Insatiable (Inferno Games #3)

1. Paragon Of Virtue

1

PARAGON OF VIRTUE

F ELIX

“Let me the fuck in, you shitty excuse for a human!”

I recoil at Anthura’s words, waking me from a sleep I don’t want to awaken from. The smell of donuts fills the air, reminding me once again of Rowena and the time she ate one off the floor. Despite myself, I smirk at the memory before the anger comes back with a vengeance. I don’t need to be thinking about Rowena and… I can’t even let myself complete the thought. Not that Anthura gives me a chance to complete it.

“I will break this fucking door down if you don’t open it in the next five…”

I miss the last word as I pull the blanket over my ears, but it’s immediately yanked back, leaving me staring into Anthura’s wrathful gaze.

“Stop hiding like a fucking coward and get up. The introductory meeting starts in half an hour, and I want to go through our strategy before heading down there.”

My throat feels like I’ve swallowed razor blades and my head is pounding. “I thought you didn’t get through?” I mumble as I drag my ass out of bed. ‘Hoped’ would have been a better word, but I’m not in Hell because I’ve ever done any fucking thing right in my whole miserable life or death and Anthura is obviously my punishment. “And for that matter, how the fuck did you get into my room?”

She holds her portal up. “You forget I have access to everywhere. I wanted to give you the courtesy of answering your door, but you’re a lazy fuck.”

“If I’d have known I’d be spending eternity with you, I’d have become a virginal choir boy in my youth,” I grumble, eliciting a frown from Anthura. She looks impeccable, as always. Her black hair is brushed back and both her makeup and outfit are perfect, and red. In another life… or death, I’d have fucked her just to shut her mouth, but something’s stopping me… and it isn’t just hatred, even though I despise the sight of her now. An image of Rowena staring at me, her mouth open in shock, comes unbidden, though hardly unsurprisingly. It’s the image I’ve been playing over and over again in my dreams all night.

“I’m sure you would have been a paragon of virtue,” she smirks, twisting her face into something ugly. “And you think they can get rid of me? Just because that fraud bitch Noémi decided I should be a contestant, doesn’t mean I should be treated like one. Hades agreed to let me back where I belong, running the games. He’s got another asshole running this level, but this time I’ll be part of the team, and that means,” she sidles up to me and runs her finger under my chin in a way which I’m sure she thinks is sexy but in fact makes my stomach churn, “I can help you get through the trials to the next circle.”

I bat her hand away. “I don’t need your help, Anthura. I’m going to get through this by myself.”

She cackles as I stride past her to my bathroom. “You can’t do shit without me. You think Gluttony is all about food? No, it’s about your deepest temptations, your greatest desires and being able to resist them. She grabs my crotch and squeezes. “And we both know you are a fucking weak piece of shit. Fucking that bitch Robert is proof of how pathetic you are and how you’ll fuck anything.”

I narrow my eyes as I feel my blood pressure rise, and not to the part of me it usually heads to when a beautiful woman touches my junk. “Get the fuck out of my room, Anthura… and if I catch you using your portal to get into my room again, I will tell Hades about your cheating and have you thrown out for good.”

Her eyebrow lifts. “You’re going to tell on me? Fucking hell, Felix. Is that the best you can do? I can have you fed to the demons and let me tell you, in this level, they are really fucking hungry.”

“Goodbye, Anthura.” I slam the bathroom door in her face and lock it for good measure.

As the lock clicks into place, I lean against the door, feeling the weight of exhaustion settle over me again. Anthura’s presence always drains me, but her threats and her touch leave me feeling filthy. I turn on the shower, hoping the hot water will wash away the grime of her insinuations and my own lingering shame.

The steam fills the bathroom, and I step under the scalding spray, letting it burn away the remnants of sleep. My thoughts drift back to Rowena, her image a persistent ghost in my mind. The way she looked at me, the shock and betrayal in her eyes—those moments haunt me more than anything Anthura can throw at me. I clench my fists, trying to shake off the guilt and focus on the challenges ahead. Gluttony. Temptation. Desire.

There is one thing Anthura is right about. I have always been weak when it comes to women. When I was alive, I thought bedding the world’s most famous supermodels was a strength, but now I see how pathetic it really was. An ego trip, just like flaunting my wealth.

None of that matters. I’m going to be a father.

“Fuck!” I hiss, my words getting lost in the hiss of the shower, so I punch the tile instead, cracking it and splitting the skin covering my knuckles.

Above the two previous tattoos on my wrist, another one has appeared. This time it’s a pale blue circle. If I stay in these games long enough, I’m going to end up looking like some wannabe gangster with a collection of terrible jail tattoos. Tearing my eyes from the most recent monstrosity, I watch the blood from my cut knuckles swirl around in the water and into the drain. I shouldn’t be able to bleed in Hell, but I’ve been shown that isn’t true. Nothing I was told of Hell as a human is remotely accurate. Rowena shouldn’t be able to get pregnant. It’s like some kind of cosmic joke. All the women that were desperate for my babies when I was alive and I didn’t want them. I thought having a child would shackle me and make me an easy target for gold diggers to siphon my money. Shame coils in my gut at the man I was... and the man I am now, because I'm going to be a father with a woman I hate... a woman I can't stop thinking about. I can't buy my way out this time… and I don't even know if I want to.

I shut the shower off and hear the sound of my portal beeping in my bedroom. Pulling a towel round me I open the bathroom door, glad to see Anthura heeded my threat and fucked off somewhere—probably to simper to Hades or whoever the next leader of the games will be. Or maybe she’s plotting my downfall. I’m surprised to find that I don’t even care. My portal has my full attention. Tension pulls at me as I lift it and I’m surprised at how disappointed I am that the message isn’t from Rowena but a group message to remind all the Inferno Games contestants to head to the lobby in ten minutes for the introductory meeting.

I don’t want to talk to Rowena, but I’m pissed that she doesn’t want to talk to me. I gave her the one thing she never thought she could have, and her greatest desire. Bitch could have at least had the decency to send me a message. We’re linked now despite the fact that neither of us can stand each other. I slam the portal down on my bed and head to the wardrobe to pick out a suit to wear. I get a flashback to the time when Rowena punched me. I’d been wearing a suit. No shoes. I remember it all too well. I’d been seething with anger. Ready to… to what? I didn’t even know then what I was going to do to her. I sure as shit didn’t know I was going to kiss her.

I lick my lips without even thinking about it. I can still taste the ghost of her strawberry lip balm. I wipe my mouth as though that will do any good, and grab a suit to wear. I don’t need any distractions in this circle. I’m already at a disadvantage because of what I said to Anthura. I don’t need some bitch with a baby destroying my chances of getting out of here. Whatever madness took hold of me in the last circle is gone now and despite what Anthura said to get a rise out of me about temptation, Gluttony cannot be worse than Lust. I was set up for what happened. It has nothing to do with weakness. At least that’s what I tell myself as I head to the door.