"Shall we?" Kingsley picked up a candle as Blaise lay on the floor on a large wooden board. Everyone in the room followed suit. Soon everyone, herself included, held a candle in their hands.

Blaise raised her arms over her head and smiled up at Kingsley.

"Happy birthday, ma fille." He knelt at her side, bent to kiss her and as soon as the kiss broke, he poured candle wax onto the center of her chest.

Blaise winced in agony. Eleanor winced in sympathy. Everyone else laughed and applauded. Music played. Wine flowed. And one by one every guest took their turn dripping candle wax onto Blaise"s naked body. Everyone but her.

"Come, cherie," Kingsley said, coaxing her forward.

"I don"t even know her," Eleanor said in a whisper.

"This will make an excellent introduction." Kingsley inclined his head toward Blaise on the floor. He was daring her to burn Blaise, and she knew it. Kingsley stood on the opposite side of Blaise, smiling at her. "You know you want to."

"Peer pressure? Really, King?"

"We"re all doing it," he said, his tone teasing, his eyes serious. And then she knew it wasn"t a dare, it was a test. And since she wanted to pa.s.s this test, she burned her.

Blaise gasped as hot wax landed on her inner thighs.

Eleanor brought the candle to her mouth and blew the flame out.

Kingsley gave her a wink and she sat off to the side to watch the show. Soon Blaise"s wrists were locked with hardening wax to the wooden board and then her ankles. Once her entire body was coated in the wax, Baptiste blew out his candle and inserted it inside Blaise"s v.a.g.i.n.a. Eleanor watched, breathless, as he f.u.c.ked her with it. Blaise closed her eyes and moaned in pleasure. Kingsley leaned over her body and kissed Baptiste long and deep.

Eleanor stood up and nearly ran to the balcony door. She threw it open, stepped onto the balcony and shut the door behind her.

She stood there in the winter cold, swallowing lungfuls of ice.

"You left too soon," Kingsley said. She"d been panting so hard she hadn"t even heard the door open.

"I needed some air."

"Too much?" he asked. "Were you scared of what was happening in there?"

"Not scared."

"Aroused?"

She laughed.

"A little."

"Jealous?" He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. As cold as it was, she didn"t fight the embrace.

"It did look kind of fun."

"I forget how young you are. We"ll play this game again when you"re ready."

"You kissed a man."

Kingsley gave her a quizzical look.

"I did. I like kissing women and men. And f.u.c.king them. Shocked?"

"I wasn"t expecting that."

"For your sake, I will give you this advice-start expecting the unexpected. There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in your philosophy, cherie."

"I"ll keep that in mind."

"Come. I"ll take you home."

He kissed her on both cheeks again before wrapping an arm around her shoulders and escorting her into the house.

She got her coat and Kingsley walked her to the Rolls-Royce waiting out front.

"I think I"ll go home the usual way," she said, staring at the car. "If that"s okay with you."

Kingsley raised his chin and studied her.

"Worried you"ll fail the Rolls-Royce test this time?" he asked. She blushed as he put the fear she hadn"t even admitted to herself into words.

"I like walking," she said.

"Walk away, then." Kingsley chucked her under the chin in an infuriatingly fatherly manner. "For your sake and mine."

He gave her the quickest kiss on the lips and she growled. Walk away, she told herself. Keep walking away and don"t look back.

After a few blocks, her head cleared, her heart settled. Being around Kingsley and his friends was dangerous to her sanity and her virginity.

Eleanor neared the subway entrance but paused when she heard someone call out her name.

She turned around and saw a man standing on the sidewalk ten feet behind her. She couldn"t process the sight of him, the reality of him, the existence of him.

But there he was. And for the first time that night she felt true fear.

24.

Eleanor "DAD?"

"Have you missed me, baby?" Her father stood with his hands in the pockets of his long coat, a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes.

"No," she said. "What the h.e.l.l are you doing out of jail?"

"Shock probation."

"Right," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. She considered running for it. The subway entrance waited twenty feet behind her. "Good for you, then. I gotta go."

She turned her back on him.

"I thought it was only Kingsley Edge you were spreading for," her father shouted after her. "But now I know it"s the priest, too."

Eleanor"s heart stopped. She slowly turned around.

"What are you talking about?" She kept her voice neutral, trying not to betray her fear.

"I found a business card in your coat. Edge Enterprises. There"s only one reason a man like Kingsley Edge would give you the time of day, and that reason"s between your legs."

