Page 98 of Vile Boys

Blaine leans over, still towering over me with that huge frame of his, and he taps my cheeks. “Made you blush.”

The mischievous grin that follows makes me blush even harder.

I swallow away the lump in my throat and tuck my knife into my pocket. “I don’t know what you want from me.”

“Darling, my intentions have always been very clear.” He tips up my chin. “I came because you needed help.”

Now, I’m even more confused.

Why would someone from the Tartarus House want to help me?

And especially someone so close to Ares and Caleb?

“C’mon.” He grabs my wrist and drags me through the gloomy, purple-painted hallway. Everywhere I look are erotic paintings and statues, tongues, nipples, dicks, everything together all at once. Music blasts upstairs, but it reverberates through the entire house. Every light is gloomy like they intentionally want to cast shadows insidetheir own home, and everywhere I look are bottles of liquor, books, drugs, and sex toys littering the cabinets. Nothing’s hidden. Everything’s out in the open, and when I blink once, I swear I spot a couple having sex in the back of the kitchen.

We go up the double stairs that lead around the building in a square, the loud music near us making me search.

“Pay no attention to the noise. People love to throw lewd parties here,” Blaine says as he pulls me into a hallway down the left. “In here.”

He swoops me into a room completely covered in royal green from head to toe. The walls, the ceiling, even the rug on the hardwood floor, as well as the expensive furniture and the bedding all look like it cost as much as my mom’s house. “Holy shit …” I mutter, looking around at all the expensive decorations. There’s even an Adonis statue in the back next to a floor-to-ceiling gold mirror.

“Like my room? I did the decorating myself,” he says all proudly, and he throws off his bathrobe, catching me off guard with those impeccable glutes. “Be right back, darling.”

I’m frozen to the floor, staring ahead while wondering what the fuck is going on, and if I’m really losing my mind right now.

I probably am.

What am I even doing here?

Why did I let him lure me into this devil’s den?

“There.” He returns wearing a dark red robe covered in jewels and a thick gold rope around his waist. “Much better. And comfortable.”

“You just switched bathrobes.”

“Darling, that one was for outside strolls, not inside,” he replies, spraying himself with a bottle of aftershave before he walks over to me and grabs my face.

He inspects me up close, and I’m almost inclined to swat him away.

“Turn around.” He spins me on my heels with ease, his finger dipping underneath my dress.

I tense up and try to reach for my knife, but his hand gripping my wrist stops me.

“Relax.”

His calm voice makes me unwind, and I let go.

He slowly lifts my dress until my ass is visible, and I suck in a breath when his hands slide over the red marks Caleb left behind.

“Handprints,” he mutters. “Who did this to you?”

“Caleb,” I say.

His hand lowers my dress again, and he grips my hand. “Come with me.”

He drags me into a white and gold-marbled bathroom and shuts the door behind him. The place is so bright and spotless, it makes me blink. There are several rain showers in the back and a giant tub lined with gold in the middle. Everything in here, even the little table and candle, is made of gold, and it makes me wonder just how fucking rich this dude really is.

His big hands come down on my shoulders, and I jolt up and down.

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