The Ritual: A Dark College Romance

I HATED THAT I had to force her hand with the divorce papers. I would never tell her this, but a part of me thought she would sign them. She was mad at me, and the Lords knew that. They wanted to test her, and I couldn’t tell them no. She has to prove her loyalty to me just like I had to prove it to them. So, I said the only things that made me think she’d want to fight me. I needed to make her mad. Blakely likes the fight. I needed her to find her backbone and stand up to me.

After storming out of the house, I drove a mile down the road and pulled over, watching her on my cell with the living room cameras. I can’t even explain how proud of her I was when I watched her throw those papers in the fire with determination. It was more of a I’ll make you love me rather than I love you, but I’ll take it.

Honestly, I’m not sure what I would have done if she had signed them. But I was telling her the truth when I said I’d never let her go. I probably would have thrown them in the fire, burning any evidence of her signature.

After I witnessed her set them on fire, I quit watching and headed to Blackout. I had to meet with Ty. That’s a new issue I have to deal with.

“Ryat,” she whispers nervously. “Tell me.” Her hands come up to my shirt, and she grips the material. “You have no problem making me prove myself to the Lords, but you won’t allow me to prove it to you.”

“You already have,” I say, running my hand through her long, dark hair, feeling how soft it is.

Her face falls, and her eyes drop to the floor. Stepping back from her, I turn to go take a shower when her words stop me. “I knew you didn’t sleep with her.”

Turning, I look at her. “How do you know?”

She takes in a shaky breath. “Because you’re nothing like Matt.”

“You’re right.” I growl, “I’m not.”

Walking over to me, she reaches up, wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling me into her. “Now’s your chance, Ryat. To prove to me just how much you trust me.”

I look away from her, my eyes going to the large floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the backyard and woods, knowing it hides my secrets. “What if you can’t handle it?” I ask, my eyes going back to hers. “You can’t decide to walk away if you see something that you don’t like,” I say honestly. I won’t allow it.

“Who said I was going to leave?” she asks, tilting her head to the side. “Wouldn’t you rather have a wife who knows who you really are and chooses to stay than one who pretends you’re someone else?”

Letting out a long breath, I think about her words. She’s right. I’d much rather her know who I am. A Lord is powerful, but he is also alone in a world full of men. Chosen ones only know the sex and parties. Ladies know more, but still very little. Most prefer to be in the dark, though. My father has never hid who he is from my mother, but I’ve seen her leave the room, refusing to listen in on a conversation he was having with someone else. I don’t fault her for it. Some just don’t care to know what kind of evil walks the earth.

Cindy would have been the same way—wanted to be in the dark. All she would have cared about was the power and the lifestyle that my fortune could have provided for us. That’s why I didn’t want her.

But Blake? I like that she wants to be a part of my world. Even though I’ll never allow her to get too close. I can’t risk her life, but I can share mine with her.

Making up my mind, I nod. “Okay.”

Her face lights up, and she bites her bottom lip to keep from smiling but fails.

“But …” I add. “If at any point, I think you can’t handle it, I get to pull you back.”

“That’s—”

“The deal.” I interrupt her before she can finish that argument.

Rolling her eyes, she says. “Fine. It’s a deal.”

“Come on,” I say, pulling her out the sliding glass door and walking down the steps.

“Ryat, it’s pitch black out there,” she whispers like someone will hear us. The closest neighbor is three miles away.

“It’s fine. I know where we’re going.” She stays silent while I take us into the woods, walking the path that I’ve made over the years. Grabbing my phone out of my pocket, I use the flashlight once the lights on the back porch are too far away to find the door that sits in the side of a hill ahead of us.

Walking up to it, I punch in the code and push it open. “Watch your step,” I tell her, allowing her to enter first but keeping hold of her hand. Once the door closes behind me, I bring her to a stop and flip on the light.

It lights up the staircase to the bunker below. This time, I place myself in front of her and walk down the stairs with her behind me.

Once we hit the landing, I release her hand and flip on the other light, to illuminate the room and turn to look at her. She comes to a stop, her small gasp filling the large space. Her wide eyes scan the wall in the back—chains, knives, and guns hang from hooks and sit on shelves. There’s a cage to the right that’s currently empty. But the chair in the center of the room is what gets her attention. Cindy sits tied to it with a black hood over her head. She struggles in the restraints, her mumbled words behind her gag making little sense.

