Oh wow.
He leans back and taps his chin. “But if you need a name for it, I guess you could call it pansexual?” He clears his throat. “Regardless. That wasn’t the question you wanted to ask, was it?”
I’m still so flabbergasted by what just happened that I don’t even know what to say. “What?”
For every step he takes toward me, I take one back until my ass hits the sharp roses.
He grips my arm and stops me from falling into them.
“Ask me what you really wanted to know,” he muses.
I swallow away the lump in my throat. “That guy in the shop was your boyfriend, right?”
He shakes his head. “Not a boyfriend. A boy toy. A plaything.”
“But you—”
“Entertain myself with him.” He interjects. “What can I say, darling? I’m a sexual creature. I need pleasure, and I need a lot of it.”
“Oh … and you think I’m your next victim,” I muse, rolling my eyes before I push myself off him.
“No, wait,” he says, gripping my arm so I won’t leave. “You’re not. I’ve not made myself very clear, have I? Oh dear.” He sighs outloud and runs his fingers through his velvety black hair. “I’ve been keeping myself busy … with others … so I could get you off my mind.” The gulp that follows makes me stop resisting. “I’ve wanted nothing more than to kiss you, and I couldn’t help myself any longer.”
Suddenly, I hear clapping from the corner, and my entire body erupts into goose bumps the second I hear his voice.
“What an epic show.”
I gaze at the only exit through which Ares appears, his bright eyes shimmering in the moonlight.
“Too bad the only audience you had …” He smirks. “Was me.”
Ares
I stopthe slow clapping even though I quite liked how they both reacted the second they heard me.
It took every ounce of self-control not to intervene when he kissed her. Seeing his lips on hers made me want to shoot him on sight. But then I remembered I wanted her in a vulnerable position. Needy.
And looking at the way she yearned for his kisses, she’s almost ready to submit.
The problem is … it’s not to me but to him.
My nostrils flare.
If it wasn’t for the fact that he’s my right hand, I probably would have killed him on the spot for even daring to touch her. But I need him alive and on my side. Which is why his falling for her, out of all people, complicates everything.
“Blaine,” I mutter, “you disappoint me.”
He immediately lets go of her and steps away.
“Sneaking away and playing withmylittle toy?”
“Yourtoy?” Crystal scoffs.
My eyes fixate on hers, but she refuses to look away, like a deer staring straight into the headlights despite knowing its end is near.
“Have you forgotten the deal you made?” I fish my phone from my pocket. “I’ll be more than happy to call your mother since Calebsent me her number. See what she prefers.”
Crystal’s pupils dilate, and she shakes her head.