Page 41 of Beautiful Liar

Asshole.

He could’ve ended me on that cliff. Why hadn’t he? What was his fucking game?

Alessandro was coming here. What would happen when we saw each other? What the fuck was I supposed to do? Ignore him?

I hated my life.

But I made it out of the fucking woods and onto the main path to Harper House. I’d left in a hurry and hadn’t locked the door behind me. Dasher, Charity, and Micah had let themselves inside. They were waiting for me in the living room when I walked in.

“Did you get it?” Dasher asked. I’d never heard him so panicked before.

“Oh, shit, look at his face. He did,” Charity said.

“I’m tired. Tell me what you think I got and go away so I can sleep.”

“He didn’t get it,” Micah said. I almost missed him standing near the window.

“Where’s your phone?” Dasher asked.

I shrugged. I hadn’t had it since the day Amir died. “Myroom?”

Dasher sprinted up the steps, his crutches knocking hard on each step. Charity took off two seconds after him and Micah didn’t even bother to wait.

Now they were all in my room.

Grunting, I started to climb when a heavy knock pounded the door. “For fuck’s sake,” I grumbled and swung the door open. Kieran practically, almost, rammed into me as he charged inside. Morgan looking sheepish behind him.

I breathed and closed the door.

“What did Luca want?”

I dragged my eyes accusingly to the rat who found a piece of lint on the floor interesting and kept his eyes there.

I didn’t have time to answer when the three nosey bodies appeared at the top of the stairs. “Do you realize what this means?” Dasher said, already descending. The beat of his crutches loud against the stairs. He still had a balance issue and was going to physical therapy for it. It didn’t seem to ward him from getting into my business. Charity and Micah behind him.

“We’re fucked, that’s what that means,” Charity added before they caught sight of Kieran.

He was standing way too close to me. If it were any other time than just before I’d been threatened by a painted madman for something I couldn’t remember, I may have welcomed it. Instead, I grunted. “I need a shower. When I get out you all better be out of here.”

Without looking back, I sprinted up the stairs, charged into my room, and slammed the door. Then I did the same with the bathroom door. I needed to clear my head. I needed tothink. A subtle hum vibrated under my skin. I was edging, needed a damn blunt. Something to calm myself. I couldn’t think straight with my head buzzing. Too much shit running through it.

Luca Mancini here to kill me.

Alessandro Mancini was Enzo. One of the Four. And something told me it wasn’t coincidence that he had bought me from moms all those years ago.

The collar Luca gave me meant something, though I didn’t know what.

Dasher, Charity, Micah here and afraid meant something too.

Kieran and the pictures were some sort of warning.

All of it swirling around in my head making no type of sense. I was going to fucking explode. By the time I got out of the shower, I still couldn’t form the puzzle in front of me. Except for Kieran. He hadn’t left me. He’d been sitting on the bed and got to his feet when I entered my room. His eyes dragged down the length of my body—my naked body—and heat flared in my belly.

“We have to talk,” he said.

I ignored him, narrowed the gap between us and smashed my mouth against his in a feral kiss that pushed every other fucked up thought out of my head. I felt him fight me, but I wasn’t letting him go. He was my lifeline, the only chaos in my life that made sense. I couldn’t let him go. I couldn’t. I pulled away from his mouth just to breathe, and trailed kisses along his jaw.

“Please give me this,” I cupped his thickening cock over his pants. He gripped my shoulders and thrust into my grip as I licked a trail up his throat. He moaned and it made me feel so good. It gave me a purpose. I lived to rip those sounds out of Kieran’s throat. To make him mine if only for just these precious moments we’d been given.

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