The Bound Angel (Sacrilege Rising: Book 1)

Chapter Twenty One

The dining hall was more crowded than Mike expected.

In addition to acting as a cafeteria, the open hall served as the central hub for clubs, campus activities, and student outreach programs. One of the science clubs was putting on a demo show, displaying a row of glass beakers full of colorful liquids. Next to it, banners showed off oversized Greek letters for some fundraiser or another.

The line at Sabatino’s was quick, and it wasn’t long until he was unwrapping a sandwich. Even with the crowd, he was able to find a table to himself in the corner, and he dove in with reckless abandon. The bread at Sabatino’s set it apart from the countless other sandwich shops. The seeded roll made all the difference.

Between bites, someone asked, “Mike?”

A blonde woman was coming over. The voice made him think of a red dress and a perfect tan, but he couldn’t remember her name. It definitely started with ‘S’.

“Oh, hey,” he said while he wracked his brain trying to remember where he’d seen her before. “How’s it going?”

Sarah? Sam?

She asked, “Mind if I join you?”

He could really use some time alone to process his conversation with Liliana, but he didn’t want to be rude. He gazed wistfully at his Italian sub as he set it down and gestured to the empty chair across from him. “Sure, all yours.”

Sophie? That didn’t feel right, either.

The woman eyed him and said, “You don’t remember me.” It wasn’t a question.

Mike gave her an apologetic smile. “Is it that obvious? I’m sorry, I recognize you, I just can’t remember from where.”

The blonde smirked. “I could almost see the smoke coming out of your ears. I’ll try not to be offended. Sasha. From the Alpha Phi party a few weeks ago?”

Her words instantly summoned memories. The sorority mixer Allie dragged him to. The douchey blazers on the prowl. Sasha in a little red dress. The name of the sorority triggered something else too. He’d heard that name, Alpha Phi, somewhere else recently.

“Right, sorry, it wasn’t you, you were very memorable. I just had a few too many that night.”

She smiled at his answer. “Good recovery.”

He would have gone home with Sasha that night if Allie hadn’t intervened. She really was memorable in that red dress. It was a strapless little thing, leaving her tan shoulders and legs bare. Just thinking of that night, both what could have happened and what actually did, stoked whatever Heart-Tattoo and Liliana had begun to stir.

“Oh,” Sasha said softly, sitting up straight, like something had surprised her.

Mike’s phone buzzed. Meredith was calling, but he silenced it. “That was a fun night, if you don’t mention how I almost got beat up.” It was meant to be a joke, but she ignored it. Clearly not that funny. There was a distant look in her eye, like she was delving into her own memories. When the silence started to get awkward, he asked, “Everything okay?”

“Hmm?” Her eyes refocused. “Oh, sorry, I’m fine. Is it warm in here?” She unzipped her hoodie and shrugged it off her shoulders. Underneath, she wore a simple tee shirt. There was nothing overly sexy about it, but something between them had changed. She was in great shape, and one less layer showed it off that much more. The memory of the dress was like a matador waving a flag in front of an angry bull. Instead of seeing red, bare skin filled Mike’s mind. His vision flashed between the girl at the party and the girl sitting across from him. That night she was fit and tan and showing it off, and he could picture the body under the tee shirt she was wearing now.

He knew he was staring, but he didn’t care, and Sasha didn’t seem to mind. She fanned herself, pulling her shirt away from her chest for better airflow. “What, um,” she fumbled, her eyes drifting down to his lips. “I mean, yeah, the party was fun. My sorority is here for a fundraiser. Wow, it’s hot. Do you, ah-”

A new voice interrupted her. “Mike?”

He looked up to see another girl he half-recognized. It was like déjà vu. He pictured this new girl in the snack aisle asking about cookies. Like then, she was wearing a cropped shirt that showed off her toned belly and a dangling piercing. This time, he remembered her name.

“Becky?” Except it was Sasha who said it.

Mike asked, “You two know each other?”

“We’re sisters,” Becky answered, nodding to the Alpha Phi table while Sasha was busy tying her hair up in a ponytail.

Mike suddenly felt like a leopard hunting prey that had just come out of hiding. He was silently striding through the jungle, his eyes fixed on a fluffy bunny in a clearing. Then a second bunny just joined the first and he couldn’t believe his luck.

Becky was dressed for attention. Her tiny cotton shorts were folded down over her hips, and he was instantly reminded of her ass sauntering away down the cookie aisle. And her tan. The deep brown reminded him of Allie, except Allie’s was natural, born from genetics from somewhere around the Mediterranean. Becky looked like she spent every day at the beach. The pale tan line low on her waist made his mouth water.

She suddenly took a sharp breath, stood up straight, and slowly let it out. When she looked up, Mike wasn’t so sure which of them was the hunter anymore. Without asking, she pulled a chair next to Sasha and sat down.

“Funny running into you again.” Becky stared at him hard enough to drill holes. Coincidentally, he was thinking the same thing. A familiar shadow fell over his thoughts.

“How do you two, um, know each other?” Sasha asked. But between squirming in her seat and fanning herself it was clear she wasn’t all that interested in the answer.

“We’ve met,” Mike said as he leaned forward. “More importantly,” he continued slowly, lowering his voice and looking each of them in the eye, “how well do you two know each other?”

If his tone wasn’t clear, his eyes made his intentions plain. He openly leered. Knowing they were watching made it all the sweeter. Sasha was having trouble catching her breath. She kept pulling her shirt away from her neck. Sweat beaded on her throat, and he wondered what she tasted like.

But Becky was no meager little bunny. She met his gaze and said, “I thought you had a girlfriend.”

