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of speed.
    I could have been a star in track if it hadn't been for being in The Community.
    At six two, I've got the height—the speed. But in a small town like Tea, being from The Community got me labeled a pariah.
    There were no sports for Father Weston's son.
    Only the silent stares of coaches that would love to have had that body for every sport but didn't want the stigma of having an athlete who was in The Community.
    I sprint the final distance, driving hard up the steep, winding gravel driveway. A ribbon of green flows up the center of the road, and I avoid the slightly mounded greenbelt in favor of the punishing loose gravel.
    I slow, jogging around the back of the all-white mansion, and halt at the base of the wooden deck that runs the length of the house, nearly fifty feet. Installed by yours truly.
    That'd been another beating for not making sure one of the corners was plumb. Whoops. A “cleansing.” Gotta sugarcoat that shit.
    I drop into push-up stance. Dip to the ground. Lift. Dip.
    After one hundred, my triceps burn.
    I become aware of the presence of someone else.
    Ignore it.
    Another hundred fly by, and my arms begin to tremble. I'm not catching snow on my ass. I'm a plank, smoothly sinking and rising. I do more.
    Finally, I stand with a hop and look around me for that enigmatic pulse of life.
    Her blue eyes watch me from behind the oak tree.
    Audrey.
    I'm exhausted. I've pushed hard, running for almost an hour, put two hundred plus push-ups like a cherry on top of a grinding workout cake.
    I shake from what I've put my body through. I should turn around and take a shower. A cold one.
    But there she stands. In the rain.
    Drenched.
    My eyes go to her tits, and I can barely make out her nipples hardening under the lightweight fabric of her plain T-shirt.
    Has he fucked her yet?
    Or will she fuck me first?
    The devil on my shoulder tells me to go for it. Get my ass over there and work her over.
    I've been with a lot of women. I know what they like. How they want to be touched.
    I can have her.
    The angel on my other shoulder is silent.
    I move.
    Audrey retreats.
    I stop, rain running off my nose and dripping on the front of me to mingle with my sweat.
    She looks down, partially hidden by the massive trunk of the gnarled tree. Her gaze avoids me.
    As though I'm not good enough to notice. I feel the cruel smile twist my lips.
    Guess what? I am fucking good enough to notice.
    Pausing for a second, I note there's no one else stupid enough to be out in the deluge, and stride to the tree.
    She lifts her chin, and those swimmingly gorgeous blue eyes flood with panic.
    Indecision.
    My smile widens. It's okay, sweetheart. Let me do the deciding.
    She begins to walk backward, her hands moving in front of her as if to ward me away.
    The grin is still affixed to my face. “I thought I told you to hang with the wives ,” I spit out.
    Her fingers tremble as she pushes a soaking piece of thick hair behind her ear.
    My gaze moves down her body.
    I blink.
    Small waist, hot ass, gorgeous, huge tits. She's a real-life wet dream.
    Audrey belongs to Father.
    That thought spurs me forward.
    “I-I don't know them,” she admits miserably. Then a spark of defiance lights her blue eyes. “And I think I have a right to be outside as much as you.”
    “You don't have rights anymore, Audrey,” I say in a flat rumble.
    Her lower lip trembles, and I feel like an ass. No surprise there—I am.
    “Yes, I do.”
    “No.” I draw out the word. “You gave those up the day you said yes to my father.”
    “I never said yes,” she whispers.
    Four words, spoken in the softest voice. And each one is a sucker punch to the gut, reminding me how innocent Audrey is, how fucked up this is. I swallow—can't come up with a smartass remark. That rarely happens. Fuck you, new wife.
    “Well, you’re here now, and you do what you’re told.” Can she sense my unspoken warning?
    “I suppose,” she says and leans against the tree with a defeated