“Not gonna happen,” she muttered.
“Your loss, baby.”
The music abruptly cut off and Saint climbed back up onto his apple crate with a savage smile in place on his lips which I knew spelled trouble.
I turned Tatum to face him and Blake moved to stand beside us as we waited to see what new game was afoot. I kept her back pressed to my front with a possessive arm around her waist and she didn’t even try and shove away from me, drawing a smirk to my lips. I wondered if she could feel herself caving to my desires or if she was still in denial over them.
“I’ve heard there’s something of a toilet paper shortage!” Saint called in a strong voice which carried over the crackle of the bonfire and the lap of waves against the shore. “And luckily, I managed to stock up, so I thought I’d be generous and let you all have the opportunity to earn a few rolls.”
“How?” I shouted, wondering what cruel and wonderful torture he’d concocted for the masses.
“Simple,” Saint said and that evil little asshole look in his eyes was more than enough to let me know it would be anything but. “All you have to do is survive the Wiping Trials!”
I burst out laughing as several other people did too, while even more of them frowned in confusion.
“What’s that supposed to be?” Pearl Devickers shouted out, her hungry gaze raking over the crate of toilet paper like it was a box of dildos and she was hornier than a cobbler with a foot fetish.
“I’ve created an obstacle course, all you have to do is complete it and you get a roll. But I warn you - it’s difficult as fuck.” Saint smiled like a serpent and Blake started bouncing on the tips of his toes like the idea of this challenge might just make him come in his pants. “So who thinks they’ve got what it takes to make it?”
“I’m gonna fucking smash this,” Blake announced and I rolled my eyes at him.
A cheer went up from the crowd and Saint beckoned them closer, drawing their attention to a sprawl of flaming branches he’d pulled from the fire and laid out across the pebbles as the first obstacle.
I strode through the crowd and drew Tatum to take up position by Saint’s side as a queue began to form.
“You’ve got to run across burning branches – bare foot of course,” Saint began. “Then a swim out to that buoy a few hundred meters into the lake. There’s a tree climb, a mud crawl, a wall vault and more hellish fuckery besides. The Unspeakables are waiting along the course to point you in the right direction and it’s basically one big circle of hell which will deliver you back here. The only catch is you’ve gotta make it back within half an hour if you wanna win a roll of TP. So who thinks they can do it?”
I laughed darkly. No doubt the course would be damn near impossible to finish in that time, but there was already a crowd of assholes surging forward to give it a try.
Unsurprisingly, Blake shoved his way through the crowd to take part too. We were drowning in fucking toilet paper back at The Temple, but he couldn’t give up the opportunity to win at something. Especially when there were this many people to cheer him on. Hell, if he won, which I’d bet good money he would, he’d probably display that fucking roll of toilet paper alongside his trophies in pride of place.
To my amusement, Monroe stepped forward too, tossing his cape off as he gave Blake a challenging smirk. If he beat him, Blake would pout like a little bitch for at least a week. And I would really fucking enjoy that.
The crowd of students gathered around, cheering excitedly as Saint slipped between them, ready to start the race.
Tatum made a move to follow him but I caught her hand, tugging her back instead.
She turned to look up at me with a confused frown and I smirked at her as I backed up, pulling her along as we skirted the blazing bonfire and made it to the towering Sacred Stone.
“What are you doing?” she asked, glancing back over her shoulder just as Saint cried out for the race to begin.
“Everyone’s busy over there,” I explained, drawing her behind the stone and pressing her back against it as I leaned in so close that her sweet scent of vanilla honey blossom overwhelmed me for a moment. No one had ever touched this stone before her. No one even thought about trying it. The legend that went with it was too terrifying. And something about that made the lump of rock hum with a power so potent that I could almost feel it in the air. It really was sacred. And I wanted to defile it real good.
“So you thought you’d just take the opportunity to get me alone?” She arched an eyebrow at me like I was kidding myself with my confidence, but I was pretty fucking sure I wasn’t.
“Yeah.”
“I’m leaving,” she snapped, shoving me so that she could get past, but I just caught her and pressed her back against the stone once more.
“Just give me a moment to explain,” I growled. “And I promise if you’re not interested in what I’ve got to say then you can punish me for wasting your time. Hit me again, choke me out – you can even wrap your thighs around my face to do it-”
“Stop that!” she insisted.
“I will if you hear me out.” I
