The Ritual: A Dark College Romance
The Ritual: Chapter 26

I’ M YANKED TO a stop and shoved into a chair where each wrist is pulled down to my sides and cuffed to a back leg. My ankles are then also cuffed to the front legs. The hood that’s been covering my face is ripped off, and I suck in a breath of fresh air as I blink and look around.

We’re in a warehouse of some kind. A quick glance tells me it’s underground. No windows, no doors. Just an elevator at the other end of the large space. Concrete floors and walls.

I try to rock the chair from side to side to see how much it’ll take for me to break it, but it’s no use. The bitch is cemented down to the damn floor. A steel table sits in front of me that I bet is also cemented down.

“A little overkill,” I say, testing the cuffs themselves, but they’re the real deal, cinched down tight. I know that Blake secretly likes these damn things, and I don’t know why.

“Are these necessary?” Matt growls, secured to the chair next to me. The chains to his restraints clank as he tries to break free as well.

After we were cuffed and the hood was placed over our heads, we were dragged out of the cathedral and thrown into a vehicle of some kind.

The officer who stands to my right with his hands on his belt says nothing. Another quick look around tells me that the three guys who picked us up are nowhere to be seen. They were delivery boys and nothing else.

The elevator dings, getting our attention seconds before it slides open. Gregory Mallory himself steps off it. I’ve never met him before. A ruthless, powerful motherfucker who has a target on his back. The sorry bastard who tried his shot, missed him. I’m guessing that’s why we’re here. He’s followed by two other men. They look like they work for the FBI—three-piece black suits, sunglasses, and earpieces. But none of them resemble the men I saw on the TV.

He pulls the only other seat out from across the table from us and sits down. I notice his moves. Pulling a picture out of the pocket of his Tom Ford Windsor suit jacket, he slams it down and slides it to the center of the table in front of us. “Erik Bates. Remember the name, brand the fucking face into your goddamn memory,” he orders.

I look down at it. The guy has jet-black hair, pale skin, and a face tattoo of a fucking Chinese star on his cheek. Hard to forget. “Got it,” I say.

“Don’t fucking play, boy!” He shoots up from his chair, knocking it over as his hand slaps me across the face so hard that if the chair I’m chained to wasn’t cemented down, I’d be on my ass.

Taking in a deep breath, I glare up at him. “I said, I fucking got it.”

“I want his head!” He stabs the photo with his finger. “I want his fucking balls! I want him in fucking pieces!” He slams his fisted hands on the table, making it rattle.

“Anything else?” Matt asks sarcastically.

Gregory bares his teeth at Matt. “If you two do not get it done, I will make sure you rot in a maximum-security prison for the rest of your goddamn lives,” he warns.

Matt chuckles. “I like anal. What about you, Ryat?”

“As long as I’m the pitcher,” I say, playing along with whatever game Matt is playing.

“Of course,” he adds. Then looks up at him. “I’m sure we can replace someone who will willingly be our bitch.”

Gregory reaches across the table, grabbing his shirt, and tries to pull him toward him, but Matt doesn’t go far. When he realizes Matt’s cuffed to the damn chair, he slams the side of his face into the table instead. “I’ll have your fucking heads …”

The officer clears his throat, cutting him off. Gregory lets go and shoves him back. Matt very slowly rolls his neck around. Then leans over and spits some blood onto the concrete floor.

“Get it done!” With that, he turns and stomps over to the elevator, his two merry men once again on his ass.

The officer removes the keys to the cuffs from his pocket and undoes my wrists first, followed by my ankles. I stand and stretch as he goes to free Matt.

“Don’t get too comfortable.” The man finally speaks and adds, informing us, “They’re going right back on.”

BLAKELY

I WAKE UP and groan, rolling over. My body hurts so much. My pussy feels swollen and tender. I think it was from Ryat slapping it. But fuck, it felt amazing at the time.

