Page 93 of Deceit

I stare at him, waiting for him to move but he just continues to watch me.

“Are you going to let me go?”

“No.”

“No?” I question.

“Yeah, no.”

“But I don’t think Liam and Ronan—”

“Aren’t here right now. They are off doing fuck knows what for the Brethren, while there is a predator out there harassing you. Their priorities are fucked.”

I push up from him as much as he allows while I glare daggers at him.

“Fuck you. They don’t even know about any of it.”

This seems to take him by surprise for a moment.

“You haven’t told them?”

I shake my head.

“But you told me.”

“Well, technically, I accused you.”

He nods. “But when you found out it wasn’t me…you still didn’t tell them? Why?”

I shrug. “I guess, I didn’t want them to worry over nothing. I’m hoping everything will just go away, then nothing there is to be concerned about, you know?”

“That’s stupid,” Vincent chastises with a shake of his head.

“If you’re going to continue to insult me and my boyfriends you can leave. Go obsess over someone else, and leave me the hell—”

His lips smash against mine before I can stop it, before I can register it. My words are cut off mid-sentence as his pillowy soft mouth silences my own. He doesn’t try to deepen the kiss, doesn’t even slip his tongue in. It’s as if he was using this merelyas a tool to shut me up, but regardless of the minimal effort, my body is practically on fire from the touch alone.

When we break apart, I notice my chest isn’t the only one heaving. His eyes sear straight into my own, but he doesn’t say a word. Neither of us do. Instead, he pushes against my head, forcing it back down onto his chest before his arms wrap tightly around me and his fingers tangle into my hair until my eyelids slowly droop shut.

Chapter Thirty Three

Ronan

We’re finally driving down the road on our way back to the hotel. It’s been a long fucking day and I’m exhausted. Not more so than Asher and Liam, though. This isn’t their area of expertise, nor will it be. I think Christopher just gave them this job to test their mettle. Asher did better than I expected, honestly. Liam…not so much.

Turning in my seat, I glance to the back to see him staring out the window blankly, his face carrying a haunted look to it. I tap his knee with my hand, forcing him to look at me.

“You good, man?”

He nods, but doesn’t speak as he returns his gaze out the window. I give him a sympathetic grimace as I nod and turn back around. I remember my first kill. It never gets easier, and it’s something that will probably live with both of them for the rest of their lives.

Do I feel bad that I put a relatively innocent man on the chopping block to take the fall for my own meddling with the school cameras? Not really. I say that because being relatively innocent is a stretch. The man was a crook, who beat on his wifeand kids and embezzled millions from a children’s charity in New York. The world is better off without him, My brother will be satiated that the boys did as they were told and took care of the camera ‘outages’. Three birds, one stone.

Since I know cutting the feed is no longer an option, I have to be smart about when and where I see or interact with Skyla. So will Liam.

Liam wasn’t able to get out of Skyla what the dinner at my brother’s was about. He said he asked her about it, and she shut down immediately, so he dropped it. I haven’t even attempted to try and pry with Asher because honestly, he’s had a bad fucking day. Maybe when we get back to the hotel I can bring it up in passing. Not knowing is driving me fucking batshit.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, shaking me out of my thoughts, and I can’t help but smile when Skyla’s name comes across my screen. She replied to the stupid group chat that Liam created for us. He asked what three things you would bring to a desert island.

---