Hell Breaks Loose: A Devil's Rock Novel by Sophie Jordan Read Free Book Online

refusing
     to look at the body radiating heat toward her. She felt like she was flying out of her skin.
    “Easy there, princess. We just gotta make it look real.”
    Her eyes widened. Make it look real ? “Wh-What does that mean?”
    “Get under the covers. I would suggest you scream to make it sound legit to the guys in the next room, except you’re so nervous
     I’m not counting on you being very convincing.”
    She wasn’t so sure about that. She was freaked out enough that she could probably provide the soundtrack for a good old-fashioned
     slasher film.
    He tugged at the comforter to get her to lift up. She readily obliged, hopping off the bed and backing away. His voice stopped
     her cold. “Nu-huh. Clothes off.”
    She touched the front of her badly wrinkled silk blouse, hesitating. It had been six months since a man saw her naked. And
     that had been a quick breast exam followed by a perfunctory pelvic exam. It hardly counted.
    Charles might be her boyfriend as far as the world knew, but they had never slept together. Of course they had kissed for
     the benefit of the cameras. Nothing her mother would deem vulgar. Only chaste pecks. In private, however, they’d experimented,
     willing to give it a go since her father was so determined for them to be a couple. For all they had tried, the spark wasn’t
     there. Making out with him was awkward. Two fourteen-year-olds fumbling together in a closet had more chemistry. Grace had
     put an end to it, sensing he would have gone all the way even as lackluster as they were together. And how humiliating was
     that? Charles would suffer sex with her.
    No, Nathan from college had been the last real boyfriend to see her naked. They’d dated before her father took office. They
     broke up when he started grad school and she moved to DC at her parents’ behest. Three years since Nathan. Since sex. And
     that had only ever been in the dark of her dorm room. Whenever Nathan attempted to turn on the lights she’d flipped them back
     off, too self-conscious.
    She toyed with a button on her blouse. Just pretend he’s old Dr.  Mattheson , she told herself.
    “C’mon.” He sounded impatient. “It’s the only way.”
    She looked at him then. Yeah, he so wasn’t Dr. Mattheson. She carefully trained her gaze waist up. Not going to look down there. God, he might read that as interest. “You won’t hurt me.” Even though she phrased it as a statement, a question hung in her
     voice . . . a plea, and she hated that. Hated that begging for her safety was something necessary. How had this become her
     life? “What’s your name?” she asked, hoping to reach him, to connect in some way.
    He held her gaze, a muscle feathering across his clenched jaw. She refused to break eye contact and look away this time. Grace
     waited for him to say it. Needed to hear him say it.
    “Doesn’t matter.”
    She wet her lips. “I’m Grace Reeves.”
    A corner of his mouth kicked up as he slid between the covers. “Yeah. I know.” Thankfully, the covers were now draped over
     him from the waist down.
    “Of course.” She shifted uneasily on her feet. The rough voices of the men carried from the other room. As he said, it was
     either trust him or put herself at their mercy. She felt her lip curl at that prospect. She already knew what they were like.
    The naked man in the bed she had occupied only moments before nodded toward the door. “Why don’t you turn off the light and
     get into bed?” A question and not a question. A well-toned arm patted the space beside him like he wasn’t asking anything
     out of the ordinary. “It’s a big bed. We won’t even touch.”
    She didn’t budge. She doubted a bolt of thunder at her feet could get her to move.
    He sighed. “My name is Reid.”
    It was something at least. A name. “Reid . . .” She said his name carefully, moistening her lips. “. . . promise me you won’t—”
    “I’ll keep you safe, Grace Reeves.” The swiftly