Grabbing my phone, I see it’s a little after ten in the morning. I had gotten seven and a half more hours of sleep after he woke me up in my room and kidnapped me. I get out of bed and make my way to the bathroom. I never did clean myself up after we had sex last night. At that point, I just didn’t fucking care.

After using the restroom and taking a nice hot shower, I exit the bedroom to look for Ryat. “Hello?” I call out, walking down a long hallway. I gasp, throwing my arms around my naked body when I step out into an open room. It’s the living room.

Nothing but high ceilings with massive windows. The thought of someone seeing me makes me jump back, using the hallway to shield my body. But getting a better look outside, I see it’s nothing but woods.

“Ryat?” I ask, but only silence follows.

Going back into the bedroom, I grab the sheet that’s been shoved to the end of the bed and wrap it around me. I walk over to the dark gray curtains that hang from the ceiling and pull them back to showcase more woods on the other side of the floor-to-ceiling windows. It’s beautiful out here. It has two glass doors that open to a back porch. My hand wraps around the doorhandle but I stop myself, needing to go replace him first.

Walking back down the hallway, I look over the bare walls. The furniture is black leather. No rugs, pictures, or artwork in the house whatsoever. If I didn’t know Ryat owned it, I’d say that it’s vacant.

The kitchen is what any chef would call a dream—all stainless-steel appliances, three ovens, two refrigerators, and one large walk-in freezer. The pantry alone is as big as my bedroom at my apartment.

I start to walk up the stairs but pause, realizing I don’t have my cell on me. Going back to the bedroom, I pick it up and call him.

“Hello?” he answers on the first ring.

“Where are you?” I ask, looking around the bedroom as if he’s going to appear.

“I had to run to Barrington. I didn’t want to wake you.”

Oh. “How far is that from here?”

“Thirty minutes. I should be back in a couple of hours.”

“Okay. I’ll see you then.” We hang up, and I go into the kitchen and make myself some coffee. I’m going to need it. I could seriously go back to sleep right now.

Once it’s done, I open the sliding glass door and walk outside onto the back patio and sit down in a chair. Looking around, I see that it wraps around the whole back of the house. I bet it goes around the front too.

I look to the left, and you can see a gravel driveway from where I am. My heart picks up when I see Ryat’s SUV parked in plain sight.

He’s here!

That’s what he drove me here in. It wasn’t his car or mine because he put me in the back. I could tell by the amount of room I had.

My breathing becomes heavy as my cell dings, and I look down at it to see I’ve received a picture message.

I open it up, and it’s of me a second ago while I was sitting down on the porch with my coffee. It was taken from the tree line, but it’s from a private number.

I set the coffee on the table. “Hello?” I call out.

The only sound I hear is the birds. My cell dings again, and I read the message.

Come replace me.

I place my phone by the coffee and walk down the stairs. My bare feet feel the softness of the grass. Making my way down the path, I get closer to the tree line. I look where it seems the picture was taken from, but no one is there. “Hello?” I ask, circling back around to look at the house. “Ryat? I know you’re here.” I smile, realizing why he brought me out here. We’re going to live out my fantasy several times this weekend.

Someone stands on the back porch dressed in dark jeans and a black T-shirt, a white mask covering their face.

My heart rate accelerates as they take the first step. My mind tells me that it’s Ryat, but my skin starts tingling because I can’t be a hundred percent sure.

Second step, third step. Slowly, he makes his way down them. When his boots hit the grass, he stops.

The hairs on the back of my neck stand up, feeling his stare. I grip the sheet tighter around me, knowing I’m naked underneath it out in the open. What if someone sees us? That thought has my pussy clenching.

He takes his first step toward me, and I turn, running away from him farther into the trees. I look back over my shoulder, and he’s gone.

I stop, my heart pounding and panting from the short run. Turning my head, I feel my hair slap me in the face. I reach up and push it off my face when someone grips it from behind me.

I scream out, my scalp tingling from the action. He drags me backward, and my hands come up to grip my hair, causing me to lose the sheet completely, exposing my body.

