Corrupt (Devil's Night, #1)

by Penelope Douglas

The top of her hair glowed in the soft light from the moon, and every time her nervous glances over her shoulder hit me, it made my heart beat faster. I’m going to make you scream.

“You may think I fuck with your head,” I said, looking down at her as I unbuckled my belt and unfastened my jeans, “but you don’t know what you’ve done to me all these years.”

She and I were the same, after all. We fought shame every day, struggling with who we could let see the real us, and we’d finally found each other. Unfortunately . . . we were fucked.

Fuck you, Rika. Fuck you. I can’t choose you. Why did you do this to me?

relax. I wanted to see who she was when she stopped caring what everyone else thought or expected of her.

And even though she was always the one to watch me as we grew up, that didn’t mean I wasn’t always aware of her, either. I still remembered the day she was born. Sixteen years, eleven months, and eighteen days ago. That crisp November morning when my mother let me hold her and then my father immediately took her out of my arms and laid her next to Trevor, who was just a baby then, too. Even at three I understood. She was Trevor’s.

Why her? Why, despite my mother, who always loved me, and my friends, who always had my back, was it Erika Fane who put the air in my lungs or made my blood run hot? She always got to me.

No airs, no drama, no masks. Just music, rage, and noise, and eventually, when the high hit you just right, you’d find a girl or she’d find you, and you’d disappear upstairs for a while.

Rika was a lot like I was a few years ago. Confused, caged, and corruptible.

The most valuable lesson anyone learns in life should be learned as early as possible. That you don’t have to live in the reality someone else invented. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. Ever. Redefine normal. None of us know the full measure of our power until we start pushing our boundaries and pressing our luck, and the more we do, the less we care what others think. The freedom feels too good.

“I wonder what it’s like to be you sometimes,” she admitted. “To walk into rooms and have respect. To be so loved by everyone.” And then she turned her head to the side, looking up at me with those big blue eyes, begging me. “To want something and take it.”

“Such a good girl,” I growled in a whisper, flicking her lips with my tongue. “Say it, Rika.” “I’m a good girl,” she panted, her voice shaky. “And I’m going to fuck you up,” I

So many times of needing to be close to her, talk to her, see her smile at me, and now I had her in my arms, I never wanted to let her go. Nothing—nothing—had ever felt this good.

I had no damn clue what she and I were. All I knew was that we were the same. Did that mean I’d fall in love with her, marry her, be faithful, and live the same day over and over again in this fucking suburb? No. She and I were built for something different. I would piss her off, I’d be difficult, and I’d be just as much of a nightmare to her as a dream, but after nearly seventeen years of this pull with her, I knew one thing. I would always circle her. It never stopped. Even when we were kids, if she moved, I wanted to move. If she left a room, I wanted to follow. My body was always aware of where she was.

“Forever I’ve wanted you, and now I feel . . .” She looked up, her eyes glistening. “What?” I bit out. “Dirty,” she finally answered. “I felt like your friend tonight. You saw me, you liked me, you respected me . . . And now I feel like a simple, stupid girl—a dirty secret that needs to sit quiet in a corner and wait for your word to speak or move. I don’t feel like your equal anymore.”

for the first time in a long time I didn’t like myself. I didn’t like my reflection in her eyes. She had too much power over me.

She cocked her head, thinning her eyes with a challenge. “Someday I’m going to own a building like Delcour and drive a hot car like you,” she told me, “and I will have gotten it all on my own. And I’ll do it while flipping the middle finger at everyone—including him—that looked down on me.”

Her lips curled as she continued. “I’m going to fuck my way through school and anyone who doesn’t like it can go to hell.”

It’s odd to see how no one is really human to us until we talk to them and realize there’s barely any separation between who we are and who they are.

“You belong to us, Rika,” he breathed out in my ear. “That’s what’s happening.” My eyes widened, and fire spread through my stomach as despair set in. It was Michael’s voice. No. “You’re Horsemen property now,”

I’d never been surer of anything. No, she wasn’t scared. She’d given into it. She was owning it.

I didn’t want anything planned. That wasn’t Michael, and it wasn’t me. I wanted the thrill and the playing, the drama and the fights, the passion and the craving.

I wanted it all to be out of our control, because we had no choice but to dive in.

