Page 37 of Beautiful Liar

Then he leaned in. I turned away just as his lips grazed mine forcing his mouth on my cheek. I tried to push him off me, but the guy was a solid wall. “What the fuck?”

He had his leg between mine, his hip against my cock, and all I felt was fear. Had the fucker lost his mind?

“You kissed him here, yet you were angry.” The glow stick made him look as if he were ethereal. Not of this world. “Do you not feel the same now?”

“No,” I bucked my hips to get him off me, but he didn’t move. “You’re not him.”

“Him who?” He squeezed my throat, cutting off my airway. So close that I could smell the oil of his paint, cinnamon, and rain. “Who would you like to kiss, Tomás?”

He already knew. He had the pictures. “Kieran.”

“Why Kieran?”

I didn’t think he was pulling my leg. He sounded so damn curious. Like a little kid asking how an engine worked. And I found I wanted to tell him the truth. So I did. “Because I love him.”

“How do you know that? Is it how he makes you feel?” Heleaned closer, rubbing against me.

I hissed at the contact and regretted going commando. “No,” I ground out. “It’s not just that.”

“Then what?” he asked. “Is it his pretty eyes, the way he kisses you, the way he smells, the way he kills? What is it abouthimthat makes you love him?”

“It’s everything. I want to be what he needs. I want him to be happy, safe. I want to be home for him.” Fuck, I sounded like an idiot. It seemed to have some effect on the guy. His grip on me loosened. “He makes me want to be a better person for him. It hurts everywhere when I can’t be with him. When I think he doesn’t love me the same way, it hurts, deep inside me.” I let that sink in for a heartbeat. “Luca,” I said. “What’s this about? Maybe I can help you.” Because the guy looked like he needed help.

The darker core of his eyes blew wide as if he’d fallen into a different headspace. His eyes shifted away from me as if ashamed. His head slightly cocked in a tick as if he were listening to something I couldn’t catch. The hand on my throat dropped to his side and he took a step away. His head still cocked, listening to something on the breeze.

Then he bolted. Soundless movement, until he was swallowed by the approaching dawn. Chasing shadows.

I let out a relieved breath as I tapped the back of my head against the wall. “Stupid, stupid, stupid.” I was so fucking stupid. I shut my eyes, feeling on the edge of tears, fucking tired of all this emotional bullshit. I’d been nothing but a vessel for pain since Amir. No, even before that. Since Maddox dropped my ass here. Fuck, come to think of it, I’d been craving the love from the people who could never love me back. Mom loved her drugs more, Daniel loved pussy more, Dad loved Nick more. Kieran loved power more.

Fuck!

I hit my head again. The sting of pain taking me out ofthe emotional spiral I knew I’d fall into if I didn’t take back some sort of control. It made me realize that I needed Kieran. He gave me control. Was that why I loved him? Was everything I told Luca bullshit? I loved him because he gave me whatIneeded, not the other way around? Because Kieran didn’tneedshit from me. He hadn’t even said he loved me and why did that fucking hurt all over?

I pressed my palms against my closed lids and grunted.

Get a fucking grip.I had to push all that shit back or I’d fucking do something I’d regret. Like follow the motherfucker who just made all my insides unravel.

I picked up the discarded picture and shoved it into my pocket. I should’ve gone back to the house. I should’ve. But Luca knew something. He was playing some damn game I didn’t know the rules for, and I couldn’t just ignore it. Why did he have the picture? What did he plan to do with it, with me? And the thought of the collar he’d left in my bedroom only added to my questions. So I ran into the woods, trying to catch up to him and when I reached the first glowstick on the ground, I knew the fucker had called me out like a bitch in heat. He knew I’d follow him. And that pissed me off even more. I hated being predictable. I slipped into the thicker part of the woods, behind the quad, the staff homes, into a section of the property I’d never been in before. Focused on the narrow path he led me through, I didn’t see the sudden absence of ground until I was upon it. I stumbled, biting my tongue, pinwheeling my arms, my heart in my throat. Luca fisted my hood behind me and yanked me back. I tripped over myself and fell hard on my ass, reminding me of what Kieran and I had just done a few hours ago.

“Ouch,” I said and leaned over to rub my butt cheek.

Luca stood over me, a twisted smirk on his face. The sun bathed him in a radiant glow. He belonged in shadows, in the dark. The light in his eyes darkened. The touch of sun againsthis hair revealed the lighter blond strands between the hastily applied black oil paint. Just black and white. As if he’d meant to be a shadow. Yet, there was something softer in his eyes. Shades of moments that revealed a child’s curiosity, wonderment, awe. Then it’d be replaced by a glaze of nothingness. As if he warred with the two sides of himself. I just didn’t know which side was the hunter and which the explorer. I didn’t know which side of him I should fear. But he had saved me from falling over a cliff. So, there was that.

“Thanks for saving my life,” I said. My voice still oddly husky.

He didn’t say anything, but the emotion in those eyes made my chest hurt. I looked away, taking in the view. Through thick trees stood a spire barely visible in the distance. “What’s that?” I asked.

His sharp gaze turned to where I pointed. “Death,” he answered, his voice flat. Dulled of life.

“Is that where the funeral games are going to be held?”

Luca narrowed his eyes. “Yes.”

“Is that why you led me here?”

“Yes.” He crouched down next to me. His clothes perfectly fitted in his frame, moved with him, stretched with every movement. They weren’t hand-me-downs for sure. “Why did you follow?”

“I just … I don’t want you to hurt Kieran with those pictures. No one knows about us.”

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