Page 118 of Underground Prince

“There’s nowhere else I want to be,” I finished.

“I still have to do the shipment,” he said. “I can’t pique his interest any more than I have.”

“Was it your idea?” I asked. “To go this far and do this?”

He sloped down, as if his last breath took all the air out of him, and I held his hand to my face, for it seemed he’d lost the energy to keep it there. “My father offered. I was to do it, Trace was to commit further to our ties, and Ward was to take his rightful place.”

“And to refuse…”

There was a cavernous silence. “I did.”

“But you’re still…” My nails dug into his skin as the implication sank in. “Oh no. No.” A riptide formed in my chest, its swirls crashing into, shattering my ribcage. “I’m already being used.”

My face grew numb, cold, all my blood rushing to quell the growing storm in my stomach. Gordon had found his new, viable threat, in the convenient form of a stupid girl who thought this boy was for her, when in reality, Gordon could kill us both.

“This is my fault. I’m the idiot who pushed this on you and didn’t leave you alone when I should’ve. Oh God, Theo.”

“Scarlet. Scarlet,” he said again through my mutterings, attempting to catch me.

I slipped out of his hold time and again, repeating the problems, condemning my actions.

“Hey.” He changed tactics and swung out, hooking me. My back smacked against his chest. “You could’ve insulted me at every turn, slapped me in the face and rammed your shoulder into my chin, and I would’ve come back each time.”

I twisted in his hold so I could bring my fingers to his cheek. “Is that where this came from?”

He didn’t have to say a word. In a flash of understanding, I began unbuttoning his shirt. His arms went slack at his sides, allowing me.

I exposed the V of his chest, deep rings of dark red, indigo, and swirls of purple slashing across his ribs on either side. “Who did this?”

“Trace,” he said, matter-of-fact. “But don’t worry.” He stopped my light tracing of the swells. “He got his, too.”

“Barbarics. That’s how your father settles things.” The fury was so dense in me it churned. “He watched this, didn’t he? Every moment of his sons beating the shit out of each other.”

“It was either that or my father goes outside the family. You.”

“You shouldn’t do this for me.” His bare skin was so hot under the cascading bruises. “Not for anyone.”

He brought my fingers to his lips, kissed them. “This is all I know.”

I set my mouth into a determined line. “You finish up your business with Rada, and then we’re going home. And I’m tossing you into an ice bath.”

“You don’t have to—”

“I’m going to.”

Stalking back to the chaise, I sat down, back straight. He buttoned his shirt before moving to open the door to the hallway.

“Rada, she uses your full names as a play of power,” I said.

Genuine amusement tilted his smile. “You noticed.”

I crossed my legs, offering a smile, but it was different than normal. Angry. “She needs to be put in her place.”

His grin in return was dangerous. “I plan to,” he said, before he wrenched open the door.

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