Chapter Twelve

Shelby

The dining room wasn’t set up like a cafeteria, but more as an informal room with tables and chairs scattered around it like a bar. Some were normal round tables with straight-backed chairs, but others were small coffee tables set off to the sides with comfortable chairs grouped around them. There were even a few tall countertop-type islands with stools. A small buffet sat against the wall, alternately warming and chilling the food in the chafing dishes for the handful of people gathered. I imagined others, like the guys, collected their plates and ate elsewhere since none of them were to be seen.

It was odd but freeing to be on my own. I also felt extremely exposed to the curious looks I was getting as I beelined for one of the more secluded chairs. Thankfully, no one tried to talk to me, so I was able to eat in peace even if it was slightly uncomfortable.

I was about to get up and take my dishes to the kitchen when a rowdy group came in. I decided to wait until they were done getting their plates before I got up, and everything was fine until one of the guys caught sight of me and cocked his head to the side.

He didn’t shout, but he was loud enough for his voice to carry. “Hey,” he said, with a slight slur, pointing his beer bottle at me. “You’re new here.”

I stiffened at being singled out but wasn’t too worried with a room full of people around me. Nodding, I edged off the seat, picked my dishes up, and planned to make my exit. I wasn’t sticking around to talk to some drunk stranger.

He elbowed his buddy away when a hand tried to pull him back. With a frown, he asked, “Do you not talk?”

Dread crept up my spine as I froze in place. I forced myself to speak, if for no other reason than to lessen his interest in speaking to me. “I do, yes, but if you’ll excuse me…” My eyes widened in alarm when he took a step toward me.

“Has anyone told you about initiation night?” he persisted, much to my displeasure.

The woman next to him grabbed his arm and hissed, “Knock it off. Don’t you know who that is?” before he shook her off too.

I noticed the slight din from earlier had turned into crickets, and a few people even got up and slipped out. My instinct was to run, but the vivid reminders I’d carry on my skin forever rooted me to the spot.

“You’re a pretty thing, aren’t you?” I ignored him, but it only seemed to challenge him further. “I think you’d be prettier with your lips wrapped ‘round my dick, though.” He snickered like he’d told the best joke, but no one else was laughing with him.

Getting pissed that I found myself in this situation in a supposedly safe place, I attempted to shut him down and go to the kitchen. “I think you have me mistaken for someone else.” He stepped in my way no matter that I’d given him a wide berth. “Please let me pass. I’m leaving.”

My hands shook, but my raspy voice was surprisingly steady.

“Come on, everyone does the initiation,” he whined, going from demanding to petulant in an instant.

“Dude, shut the fuck up and come on. She doesn’t have to if she doesn’t want to. You know the rules.” One of the other men stepped between us with irritation pulling his face into a frown. “Sorry, ma’am, he just needs to go sleep it off.”

I gave the guy a nod of thanks and went to pass them, but another voice stopped me in my tracks.

“Excuse me?” came the deadly tone of one irate man. I hesitated to turn around, curling my shoulders over instead.

“Gavin, man, he’s just drunk. We’ll get him to bed—”

Ny rescuer was cut off when Gavin shouted, “Out! Now!”

The diners grabbed their dishes and left or abandoned them altogether. I attempted to leave, as did the group of four with the man who’d caused the scene, but Gavin’s barked command, “Not you,” kept us where we were. I didn’t think any of us knew which one of us he meant, so no one dared to move. “Shelby, come here.”

My shoulders slumped further, but I turned my feet and dragged them over to him. He held out a hand for my dishes, and, noticing that I was shaking badly enough for them to faintly rattle together, I handed them over.

“CarolAnn, take these to the kitchen. Cody and Kayla, you can leave.” His tone brooked no argument, and a moment later it was just the three of us. “On your knees,” he growled.

“No,” I rasped as the blood drained from my face in shock.

The drunk man added his two cents while gesturing toward me with his bottle before setting it on the buffet. “Now, that’s what I’m talking about.” He wavered, but instead of steadying himself, he reached for the fly of his jeans.

Before I could warn him that he’d get his dick bit off if he tried to put it near me, Gavin interrupted. “Not her, Alan. You. ”

Alan paused with the button of his pants hanging open. “Say what, now?” He was plainly confused.

“I said ,” Gavin began, mirroring Alan and unfastening his pants, “get on your knees.”

“Hey, man,” he said, nervousness making his voice shaky but less slurred. “I’m not into that.”