I lean against the table, crossing my arms over my chest, and watch my wife carefully. Her wide eyes are focused on Cindy. “How …?”

“Your father helped me get her down here while you changed,” I inform her. She needs to understand that I’m not the only one who will protect her. He made himself very clear when he spoke to me on the back porch before he and my father left.

Eliminate any threat to his daughter. I had no problem agreeing to that.

She slowly turns, her eyes finally meeting mine. “All of this because she lied about sleeping with you?”

I refrain from smiling at her innocence. That was one of the reasons I didn’t want to show her this. Sometimes, I like how innocent she was when she first ran into me. “That was her excuse for showing up, Blake.”

“I knew she was lying … but I don’t understand.” She licks her lips.

I push off the table and turn to face it. Picking up the black designer bag, I turn it up upside down, emptying the contents out onto it. “This is what she brought to our house.”

Blake walks over to me and looks at everything. She picks up a syringe full of clear liquid. “But … she said she was there to see you.”

“She was there to hurt you.”

Looking up at me, she frowns. “What do you mean?”

“I bought that house two years ago, Blake. I’ve never had Cindy over. She wanted you to believe that she had been there several times with me, but that was a lie. Her sole intent was to hurt you while I was gone.”

Her frown deepens, and she puts the syringe down. “Then how did she know where it was?”

I smile. “That’s a good question. Let’s ask her.” Walking over to her sitting in the chair, I remove the hood from her head.

She immediately starts thrashing in it. Her hands are tied to each armrest with rope, and her legs are spread wide, secured to each leg with zip ties. I rip the tape off her mouth.

Throwing her head back, she screams, making my ears ring.

“No one can hear you,” I tell her.

She leans forward the best she can to look at Blakely. “Help me. Please,” she begs. “He’s fucking insane.”

Blake ignores her and picks up a roll of duct tape that was in Cindy’s bag. “What were you going to do with this?” she asks her.

“Did you hear me?” Cindy yells. “He’s going to kill me.” Tears run down her cheeks as she desperately pulls on the rope.

Placing the tape down, Blake picks up the syringe. “What’s in this?”

“Fucking bitch,” Cindy hisses. “Listen to me!”

“Let’s see.” Blake walks over to us, and Cindy starts sobbing. Coming to a stop, Blake looks up at me. “Does it matter where I stick her with it?”

I shrug. “Doubtful.” It’s probably a sedative of some kind. I can’t see Cindy having the skills of a nurse to stick a vein. Especially if Blake was going to be fighting back at that time.

“Okay.” Blake stabs Cindy in the upper arm with it, her thumb hovering over the plunger.

“Wait. Wait. Wait. I’ll tell you,” she rushes out. “Just don’t do it. Please. I’ll tell you. Anything you want to know,” she says through the tears running down her face.

“I’m listening,” Blake says but doesn’t remove the needle from Cindy’s arm.

“Matt told me where you live,” she cries.

“How did he know?” I demand. “No one has been out here.” Blake was the first person I brought here, other than my father. Well, and now Mr. Anderson.

She sniffs. “He didn’t say. Just that he knew you brought her here when you were supposed to be in New York.”

“How the fuck did he know I didn’t stay in New York?” I bark, making her flinch.

“I don’t know,” she whines. “Please pull it out.”

Blake removes the needle, and Cindy sags into the chair, softly crying. I start to pace. How in the fuck did he know I didn’t leave? Was he …?

“He was watching me,” Blake speaks.

I come to a stop. “What do you mean? What makes you think that?”

She puts the cap on the needle. “That night at the house of Lords party—in your room—he told me that the weekend you came home early when you were supposed to be in New York, you had blocked my incoming calls and texts from Sarah so I wouldn’t go to the house of Lords.” Her eyes meet mine. “What if he was watching me and saw you come back and bring me here?”

My hands fist at the thought of him watching her. I came home to surprise her with her fantasy but what if I hadn’t come back? What would he have done?

“We had sex outside. In the woods,” Blake announces nervously. “You had texted me to come find you and—”

“What are you talking about?” I interrupt her.

