Page 97 of I Was Always Yours (RCA: Royal Crown Academy)

I think back to how the two men I’d killed in Geneva had screamed and begged for their lives. I’d been merciful and snapped their necks, but only after I’d broken a few bones and caused extensive internal bleeding.

The smile on my lips turns into a pleased smirk.

“I’m looking forward to being impressed,” I reply, before asking, “Things aren’t going well with Thayer then?”

His eyes blacken until they match mine in color. “She wants me to go out and fuck someone else.”

An actual laugh leaves my lips at that. At this point, she’d have better success asking him to slit his own throat.

He continues. “I thought that tonight she was finally ready to admit she was mine, but,” he pauses, his jaw twitching because of how tightly he has it clenched, “she decided to go home with him.”

I raise a brow at him. “So, you’re turning to more drastic measures?”

“I’m strongly considering it.”

The sound of a glass shattering against the wall pulls both of our attentions to Rogue.

He’s standing with his chest heaving like he just ran a sub-ten one-hundred-meter race, his now empty fists clenched as he watches the liquid streak down the kitchen’s white walls.

“And his mood isn’t fucking helping.” Rhys adds, glaring back at him.

“You alright there, mate?” I ask him because, while this display of anger isn’t abnormal for him, his outbursts have been much more subdued and infrequent since he started dating Bellamy.

“I’m fine.” He replies, dropping into one of the chairs adjacent to the couch.

“You look it.”

“Fuck you, Phoenix.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to reply that I’ve already been fucked good tonight, but I keep it in. I don’t want to put the thought of Six being fucked in anyone’s head, not even these two.

Plus, I’m still furious over the fact that she dismissed me when we were done, dispatching me quickly and emotionlessly like I was nothing more than a random dick.

She won’t let me near her except physically in a purely transactional way. I’d guess that she was doing it to guard her heart, except I know the truth.

There is nothing left to guard. She gave it away to someone a long time ago. It’s no longer available for the taking.

It’s a good reminder that I need to stick to the plan – siphon as much money from my father’s accounts as possible while keeping up the pretense that I’m going to marry Sixtine, and then break it off when I have enough set aside to start my own enterprise, with the goal of hopefully rivaling my father’s one day.

I can’t let her become a distraction, no matter how much my body is weak for her.

And it is.

Even now, I breathe in more deeply, trying to pick up any remaining scent of her on me. My brain plays a montage of her laid out before me, hair splayed, legs spread, mouth parted in ecstasy. My hands clench and flex, looking forward to the next time I'll have her in my grip.

She was right to put some rules in place. Every single one of them, except the no kissing one. Resisting the urge to put my lips on her, especially when I’ve seen two others do it in front of me, is taking more effort than I thought it would.

“Sounds like maybe you need to get fucked, Rogue,” I point out, “Might help release some of that anger you’ve got.”

“I did.” He grits out, before adding, “I fucked Lyra tonight.”

The smirk wipes off my lips as Rhys sits up and turns towards Rogue with a bewildered look on his face. “Excuse me?”

“I fucked Lyra,” he repeats, his voice dispassionate. “Then Bellamy caught us so we broke up.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I ask, so taken aback by his words that I can hardly string any together myself, let alone a fully cogent thought. “You cheated on Bellamy?”

“Yes.” He grabs the bottle on the side table and takes a swig directly from it.

---