NINE CIRCLES
FIRST CIRCLE (LIMBO)
MASON STROM
SECOND CIRCLE (LUST)
JASE KESSON
THIRD CIRCLE (GLUTTONY)
SAWYER BLACK
FOURTH CIRCLE (GREED)
TAYLOR MARKS
FIFTH CIRCLE (ANGER)
DAMON CROSS
SIXTH CIRCLE (HERESY)
SHANE CARTER
SEVENTH CIRCLE (VIOLENCE)
EZRA CROSS
EIGHT CIRCLE (FRAUD)
GABRIEL DANE
NINTH CIRCLE (TREACHERY)
TANNER CAINE
Never listen to the people who tell you evil doesn’t exist in this world. Never smile and nod, never pander, never walk off with the belief that you’re guarded against everything that can go wrong. I can give you that advice because I’ve been the stupid woman not to follow it. I can promise you that evil does exist only because I’m the woman who has stared it in the moss green eyes, the same woman who dared it to do its worst and stood dumbfounded when it delivered.
Tanner Caine is just one of the deceptive and tantalizing demons waiting to be summoned at the crossroads. He is an underground giant forged in fire and stamped with the Devil’s personal seal of approval. He is a man barely challenged and a barrier never crossed. He is also a specimen of the male form that is a siren song to the unlucky women who run across him.
I’ve seen better woman ruined because they dared to play a game with him they had no business playing. I’ve seen smarter women on their knees before a man who managed to remain one step ahead while laughing to watch them fall.
You see, that’s what happens when you make a deal with evil. Everything goes fine until the day comes when he calls in his debt. Tanner doesn’t mess around with interest rates or repayable loans. No. If he does something for you, you can bet he’ll extract his pound of flesh in the most creative of endeavors.
We are all pawns to be played in Tanner’s world. Man or woman, it doesn’t matter.
I didn’t know what would happen when he waltzed back into my life after running from him in law school. But what I did know is that, where Tanner is involved, yours is a story that can never end well.
. . .
Luca
“Go with the white booty shorts, Luca. You have the ass for them. Mine’s a little too flat.”
A sigh burst over my lips as I dug through my roommate, Everly’s, closet. Standing in here was like searching through a fashionable slut’s dream, everything way too short, dangerously tight, and designed specifically to highlight a woman’s curves.
Her style was opposite to mine. Never one to cater to what men wanted, I preferred casual clothes, my comfort taking precedent over what most would consider sexy.
The deep bass of some popular rap song pounded behind me, Everly’s shoulders bouncing in my peripheral vision as she sat at a makeup table to apply what had to have been a third layer of foundation.
“I don’t know about this, Evy. Maybe you should go alone tonight. I have some homework to catch up. It’s probably best I spend the next few hours in the library.”
“Shut your hole, Luca. You’re coming with me. This party is all everybody has been talking about on campus and there’s no way in hell I’m letting you miss out all because you’re scared of being social.”
Grabbing the white shorts she’d suggested, I pulled them from the hanger and held them up to my hips. These were more suited to be a bathing suit for how tight and short they were.
My head spun to look at her just as she turned to glance at me. “Plus, Clayton will be there. And I know you have the hots for him.”
She had me there.
Clayton Hughes was a big man on campus. Not as big as the Inferno boys, but he ran with them all the same.
Normally, just his association with the Inferno would have put me off and sent me running the opposite direction, but we worked together on a mock trial and had gotten to know each other better.
He was the son of a Senator and had money coming out his ears. Not to mention he was hot as fuck…and intelligent, which was a bonus in my book.
After working together, we’d hit it off and had been texting back and forth for the past week.
But that didn’t mean I had to go to this party just to see him.
“I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if I didn’t go. I’ll see him in class on Monday.”
“Shut. It.” Everly spoke in time with the music’s beat.
“I have a hot night planned with Jase, and you, my bookworm friend, are going to be my wingwoman.”
Rolling my eyes, I sat in a chair just outside her closet to tug off my jeans.
“If you already have a hot night planned, then you don’t need a wingwoman.”
Shaking my head, I couldn’t believe she was stupid enough to get involved with any of the nine men who lived in the Inferno house.
All of them were bad news, each one a known manwhore that couldn’t keep it in their pants long enough to carry on a week long relationship with one woman.
Evy had been sleeping with Jase for a full week, however, and it made me wonder how in the hell she’d pulled it off. I suspected she wasn’t the only ass he was getting.
As if reading my thoughts, she answered, “He might have some stupid bitch all up on him when we get there. You know how he is.”
“I’m surprised you put up with that,” I commented under my breath. She heard it regardless, her lips kicking up into a grin.
“He’s Jase Fucking Kesson. Are you kidding me right now?”
Laughter poured over her lips.
“I’m determined to tame that man, even when everybody else assumes he can’t be.”
Yeah, except Jase Kesson, also known as Lust in the Inferno circuit, was just one of the nine guys who practically ran the school.
Each one was someone I wanted nothing to do with and had, until now, been able to avoid. I’d never actually met any of them, which was surprising, but after tonight, I’d finally know what they looked like.
It was akin to meeting a celebrity…or a character from a fable. You know they exist, but actually meeting them in person makes them more real.
Shrugging a shoulder, I leaned back in the chair.
“I’m not comfortable being around them. I’ve heard horrible things-“
“Rumors,” Everly laughed. “Don’t let it get to you. They’re actually pretty cool guys once you get to know them. Gorgeous, too. All except…”
My eyes snapped her direction.
“All except what?”
Her hair fell over her shoulder when she shook her head and dropped the tube of deep red lipstick on the desk. Turning off the lights of the makeup mirror, she spun in her chair to look at me.
“It’s like I said: every one of them is sex on a damn stick, but Tanner gives me the creeps. There’s something about him. Like his chest is empty of a beating heart and instead of being warm to the touch, his skin would be ice cold. I have no idea how any girl climbs into bed with him, but he’s never without, you know? Those idiots line up to be with him and I don’t understand it. Thankfully, he hasn’t said so much as two words to me, and I’m fine with that.”
Pausing, Everly checked her makeup in the mirror one last time before pushing to her feet.