21

Asher

Present

The best things happen in the dark.

That’s what I used to think about the friendship between me and Blair. Now here we are, in the dark again, but there’s no comfort in it. Only tension, thick enough to cut with a knife.

We’re both slumped against the wall of the small room, counting the seconds until Lex decides to let us out.

“Shit,” I mutter, breaking the silence. “We never should’ve gotten on The Collective’s radar. Now they’re targeting us with all this bullshit.”

Blair’s voice is indignant next to me. “You’re the one who… who did that to me in front of the whole crowd. It didn’t exactly seem like you were avoiding their attention.”

I shrug. “Didn’t exactly seem like you weren’t enjoying it.”

“This whole night is disgusting,” she whispers. “You people are insane for wanting to compete in this.”

I let out a low laugh. Yeah, she can tell herself whatever she wants. She’s part of this now, and she knows she’s one of us at heart.

“A million dollars is enough to change anyone’s mind. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”

“It’s not just the money,” she says, voice tight with disdain. “It’s… the thrill of it all. The way you all get off on being dared to do things that could kill you. Does it make you feel brave, Asher? Did you feel brave when you threw that guy off the tower?”

I grit my teeth. “That guy was threatening to do some fucked up shit to you, Blair. If you really want to know.”

She falls silent, like that answer surprised her.

“I know you get it, too,” I say. “Don’t lie to yourself. You act like I never knew the real you, but we both know that just ain’t the truth.”

I can just see her face shift in the darkness, torn between anger and something else. Fear, maybe.

“Are you going to kill me?” she whispers.

I don’t answer. I stare back at her, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the darkness.

“That’s what Lex was implying, wasn’t he?” Her voice cracks. “That you’d take out your biggest competition. That the crowd wants to see the girl who doesn’t belong here taken down by one of the ‘real’ players.”

My jaw clenches. She’s not wrong. Lex’s exactly the kind of twisted bastard who’d think it’s good sport to pit us against each other. And the crowd would eat it up—a love story turned to murder, just for kicks.

We stand there, the silence stretching, the air heavy with everything we haven’t said.

I could hurt Blair. I could kill her, just like Lex suggested. I could make sure I’m one step closer to getting that money.

But I don’t move. Silence falls between us again.

After a while, I can just make out Blair’s right hand reaching down to her ankle, massaging it. It’s clear she’s in pain again.

Something snaps in me. The words come out before I can stop them.

“I’m sorry. About that night. It was my fault you got hurt that night, I know that. I just never got a chance to say it.”

Fuck, I don’t know why I’m bringing this up now. As much as I’ve hated and obsessed over this girl, I still needed to get that out of my system.

I feel her turn to face me. “I didn’t…” She hesitates. “I didn’t blame you, Asher. I was the one who pushed us to go there that night.”

I paused, confused. Of course she blamed me, right?

“Don’t rewrite history now. I’m sorry you got hurt and I’ll regret that for my whole fucking life. But you stopped talking to me after that. After what we had, you just cut me off like it was nothing.”

“You want the truth, Asher?” Her voice softens. “I… I fell into a dark black hole after that day. I was kind of angry with you, yes. But I was a lot angry with myself. I was angry with whatever part of me wanted to drown out my problems with the thrill of doing something risky and frankly stupid.”

“So why did you disappear on me?”

She sighs, the sound tight. “My parents. They threatened me, Asher.”

The words hit me harder than I’d like to admit. “What?”

“They told me that if I spoke to you again, they’d call the police on you.”

“For what?”

“For the drugs. They knew about it,” she says, voice strained. “I was spiraling, and they kept tabs on me, checking my phone, treating me like a criminal. I couldn’t get you in trouble, not after everything you’ve had to fight for.”

Sickness rises in my chest.

“I hoped you’d wait for me,” she whispers. “But then I saw you at that party…”

I shake my head. No. No . This can’t possibly be true.

“That doesn’t make sense. I saw you before that, out with Mackenzie and your friends. She told me about you and your asshole football player boyfriend. I saw you two together.”

Her voice is barely a whisper. “Josh?”

“He had his arm around you,” I say, the memory still stinging. “Mackenzie said you two were dating.”

She shakes her head. “I never dated Josh.”

My jaw clenches. “Don’t lie to me, Blair. That won’t save you.”

“It’s true,” she insists. “I hooked up with him the night of the party because I was hurt, but that was it. My parents caught me and Josh together, and they cut me off. Said I wouldn’t get a cent for college unless I paid for it myself. I lost everything, Asher. Dance. College. You. It was like I was drowning, and no one was there to pull me up.”

“That’s… that's why you need the money.”

She sighs. “I only had one offer. I’m not the star ballerina I once was, not after the injury. One offer and no scholarship.”

The bitterness in her voice fades, and she looks down, resigned. “So when my mom set me up with the son of a family friend, I just… went along with it. Wes . He’s everything they want for me. Comes from a good family. Has a future. But he’s just a front, someone who looks good on paper. It’s all just for show. He’s some creep who sleeps around. Nothing more.”

I exhale hard, trying to take this all in. “Then why agree to it?”

She looks away, her jaw tight. “Because it felt like there was nothing left to fight for. I let myself get swept away.”

My eyes are beginning to adjust to the dark. I can just make out the raw vulnerability in her face. Suddenly everything is making sense.

