Page 1 of Theirs to Ruin

Chapter 1

Camille

Two years ago today, the love of my life, Ty Rossi, dumped me.

I would be lying if I said I was over him. In fact, my still-broken heart was the only reason I was armed with my fake ID and sitting in a random bar just outside Crimsonvale, New York. The Roost was only one step up from a dive bar and not the cool kind, which was perfect since I was less likely to run into anyone I knew. I normally wouldn’t risk getting caught underage drinking but my sister Bianca was on a date, my friend Simone had left town to visit her family, and I desperately needed a distraction.

It didn’t take me long to find one.

“You’re way too sexy to be drinking alone.”

I looked up at the guy standing next to me. He was cute, with dark hair and dark brown eyes. Like me, he was dressed in a sweater and jeans, not like he was on the prowl for an easy fuck. I was trying to forget a guy, not hook up with a new one, but memories of Ty’s betrayal still haunted me so I decided to change my strategy.

“Maybe you should join me then,” I said, forcing a smile.

I sucked at flirting, but the guy didn’t seem to notice. He pulled out the chair next to me and sat down, flashing me a charming smile. “I’m Billy, by the way.”

“Camille,” I told him.

He nodded at my empty glass. “Can I get you another?”

“Sure. Another mojito would be great.”

Billy looked around for the server, but she’d disappeared. After a while, he stood up and walked over to the crowded bar, returning a few minutes later with a beer for himself and another mojito for me.

We spent the next half hour talking, with me revealing nothing about myself and Billy revealing a lot. He had moved to Crimsonvale from Tennessee last spring to care for his aging parents. He worked a tech job from home, loved the outdoors, and had a great sense of humor. For the first time in a long time, I started thinking maybe Icouldget over Ty. Bianca kept telling me I needed to put myself out there again, that the best way to get over someone was to get under someone new. That wasn’t exactly my style, with me being a heartbroken virgin and all, but this was still the most fun I’d had in a while.

Until Kage O’Hare walked through the door.

My vagina suddenly stood up and took notice. My pulse beat faster and my entire body prickled with awareness.

Kage was the hottest senior at my school, so tall he dwarfed everyone around him. Broad shouldered and muscular, he had a ridiculously handsome face, chiseled jaw, short dirty blond hair, and delicious honey-brown eyes that I could lose myself in for days. He wore expensive black slacks and a charcoal-colored shirt, the sleeves rolled up to reveal his sinewy forearms, and I could just make out his titanium Patek Phillip watch and his chunky silver ring with the Celtic knotwork. He had no visible tattoos or piercings, giving him a deceptively clean-cut look, butI’d heard the rumors about his Jacob’s Ladder: eight barbells pierced into the underside of his monster cock.

For a guy to do that to himself, he’d have to be crazy, a badass, or both; either way, Kage wasdefinitelynot someone to mess with.

Someone to have fun with, on the other hand….

I squeezed my thighs together, unable to stop dirty thoughts of Kage’s naked body and pierced cock from entering my mind. I might be a virgin, but I had a great imagination and a healthy relationship with the sin of Lust.

God, the fantasies that guy could fulfill….

It was no wonder every girl on campus wanted him.

And Ihatedthat I was one of them.

Forget that our school was attended exclusively by the kids of criminals—my dad, Stuart Parelli, was one of the most corrupt politicians in America—I made it a point to avoid dangerous men, arrogant men and man whores. As the heir to the Irish mafia and Crimsonvale University’s golden boy, Kage happened to be all three.

To Kage, I was just his sister Ava’s roommate—as well as her ex-friend. In the year we’d known each other, Kage had barely said two words to me. I’m not sure he even knows my name.

Not that it mattered. Next to Kage stood CU junior Brooke Hernandez, a girl so beautiful she’d modeled at Paris Fashion Week. She scanned the room and scowled when she saw me.

Yeah, I was that popular.

Kage led Brooke to the crowded bar where they ordered their drinks. Kage picked up both glasses and looked around for a table.

Please don’t sit by me. Please don’t sit by me. Please?—

I groaned inwardly when they grabbed the table next to ours.

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