Gavin pulled his limp dick out with a smirk. “Neither am I, so you’d better make it good, or we’ll be here all night.”

I stared right along with Alan as Gavin absentmindedly jerked his cock until I lifted my head to find his bright blue eyes set on me. Something passed between us, and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed his dick start to swell. My face burned with embarrassment. Even after all Dirk and Milo had put me through, I still hadn’t lost the ability to color up.

“Gavin, maybe I should go?” I hadn’t meant for it to be a question, but he shook his head anyway.

“No, Shelby, you’re going to watch. He thought he was going to force you. Alan, here, is going to get on his knees and suck my dick, or I’m going to turn him over to Carter and explain exactly what he planned, drunk or not.”

Alan, despite his inebriated state, paled and dropped to knees, stammering an apology as he went. I didn’t know what could make him so terrified of Carter of all people. It wasn’t like he’d do anything. Right? At that point, my thought process stuttered to a stop.

Gavin stepped forward, still palming his dick with one hand, while the fingers from the other tangled roughly with Alan’s short, dark hair. He yanked the man’s head back until the arch of his neck exposed his bobbing Adam’s apple.

My face burned in shame when I couldn’t force myself to look away.

“Gav, man, you’re not really going to—” Alan buttoned up when Gavin pressed the thick, blunt head against his lips.

“Mind your fucking teeth,” was the last warning Alan got.

I didn’t know who was more shocked, me or Alan, when Gavin slapped him, but he opened his mouth enough for Gavin to shove the tip of his dick into the opening.

My eyes flicked up to find Gavin’s face set in stern lines. His narrowed gaze let only the scantest bit of blue peep through thick black lashes. He might not have appeared to be enjoying himself, yet he wasn’t relenting in the least.

A familiar sound drew my attention back to Alan. Gavin had crammed half his cock into his mouth, and he’d gagged when it hit his throat. The man on his knees attempted to twist away, but Gavin wasn’t having any of it.

He stepped forward, and I knew the instant the thick cockhead pushed past the resistance. My thighs pressed together as I let out an involuntary whimper. The burn of something too big breaching your esophagus and the panic at the lack of air were sensations I was vividly aware of.

“Shelby?” My eyes flew to Gavin’s. The question in his stare was clear, and I shook my head. My breathing was slightly labored, but it wasn’t a panic attack I was worried about. I couldn’t admit what I was concerned about, even to myself, so I sure as heck wasn’t about to explain to Carter’s look-a-like.

Alan chose that moment to groan and jerk back, but instead of escaping, he earned himself the rest of Gavin’s dick in throat for his trouble. His eyes bugged out, and he began to struggle.

Pulling out, Gavin slapped his wet dick against Alan’s cheek as the man heaved and coughed. “Don’t be a little bitch, Alan. Get your lips back around my dick.” He said it with a smirk, and while it wasn’t exactly what Alan had said to me, it was close enough that Gavin had to have heard him.

Apparently, Alan wasn’t too drunk to figure that out for himself. His eyes widened, but he didn’t fight when Gavin angled his head back and brutally plunged back in to the hilt. Both hands slid to either side of his face, taking hold of Alan’s head, then Gavin pistoned in and out, never fully giving Alan a chance to breathe.

My pulse picked up a pace to match the rise and fall of my chest. My ribs ached, but so did that space between my legs I’d thought, hoped, was dead. Twice in one night. It was the only thing I could think as I stared, attention rapt on the violent assault. It’s for me. I didn’t know how to process that Gavin was punishing one of his men for me.

“Shelby,” he called, a familiar strain in his voice. It was the tone a man used before he came.

I met his eyes and didn’t look away. Not when the cords in his neck tensed, nor when his pupils blew wide and he stilled while the man he blew his load into wretched around his cock.

My hands shook as I backed away. It was too much, but I was grateful and wanted him to know it despite the way I shied from the swift and vicious way he’d handled the situation. Mouthing “Thank you,” I turned and hurried from the room, my arm supporting my sore ribs and my breath still coming in overstimulated pants.

I skipped seeing Blake altogether and hightailed it to my room. River had left half a pill in my bottle, and it would just have to be enough to get through the night. Mind made up, I calmed down a little and nearly melted into a puddle of overwrought emotions as I made it into the relative safety of my room and sagged against the door.

Even after climbing into bed, it was a long time before I could stop the replay of the scene in my head.