Page 1 of Mastered By Lust

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Leah

I gasp. I can’t speak. I can only stare at the television screen.

“What?” Danica snatches the remote from the coffee table and pauses the video. “What is it?”

I raise my arm and point at the screen, at Gage’s teenage face. It’s him—it’s definitely him.

But wow. That smile looks open and carefree. It’s very much at odds with the guy I slept with. The Gage I know is guarded, and his smiles are oh-so-rare.

“What, you’ve never seen Gage Hawthorne before?” Danica laughs. “I get it, he’s a heartthrob. But girl. He’s like fourteen in this show. Calm the fuck down.”

“No, I—I know him,” I blurt.

“Youknowhim?” Danica laughs in disbelief.

I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m not supposed to talk about Low Vice or the people who go there. “I can’t talk about it.”

Dmitri clears his throat, a warning look on his face.

By saying as much as I have, I’ve said too much.

“Leah, youknowhim?” Danica repeats.

I can only shake my head.

“Ohshit.” Danica stands and faces me, excitement and intrigue gleaming in her eyes. “There’s only one reason you wouldn’t say anything. It’s Low Vice. Is it the auction guy? You fucked Gage Hawthorne? Teenage me is so jealous right now, it’s not even funny.”

“I didn’t say that—I didn’t.” I stumble over the denial. I don’t want to lie to her. Bad enough I’m lying by omission about Dmitri and me hooking up.

Dmitri is quiet, gripping his brownie like it’ll save him somehow.

Danica turns to face him. “And you knew! How late did you stay that night? You knew who paid for a night with our girl? Shit, Dmitri, I can’t believe you. This is major.”

“We’re not allowed to talk about it,” I say. “And I didn’t realize he was…him.”

I nod at Gage’s face, still frozen in that young, happy smile.

“Okay, so wow, that’s crazy.” Danica shakes her head in disbelief. “Wow.”

I can tell she wants to ask questions. She wants to know everything about that night, now. I was never the kind of person to give a play-by-play of my sexual encounters. At most, I would say whether sex happened on a date and whether it was good or bad.

“Let’s just watch the show.” I take the remote from Danica and hitplay.

She’s still in shock, but I don’t have the mental fortitude to deal with her reaction when mine is swirling all through me.

All this time, he never told me he’s famous? Not famous to me, sure, but famous to the rest of the world.

And Dmitri knew.

Theybothlied to me.

The episode plays out in front of us, teenage dramas developing between the newer characters. Gage plays a young incubus—a sex demon. Of course he does. He’s in a perpetual state of horniness throughout the entire episode, constantly hitting on the female characters. If the show were filmed now, he’d probably be hitting on the male characters as well, but the early aughts weren’t known for their sexual diversity.

In one scene, he corners a blond vampire in the school library. The two of them kiss before the vampire loses control of her bloodlust and bites his lip. His demon blood sends her into a seizure, and that’s the end of the episode.

“I can’t believe you got to bang that guy,” Danica says as the final image—Gage as an incubus weeping over his vampire lover—fades.

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