Phantasma (Wicked Games, #1)

by Kaylie Smith

She swallowed, trying to work up the nerve to ask her next question. “Not even the others that you kissed?” “Not even them,” he answered. “But there weren’t many contestants that I kissed anyway. And there were none that I…” The jealousy that had been swelling in her gut dissipated ever so slightly as she boldly suggested, “Fucked?” He gave a single, surprised laugh, eyes lighting back up with his usual mischief now. “That isn’t exactly what I was going to say.”

“I think you’re ready for level four,” he commended. “What’s the theme of level four?” she questioned. “Gluttony.” He enunciated the word with flair. “There’s this whole bit with collars and chains… you wouldn’t happen to enjoy being choked, would you?” She spluttered a bit. “I⁠—” “I’m kidding, angel,” he snorted. “But if you ever get curious, I’m always game to try anything.”

WHAT

Her cheeks heated profusely. He had a knack for making everything sound sensually appealing. It drove her mad with want. Something he must have sensed because a blink later and he was right in front of her, reaching around to pull the cleaver from where it was wedged into the molding and discarding it so he could press her against the wall. “That’s enough training for now,” he murmured, tapping beneath her chin with his index finger until she tilted her mouth up toward his. “I think you deserve a reward for how well you did today.” She felt the corners of her lips curl up. “If I get to choose the reward, may I suggest you get on your knees again?”

oh yall nasty

Sinclair’s scarlet eyes narrowed while his grin widened. “Have we met somewhere before?” That seemed to push Blackwell over the edge. “We’re leaving.” Blackwell wrapped his arm around her and gently, but firmly, began to usher her away.

Sinclair gave a menacing laugh. “Tell me, Blackwell, is this one a good fuck?” Ophelia hardly felt the insult, more focused on the barely contained rage rolling off of Blackwell. “If she gave me a ride, do you think⁠—” Blackwell snapped. Tucking her behind his back, he lunged forward and slammed his fist into the Devil’s face.

omggg

“Don’t bother summoning him, girl,” Sinclair threatened. “It will only cause him harm when he is unable to come to you.” To his point, there was a loud pounding on the door to the room. She could hear Blackwell shouting her name, but his voice was muffled, like he was yelling underwater.

whattt

“It’s not you I want something from,” Sinclair avowed. “I apologize for my crudeness; I couldn’t help getting a rise out of him. And unfortunately for you, you seem to be something he cares about. Which means you’re the key to his undoing.” “Undoing?” She gave a mocking laugh. “Could you be any more cliché with the villainous theatrics?”

im sayinggg

“Why do you want me to forfeit so badly?” she questioned, eyes narrowing. “We’ve never met before now. What concern is it to you if I stay in this competition?”

right

A realization hit her. “You know where the key is… don’t you? You know things about him, and why he’s here, and you don’t want me around long enough to figure them out.”

i dont see what he gets out of that tho

Blackwell blasted open the door to the room, sending shards of wood flying in every direction. In a blink he was back in front of her, concern visible as he frantically traced his eyes over every inch of her, his hands coming up to wipe the disheveled strands of her hair from her face. “Are you alright?” he demanded. “Did he touch you?”

She held her breath as she flipped through the pages until she landed on the one she was looking for. She scanned carefully over each name, and when she reached one of them, adrenaline sliced through her veins. Gabriel White. Her breath hitched as she continued through the rest of the list. And the name she spotted just a few lines below buckled her knees. Tessie Grimm.

ohhhh wtf wtf

“Ugh!” Ophelia screamed. She pushed herself up from the ground and jabbed a finger into Blackwell’s chest. “I was foolish for coming here, and I was even more foolish for ever trusting a single word you said.” He curled his hand gently around her wrist to keep her palm against his chest. “Angel, please listen⁠—”

aw man

Her gaze was razor sharp as she asked, “Who is Gabriel?” He winced. “Gabriel White is your father.”

FATHER?

Becca took a ragged breath as she looked up at the pendulum, face blotchy and red with her tears. “What was his name—Jasper. Jasper! Help! Please!” Not even an instant later Jasper was there, scooping the girl up and over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and disappearing. To everyone else’s dismay, the two extra saws Becca triggered did not disappear with them, though the first one did.

hm..

it turns out, I don’t like being choked,” she muttered. Blackwell shrugged. “Not by metal collars at least.” She shot him a hard look and stepped past him toward the path of the swinging pendulum in front of her.

lol

“Ophelia,” Blackwell yelled. She lurched another square forward, her right arm disappearing in the nick of time before it was severed from her shoulder by one of the dropping blades. She paused, chest heaving as she began to panic. Blackwell popped into view right in front of her. “Hey. You’re fine. You used your abilities perfectly.”