She looks at Cindy who still quietly cries, and then back to me. “When I called you. You lied and said you had to run into Barrington.”

“The part about me texting you,” I snap.

Swallowing, she repeats. “You sent me a text after the phone call. Told me to come find you.”

“Blake.” I storm over to her. “No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did!” she argues.

“Show me,” I snap.

Sighing, she points at the stairs. “My phone is in the bedroom.”

BLAKELY

HOW COULD HE forget that text?

“We’ll go get it,” he growls, grabbing my hand and yanking me toward the stairs.

“It was me,” cries Cindy’s soft voice.

“What?” Ryat shouts, making her flinch.

She looks up at us through her watery lashes. “It was me. Matt was using my cell phone. He texted you. He told me that Ryat had blocked his number from Blakely’s. His calls and texts weren’t going through, so he asked to use my phone. I didn’t know at the time what he was going to say to you.”

“No.” I shake my head, refusing to believe that. “It was Ryat.”

“What was the number?” he demands, turning to face me.

“It was …” My heart hammers in my chest when I trail off.

“What was it, Blake?” he snaps. Gripping both of my shoulders, he glares down at me.

“It was a blocked number,” I whisper.

“Son of a bitch!” he shouts, stepping away from me. “Why in the fuck would you think that was me?”

“Who else would it have been?” I ask, licking my lips. “You had sent me that picture of myself in the library before.” Shrugging, I add, “You said you were gone, but I saw your SUV in the driveway. Then when I went to look for you out in the woods and saw you were standing on the porch.” I know that was Ryat. He was the one who fucked me and carried me inside the house. He had removed his mask, and we took a shower. Why would I have questioned the text? “I thought you were playing around.”

“Motherfucker!” he shouts and turns to Cindy.

She cowers in her chair, dropping her face. He grips her chin and forces her head back, making her whimper. “You knew he was here …”

“No,” she cries, tears running down her face. “He asked to use my phone at the house of Lords party that night. I asked if I could go with him, and he said no, that he’d be out late but would give me my phone back in the morning.”

His grip tightens, and she sniffs.

“When he gave it back to me, I looked and saw who he had messaged. There was also a video…”

“What the fuck was on the video, Cindy?” he demands.

With her head tilted back at an odd angle, she manages to try to look at me, and he shouts in her face. “Answer me!”

“A video … of you two having sex in the woods.” She sobs.

He shoves her face away and walks over to the table, where he places both of his hands on it and bows his head. His white T-shirt pulls tight across his broad shoulders and back, showing me his taut muscles.

I stay frozen where I’m at, trying to understand what she’s saying. Matt watched us have sex that night in the woods, but what if he saw more? Was he sitting in the parking lot of my apartment complex when Ryat showed up and kidnapped me? He had to have been, right? Otherwise, how would he know where the cabin is? If so, does he have a video of that?

“I don’t understand,” I whisper over her sobs. “Why would he tell me to come find him, knowing you were here with me?”

No one answers. Instead, Ryat shoves all her stuff off the table, and it bounces off the concrete floor, making her flinch. Silence falls over the room, and I’m pretty sure she’s holding her breath right now.

He slowly turns around, leaning against it once again. Crossing his arms over his chest, he narrows his green eyes on hers. “One chance. How did you know she was here tonight?”

She bows her head, her shoulders sagging in defeat. “Matt called me and said that she was back in town. He knew you two were at the house of Lords, and if I was going to have any chance with you, this was it.”

“Meaning?” he growls.

She lifts her head, her watery eyes pleading with him to have mercy on her, but even I know she’s not going to get it. “Meaning, I was going to have to get rid of her. But I didn’t …”

He pushes off the table, stalking over to her.

“No, Ryat …” she screams, her body thrashing in the chair. “Please, you have to understand…”

He silences her when he walks behind the chair and wraps the rope from her bag around her neck. He pulls it tightly, making her struggle in the chair, her hands clenching and unclenching. Her hips lift while she tries to fight the rope cutting off her air.

He bends down, his lips near her ear while his green eyes are on mine. My breathing picks up when he whispers to her, “Look at my wife, Cindy. I want her to be the last thing you see.”

