Page 123 of Vile Boys

Now I’m laughing even more, picturing him shrieking when an ant crawls over his gorgeous face.

“I’m glad I could make you laugh, darling,” he says. “You looked like you needed it.”

I nod and wipe a single tear away. “Thanks.”

“You don’t have to tell me anything, and I won’t ask,” he says. “I just want you to know I’m here to listen if you want to talk.”

“Thank you,” I say. “I don’t know if I want to. Tonight was … heavy.”

“Hmm … Well, judging from the car I saw drive past a few hours ago, I assume it was Caleb?”

I nod, and he looks away.

“I’m surprised you haven’t pummeled him in the face yet,” he says. “I have. Many times.”

I laugh again, and he smiles at me. “Believe me, I wanted to. Several times. Almost every day, actually.”

“I can imagine,” he says.

“You’re not awfully fond of your own friends, are you?” I muse.

He turns around on the stones to look at me instead of the sky.

“I don’t choose the life they lead, but that doesn’t mean we’re not friends. I belong to Tartarus as much as they do.”

“Why? Why do you want to be with those … those demons?”

He chuckles again. “We have a long history.”

“Hmm …” A long history, which he obviously won’t tell me.

I wish I could understand these boys, but they’ve shrouded themselves in a cloak of mystery that I can’t seem to pull away because they’re desperate to hold it while simultaneously attempting to destroy my life.

“You know, I think you’re holding your own pretty well,” he says.

“You think?”

“Yeah. You’re tenacious. And even in the face of danger, you still smile.”

My lips part, but I don’t know what to say.

“You don’t trust me, yet you’re lying right beside me,” he says.

A blush creeps onto my cheeks. “You asked me to.”

“Regardless of the odds thrown in your face, you stay gentle. Humble.”

Now I’m really blushing like crazy. “Thanks. Gentle, though? I don’t know.”

“Nonsense,” he says. “You just don’t see yourself the way I do.”

He does have a way with words.

“But you will … someday.”

I smile. “I appreciate the sentiment. I just wish I could see it that way.”

“That’s because of them, isn’t it?”

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