She sobered and sprang back into action, nearly slipping on the damp stone beneath her feet, but Blackwell was there to steady her, a firm hand on her waist, a constant presence by her side. Hopefully, the other contestants were too distracted to see him in the brief seconds he was solid.

“And you’ve been talking to someone. Someone none of us can see—except I just saw them. They’re helping you. You’re a Demon and you’ve got friends here.”

oh that is quite the accusation

“Men are always useless,” she growled to them both, half-exasperated, before pivoting and dashing for the next square.

There was a saw mid-swing behind her. She turned to face Eric fully as he regained his composure and straightened himself up. She backed up a step, directly into the path of the pendulum’s downswing. Eric braced himself to lunge. When he leaped forward, too distracted by his rage to realize the trap she had set, Ophelia let him seize her. And when the blade swung back down, he never saw it coming.

oh nah thats crazy

She stripped away her ruined dress before padding to the bathroom to draw a bath. Slipping into the tub, she scrubbed away every drop of blood on her skin until it was raw. Until she felt clean of her sins. When she was finished, she pulled the drain and made her way back to her room, leaving a trail of water in her wake. Standing in the middle of her room, without a stitch of clothing, she chanted Blackwell’s name. It took almost an entire minute for him to arrive. “I’m sorry, I was returning⁠—” He stopped short when he spotted her. His gaze instantly heated, but he remained planted in place. Each word he said next was slow and deliberate. “What are you doing, angel?” “Distract me,” she told him.

uhm

“The last real conversation we had, you were very upset with me,” he reasoned. “You’re only doing this because of what happened in that trial. You only ever want me after near-death experiences.” “So?” He leaned down until their eyes were level. “So, maybe I don’t want to just be a distraction to you.”

good for you for defending yourself

take care of my own distraction.” He crossed his arms over his chest, amused. “Alright, then. Go ahead.” She wavered a bit. “I will as soon as you leave.” “And miss the show?” He smirked. “I think I’ll stay.”

oh brother

She narrowed her eyes. “You don’t think I’ll pleasure myself with you here?” “No, I don’t,” he taunted.

oh i dont wanna listen to that rn LMAO

“Fuck.” Blackwell’s voice had turned husky, and she opened her eyes just enough to see him approaching the foot of the bed. “Why are you torturing me?” She only pumped faster in response. “Fuck, that’s it,” he grunted. The next thing she knew he was hovering over her, kneeling between her legs. He grasped onto her wrist and pulled her hand away from herself. She made a noise of protest, but a shot of excitement ran through her as she waited for his next move. He brought her fingers, slick with her arousal, to his mouth and gently sucked them clean. Something primal erupted inside her at the sight. “Delicious,” he said.

oh yall freaks

“I hate you,” she said, but it came out too breathless to be convincing. “Good,” he murmured. “Try and hold on to that while I do this. I adore a challenge.”

“Reach up and grab the headboard,” he demanded.

THE LOOK ON MY FACE

Her chest heaved with the effort of stamping down the moans and whimpers clamoring up her throat, and Blackwell made a noise of discontent. “Stop holding back,” he commanded beneath her, moving one of his hands between her legs to slip a single finger inside her. “I want to hear you.”

“Blackwell,” she whimpered as she slammed down on his hand harder and harder. “Good girl, use me to fuck yourself,” he praised, his voice deepening with lust. “Faster.” As she sped up her movements, he added a third finger. As she rode his hand, he brought his mouth back to her clit and sucked until she thought she was going to combust with desire. “Yes,” she urged him on. “Please… please don’t stop.”

oh wow

“Please,” she whispered as he pinched her nipples not caring about the desperation in her voice. “Please what?” he murmured as he moved one hand up to gather her hair and toss it over her left shoulder, giving his mouth access to the side of her throat. He nipped and licked his way over her feverish skin, and she shivered. She could feel the head of his cock pressing against her entrance and it was driving her wild. “I need you,” she gasped, “inside of me.”

You make me feel…” She could feel the planes of his body tense behind her as he cautiously prompted, “I make you feel…” “Good. Safe.” Her locket warmed, its pulse becoming more erratic with every word she confessed. “Not so alone. I want you.” “Then you’ll have me,” he told her, and without preamble, he sheathed himself inside of her, all the way to the hilt.

“Blackwell,” she cried. One of his hands splayed across her stomach while the other rested on her hip, helping keep her steady as he pulled all the way back out to the tip and then slammed forward once more. Soon he was pumping into her with a steady rhythm and her head lulled back against his shoulder as she enjoyed the sensation of him filling her so completely. “Ophelia,” he grunted. “Fuck, angel, I never want to be anywhere else but right here. Inside you.”

