Page 94 of Twisted Kings

I caught sight of Eden locked in a heated embrace with Michael, and even Declan had let his hair down for once - I’d spotted him with some blond woman earlier in the evening. It was pretty fucking obvious something was going on between them.

I smiled, laughed, and pretended like I was having fun, but it was all an act. My emotions remained firmly locked down, buried inside a box. It was the only way I stood a chance of walking away.

Abandoning my sister once again made me feel sick, but she was safer here with the guys than with me. I wasn’t sure what their plans were, but they each had lives away from me and myshit. Eden too. Once I’d fixed the mess with my father, I would return to collect Verity and then figure out what to do next.

If it all went well, I’d be back here in a week. And if it didn’t… then I had to trust Dario would do the right thing and care for Verity.

Kyril lay on his back next to me, snoring. Landon had passed out in Kyril’s room the minute we got back to the apartment, and Cassian had passed out on the sofa in the living room. I’d not seen Dario since our chat a few hours ago. Fuck knows where he’d ended up; I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

Milo sat staring at his laptop when I walked back into the living room. It was 2 AM. My plan involved sneaking away while the guys slept off their hangovers, but until Milo fell asleep, I wasn’t going anywhere.

“Everything OK?” he asked, looking up in surprise.

“Need a glass of water.” He watched me fill a glass from the bottle of filtered mineral water in the refrigerator. “Are you not tired?”

“I’m a night owl. You know this,” he pointed out.

“Yeah.” I perched on the arm of the sofa, wondering how I could persuade him to come to bed. He always seemed to fall asleep just fine when he shared a bed with me. But then I slept better when he was there, too.

“Can I stay in your bed? Kyril’s snoring.”

Milo chuckled. “Of course. I’ll come to bed now.”

He shut his laptop and followed me into his bedroom, then disappeared into the bathroom while I climbed into his bed. My eyes felt scratchy and sore. I desperately needed to sleep, but I knew if I nodded off, I wouldn’t wake until at least noon. Unless I left in the next few hours, I had no chance of getting away.

Milo turned off the bedside lamp and climbed into bed, being careful not to touch me. Even though I’d made him come with my hand once and he’d watched me have sex with the guys we’d never had sex.

It shouldn’t have mattered. If I wanted sex, I had three guys more than willing to be tributes. Four if I counted Dario. Desiring Milo too was just plain greedy. And besides, I wasn’t sure he evenwantedto have sex with me.

“What are you thinking?” The deep timbre of his voice made me jump.

“I was wondering if you wanted to have sex with me,” I admitted.

“Yes.”

“I don’t mean now this minute,” I clarified hurriedly. “I meant in the future.”

“Still yes.”

“You do?”

“Of course. I thought you knew this?”

“Well, no… I mean… we…” My voice trailed off. What the fuck was I doing? I was running out of time. If Milo didn’t fall asleep soon, I’d end up falling asleep first.

He reached out and tentatively touched my face. A light brush of fingers over my cheek. Emotion flooded me. All the feelings I’d kept banked up since we left the house overlooking the sea.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered as tears pooled in my eyes. Thankfully, it was pretty dark and he might not notice.

“Sorry for what?” he asked, curious as ever.

“I don’t know,” I lied.

“I’m sorry, too.”Wait, what?

“Why are you sorry?” I shifted, inadvertently moving closer. Milo’s leg brushed my thigh, making me shiver. He’d kept his boxers on when he crawled into bed, but this was morenakedness than usual. Of all of them, Milo was the least likely to be in my bed minus his clothes.

Since I couldn’t tell him why I was sorry, I leaned in and pressed my lips to his, as an apology for lying to him. Once they all realized I’d left without telling them, he would think back to this moment andknow. Milo was smart. He might struggle to read people, but he was very good at putting the pieces together. He’d see the truth of everything I hadn’t said.

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