Page 155 of Cursed

“Avril.”

Valen stood in the doorway. “We thought you’d never get out of the tub.” His sardonic smile snatched at his lips, while unmistakable desire flickered within his dark eyes. His tattoos twisted from beneath his shirt and crawled down his arms. Was it my imagination—or were they moving and shifting in the light?

“I— Was just about to get dressed.” I stuttered unintentionally, and a ripple of amusement stirred within him.

“Too bad,” he said. He came closer and his hand grazed the length of my arm down to my hand. “We’re waiting for you.”

Electric jolts ignited my skin, and I swallowed hard. His touch was addictively torturous, and my pussy throbbed.

“Waiting— for me?”

He nodded.

“Take your time, but Titus is back—and we need to talk.”

The way he said it—the grim set of his mouth, the tension in his clenched jaw—I knew there was no escaping this.

But what did they want to talk about?

Had they discovered what I had done? That I had stolen from them—

What would they do?

I nodded to hide my fear, and for once my voice was steady. “Alright, I’ll be right out.”

Valen gave a last glance at me. Something unspoken glittered in those dark depths before he stepped out and closed the door. The silence descended heavily, and my heartbeat echoed ominously in my ears. The whispering in my mind became louder—feeding into my apprehension.

With a sigh, I threw off my robe and slipped into a filmy black silk négligée that had been hung on the back of the door—were they choosing my clothes now, too?

I pressed my ear against the door to listen to the conversation happening without me.

“We need to keep our emotions in check,” that was Valen—his voice strained, “Lucian...”

“He doesn’t call the shots here,” Bastian cut him off mid-sentence. “If we’re going to do this...we need to do it now.”

“We can’t just rush into this!” Titus snapped. “You two will get us all killed—”

It felt like I was about to walk into a lion’s den.

I took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

The Romano brothers stood in a semi-circle, arms crossed over their chests… They stopped mid-sentence and looked over at me.

Lust was clear in Bastian’s eyes— In all of their eyes.

I forced a smile onto my face. “Don’t let me interrupt,” I said.

Bastian was the first to break their compacted, dark circle of silence. He stalked towards me, his golden hair ruffling in the cool air. He brushed a strand of hair off my flushed cheek before trailing his knuckles down my arm. “You never could,” he murmured.

His words conjured a flutter in my chest as he took my hand and led me toward the velvet chaise set near the window.

The site of our last tryst…

Titus and Valen stepped aside to allow us to pass. As I settled myself on the edge of the cushion, Titus crossed his arms over his chest and his dark stare trapped me.

“We were just discussing our father,” he said dryly. His gaze trailed over my collarbone and down—before lingering on the tops of my breasts far longer than necessary.

“Lucian...” I breathed. An icy knot formed in my stomach at the mention of him.

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