“The first event is ready. This is your twenty-four-hour notice. The first task was chosen by Mr. Miller. But that’s the only clue I can give you. Meet me at Surrender at nine AM tomorrow.”
I glance at the clock realizing it’s nine AM in the morning. It’s been a long night. And our lives are about to get harder. I may have fucked Kai. She may have served her punishment, and so did I. We may have even started a path toward forgiveness. But whatever our relationship is, it’s new. And before we have a chance to explore what sexual connection we could have, we are going to be forced into being enemies. And I doubt after tomorrow we can continue to be both—lovers and enemies. We can only be one. And our only choice is to remain enemies.
17
Kai
It was supposed to feel like punishment.
The sex was supposed to make him feel regret and pain.
Instead, it brought us closer into a connection I still don’t understand.
It was meant to be only one time. Hurt him and heal myself—that’s all.
But then I let him fuck me again.
And his words promised another fuck later if I’m willing.
That wasn’t supposed to happen.
Enzo wasn’t supposed to care for me after he fucked me.
He was supposed to hurt me and make me hate him even more.
Instead, it’s hard to look at him as anything but my protector. But tomorrow no matter what he wants, that ends. He can’t protect me and beat me.
The games start tomorrow.
Everything up to this point has been playtime.
Now it’s serious.
I have twenty-four-hours to prepare for a battle I don’t even know.
And right now, I’m sore as fuck.
Enzo’s cock was far larger than anything I could ever imagine. He stayed in me for far too long. And stretched me to my limit. But it felt so damn good.
I will never tell him that though. His ego is already too big.
I can’t stay in this tub all day, as much as I want to. And when I get out, I can’t snuggle with Enzo in his oversized bed like I want to either. I’m not sure he would want to anyway. That’s not how we are together.
Archard left us after giving us our warning. Not that his warning is much help. How do you prepare for a battle where you don’t know what weapon will be used? Or how the battle will be fought?
You can’t.
I try to think about what tasks my father might assign to try to give me an advantage. But when he wrote the rules, I was just a baby. He didn’t know he’d never have a son. He didn’t know that I would be fighting. And he did nothing to prepare me anyway.
I’m destined to lose. And after how I handled the last crisis, getting men killed, and a high-level leader almost killed, it’s probably for the best that I don’t stand a chance.
“Baby, what are you thinking?”
“That you should stop calling me ‘baby’ and start thinking of me as the enemy.”
Enzo’s eyes drop, and he gives me a chilling look.
You don’t get to be my friend. You don’t get to be my lover. You are my enemy.