“But tonight,” she says, lifting her chin, “when I got that invitation, I thought… maybe this is my way out. My last chance at freedom. And then I saw you.”

My pulse quickens, the years of hurt unraveling in my chest.

“I didn’t know, Blair. I thought you dropped me like I was nothing. That you found someone better, someone they’d approve of. I would never have let you go if I’d known any of this…”

“You mean that?” she whispers.

“I haven’t stopped thinking about you, Blair. To be clear, fuck knows I’ve tried to stop thinking about you. But it’s been impossible. I could never shake the feeling of what we had.”

Somehow, here in the darkness at this brutal fucking night of competition, all the pieces fall into place.

Blair loved me. I loved Blair. All the bullshit of the separate worlds we come from got in the way.

“Why did we waste all this time?” she whispers.

I answer by pulling her toward me, into my lap, and pressing my lips to hers. She moans into my open mouth and heat starts to tighten in my cock.

“Fuck, Blair,” I murmur. “We could’ve been doing this for years now. I can’t believe we let each other go. I never stopped loving you, Blair, even when I fucking hated you.”

She half-laughs, half-sobs. “Me neither. I’ve thought about you every day since then.”

“When we get out of here, you’re mine forever, understand? I’m not letting you get away again. Fuck your parents, and fuck Wes, and fuck their threats. We’ll find a way to make it all work.”

I feel her nod against my cheek. Slowly, her hands run along my jaw, my shoulders, my chest. Like she’s been waiting years to do this and now she’s going to savor it.

“I wish we’d slept together back then,” she murmurs. “I never knew what I was missing.”

I laugh. “Well, we were both clueless virgins back then, and I never wanted to pressure you into moving too fast. Believe me, I was fucking thinking about it constantly.”

Almost experimentally, she shifts in my lap, grinding against where my cock has hardened beneath my jeans. She rocks a little harder, and pressure builds inside me.

I groan. “Don’t tease me, Blair. You don’t know how hard it was not to grab you and bend you over as soon as I first saw you tonight. Just feeling you near me drives me fucking wild. If you keep grinding on me like that, I won’t be able to hold back.”

Her breath grows faster in the dark. “Maybe I don’t want you to hold back.”

She grips my shoulders and pushes her pussy against the hard line of my cock.

I let out a growl, and grab her by the hair, dragging her down toward my lap. Fine, she asked for it. I free my cock from my pants, the rock hard length springing up to her face.

She whimpers in pleasure. Jesus, I love that this girl enjoys how I take control and use her beautiful body.

“I want to know what you taste like,” she whispers.

Heat flares in me. I need it right now. “Open your mouth for me,” I order.

She hesitates. “I’ve… never done this before.”

I feel a ripple of pleasure. It shouldn’t exactly matter; she’s still Blair either way, my infinite obsession. But the fact that I’m about to be the only man who knows how it feels for Blair Bennett to put those pretty, pouty lips around my cock—well, that feels fucking perfect.

“Remember how you sucked on my fingers earlier tonight? Just like that, baby. Take it slow, I’ll show you what to do. How to make it good for me.”

She nods, taking my shaft in one hand. I groan at how good that feels already.

“Lick it from the tip to the base. Make it wet for me.”

She sticks out her tongue, obediently dragging her soft pink tongue along the length of my cock. I can only withstand a minute of this, because when she moans against my skin, I can’t stop myself grabbing her head and pushing the head of my cock into her pretty little mouth.

She whines in pleasure, beginning to suck at it. I push further, but she bucks her head upward. “I-I don’t know how to fit all of that in my mouth.”

“Then I’ll fuck your mouth until you’ve learned exactly how.”

In the dark I can just see her eyes widen with lust.

I shove my cock further into her mouth. She whines, gasping around it, the wetness of her throat coating me. Slowly, I begin to thrust back and forth in a rhythm, deeper and deeper.

“Do you like that, baby? You’re a damn natural.”

She nods and whines, my cock still stuffing her mouth, and god does it turn me on to hear her admit that. I hold her pretty face in place as I keep fucking into her, savoring how she’s whimpering in pleasure as she takes me deeper with each stroke.

“Do you want my cum down your throat, little Blair?”

She gives a moan of affirmation as I thrust into her, and I feel my cock twitch and swell as the climax takes over me. I feel my cum fill her mouth as she continues to bob her head up and down, draining every drop from me.

I groan in pleasure as she eventually stills, pulling back from my cock with a pop sound. She sits back up in my lap and I wipe the last drops of cum from the head of my cock, pushing them past her lips. She licks it up.

“That was a start,” I murmur. “But we have years of lost time to make up for.”

She laughs softly, and I pull her into my arms. We both begin to drift into a half-sleep, and for the first time in my memory, I feel at a sort of peace.

I jolt awake to the sound of the door creaking open. The announcer’s voice is calling us back. I look down at Blair, nudging her back awake too.

In the half-light, she smiles up at me.

I’ve just gotten back something I thought was gone forever.

“Let’s go,” I mutter. “Before they decide to keep us in here any longer.”

We both rise to our feet, and I whisper down at her as we walk back toward the door. “Do you trust me, Blair?”

Her smile widens. It’s that smile I spent so many long months missing. But it’s a little different, too. A little harder and colder, but just as beautiful. Even fucking more so.

She slips her hand into mine.

“I guess I have no choice.”