Page 112 of Princes of Carnage

I glance over toward the doorway when I remember what I felt before, but there’s no one there now. If Killian was there at any point, he left before we finished.

There’s a twinge in my gut, an emotion that feels strangely like… disappointment. As if some part of me wanted him to be there. Wanted him to see.

But I shake that thought off quickly. It’s just my sex brain talking. I’m still pissed off at him for lying to me all this time, and we haven’t worked that shit out at all.

It’s so easy to let the soft, sleepy feeling that comes from being fucked so well take over, and I start dozing off a bit, still draped over Nico’s and Atlas’s laps. I float in that warm space for a little while, partially aware of Atlas and Nico talking in low voices, partially dead to the world.

Eventually, a hand shakes me gently, and I make a whiny noise, opening my eyes reluctantly.

Nico snorts, clearly amused. “You can’t sleep like this, mia cara,” he tells me. “You need to go to bed, and before that, you need to clean up.”

I grumble something unintelligible, and Atlas chuckles. “I think she needs some help.”

Before I can either confirm or deny that, he’s scooping me up with ease and carrying me through the living room and up the stairs. I’m so worn out that I don’t even protest. It feels good to be cradled and to not have to walk on unsteady legs.

“Here,” he murmurs, putting me down on the bed before he draws the covers back. “You can shower in the morning. At this rate, you’d just fall asleep in there. But I’ll help you clean up.”

He disappears down the hall, then returns a moment later with a damp cloth. He slides it between my legs, gathering up the wetness and leaking cum, and I moan softly, squirming a little under his touch. It feels good, but also like too much after the beating my pussy took tonight, and he moves carefully and gently as he wipes the remnants of his release away.

After tossing the towel into my hamper, he tucks me in and then turns to leave. But before he can go, I reach out quickly, wrapping my hand around his wrist.

“Wait,” I whisper.

Atlas stops, glancing down at me.

“I want to know…” I hesitate, licking my lips. It’s hard to think of the right way to say what I want to ask, especially with my mind so sleepy and worn out. “Why… why didn’t you do anything before? If you wanted me so much.”

He lets out a breath and then shrugs. “You’re Nico’s wife.”

My brow furrows. “Yeah, but it’s not like that’s real. It’s just a business arrangement.”

There’s something I can’t read burning in Atlas’s amber-tinged eyes as he stares down at me. “Is any of this real?”

My stomach flutters at the question. “I don’t know,” I whisper. “I…”

I don’t know what to say to that or how to even feel about it. Atlas just keeps looking at me, and I wonder where he stands. If this is real to him, or just a different means to a different end.

There’s tension in the air between us, the moment all of a sudden much more loaded than it was before. I keep waiting for Atlas to say something, but he doesn’t.

Finally, he just shakes his head and bends down to kiss the top of my head, brushing my teal hair back a little.

“Get some sleep,” he tells me. “It’s been a long night.”

This time when he goes to leave, I let him. He closes the door softly behind him, and in the silence that follows, I gaze up at the ceiling in the darkness, turning that question over and over in my head.

It was supposed to just be business. Nico and I both wanted something out of this arrangement, and it was supposed to be about the good of our gangs. No more, no less.

But now it’s starting to feel like this thing between us—not just between me and him, but between all four of us—is taking on a life of its own, shifting and changing into something else. Something more.

And honestly, that’s terrifying.

35

KILLIAN

It’s early enough in the morning that it’s still dark and quiet out. The perfect time of morning for finishing up a project undisturbed.

Well, mostly undisturbed.

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