Page 126 of Crown of Lies

“Hey, Zoey. You good?”

“You’ve been watching me all night,” she says, her voice low and husky. “I can tell you’re jealous of Stefan.”

I blink, caught off guard by her words. “What? No, I?—”

She presses a finger to my lips, silencing me. “It’s okay, Atlas. I still want you, not Stefan. We can make this work.”

I gently remove her hand, shaking my head. “Zoey, I think you’ve had a little too much to drink. I’m not?—”

“Don’t deny it,” she interrupts, leaning in closer. “I’ve seen the way you look at me. You can’t hide it.”

I try to step back, to put some distance between us, but she follows, her eyes narrowing.

“I know you still want me,” she slurs, and I can smell the liquor on her breath. “I see the way you look at me, Atlas. You can’t hide it.”

I shake my head, a wave of frustration washing over me. “You’re wrong. I’m not?—”

“Don’t lie to me!” She grabs my arm, her fingernails digging into my skin. “I know it’s because of her.” She jerks her head inQuinn’s direction. “You think I don’t see the way you two look at each other?”

“It’s not like that,” I start, lowering my voice, hoping to keep this between us. “It’s complicated.”

“Complicated?” Zoey repeats, her eyes flashing with anger. “Doesn’t seem very fucking complicated to me. You’re saying you don’t want me because of Quinn. You’d rather have Nico’s sloppy seconds.”

I flinch at her choice of words. “That’s not what I said. And it’s not just about Quinn. You and I—we’re not good for each other, Zoey. It’s time we both moved on.”

She glares at me, her face a mask of hurt and anger. “So that’s it? You’re just going to walk away? After everything we had?”

I open my mouth to respond, to deny it, but before I can, Quinn is here, sliding between us.

“Zoey,” she says, her voice calm and steady. “Atlas is spoken for.”

Zoey’s eyes narrow, and she turns to Quinn, her brow furrowed. “By who?”

Quinn’s smile is almost predatory as she tugs down her shirt slightly, revealing three tattooed marks just above the full swell of her breast. One made by me, one by Killian, and one by Nico. Marks that brand her as ours.

“By me,” she says, her voice leaving no room for argument. “Just like I’m spoken for by him… and by Killian and Nico too. I guess I’ll need to get some extra rings for my finger, won’t I? Or maybe,” she muses, reaching up to unhook her small hoop earrings, “I’ll make do with these for now.” With a grin, she slides the earrings onto her finger.

I can’t help but smile. Possessive pride surges through me as I realize what she’s done—publicly claimed us as hers. And she handled Zoey with practiced ease.

Zoey’s eyes go wide as she takes in the marks, and her face twists with jealousy and anger. The reality of the situation has to be hitting her now. Things between us are more serious than she thought.

Her mouth opens and closes, but no words come out. Finally, she just shakes her head, a sour look on her face, and turns on her heel, stalking off into the crowd.

I step closer to Quinn, backing her against the wall, my eyes locked on hers. I lean in, my voice a low murmur. “Seems like someone’s feeling possessive.”

Her eyes dart to my lips and then back up to meet my gaze. “Seems like it.”

I smirk, my body pressing against hers as I crowd her in. “You know I like that, right? You staking your claim.”

She bites her lip, her pupils blown wide as I nudge her knees apart with my leg, moving closer. The wall is now the only thing keeping her upright.

“Do you?” she breathes.

“Yeah, I do,” I growl, my hand sliding into her hair, fisting the locks and tilting her head back. “Makes me want to pin you down and show you exactly what you mean to me.”

Her eyes glitter with challenge. “Is that so?”

There’s a hungry spark in her eyes that matches the one in my chest. She wants this, needs this, as much as I do.

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