Page 47 of Twice as Twisted

“Oh—sorry about him,” I say quickly, a little embarrassed that he’s acting so uncivilized.

Unbothered, Baron tips his chin at my stepmother. “Hey, Mrs. Darling.”

“What was—did you—” She stammers.

“It’s so nice to meet you,” he says, taking her hand from where it hangs limply at her side. He shakes it, but she jerks it away and narrows her eyes at him.

“Where’s Jacob?” she demands, finding her voice at last. “And Colt…”

Baron shrugs one shoulder. “Downstairs. But you should probably go check on them. You know. Just in case.”

He shoots me a wink over her head as she hurries past him. I climb off the bed, biting back a smile. I can’t look at BaronDolce. He’s too beautiful. Instead, I look at the floor so I won’t smile bigger and look like a mad woman. No one likes a mad woman.

“I’m ready.”

“You got your phone?” he asks.

“Yeah.”

“Leave it.” He points to my side table, and when I don’t move, he cocks a brow. “You want to go or not?”

“Yeah, but… What if there’s an emergency?”

“Phones are a distraction from real life,” he says. “If you’re with me, I want you with me. In the moment completely. Not thinking about who might have commented on your last post.”

“I will be,” I promise, though I’m still reluctant to leave the house without a phone. I don’t even use it much, since I don’t have friends, but I’m used to having it if I need it. I feel naked walking out of my room without a phone or any way to contact people.

“Trust me,” Baron says with a haughty smirk. “I’m worth it.”

“I know,” I say quickly. “I wasn’t planning to be on my phone.”

“Good,” he says. “I’m greedy. I want you all to myself.”

I wonder, not for the first time, why. Why does he want all of me? Why does he want me at all?

“We might want to go now,” he says, glancing down the hall. “Otherwise, your mom might find out what happened, and then she won’t want me to take you out, and I’ll have to get rid of her.”

He looks comically serious, and I stifle a giggle and hurry past him, leaving Boots hissing and spitting in our wake. I can’t feel my feet as I float down the hall in front of him. I’ve never felt this way before, not for anyone. It’s as if I’m no longer human,no longer animal. Instead of a solid, I’ve become something ethereal, vapors swirling, shimmering sparkles swimming in a body-shaped energy field.

When we reach the bottom of the stairs, I hear Aurora’s yell of fury and indignation. I whip my head around, my eyes widening at Baron.

“Run,” he mouths, grabbing my hand.

We race out the front door, but when I pause at the steps leading down from the big wooden front deck, Baron doesn’t. Without breaking his stride, he bends and scoops me up, tossing me over his shoulder before charging down the steps and across the gravel lot where we park under the shade of the sprawling summer oaks, still barren from winter. A shriek of surprise and something else, something foreign to me, escapes my mouth as I cling to him, too surprised to even notice he’s touching a very lot of me. Yanking open the door of his Audi, he dumps me in the passenger seat and then sprints around the back. I close my door just as he jabs the button to turn on the car, and the next second, we’re jetting backwards, then peeling forward in a spray of gravel.

“Wow,” I breathe, grabbing for my seatbelt. “I didn’t know electric vehicles had so much pickup. My hybrid would still be accelerating.”

Baron chuckles, glancing at me from the driver’s seat, his eyes alight with excitement behind his glasses. “You kidding? This thing can smoke anything in your garage.”

“We don’t have a garage,” I point out.

Baron just shakes his head and slows as we skid along the dirt road. “So, you’ve never been on a date, huh?”

“Why do you say that?”

“Duke told me,” he says, giving me a funny look. “How did you think?”

I shrug, tugging at the hem of my skirt. The thing is, I didn’t tell Duke that. So if he told Baron, it’s because he guessed. That’s not good. I’ll have to give him more credit next time, judge him more generously, closer to an intellectual equal.

---