he decides to show up one night in Onyx House, drunk, on his own terms.
“You okay?” Weston asks.
I clench my jaw, shoving my phone back in my pocket.
“I’m too nice. And I’m sick of it.”
Weston groans with pleasure. “Fuck yeah. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for you to realize that? Enter your villain arc, Rayne. I’m begging you.”
I snort at him, giving him a little shove.
But I want this year to be good, too.
A steady rage is pooling in my veins, like I’m ready for a fight right now.
I almost wish Hunter was here now.
I’d take him to the ground first.
Hunter and Wes have always despised each other, too.
Every time they’d get into physical fights back in high school, I would watch closely as my anger built up like a pressure cooker threatening to blow.
Sometimes I’d try to pull Hunter away while he was trading punches with Wes.
He would shrug me off like a fly.