Page 32 of The Sweetest Revenge

She glanced over her shoulder. Voices grew louder from the next room—multiple voices, angry tones.

Her eyes widened slightly. "I'm not sure," she said, words clipped with urgency. "But we should get out of here before he comes back with the rest of the football team." She grabbed my elbow, tugging me toward the back door. "Now, Zaiden."

"Is Journey here too?" Sterling asked Mila, his voice dropping to a hushed tone.

She nodded, her eyes darting to the staircase. "Outside by the pool."

Sterling's shoulders squared with newfound purpose. "I'll get Journey and make sure she gets out of here safely." He squeezed my shoulder once before disappearing into the crowd.

I shifted Ariella in my arms, her weight slight but present. My chest tightened with conflicting emotions. I shouldn't care what happened to her. Each time I looked at her face, I saw flashes of my sister's accident. She was the reason my sister was dead.

I should have let them pass her around like they wanted.

Ariella's breath whispered against my neck, fragile and trusting. My grip tightened.

No. That wasn't what I wanted. The thought of their hands on her made my stomach turn. If anyone was going to destroy her, it was going to be me.

Ariella Ledger was mine.

Mila followed me out of the house. "Zaiden." I stopped twisting to see her. She opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but then snapped it shut like she chickened out.

"I'm not going to touch her," I said. I had zero intention of touching her half-conscious, but if she threw herself at me like she'd done on the dance floor, I wasn't sure I'd be able to control myself.

CHAPTER16

ZAIDEN

When I dropped Ariella into the passenger seat of her car, she was passed out, but that lasted exactly two minutes.

"It's so fucking hot in here?" She whined, wiggling in her seat. I rolled my eyes. It wasn't hot, not even a little bit. "Why is it so hot?"

"It's not hot." I kept my eyes locked on the road, my jaw clenched against the urge to look at her again. "Here," I switched hands on the steering wheel before I pulled my bottle of water out of the cup holder and shoved it in her chest. "drink this." Drugs weren't my thing, but I knew this was a side effect of the drug she was given.

"I can't drink this." Her voice hitched, fingers fumbling with the bottle cap. Sweat beaded along her hairline despite the cool air. "It's hot, and I'm too hot. I need air."

"Then take off your clothes." My words were laced with annoyance. I tightened my grip on the wheel until my knuckles whitened. "But drink the fucking water."

The last thing I needed was for her to end up in the hospital for dehydration.

She shifted in her seat, and I quickly glanced out the corner of my eyes as she pulled her shirt over her head, tossing it to the floor. A smile tugged at the corner of my lips. I wasn't serious about the 'take your clothes off' part, but I wasn't mad either. She popped the button of her jeans open before wiggling out of them, drawing my full attention. I'd seen her naked a dozen times, but that didn't mean I didn't want to see her again.

I hated her, but her body was fire. My gaze raked over her feminine curves as her hands traced over her sensitive skin. She was horny—another side effect of the drug. If what they gave her was ecstasy, every nerve ending in her body was electrified with the slightest touch.

Her head fell back, and her eyes closed as she trailed her fingertips up her inner thigh, spreading her legs wider. A whimper escaped her parted lips, and I let out a shuddering breath as my gaze followed her hand that disappeared between her thighs, making my body awaken with new life.

I was well aware that sober Ariella would never do this, not willingly with me anyway, but I didn't care.

A horn blew, snapping my attention back to the road in time to jerk the car back into my lane. My gaze flashed to Ariella. She hadn't even noticed we'd almost died. There was no way I could focus on the road and driving when she was topless and making the most erotic sounds I thought I'd ever heard. There was also no way I was stopping her.

My knuckles whitened against the steering wheel as I spotted the turnoff ahead. I swerved down the isolated dirt road, tires crunching over gravel and fallen branches. The car jolted as we bumped over the old railroad tracks, and I eased to a stop, positioning us between the heavy tree line and the abandoned rails.

When I killed the engine, the sudden silence pressed against my ears. Not a single car light broke the darkness. Not a single sound besides our breathing disturbed the night. No one used this road anymore, which was exactly why I'd chosen it.

I hit the door lock button, but only my door locked. Ariella drove a Toyota Corolla that was older than she was and had almost a hundred thousand miles on it. Nothing worked, and this was an area where door locks were necessary.

Lifting out of my seat, I reached across the center console and over Ariella, brushing my skin against hers as I reached to lock the door. Her body arched into my touch, and I groaned.

"Touch me." Her whisper contradicted the forcefulness of her grip as she seized my wrist, guiding my hand to her thigh. Her eyes remained closed, head tilted back as she spread her legs wider, begging for the touch of my hand between them. "Please."

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