"You"re disgusting."

"I"m right, though," he said. "I tried to figure out how a n.o.body like you would even meet Edge. Not much reason for him to hang out in Nowhere, Connecticut, right? I asked around and found out he"s got this brother-in-law who stops by the house sometimes. A priest. A priest from Wakefield f.u.c.king Connecticut."

"Dad, look," Eleanor began, "it"s not what you think. I"m not sleeping with-"

"Save it. I have all the proof I need. Want to see? Pictures in my car. Nice one of you and your priest in a black BMW. Where were you two going anyway? Romantic weekend away together?" Her father laughed as if he"d made the most hilarious joke.

"It was a funeral. He wanted me to hang out with his sister, who"s my age. He was worried about her, and he thought she would talk to me since he wouldn"t talk to him."

"You think the bishop will buy that excuse when I tell him one of his priests is f.u.c.king my underage daughter? Can"t wait to tell your mother what"s going on with you two."

"What do you want?" Eleanor knew her father didn"t give a d.a.m.n who she f.u.c.ked, what she did.

"I want you to come with me right now."

"Why?"

"We"re going to go to my place and have a talk. I"m leaving town and I think you should come with me."

"I"m not going anywhere with you."

"You aren"t? Then I guess I"ll have to send all these pictures of you and Edge, you and your priest, to the police and your mother and your princ.i.p.al and the bishop. The newspapers, too. "Priest seduces teenage girl and shares her with his criminal brother-in-law" would make a great headline."

"Show me the pictures," she said.

"They"re in the car."

He walked over to an old beat-up Honda and opened the pa.s.senger door. He waited.

The last thing she wanted to do was get in that car. No, the last thing she wanted to happen was S0ren getting in trouble because of her. She walked to the car and sat in the pa.s.senger seat. Her father slammed the door so hard she flinched. He got in the driver"s side and turned the engine on.

"Show me the pics," she demanded.

"They"re at my place."

"You said they were in the car."

Her father started the engine and swung into the street. He turned the next corner as if trying to get her away as fast as possible from Kingsley"s house.

"You should thank me," her father said as he sped down a side street. "You don"t want to get mixed up with Edge. I"ve heard stories about that French f.u.c.ker. Well, I suppose you know. You"re f.u.c.king him."

"I"m not f.u.c.king him. We"re friends."

"Friends? Is he your babysitter, too? That why he picked you up from school?"

"You"re sick. Spying on your own kid." Eleanor shook with terror and fury. She"d been right. Someone had been in the church eavesdropping on her and S0ren.

"Watching my own kid. Not spying. And it"s a good thing I did, too. I go away for a year and you end up spreading for some sick piece-of-s.h.i.t molester priest."

"My priest is the best man alive," she said. Before her eyes her entire world ended-S0ren"s name in the newspapers, transfer, defrocking, excommunication, and it was all her fault. "He"s been a better father to me than you ever were. You got me into trouble. He"s the one who got me out."

"Yeah, and we both know how you"re paying him back."

"Pull over. I"m getting out."

"No, you"re not, little girl. You"re getting out of town with me."

"I said, pull over," she shouted, reaching for the wheel.

He slammed his elbow into her stomach so hard it knocked the air out of her lungs. She coughed hard and reached for the wheel again. Her father pushed back and Eleanor twisted around, scrambling out of his grasp.

"Sit down, you little b.i.t.c.h," he ordered. He reached for her neck and Eleanor took a deep breath. She closed her eyes, kicked out and smashed in her father"s face with her boots. Blood erupted from his nose and the car swerved wildly in the street.

Eleanor threw open the car door and ran for it. She ran as hard and as fast as she could until she found a taxi and flagged it down. She gave the driver Kingsley"s address and begged him to hurry. A few minutes later she threw some bills at the driver and raced up the stairs and burst through the door of the town house and found Kingsley standing in the foyer loading a clip into a gun.

"Elle, what the f.u.c.k happened to you?" He looked both relieved and furious.

"My dad ... He got out of prison. He made me get in his car. What are you doing with that gun?"

"Killing your father." He shoved the gun into some kind of holster under his coat. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her to him. Starting at her thighs, he ran his hands all over her.

"Are you hurt?" he asked.

"No, I don"t-"

He held up his hand. His palm was covered in blood.

"Jesus," she breathed.

"Scratch on your neck."

"Dad tried to choke me," she said. He must have scratched her, too.