Page 12 of Tormented Kings

“Ah, there he is.” Grayson grins. “The Preston we know and love.”

I glare at him, flipping him off.

“Back to what's important,” Collin redirects, the mood growing serious again as he locks eyes on me. “We need to find out what the fuck we’re going to do about our father.”

“You okay?” I ask Declan. After an hour of arguing that got us absolutely nowhere, we agreed to reconvene on Monday during Host Club hours. The only thing we did agree on is that Sadie isn’t to be alone outside of her home. Collin and Grayson already have the stalker thing down pat, I may as well join them. Declan won’t have any issues with getting Sadie to spend time with him, so he has it the easiest out of us all.

Collin plans on talking to Sadie on Monday to try and prove his innocence. I’m not sure if she’s going to listen. I’m not even sure if the guys’ plan of winning her over is going to work.

From the defeat in her eyes tonight, Sadie just might be done with not only the group of us but this whole place. I wouldn’t blame her. If anything, I wish she’d leave. At least we wouldknow she was safe. Move away, go to college, and live a normal life with normal people.

But she won’t. Sadie loves her mom and her family business too much. While this might not be the world she belongs in, this place is her home. It’s all she knows.

“Huh?” Declan looks over at me. “Yeah, sorry,” he sighs. “Just worried about Sadie.”

I nod; I am, too. The idea of no one being there to help in an emergency has me on edge. But I know Grayson has eyes on her. He might not know I know, but I do. Fucker thinks he’s sly, but he made his obsession so damn obvious.

“She’s going to be okay,” I lie because how the fuck would I know that. “She just needs time.”

“I don’t know.” He leans his head against the window. “She’s been through so much. And she was right, a lot of it is because of us. If she hadn’t come into the Host Club that day, her life would be so different.”

He’s right. Because even though they’re all in now, none of us would have made a move to change anything if she didn’t come to us with that deal. We would have kept living our lives the way we have been, and she would have been none the wiser.

I don’t say anything, not sure of the words to say as we pull up to his dorm parking lot.

“Thanks for the ride,” he tells me.

We dropped off Grayson first, and I offered to take Declan home. I was just trying to delay going back to my house. I’m not sure if going there is even a good idea. If I see him, it’s going to take everything in me not to just put a bullet in his head and end it all.

“No problem.”

He opens the door but pauses before looking over at me. “Wanna sleep with me?” My brows shoot up, and his cheeks go adorably pink. “I-I mean crash in my dorm,” he corrects in arush. “I’m sure home is the last place you wanna be. Or maybe you could go over to Grayson’s; I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”

“Dec.” I bite my lip, trying not to grin as I place my hand on his shoulder. “Relax. Breathe.”

His lips part, eyes flicking down to the hand that's touching him. I should move it, but I don’t, liking the contact more than I should.

“You sure?” I ask. “About me crashing at your place?”

“Yeah.” He licks his lips and nods, attention back on my face.

“Then yeah. It’s late. Probably not the best time for me to be on the road anyway.”

“Yeah,” he says slowly, eyes still on mine.

This is a bad idea. A really fucking bad idea. There’s a reason why I’ve stopped hanging out with Declan alone or, at the very least, avoid it.

Because when I’m alone with him, all the things I want to do to him flash through my mind. Like how I want to devour his lips, have him on his knees, whimpering, begging, and at my mercy. We all know Dec is a sub through and through. I’d love to see how good of a boy he could be for me.

But I won’t cross that line because I’d hate myself when I hurt him. And I would end up hurting him.

Moving my hand, I step out into the cool night air and look up at the moon. The clouds have parted, making the night sky bright and haunting.

Taking a deep breath, I follow Declan to his room. We’re quiet the whole way up. Once we’re in his room, he scratches the back of his head. “I didn’t think this through.”

“Relax.” I chuckle. “It’s just a bed.”

“Right.” He nods. “Just a bed.”

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