I hate that I’m turned on right now. That the smallest piece of me understands he’s about to bring hell down on anyone who wants to harm me. I should feel for her, but I don’t. She knew that I was in her way of getting what she wanted. And she was going to do whatever it took to get him.

A part of me can’t blame her. I’d do the same.

Her fight grows weaker, her face drains of color, and her lips turn blue. I watch her eyes roll into the back of her head, and her body sags while he holds the rope in place, taking her life. The second one that I know of, for me.

I want to ask how many have to die in order for me to live, but if Ryat asked me that question, I’d say as many as needed.

He undoes the rope from around her neck, and her lifeless body just slumps in the chair. Walking over to the table, he tosses it onto it. “Go to the house. I’ll be there in a minute,” he orders, his back toward me.

“I refuse to take orders from you anymore, Ryat.” I manage to say, squaring my shoulders. My husband just showed me who he really is. I need to show him who I am.

He lets out a growl and spins around. “Blake …”

I rush over to him, my hands going to his face, and I lean up on my tiptoes, slamming my lips to his, cutting off whatever bullshit he was about to tell me. It doesn’t matter. There are situations where words have more impact on someone, and this is not one of them.

He doesn’t hesitate. His hands grip my thighs, and he lifts me. Spinning me around, he sets my ass down on the table.

Pulling away, I throw my head back, and he trails kisses down my neck where his teeth sink into my sensitive skin, making me shiver. “Ryat,” I breathe.

“Fuck, Blake,” he groans, ripping my shirt open, exposing my breasts to him. “Fuck, you’re perfect.” His hand grips my left breast, and he squeezes it, making me whimper. “Lie down,” he orders, slapping my thigh, and it’s one that I don’t mind following.

Laying my back on the cold metal table, I shiver when he yanks my shorts and underwear down my legs and tosses them over his shoulder. Spreading my legs with his, he steps into me and unzips his jeans. When he pulls his cock out, he’s already hard, and my mind wonders if it’s because of Cindy or me. Did what he did to her turn him on? Or is it the fact that I’m turned on by what he did?

“You, Blake!” Ryat growls. “It’s always fucking you.” He adds as if reading my mind before he pushes into me, spreading my already sensitive pussy wide to accommodate his size, and I cry out. His hand comes up and wraps around my throat but doesn’t cut off my air.

“You’re still wet from my cum when I fucked you earlier,” he states, his hips slamming into me.

My hands drop to the table, and I reach out, grabbing the edge on either side of us to hold us in place.

“I’m going to fucking fill you with cum again, Blake. Every fucking time your pussy will leak with it, wetting your underwear. A reminder I was there and that it belongs to me.”

I understand his need to dominate me after what Cindy told him about Matt watching me. Hell, that’s why I wanted him. To remind him that I’m his wife. That no matter how much she wanted him, he belongs to me. But I’m not on birth control. I didn’t take it with me when I ran. And I was gone for three weeks. I tried to remind him of that earlier in the bedroom, but he didn’t allow me to speak. “Ryat, I’m not …” His hand tightens around my throat, his fingers digging into either side of my neck, this time cutting off my words again and my air.

He looks down at me, a smile tugging at his lips. “I know, Blake, and I don’t fucking care.”

I’d moan if I was able to, but his hand around my throat prevents that. He picks up his pace, and my hands fall from the edge, my eyes growing heavy from lack of oxygen. I let go, letting him have his way with me. I trust him with my life.

He thrusts so hard that my head falls off the edge, and I see an upside-down image of Cindy’s body slumped in the chair. Her face wet from her tears, and hair a tangled mess. Her body starts to become spotty as dizziness takes over.

My eyes fall shut, and the blood rushes in my ears, blocking out the sound of his grunts. My body is floating, rising like a balloon. Higher and higher to the sky. The pain making it even more pleasurable and the choice to freely give him control.

It’s addicting, like I imagine a drug would be. I feel giddy, almost high. My pussy clenches around him, and he hisses in a breath when my body reacts, and I come all over his dick. That wave of heat rushes over me, and he lets go of my throat.

Sucking in a breath, I start coughing but it doesn’t slow him down. I feel a rush of blood and loss of the little focus I had left. He thrusts into me one more time, and I feel him pulsing. He comes inside me, just like he said he was going to do.