Being scared wasn’t a weakness. But letting it force my head down and my voice quiet was. Fear wasn’t the enemy. It was the teacher.

“I’m not playing your games. You were wrong.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “You want to know what I’ve learned? I don’t win by playing your games. I win by making you play mine.”

“Goddamn,” he whispered against my lips. “I want you.” “You’re not the only one.” “Kai?” he gauged. “Don’t look to him, Rika.” “Why not?” He darted out, catching my bottom lip between his teeth, the heat of his mouth sending shivers down my spine. “Because you get everything you need from me,” he argued, his hot tongue flicking my upper lip. “And you’d only be doing it to fade me out, anyway, and that will never happen.”

What if I’d completely corrupted her?

Unease weighed on my shoulders, and I let out a breath. I need her. I want her.

for some reason, the anger didn’t break me. It made me my own person, someone who was defiant and knew their own mind. I stood up to my father, I made my own decisions, and I was invincible. And I became very good at finding my amusement in other ways.

I loved that I dominated her pretty little head more than my brother ever could.

Resting a hand behind her head, she looked at me, her big eyes taunting me as her other hand rested on her bare stomach. She looked so fucking soft and warm and perfect. He’d seen her like this. He’d lain next to her like this, and regret racked through me, not because of the picture before me, but because it should never have been him. I could’ve had her—her first time, everything—and I let her go three years ago.

We want what we want.

“I’m not tough, Michael,” she whispered. “Not really. I can play, and I can let you fuck me in your brother’s bed or on your father’s desk and use me as an object to get back at them, but in the end—” She paused and then continued. “In the end I’m still here, Michael. I’m still here. It’s still just you and me.”

“Just you and me,” she repeated. “Promise me,” I demanded against the silky skin of her neck. But promise me what? What did I want from her? Promise you’ll never leave me? Promise you belong to me? Promise you’re mine? I raised my head, turning her lips toward me and kissing her deep and fast, her taste sending a rush of pleasure to my cock. I pulled away, breathing against her lips. “Promise you’ll never say no to me. Promise you’ll never keep yourself from me.” She grabbed my bottom lip between her teeth, sucking and kissing. “I’ll never say no,” she answered, but then added with a smile in her voice, “As long as you keep me screaming yes.”

God, I was addicted.

Rika. Little Monster.

“I don’t forgive you for what you’ve done to me,” she whispered, her voice still shaking from the orgasm. “But you’re right. I don’t think I can say no to you.” I closed my eyes, threading a hand through her hair and holding her close. I don’t think I can say no to you, either.

I heard him breathe out a laugh. “You finally met your match, huh?”

She was in my body, in my head, and . . . I looked down at her, my heart aching at the way she pushed her hair behind her ear. And she was creeping into other places, too.

“Because you’ve corrupted her nice and good. She’s a force now, and it won’t be long before she’s brave enough to demand what she wants. If you don’t give it to her, she’ll find someone else who will.” I turned my head, peering over at him. “I don’t need your warnings. I don’t lose.” “That wasn’t a warning,” he shot back, not taking his eyes off her. “That was a threat.” And then he looked at me as he turned to leave. “Watch your back, brother.”

“The only way we find out what we’re capable of is by getting into a little trouble.”

I fell, and I never even tried to stop myself.

I couldn’t believe it. Michael Crist was on his knees, telling me I was beautiful.

“Rika,” he whispered against my neck. “I need you. I need you every day, every hour, every minute . . .”

He was everything. My entire life, I only felt completely alive when he was close, and while I knew nothing would ever be easy with him, I also knew nothing would ever be good without him, either.

“You know,” I started, slipping on my pants. “I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love you.”

“When you look at me,” I continued, “when you touch me, when you’re inside me, I’m completely in love with my life, Michael. I never want to be anywhere else.” I finished pulling on my socks and shoes, bending down to tie them. When I was done, I sat up straight and looked at him. “Will you ever feel that for me?” I asked. “Will you ever need me or fear losing me?”

If he loved me, we would be invincible.

“Because he loves you more than us,” Kai answered, flipping damn near close to my own words back at me.

“I’m nothing. I’m a piece of shit. I’m garbage.” And then he pushed up, climbing off the bed and looking down at me, his eyes now ice-cold. “And I’m going to be your nightmare, Erika Fane.”