Page 101 of Liar

“My bad. To quote you correctly, you said you never felt anything for me. Ever. You made me love you and then destroyed me with one sentence. That’s all it took for you to crush me to pieces in front of your sadistic, cruel following of Nobles and Virtues.”

Thorne takes a full step back. “Wait. You love me?”

“Are you kidding?” I don’t care if I’m screeching it this time. I push to my feet. “You humiliate and degrade me, yet I keep coming back to you. You make me feel things I can’t fathom. You hold my heart and squeeze it so damn hard, then breathe it back to life. I can’t understand myself around you. I love myself around you. Whenever you look at me, I see who I truly am—twisted and beautiful and flawed. How can you not see that? Every time you touched me, how could you fail to notice how I fell apart, always for you?”

Thorne’s lips part. Not to snarl as I expected. He takes his time building up to a cutting response that will surely decimate me in front of the remaining Winthorpe population.

He can’t hurt me anymore, I promise myself. Whatever he has to say, it won’t—

Thorne wrenches me against him, catching my gasp with his mouth and drinking me in for all he’s worth. With his lips sealed against mine, he lifts me and wraps my thighs around his torso until I’m above him and controlling the kiss.

I could break it off. Shove him back, slap him across the face, and shout at him to put me down and never take me by force again.

His lips soften, plush, flavorful pillows I’ve missed the taste of. A tongue I’ve longed to dance with and a body I’ve fantasized marking with my nails. I’d take Damion’s whip marks on Thorne’s back and turn them into mine. I’d give him all of myself if it would take away the past he cannot stand and show him the promise of a future he should look forward to.

I taste salt—but not the salt of Thorne. It’s me, my tears collecting in our mouths. Thorne curls his tongue as if to catch some before pulling away.

“If you’re telling me,” he says, his voice taking on an irresistible husky tone, “all I had to do to get your forgiveness was to tell you I loved you, then I’m a sorry shit for not saying it sooner.”

I press a hand to his cheek as he looks up at me, locking me against him. “Only if you mean it. No manipulation. No premeditated games.”

Thorne’s forehead smooths. “I am a terrible person who’s done terrible things. I possess urges I can’t control and a need for dominance I’ll never shake, but if you’ll have me, Ember, my little pretty, I’m yours.”

I press my other palm to his opposite cheek, sealing him in. Placing the key to my heart in his hands. “I shouldn’t believe you,” I say, watching with awe as that spark, that vulnerable light of hope, dies in his eyes. It’s time to bring it back. “But I do. You love me.”

“I love you,” he rasps.

He cups the back of my neck and pulls me in for another kiss.

The cafeteria erupts in applause. I break the kiss to scan our audience in surprise, but really, should I be shocked at the support of their corrupt prince? Thorne is loveable even at his worst. I should know.

Aiko shrinks in her seat, too close to our passion and wishing for a graceful exit.

Thorne smooths a thumb across my over-heated cheek, redirecting my attention. “Let me make this easier for you and carry you out of here so I can fuck you senseless.”

I gape at him. Aiko absolutely writhes in horror.

“Thorne, people can hear you,” I say.

“Let them. I’d slam you on this table right here and now if it means you’re mine.”

Aiko bolts from her seat. “Okay, I’m out.”

“Too late,” Thorne tells her and swings me around. “We’re the ones who get the dramatic exit.”

Chapter 33

Thorne

There are a shocking number of places to fuck in an academy. I go through the Rolodex of my mind as I carry Ember out of the cafeteria, that delicious heat of hers rubbing against my chest with impending promise.

It doesn’t take me long to choose the pool at the rec center—closed during the afternoon before practice and also the precious starting point of Ember’s and my fucked-up love story.

I don’t put her down for the entirety of our travels, but I don’t think she minds. She’s busy nipping at my ear and sucking on my neck, adept at making me pay for all those days I was forced to endure without her.

Really, I had no clue how much she meant to me until she refused to be with me. The sadist in her can be a cruel mistress, but today, I’m happy to bring it out of her.

We burst through the double doors, the smell of chlorine growing stronger the closer we get to the pool. I’m forced to set Ember down long enough to enter the code to unlock the doors, fumbling twice when she swoops in on my dick and tickles my balls.

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