Prologue
Elise
These fucking stripper heels were not conducive to running away.
And that was exactly what I needed to be doing. Right now.
Shouts behind me echoed down the alley. Their panic bounced off of pavement still glistening from the fresh rain. At least it wasn’t raining right now. My lungs were going to explode with how greedily I sucked in air.
“There she is!” Emmett, the university’s most in demand bachelor. It was said he could make panties drop with a wink and his signature smirk. Now, he was using those lips to scream out my location.
Damn. Damn.
Another set of footsteps joined Emmett’s, and now two of the three Kings of Alpha Delta Omega were on my ass. From the lack of shouting, I’d say the second guy was Jules. The Mute.
After some kind of accident as a kid, he literally couldn’t speak.
This was not a good idea. I should have stayed in my room, reading smut and giving myself a hell of a good time.
Yes. The end of the alley was steps away, and once I was out, there would be people, lights. All the things that would make it impossible to confront me.
A shadow barred my way, and I craned my neck up and up. Until finally, I made it to the gorgeous and hideously angry face of Milo. The king of the kings.
Jules and Emmett closed in on my back, and I was left spinning, trying to keep everyone in my sight. These guys were not going to get rid of me. They were not going to ruin my life because I saw something I shouldn’t have.
Fuck. That.
“What’s your name, babe?” Emmett flashed a mechanical yet charming smile my way.
Little did he know, I was immune to his charms. Everyone knew how he operated on campus, and I wasn’t about to let him lull me into a false sense of lust before he slit my throat.
“If I gave a fuck, I’d tell you. Guess what? I don’t. Fresh out.” I made a show of checking the nonexistent pockets of my miniskirt.
Milo touched my arm with two fingers and I yanked away from him. “Cute. We’re not going to hurt you.” Lie. “We just want to chat. What’s your name?”
His voice was smooth and calming. His whole persona had changed in a heartbeat, saying I’m safe, you can trust me.
I wasn’t. I couldn’t.
“I’ve seen her around. I think she’s in my econ class.” Emmett snapped his fingers, trying to recall my name. It eluded him.
Jules circled the three of us, watching me with sharp eyes the entire time. He was waiting for me to run, I could tell. He may even be hoping for it. His arms flexed, muscles easily visible under the dim streetlight half a block away.
Milo scanned my body. If I were him, I’d be looking for a purse, or anywhere where I would have stuck a wallet. I didn’t have one on me. I left it in the club.
I waited a beat. One. Two. Three.
“Listen, babe,” Emmett said, like the meaningless term of endearment would put me at ease. “You aren’t leaving until we get some answers. How about we go back to the Shack and get to know each other?”
The Shack being the nickname for the huge ass mansion their fraternity occupied. Everyone knew it. Only the chosen could enter.
“This has been fun and all, but I can’t hang around. This bitch has things to do. And my girlfriend’s waiting on me. You don’t want her to call the cops if I don’t find her, do you?” I flipped the large curls in my long blonde hair over my shoulder.
“We’ll take care of that. No need to alarm anyone. Emmett.” Milo nodded to Emmett over my head and circled my bicep with long fingers. “Let’s go. My car is right down the street.”
I gulped, my mind racing a thousand miles a minute, trying to figure a way out of this mess. With Milo’s firm grip on my arm, they weren’t giving me a choice. The Mute walked so close to my back, his breath feathered over my neck. There was no way out.
I was fucked.
Part One
The Kings
So close.
We were so close to getting free.
A few more deals here. A few more nasty secrets there.
All in the name of the cause, of course.
Then she walked in at the wrong place, wrong time.
Chapter One
Milo
Two hours earlier
Damn Emmett and his fuck toys.
I banged on his door with a heavy fist and stared down the hallway. As an old colonial house for the fraternity residence, there were about ten bedrooms on the second floor. Doors lined the left side of the hallway while a wrought iron railing trailed down the right. It was too damn pretty for the bunch of limp dicks who lived here.
Incessant giggling traveled through the door, and I sighed.
“Fuck, Emmett. Is now really the time?” The bastard was my best friend, but I didn’t love him so much I couldn’t recognize his flaws. And his biggest one was his inability to keep his dick in his pants.
“Sorry, sweethearts. Daddy Milo says it’s time for you to leave.” His voice was muffled, but even so, I could hear the raspy purr he inserted in his voice whenever he spoke to women. “No, don’t bother. I won’t call.”
A loud crack pulled a smile from my lips. Damn. I loved it when he offended his fuck buddies. It was never ending amusement for me, because he just didn’t care enough to change.
The door swung open so fast, a draft raced over the back of my neck. Two half-dressed sorority girls speed walked their way down the hallway. Hair mussed. Skirts askew. Any of the brothers who saw them would know immediately they were selected and rejected. It was essentially the code of the brotherhood.
“What crawled up your ass, Milo?” Emmett smirked as he leaned a forearm on the top of the doorframe. He was just too pretty for his own good, with pitch black hair that always looked sexed up and chiseled features. Fucking selects were always buzzing around, giving me a headache.
“Man, put some pants on. No one wants to see the print of your erect dick,” I spat in disgust. I swore, he liked to flaunt his hard cock to annoy me. The silky boxers were the perfect weapon to parade his dick tent.
He laughed under his breath. “You didn’t let me finish. What do you expect? At least I put on underwear before I sent Stace and Lace back to their house.”
Stace and Lace. Two of the most uptight bitches on campus. They were so stiff and cold, I doubted they’d be good for anything other than a two-pump-fuck. But whatever. Emmett didn’t have standards. He was more about the chase. And once he caught, he released, and then he was on to the next piece of ass that crossed his path.
“It’s fight night at Freddie’s. Like always, we have to be there early. How about for once you don’t get distracted, so we can be on time?” He rolled his eyes at my curt tone.
“Give me five. Grab Jules, and I’ll meet you in the Caddy. Cool?” He shut the door without waiting for me to respond. Fucker.
I knocked on the next door with much less force and waited for Jules to answer. I didn’t have to worry about him like I did Emmett. Oh, he still got laid whenever he wanted. The girls at Wellington University ate his ass up whenever he offered himself up on a silver platter. Not only did he have striking Hawaiian features from his mom’s side, he inherited his dad’s size and green eyes. But they loved a damaged hero, and since he didn’t speak, they imagined all the things he might say to them if he could. Classic romanticism in play. It didn’t matter that he would say none of the flowery things they planted in his mouth. Before he lost his voice, he was the crudest, rudest kid on the block.