I wasn’t going to let him say goodbye.

I wasn’t going to let men play monopoly with my life.

This was my choice.

If I made the wrong one, then that was on me.

But I had to try.

Had to see.

Have to know.

Pouring another shot, Sully shoved the decanter back into the fridge, then grabbed two glasses. Turning his back on his drink, he stormed with brittle steps to give one glass to Roy and one to Calvin.

I didn’t wait or second-guess.

I’d stolen Sully’s elixir, but I hadn’t planned on how to make him take it. I’d clutched it like a talisman, hoping, somehow, an opportunity would come up.

This was that opportunity, a fraction of a moment, gone forever if I didn’t snatch it.

With measured footsteps, I went to Sully’s awaiting drink, hoping no man watched me. With my back to them, I untwisted the cap with shaking fingers.

My heart pounded so hard I almost dropped the tiny bottle.

Almost.

Clamping my teeth into my bottom lip, I quickly tipped elixir into the amber alcohol then wrapped my fingers around the vial.

“Jinx…what are you—” Sully stormed toward me, suspicion deep in his tone.

I grabbed his glass, swirled it a little, and held it up for him as he arrived before me. “Bringing you your drink. So you can toast my eviction.” I flicked my gaze to Roy and Calvin, wondering if the wobble in my voice revealed what I’d done.

But Calvin continued typing up a sale contract, and Roy stared dreamily at me with his drink untouched in his hand.

Only Sully narrowed his eyes, his nostrils flaring.

I held his stare, gathering all my courage to be impenetrable.

I wouldn’t ruin my one chance.

We stared for the longest heartbeats. I swayed with each pound of my pulse, my stupid heart magnifying in size until it filled me everywhere. I could barely hear around the thunder; the pressure throbbed in my skull.

And then, Sully took the glass from me.

Our fingers grazed.

Our eyes latched tight.

A matching moan fell from both of us as the electricity that’d constantly threatened to strike tinder found a rogue dust of gunpowder and ignited.

A blaze of heat. A buffet of hunger.

A wildfire gust of need.

Sully’s jaw worked as he brought the alcohol to his lips and…

…tipped the contents into his mouth.

My knees threatened to buckle, but I held his stare until he’d swallowed. I waited until there was no turning back from this.

As his throat moved, pushing the drug into his belly where it would branch off into all directions, dilating his arteries, overworking his heart, sending desire between his legs, I let out my tattered sigh.

His eyes flared. His tongue ran over his teeth.

His taste buds recognised the fragrant flavour of his elixir.

Absolute horror drowned his face. “Oh, fuck…what have you done?”

With tears clawing up my spine, I opened my palm and showed him the empty vial.

Was I prepared for this? Would I be alive after this? Would he choose to relieve himself with me or run to another goddess?

What if this is a terrible, terrible mistake?

“Shit.” Sully acted as if I’d just sentenced both of us to death. “Shit!”

And who knew…maybe I had.

His eyes snapped closed as he wedged a fist against his belly, already feeling the first effects, the first inhibitions, the first howling to fuck.

With a guttural groan, he turned to look at Calvin.

“Cal—” His voice had turned into rough, tumbling gravel. “Christ.”

Calvin looked up from the laptop, his gaze shooting from Sully who twitched as if the elixir had already ensnared him and me standing behind him.

I shook so badly, I dropped the vial. It plummeted to the tile and smashed into tiny glass shards.

The smash shot Calvin into motion.

He knew what I’d done.

He knew what was about to happen.

Sully roared with rage, “Get Slater the fuck out of here. Now!”

Calvin bolted around the desk and snatched Roy Slater from his stupor. Roy’s glass fell to the tile too, another explosion of glass and liquor.

“Hey! What are you—”

“We need to go.” Calvin dragged him to the door, not caring that Roy fought. It didn’t even slow him down. Stuffing him through the exit, Calvin turned back to look at Sully. “What do you want me to—”

“Just go. Keep the goddesses in their villas. Don’t –” Sully groaned, tearing at his blazer as his skin licked with lust. “Don’t let them fucking near me.”

Cal didn’t dally.

He swung the door closed and left Sully and me alone.

Sully paced away from me, dragging his hands through his hair. He tore at the strands as if he could rip out the elixir by the roots.

I tripped forward, my gemstone gown whispering on the floor.

I actually felt sorry for him. So intimately aware of the pain of having your self-control stripped away, your body becoming a slave to starving libido.

Hearing me behind him, he spun on me, grabbing me by the throat. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

I swallowed hard. “I…I didn’t want to leave until—”

“Until?”

“Until I knew.”

“Knew what?”

“What exists between us.” I forced bravery into my voice. “Before I knew why I can’t stop wanting you.”

His eyes snapped closed again, his fingers feathering hard around my throat. Marching me backward, he shoved me out onto his deck, struggling to release me and step back. “Go. Leave. Fuck off.” He doubled over as he fought another crippling wave of lust. His cock thickened until it strained against his trousers, searching for a way free.

Should I help him? Undress him? Undress myself?

Was I prepared for him to grab me?

I was wet enough for his quick entry but should I remove my clothes and—

“Go, Eleanor!” His snarl sent pure fear through my heart.

“I-I’ll stay and…help.”

“Help?” He laughed cruelly. “Help? Fuck, you don’t know what you’ve done. You can’t hel—” His groan cut him off. He fisted himself through his trousers, fumbling with his belt.

The clink of the buckle coming undone sent another wash of wetness through me.

Seeing him so unhinged, knowing what was to come…it turned me on. It turned me on until I felt as if I’d taken the elixir too. I wanted him. So much. I wanted him inside me. I wanted to know why we felt this way.

But as his hand wrapped around his cock and pure passion fogged his stare, I also felt fear. A primordial fear that this wouldn’t just be sex. This would be painful and ruthless and quite possibly the last thing I’d ever do.

“Run,” he hissed, masturbating in front of me. His lips glistened from his tongue. His hips rocked into his palm. “Run…please fucking run.”

I shook my head, stepping toward him, my hand outstretched to replace him with me. To tell him it was okay to use me. That I’d drugged him to force him to admit he wanted this.

But he fell to his knees, holding his cock as if he could throttle it into submission. His chest heaved as he looked up at me, his eyes wild and body even wilder. He looked on the verge of breaking, on the precipice of no longer being human.