“I think you might be the closest to heaven I’ll ever get,” he whispered. She turned her face toward his just enough for his mouth to capture hers in a sloppy kiss. He licked and nipped until her lips were swollen, and as their tongues lathed at each other, his hips pumped faster, deeper.

“Come for me,” he implored as the hand on her breast made its way down to her clit, flicking the swollen bundle with his index finger and making her buck at the overwhelming stimulation. “I’m close,” she told him. “Good girl,” he encouraged. “Go all the way for me.” “Blackwell?” “Yes, angel?” he asked, nearly breathless.

Blackwell was the one to speak first. “I feel less alone with you, too.”

He sighed. “Alright, then. Where are we going to start looking tonight?” “There is no we tonight,” she told him, adamant. “I want to explore alone.” “There’s no we?” He raised his brows. “You were just begging me to fuck⁠—” “I did not beg.” She wrinkled her nose, cutting him off before he could finish that thought.

yall getting on my nerves

“As if you could go two seconds without popping in to bother me,” she muttered. “I’m not saying we can’t speak. I’m saying no more kissing, touching, or sleeping in the same bed. We need space.” He gave a single, sharp nod. “Understood.” Then he disappeared.

bitch you not gonna be talking to him like that

“Damn it,” she seethed before chanting Blackwell’s name. She loathed that she needed him to get her out of here. Except that he didn’t come. She tried summoning him again. No response. Again. No response.

i wouldnt come either

He reached out a hand in offering. “Would you care to dance?” She stared at his hand for a long moment. For some reason, she did want to dance. Even though she was pretty sure she shouldn’t. “I promise I don’t bite.” The man smiled kindly, the corners of his eyes crinkling adorably.

uhm wtf

Suddenly, she was being ripped out of her dance partner’s arms and into someone else’s embrace. She stumbled, eyes widening as she looked up and found a very pissed-off Blackwell. “Are you out of your damned mind?” he reprimanded. “What the Hell are you doing?”

heyy

“Would you all shut the fuck up?” Charlotte demanded. “God, the most torturous part of this fucking place has been being stuck listening to your insipid conversations.” “Who the fuck made you the boss?” Cade snarled. “Better than you, asshole,” Edna quipped, crossing her arms over her chest as she glared at Cade.

i wat everyone in this book that isnt blackwell to stfu actually

“I say this sincerely,” Ophelia spoke, curling a lip in disgust at Cade. “You need an exorcism.”

No one hesitated to exit, and they were promptly deposited back into the dining room where they had begun, albeit with even more paranoia than they had started with.

that was it??

Her stomach churned. The jealousy was writhing beneath every inch of her skin now, and she didn’t know what to do about it. This was bad. So, so bad. Blackwell possibly fucking a Devil somewhere should not elicit this sort of response in her. In fact, it should be a relief. The more time he spent pleasuring someone else, the less time he spent distracting her. Unfortunately, the ache in her chest was not soothed by that logic. “I have to go,” she muttered. Stalking back to her room, she wanted nothing more than to climb into a scalding hot bath and scrub away the feeling of betrayal she had no right to claim.

oh you got some nerves

Just before she pulled herself up, a face appeared above the tub. One with piercing green eyes. Pulling herself to the surface, she gasped for air, droplets rolling down over her skin and falling from her thick lashes, her hair pasted down her back, heavy from the water. Blackwell was standing beside the tub, arms crossed, shielded expression on his face as he roamed his gaze over her naked form. “Glad to see you made it out of another trial,” he commented. “Were you planning on letting me know?”

“Letting you know? I didn’t realize that was an obligation of our bargain.” He didn’t react to the bite in her words. If anything, he looked bored.

im bored with her too lol

“You don’t see why it matters?” he scoffed. “You were lured into one of his tricks because you needed space, and damned near got disqualified because of it.”

“We’re supposed to have a bond,” she sniffled. “That’s the deal. I call, you come.” He kneeled down before her and grabbed her face in his hands, eyes piercing into hers with sincerity. “I need you to know if I had heard you, there would have been nothing that could’ve stopped me from getting to you. Hell, nothing did stop me from getting to you. I went looking for you because I got the strangest feeling that something was wrong. I had every intention of respecting your request for space until then.”

SHE DONT DESERVE THIS MAN IM PISSED.

“Jealousy is a sexy color on you.

“Please go away. I need to finish bathing.” “With what soap?” He glanced around. “And what washcloth?” Her face heated with frustration. Of course he couldn’t just spare her some dignity. “Don’t worry, I got it.” He winked as he snapped his fingers and a small glass vial of liquid soap appeared in his hand, along with a washcloth. He kneeled forward on the ground and reached over the lip of the tub to dampen the cloth before pouring some of the soap into the middle of it and lathering it up. “Give me your back.”

im so pissed