Page 88 of Beautiful Liar

He shook his head. “No. I’m afraid my time with Maddox is over. But I will give this to him. You’re right. He shouldn’t go to war for that piece of shit. But I’m not sure what you expecthe’ll do.”

“Stop him starting a war? Not kill Wren?”

Dr. Casera looked at me with that expression he wore so well. As if looking inside my soul. “We’ll see then,” Dr. Casera said.

Then he walked me out and told me never to come to his house again.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Kieran

Twelve hours after Tomás gave the video file to Dr. Casera, Tristan had sent a car with security guards for us and Tomás had locked himself inside the bedroom. “I’m not going.”

“This is ridiculous, Tomás.” In truth, I didn’t want him to go.

“I don’t care.”

And he didn’t. “What am I supposed to tell Tristan?”

He opened the door a sliver, his profile painted against the sun at his back. “I don’t care.” Then he slammed it again and bolted it. The only way Tomás was going anywhere was either drugged, which I would never do to him, or kicking and hollering over my shoulder—which I would certainly do to him. But Tomás was safe here. And he’d done his part in trying to fix the mess that Alessandro left behind. Tomás had agreed to see a therapist to work through the shit he’d gone through, and I was so fucking proud of him. Facing Tristan wouldn’t help.

“Okay,” I said, placing a hand on the door. “But I have to go.”

The door swung open. I stumbled inside. He helped me by yanking me in. The door slammed behind me and he shoved me against it. The manhandling made my dick instantly hard. Then his mouth was on mine. With no hesitation, he shoved his tongue inside and took possession of me. When my lips felt bruised and swollen, he pulled away. Beautiful in his lustful state. I wanted to ruin him some more. But we really had no time.

Cupping my face, he leaned his forehead against mine, eyes closed. “Promise me you’ll come back.”

I pulled him flush against me, rutting against his thigh so he could feel what he did to me. “I’m coming back … for you.”

Tomás let out a relieved breath.

“I don’t know which part you don’t get when I tell you, you areeverythingto me,” I said and placed a careful kiss just under his ear. “If I can’t stay at Arcadia, I’m taking you with me.”

He nodded. “I love you,” he said.

“I love you, too.” I kissed him again. “I have to go.”

Looking wrecked, he took a step back. If I looked deeper at the cause to his pain, I’d see a man haunted by his past. I would never, ever be his past. I just didn’t know how to reassure him, so I walked out without another word. Each step I took away from him felt like a nail inside my chest. I met Fox in the living room with River pacing in front of him. They both looked up at me.

“Are you sure about this?” Fox asked.

I wasn’t sure about much, but I was sure Tristan wouldn’t kill me when I told him about the takeover. “I trust him.”

“I hope you’re right. You’re putting our lives in your trust for him,” River said.

I nodded.

“Have you told Tor and the others?”

I didn’t answer. I had led the Ark Boys since its inception. I had recruited every member of this brotherhood. Tor had dropped me off in this place with one piece of advice. Be the leader they needed. This was me leading. “Do you trust me?”

“Trust is something earned,” Henry said from the doorway. After the games, he’d hidden himself in his room. He’d given me the information I needed about Dr. Casera’s past, but he’d shut everything else out. “And you’ve earned it, Kieran. Yes. I trust you.”

Fox got up from the sofa. “Yeah. I do.”

River nodded.

“We’re going to get Wren back in one piece.”

---