I should have known that David would be a step ahead, and that even if he had no clue that we were planning to do anything tonight, that he would have already had something in place that would prevent us from even being able to think about attempting anything. I also should have known that he wouldn’t waste an affair as extravagant as this on an unprofitable night. All of the costumes and paints and trinkets that he sent to the dormitories probably cost him thousands of dollars, and for what? He didn’t do it out of desire to make the students happy.
He did it because he was celebrating his success, the success that he would have tonight at the gala. The final tipping point of his ingenuity for the distribution of his new drug Prisma, and the final event that he would need in order to make the addiction of the crowd impossible to fight.
I watched as David raised his hand into the air and held it high. I watched as he lifted two fingers straight up as though he were getting ready to pull down an invisible switch. It wasn’t until I saw the woman that he had brought with him slip something eerily similar to a gas mask over her mask, and David’s other hand hold something that was definitely a gas mask to his face, that I finally realized what was happening.
I stopped walking and froze in my spot just a few feet away from the stage.
There was no longer any point in walking further, I wouldn’t make it there in time. David’s two fingers went down as he kept his hand held high in the air and whoever was on the receiving end of his signal abided his command. The auditorium filled with a pinkish mist that swirled around everyone at the party and clung to their skin and wafted into their noses and mouths as they breathed. It wouldn’t do me any good to hold my breath, I wouldn’t make it through the crowd and out the door fast enough.
I felt the sweet, sticky air rise into my nostrils and fill up my lungs, leaving an aftertaste that lingered at the back of my throat and reminded me of cotton candy at the fair when I was a kid.
Our entire plan came crashing down and then faded away just like the steam had done once it had served David’s purpose. He had outmatched us in a game that we didn’t even know we were playing.
He had found a way to distribute the drug through the air.
I no longer remembered any plan that we had made. I didn’t even remember that there had been a plan at all. All I remembered was that I was a swan, and I was in a beautiful, swirling room full of other delightful creatures that all wanted to play with me. I danced and twirled and hopped up on the back of a man that looked like he was sad. I laughed at the king and queen who were sitting on a stage in front of us wearing masks that made them look like they were half machine.
Who were they anyway?
And who was I?
I had the most delightful feeling in my skin and every time I took a big breath of the sweet pink air, the feeling became even more delightful. For a second, I felt like I was supposed to be looking for something, but the feeling quickly vanished, and I went back to feeling delightful again.
When someone grabbed my hand, I turned around to see and there was an amazing-looking man in front of me. Even with his ornately fashioned mask, I could tell that he was handsome underneath. He was wearing black pants and a silver silk shirt that draped against his muscular chest.
He was for me; I could just tell.
I pulled him to the side of the room, away from all the people and then even further behind some curtains and into an empty spot that had just the two of us hidden inside. I felt the cotton-candy feeling wearing off a bit, maybe it was because this man and I had left the party room, but that was okay because it didn’t matter as we fell back together onto the portion of curtain that draped over the floor.
“Asheville,” he said, and I suddenly remembered where I was, and who I was, and he was definitely one of mine.
As my thoughts began to come back bit by bit, I knew our plan had failed. We wouldn’t be leaving tonight and there was nothing we could do about it. But here we were, the man was wearing one of Michael’s shirts, but I knew it wasn’t him. And since there was no reason for us to stop now, I gave in to wanting him.
I felt his hands groping me as I undid his pants. I grabbed his hot and bulging cock as he lifted my dress and teased the folds of my soaked pussy. I felt entranced by him. By the whole of the evening. And as he pinned me to a darkened wall in the corner, I felt myself give way. He guided himself inside me until he pushed and pulled with a tantalizing movement that made my entire body hot and trembling. I clung to him, my nails raking down a set of muscles I’d wanted to touch since the first moment I laid my eyes upon him and those chiseled forearms.
I held onto each sensual moment as he filled me and reached to pull his mask from his face after I pulled off my own, so that I could kiss him.
“Oh, Rob,” I gasped in ragged breaths against his face.
The euphoria of his cock filling me slammed against my gut. His eyes held mine as he slid out of my depths and slammed back in, causing my eyes to roll back. If it hadn’t been for all of the pieces of the evening that led up to this moment, I don’t know if I would have ended up here or not. I wasn’t sure if I had broken my promise to him or not because I didn’t really know how I felt about Rob yet. All I knew was that in this moment, I wanted him.
And I let him make love to me as though nothing else mattered.
12
That night, after the haze from the party had worn off completely and we had all found each other again, we went back to the dormitory and peeled off our clothes in exchange for something more comfortable to sleep in. All of us felt a bit headachy and deflated from both the aftermath of the drug, and also the fact that our plan had failed.
“Hey,” I said to Rob as he got ready to leave. “Stay.”
“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea right now,” he said.
The other guys looked over at him from their seats around the couch. I looked back at them just to make sure it was okay.
“We’re all in this together now,” Michael said as he got up from the couch and went over to give Rob a solid pat on the shoulder. “I think we all have the same goal here of trying to keep Lisette safe and get the hell out of Charlotte. You’re welcome to stay if you want.”
I smiled at Michael as he walked back to the couch and bent down to whisper in my ear. “Just remember how much I love you when it comes time for you to choose between us,” he said as he kissed the top of my ear.
He was right, it took a selfless and great love to be willing to do what he just did. And for a split second, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to return the gift he had given me so freely and so effortlessly.
Because I loved all of them, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to choose.
Nevertheless, I got up and walked over to Rob and put my arm around his waist before guiding him back to where I wanted him to be.
Right next to me, in bed with all of us. “Come on, let’s all get some rest.”
And we all huddled together to keep one another warm as we all came down from our highs.
David was gloating the next day when he surprised us all with a visit to the dormitory. He was happy about how much fun he had and how much chaos he had caused. He was in such a good mood that he didn’t even seem to notice that Rob was there with us now too. Michael and Julian and Adam rallied around me for fear that I would need protection against David’s wrath since I hadn’t given him his answers last night at the party. I had expected him to lay down some sort of consequence since I hadn’t given him my choices for the game he had proposed, but instead he laughed at me when I brought it up.
“I had no intention of honoring that little game,” he said in front of all of us.
“What?” I asked.
“That was all just for my own amusement,” David cackled. “You didn’t honestly think that I would ever let you leave, did you?”
