Chapter 5

Serena's POV

Louis tilted his head slightly, studying me like something he had just acquired. He didn't move closer, but his presence alone was overwhelming. The way he looked at me made my stomach twist with fear and something else—something the drug was amplifying into a dangerous heat that crawled beneath my skin.

"I won't do anything to you right now," he said calmly, though his tone carried an unmistakable sense of control. "But seeing you like this… it's not easy to ignore."

He rested one hand on the edge of the bed, the movement causing his robe to shift again, exposing more of his firm, sculpted abdomen. His face was strikingly handsome—sharp jawline, piercing blue eyes, and a cold, commanding aura that made him feel even more dangerous.

I was shaking harder now, tears stinging at the corners of my eyes. "Please," I whispered again, hating how weak my voice sounded. "Please don't—"

"Don't what?" Louis interrupted, his voice dropping lower. He leaned forward slightly, and I caught the scent of expensive soap and something darker, something masculine that made the heat in my core flare viciously. "Don't touch you? Don't take what I paid for?"

My breath hitched. The way he said it—so cold, so transactional—sent ice through my veins even as my body burned. I pressed myself harder against the headboard, my nails digging into my palms. "You don't have to do this. Whatever Jax told you, whatever he promised—"

"Jax promised me a night with you," Louis said bluntly, his blue eyes never leaving mine. "He said you were willing. That you wanted this."

"That's a lie!" The words burst out of me before I could stop them, raw and desperate. "He drugged me! He and Anna—they forced something down my throat and knocked me out. I didn't agree to any of this!"

For a moment, something flickered across Louis's face—surprise, maybe, or doubt. But it vanished so quickly I couldn't be sure. He straightened up, his expression hardening into something unreadable. "Drugged you," he repeated slowly, as if testing the words.

"Yes," I said, my voice breaking. "Look at me. Do I look like someone who wants to be here?"

Louis's gaze swept over me again, slower this time, taking in the sheer lace teddy that barely covered my body, the way my skin was flushed and damp with sweat, the trembling in my limbs. His jaw tightened. "You look like someone who's been dosed with something strong."

"Because I have been!" I practically shouted, frustration and fear mixing into something volatile. "Why would I agree to this? Why would I—" My voice cracked, and I had to swallow hard before I could continue. "I thought you were just some anonymous subscriber. I never asked for this."

Louis stared at me for a long moment, his expression still unreadable. Then, to my shock, he stepped back from the bed. He ran a hand through his damp hair, letting out a slow breath. "Fuck."

The single word carried so much weight that I almost didn't recognize it as relief flooding through me. He wasn't going to—

"Jax is a fucking liar," Louis said, his voice sharp with anger now. "He told me you wanted this. That you'd been flirting with me through your content, that you knew I was your top subscriber and wanted to meet me in person." He laughed bitterly, shaking his head. "I should've known better. That bastard's always been good at spinning stories."

I blinked, trying to process what he was saying through the fog of the drug. "You… you didn't know?"

"No, I didn't fucking know," Louis snapped, though the anger didn't seem directed at me. He paced to the window, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. "I thought this was consensual. I wouldn't have—" He stopped himself, his jaw working. "I'm not that kind of man, Serena."

The sound of my name on his lips sent a strange jolt through me. I wrapped my arms tighter around myself, suddenly aware of how exposed I was, how vulnerable. "Then why did you agree to this? Why would you pay Jax for—for me?"

Louis turned back to face me, his blue eyes blazing with something dark and complicated. "Because I've been watching you for two years," he said bluntly. "Every video you posted, every photo, every goddamn smile you gave the camera—I couldn't look away. I told myself it was just… fascination. That I was supporting your work. But the truth is, I wanted you. And when Jax offered me a chance to finally have you, I jumped at it like a fucking idiot."

His honesty was brutal, almost painful. I didn't know what to say. Part of me wanted to scream at him, to tell him how sick and twisted that was. But another part—the part of me that was burning up from the inside, that could feel every nerve ending screaming for touch—understood the desperation in his voice.

"You're Jax's best friend," I said weakly, grasping at some kind of logic. "How could you—"

"Best friend?" Louis let out a harsh laugh. "I thought I knew him. We played football together, partied together, covered for each other's asses more times than I can count. But this?" He gestured sharply toward me. "Finding out that he's been pimping out his girlfriend—ex-girlfriend—on OnlyFans to fund his lifestyle? That he drugged you and sold you like a piece of fucking meat? I don't know this man at all."

The venom in his voice was real. I could see it in the way his shoulders tensed, in the muscle ticking in his jaw. He was genuinely angry—not at me, but at Jax. At the situation.

"You believe me," I whispered, almost to myself.

Louis's gaze softened slightly. "Yeah, Serena. I believe you."

Relief washed over me so intensely that I almost started crying again. But then the heat flared up again, more vicious this time, and I gasped. My skin felt like it was on fire, my pulse pounding in places that made my thighs clench together involuntarily. I bit down hard on my lower lip, trying to suppress the moan that threatened to escape.

Louis was at the bedside in an instant, his expression shifting from anger to concern. "Shit. What did they give you?"

"I don't know," I managed to say through gritted teeth. "Something… something that makes everything feel—" I couldn't finish the sentence. My body was betraying me, arching slightly toward him even as my mind screamed at me to stay still.

"An aphrodisiac," Louis said grimly. "Probably something strong if you're reacting like this." He reached out as if to touch my forehead, then stopped himself, his hand hovering in the air. "How bad is it?"

"Bad," I admitted, my voice barely above a whisper. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the sight of him—the way his robe hung open just enough to reveal his chest, the muscles in his forearms as he braced himself against the bed frame, the way his wet hair fell across his forehead. It was all too much. My body wanted him with a ferocity that terrified me.

"Serena, look at me."

I forced my eyes open. Louis was closer now, close enough that I could see the flecks of gray in his blue eyes. His expression was serious, almost gentle.

"I'm not going to touch you," he said firmly. "Not like this. Not when you're drugged and scared out of your mind. But if the drug is as strong as I think it is, you're going to need help getting through this."

"What kind of help?" I asked, though part of me already knew the answer.