Page 14 of Vile Boys

“You know who I am, don’t you?” he whispers into my ear, breath lingering near my skin, creating goose bumps all over. “Say my name.”

An air of darkness slowly envelops me.

“Ares.” His name rolls off my tongue like I’m summoning a demon from hell.

“Good girl. So you’ve heard what people say about me.” He grabs a strand of my hair and lifts it. “Yet you still smiled at me. Why?”

“Why … I smiled?” I’m flabbergasted that this is the question he’d ask.

“You’ve seen what I’m capable of. Why aren’t you terrified?”

I suck in a breath through my teeth, staying put despite his looming presence towering over me. “I don’t break for anyone.”

I’ve been broken too many times to let anyone shatter me again.

His fingers dig deeper into my dress. “We’ll see about that.”

I stick my hand into my pocket and grasp the handle of my knife.

“You can’t kill me in front of all these people,” I mutter, sweat drops trickling down my back.

I can hear him snort away a laugh. “You think I want to kill you?”

“You killed those men,” I whisper.

It’s out there now.

“I did kill them.”

How he so easily admits to it makes my blood boil.

“Aren’t you going to ask me why?”

I bite my lip, wondering what I should say. Every word feels like a maze, and each answer leads into his carefully laid out trap. “Does it change the outcome?”

There’s a pause. “You have a way with words.”

I grasp the banister of the terrace, ready to kick back. “And you destroy people because of the words they speak.”

“Don’t pretend to know my business,” he says. “I don’t think you understand what it takes to lead the Tartarus House. But I do.”

A knife suddenly prods into my waist, making my heart jump.

“You know my secret. But I’m not here to kill you, Crystal.”

My jaw drops.

How does he know my name?

“I don’t want you to die. Not this sweet, innocent soul who smiled so happily at a killer.” He plays with my hair, coiling it around his finger like I’m a shiny, new toy to play with. “No, what I want is something far more sinister.”

I hold my breath to stop his blade from piercing my skin.

“Your fear.”

I can’t breathe. Can’t swallow. Can’t even flinch without feeling the tip of his knife bore into me. But I will never give him the thing he wants most.

His free hand trails a line from my neck all the way down to where my dress covers my breasts, and when he hovers over it, I grasp hishand.

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