Page 68 of Vile Boys

I swallow down the lump in my throat.

I’m locked between them with no way out.

Except right into the maze.

Without thinking, I bolt, heading straight into the rose maze. I don’t care where I’m going. All I know is that I need to get away from those guys as fast as possible.

At a split, I take a left turn, and then another, and then a right. I have no clue where I am or which path to take, so I recklessly pick without thought or reason. The only thing driving me forward is the handprints on my ass and a promise of more to come if I don’t stay the hell away.

But it’s too late now.

It’s too late to run from those bastards who’ve made it their mission to destroy me.

CRACK!

The snapping of a twig behind me sets me on edge, so I run like hell into the next bend and around another corner. Swaths of roses hang down from unkempt bushes, and I shove them out of my way as I run through a part of the maze barely anyone visits. There are scratches on my face, but I don’t care as I keep going, desperate to escape this harrowing feeling in my heart that it’s about to be swallowed whole.

I spin on my heels and listen for footsteps, waiting for them to come out of the bushes behind me. A few bluebirds hover above me, and my heart rate shoots up just from the fluttering of their wings.

I’m really losing it.

I’m totally and utterly losing my shit here.

I don’t even know if they followed me … or if I’m making it all up in my head.

Were they even there to begin with? Or was it just my active imagination taking hold of me?

I take in a deep breath and turn around.

Only to run face-first into the chest of a giant.

My hands slowly creep up his chest, fingers trembling across each thick slab of his muscles that protrude right through that white button-up shirt he’s wearing, as my own heart rate shoots up while I listen to his. Time almost comes to a stop.

But I still manage to lift my head and gaze up, following a trail from the partially opened buttons to the shark tooth necklace dangling from his neck, all the way up into the eyes of the most handsome man I’ve ever seen, his chiseled jaw and sharp cheekbones in stark contrast to the flowy, curly hair on his head.

Oh God. It’s Blaine.

“Hello there, darling.”

Blaine

I have never been more pleasantlysurprised than I am right now.

What a coincidence. I come here to read a sexy smut scene in my new romance book, and the second I’m about to sit down on the bench underneath this tree in the middle of the rose maze in a place no one ever visits because it’s too damn hard to find, this gorgeous girl bumps into me and falls head over heels for me, and then we kiss in the moonlight.

Oh no, wait, that was just my overactive imagination.

But I can make it work.

She looks up at me like she’s seen a ghost and swiftly shoves herself out of my grasp. Not so violent now, after that whole scene with Caleb’s car.

“Aw, don’t be afraid,” I muse. “I won’t bite.” A devilish smile worms its way onto my face. “Unless you want me to, of course.”

“What are you doing here?” she asks, getting all flustered.

I frown, smirking. “Well, I could ask the same from you, no?” I tap my finger against my cheek. “This is public property, after all.”

“I … I …”

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