Page 34 of The Preacher's Pet

“And like Camile said, I’m a grown up. I can watch out for myself.”

I turn my face before I can see his reaction to my words and rush out the door, my feet picking up the pace the moment I hit the outside. I don’t want to run again, aware that I’m always running, but I can’t seem to help it. I need to put distance between myself and that strange altar. As I move through the woods, I realize I’m also alone and in the dark now. In the forest. My heart thuds, and I pick up the pace. My feet pound over the soft ground, and I almost sob as I race in the direction of the college. I didn’t think this through. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. Still, better these strange woods than that creepy tower.

Camile was right; this is freaky. It’s exactly what I’ve been trying to escape all this time, the secrets, the rituals, the strongbelief system, but somehow it keeps finding me. Why? Am I destined to always end up in this kind of world? Do I attract it?

The sounds of the night press in around me, and I hurry, trying to reach that moment of safety when I can see the college.

It’s only when I’m halfway back through the woods that I remember I’m still wearing Malachi’s leather jacket.

18

OPHELIA

I’m still runningthrough the woods.

Something—or someone—is chasing me.

Instinctively, I know when they catch me, they’ll be wearing masks. My feet crash through the undergrowth. I throw a glance over my shoulder, trying to see how close they are to catching me, but they’re shrouded in darkness.

Around me, nocturnal creatures hoot and screech, as though they’re enjoying the chase and are urging me on. Or perhaps it’s not my escape they call for, but for the person—or persons—chasing to catch me.

The long skirts of my dress whip around my legs.

I glance down at my white dress, confused. What’s happened to the denim dress I’d been wearing, and why are my arms bare? Where’s Malachi’s leather jacket? Uncertainty slows my pace, my mind blurring. What’s happening? I feel like I’ve gone back to that first night, after the party, but I’m not sure how it’s possible. Haven’t I just left the water tower and Malachi?

No, that’s not right either. I’d made it back to my room; I’m sure of it. I’d cried myself to sleep after my failed night of trying to appear ‘normal.’

So how have I ended up back in the woods? Sleepwalking, perhaps?

It doesn’t even matter how I got here. All I can think about is getting away, though I have no idea where I’m running. The thicket grows denser around me, until I’m fighting my way through the bushes. I’m sure it’s fighting right back at me, the branches seeming to curl around my wrists to hold me, the roots slithering like snakes around the ground to wrap around my ankles. Like the rest of the forest, the vegetation wants the people chasing me to win.

I let out a cry of terror and yank myself free but stumble. My hands and knees plant on the ground, and I heave air in and out of my lungs, my hair falling around my face in a pale curtain. Footsteps crash through the undergrowth behind me, and I know I’m not going to get away.

The understanding brings a strange kind of acceptance. I twist around, so I’m facing them now, and tuck my feet under me, bringing me to my knees.

Two figures emerge from the darkness—one with a black hood covering his face, the other in a smooth white mask with holes for eyes. I’d known they’d be wearing those masks, but seeing them for real does nothing to ease my fear.

I raise a hand and open my mouth to plead, but nothing comes out. Instead, the man wearing the white mask—Malachi—steps forward and takes my hand. He pulls me to my feet, and the man in the black hood—Cain—moves around behind me.

I’m sandwiched between the two of them now. My heart is racing, and I’m struggling to catch my breath. But God, being in their proximity does something to me. My nipples harden against my dress, and heat coils low in my stomach. It’s at this moment I realize I’m not wearing any underwear—not only no bra, but no panties either. How is this possible? How could Ihave gone out without any panties on? Or did I lose them before? Did one of these men take them from me?

Suddenly, their hands are all over me. Malachi traces the curves of my breasts over my clothing, down to my waist and hips, while Cain undoes the buttons at the back of my dress. He releases it from my shoulders, and it slides down my arms. The material floats across my hips and thighs and lands in a puddle around my feet.

The breeze in the woods caresses all my newly exposed skin, making it rise in goosebumps. I’m exposed to the air, and flesh never seen by any man is now revealed to these two masked males. I give a little gasp of surprise, but I don’t fight it. My breasts are bare for Malachi’s attention, and he cups them in both hands and squeezes my nipples between his fingers. They’re peaked and aching and seem to have a direct line to between my thighs. I know I’m wet down there, and my clit is throbbing and needing to be touched. This is so wrong. I should fight. Or run again, but the feelings are too good, too intense.

Behind me, Cain smooths his hands down my bare back to rest on my ass. He squeezes the cheeks and pushes one hand between my thighs. I whimper as one thick finger slides through my wetness and pushes inside me. There’s no pain, not the way I had been told there would be, only more pleasure. I whimper and push back against him. He pumps it in and out of me, while Malachi continues to play with my nipples. I wish one of them would kiss me, but that is impossible with the masks covering their faces.

It’s then I become aware of a third man, someone standing in the woods, watching. He’s touching himself while his friends explore my body, and I know he’ll be wearing a mask, too, except his is of a skeleton’s face.

He’s the darkest one of them all, and his gaze is heavy upon me. A curse or a blessing, I don’t know which. I welcome it eitherway, his hunger making me all the more desperate for what’s happening.

One of Malachi’s hands leaves my breast. It trails down to the same place Cain’s finger is. He pushes inside me as well, so both men’s fingers are inside my pussy, stretching me. I whimper and arch my hips, unsure how I’m taking them. It feels so good that I’m lost to the sensations in my body. Then Malachi slips back out, drawing my wetness with him, to rub lubricated circles over my clit.

My climax is building, and I fight to catch it. I don’t want to let this feeling go. Trapped between terror and pleasure is exactly where I want to be. I reach my peak, hovering on the edge for a few heightened, blissful but tortuous seconds, then I break, a scream of pleasure erupting from my lips as euphoria explodes within me, my clit throbbing…

I burst from sleep,gasping for breath, and lurch myself to sitting. I hope the scream of pleasure in my sleep was silent in real life, or I’m about to have someone knocking on my door to check I’m not being murdered. Tiny shocks of pleasure from my orgasm continue to shudder through my body, even while I’m coming around. My hands are fisted in the sheets, and I’m wet between my thighs. My clit aches deliciously, and I squirm against the bedding, not wanting it to end quite yet.

I can’t believe I climaxed in my sleep. I don’t think I’ve ever done that before, or at least not that I can remember. The content of the dream was…well…disturbing, but also insanely hot. I can completely understand why my subconscious needed to process everything that had happened, but why it had done it in such an erotic way, I’m unsure.

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