Emma had been with him at the store. “Not exactly.”

At his answer, Becky leaned forward until they were mere inches apart, matching his leering stare and dropping her voice low. “Convenient. Sasha and I go way back. How well do we know each other? I guess you could say… intimately.” She took Sasha’s hand in her own and placed it on the table where he would see. Then she stroked her finger across the back of Mike’s knuckles.

With the look in her eye, the skin on display, and that sudden touch, he was painfully hard. But something behind Becky caught his attention.

Another pair of eyes, this time belonging to a cute redhead, was looking his way. Next to her, a pretty girl with frizzy black hair stood motionless. She was holding a tray full of food and staring in his direction. Farther away still, one of the presenters from the science club was looking at him from across the room.

Liliana’s warning came back to him. But it was impossible to ignore the way Becky was devouring him with her eyes, and the way Sasha was holding her friend’s hand, staring at him with parted lips.

Mike hadn’t had sex in days, probably more than a week, which suddenly felt like the longest dry spell of his life. He wondered which one gave a better blowjob. Whose breasts would fill his hands. How they would look straddling each other in lingerie.

Something heavy crashed to the floor. The girl with the frizzy black hair had dropped her tray, and her food was now scattered all over the floor. It startled the threesome out of the moment and broke the spell.

Mike took a deep breath to steady himself and said, “Sorry ladies. Another time.” Then he got up and walked away. Annoyed voices came from the table, but he willed himself not to look back.

This was getting out of control. Every attractive woman in sight was suddenly eager to get close to him, and his inner caveman was salivating at all the luscious possibilities. He needed someplace that wouldn’t be mobbed by attractive women. Maybe a little studying at the library would clear his head.

The hard pavement under his feet did its best to keep Mike grounded, but it was only partly successful. His thoughts bounced from one gripping encounter to the next.

He thought Liliana was telling the truth, but how could you know if someone was lying unless you caught them red-handed? The explanation that she couldn’t lie could be a lie itself. At the very least, she was gifted in twisting the truth until he heard what she wanted him to hear. Her impersonation of the angel proved that much.

The hill up to the library was steep, and his legs burned with each climbing step. In the winter, this hill was notoriously difficult to go up.

Until today, Heart-Tattoo had never given him more than a polite laugh at one of his jokes. He imagined looking down at that tattoo, nestled between a pair of dimples in her lower back, his hands wider still as he gripped her waist.

The first time he met Sasha at the sorority party wasn’t unusual either. They found themselves alone, together, and made idle conversation. But just like with Heart-Tattoo, at some point something changed. They charged right past the get-to-know-you stage and straight to the jump-into-bed-together stage. That didn’t automatically mean something supernatural was going on, did it?

People slept together all the time. Even strangers. Cram thousands of twenty-somethings together, flooded with hormones and wide eyed at their first sight of the world outside their hometown, and it would be more shocking if casual sex wasn’t happening. Add alcohol to the mix and things were bound to go off the rails.

When Mike topped the hill, the library came into view. From a distance, it reminded him of ancient civilizations like Athens or Rome. Its gray stone columns and Latin inscriptions in the marble seemed so grandiose. Like this was where great philosophers debated their theories in front of nations, or where sweeping proclamations and far-reaching edicts were decreed from on high. But as he got closer, disappointing reality set in.

The stairs were littered with forgotten garbage, and he had to step around a puddle of something yellowish to get to the door. It was like seeing an impressive tattoo from a distance, then noticing crooked lines up close.

Becky’s aggressiveness, and the way she carried herself, was the most tantalizing of the bunch. There was something about exposed midriff that made his blood run hot, and her belly button piercing drew his eye like a magnet. Maybe because it was the first place any extra pounds would show, so if it looked good you knew the rest was likely to be equally appealing. Or maybe it was the tease, the hint of forbidden skin reminding you there was even more close by. Whatever it was, Becky had mastered it. The pale tan line where the hem of her cotton shorts was rolled down was the cherry on top.

These were the thoughts cycling through Mike’s mind as he jogged up the steps to the fourth floor, hoping a little physical exertion would clear his head. At the top, the fourth floor reminded him of a supermarket. Wide open space segregated by aisles and shelves. The place was empty save for a pair of librarians behind the check-out desk.

There was an elderly woman that reminded him of his grandmother, but the other one caught his eye. Her dark hair was tied back in a ponytail, and her glasses were sleek and modern. She wore a relaxed smile, like being surrounded by books was her happy place. The epitome of the cute, mousy librarian.

Suddenly anxious, Mike went in the other direction and entered the stacks, looking for one of the isolated desks hidden in the shelves. Row after row drifted by as he searched. The first desk he found was occupied by a guy sleeping with a pair of bulky headphones. The next was empty, but the desk had a crack running down the center and he kept walking. The third was taken by a pretty redhead. Not a natural copper accompanied by freckles, but a deep crimson. The way it contrasted with her smooth, pale complexion was striking. Mike kept his head down and quickly moved past, not pausing to make any sort of connection whatsoever.

After that, things were sparse. The deeper he delved, the more it felt like he was on another planet. The soft carpet and dense books had a muffling effect, giving the place a stillness. Like a midnight forest blanketed in fresh snow, the students like little critters tucked into their holes for the evening. Unfortunately, there was no place for him to hide away.

With a sigh, he took a seat at the very last table in the group work area, furthest away from the doors, and hefted a textbook from his bag. After missing a week of classes and being distracted since he returned, catching up on studying was as big a priority as getting away from, well, everyone.

It turned out to be a surprisingly productive afternoon. For about fifteen minutes.