He brings me to a stop and shoves me to the ground. I manage to roll over onto my back as he drops to his knees, straddling me.

His hands wrap around my neck, and he squeezes, taking away my air before I even have the chance to yell for help.

My hands dig into the ground while my hips lift, and I arch my back. My pussy throbs as he spreads my legs wide for him. My bare feet kick the loose dirt and tree limbs as I fight to breathe. My face throbs, and blood rushes in my ears, but my pussy is wet and my nipples hard. Dots start to dance around, blurring my vision.

He lets go, and I begin to cough as I suck in a shaky breath while he unzips his jeans and pulls out his hard dick. He grips my legs, dragging me closer to him, my back scraping against the uneven ground, and enters me without any foreplay. I cry out before his hands are back around my throat, taking my air away.

I lie in the middle of the woods while he fucks me with both hands wrapped around my throat. The feel of branches and rocks under me, scratching my naked body. I come, unable to make a single noise. This time, those dots grow larger, my head pounds harder, and just as my eyes start to roll into the back of my head, he lets out a feral growl, stiffening as he comes inside me.

He pulls out just as my eyes close. Unable to open them, let alone breathe now, I feel him lift me into his arms and carry my limp body back to the house, knowing I now need a new shower.

My eyes spring open, and I sit up in my bed. I blink a few times, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the dark room. I’m back at my apartment. Soft light filters in from underneath my black curtains that Ryat had hung up over my window.

Getting up, I make my way to the bathroom. After using the restroom, I turn the sink on and splash my face. The dream of what we did at his cabin has my body wide awake.

We did nothing but fuck all day Saturday and most of Sunday. Hell, he even woke me up twice. I have never been so sore in my life. I’m pretty sure I have a UTI, considering it burned when I went pee. Of course, that could be due to the fact he fucked me in the middle of the woods. You know, tree branches, dirt, and all of that probably wasn’t the best idea.

Turning the water off, I dry off my face and exit the bathroom. I go to turn off the light but pause. It helps illuminate my bedroom, and I see that I was alone in my bed.

That’s odd but not uncommon. He must be in my living room or the kitchen. I swear the man never sleeps. He fucks me to the point I black out, and whenever I wake up, he’s already awake.

Going over to my bed, I pick up a T-shirt and pull it on before opening my bedroom door. I let out a shriek when I see Gunner standing in my kitchen. My hands immediately going to my chest, forgetting I’m wearing a shirt.

“What’s wrong?” Sarah asks, rushing out from down her hall.

“I scared her,” Gunner states, smiling. Enjoying himself.

I huff and agree. “It was unexpected.” Then giving a quick look around, I frown when I don’t see who I was expecting. “Where’s Ryat?” I ask.

“He’s on an assignment,” Gunner answers.

I frown. “What do you mean an assignment?”

“I mean, he’s gone.”

“He just left?” I ask, trying to understand what he means. My mind is a little slow this morning.

He nods. “Yep. He’ll return when he’s done.” With that, he goes to walk out of the kitchen.

“Well, when will that be?” I demand.

He shrugs. “Don’t know. But don’t try to contact him. He won’t answer.”

What the fuck? He just up and left? No goodbye? No hey, I’ll see you later? Nothing!

Storming into the kitchen, I go to get a drink because my tongue feels like sandpaper, and I see a bottle of pills on the counter. Picking them up, I read them over. They’re sleeping pills. My mom takes them. “Did he …?” My voice trails off when I remember him grabbing me water last night. He always gives me a bottle, but it had been in a cup. I didn’t even question it. I’ve put too much trust in him.

“Gunner?” I snap.

“Yeah?” He reappears back into the kitchen.

I hold the bottle up. “Did Ryat know last night that he was leaving for an assignment?”

He looks from me to Sarah, who crosses her arms over her chest and arches a brow at him. Running a hand through his hair, he looks uneasy, silently answering my question.

“Dammit,” I growl, throwing them across the room. They hit the wall and shatter open. Fuck him!