Page 27 of King of Depravity

Then I settle back, my arms spread wide on the back of the couch. “Mind telling me why?”

She slips off her little sneakers and pulls off her socks. Today she’s wearing a pair of Kelly green leggings with a multicolored tank top, her hair piled on top of her head in this sexy messy bun that makes me want to do all kinds of dirty things.

She’s got this playful smile on her lips as she pads across the concrete floor, coming toward me. Then she leans over, her fingers tracing the edges of the massive tattoo on my chest. “Is it the Milky Way?”

“Yeah,” I answer. I don’t tell her that each star I add to the outer edges represents a life I’ve taken. I don’t want to touch that darkness today, it’s too happy being here with her.

But she seems to zero in on them, tracing several of them with her finger. “What does it mean?”

I shrug. “I just like it.”

She cocks her head, sliding her hand over her skin. “No bigger meaning?”

A muscle in my cheek twitches. “I think the stars are like people. Billions of them…” I don’t tell her about how I’m not a star, I’m a black hole, or how my own family?—

“Whatever you’re thinking, stop,” she whispers, “I can see your light dimming, so I won’t ask again.”

I look at her then, confusion drawing my brows together. “What do you mean, my light dimming?”

“The light in your eyes is dying again,” she answers, removing her hand from my skin. But then she leans over and softly kisses my forehead before she turns back and walks back to her canvas, my gaze on her ass as she goes. I relax again as she picks up the palette, staring at the blank canvas,

Then, dipping her paint brush in multiple colors, she starts painting. She’s facing me so I can’t see what she paints, but just watching her body move, the way she concentrates, furrows her brow, starts again, it’s mesmerizing.

I have no idea how long I’ve just been sitting, watching her work, I’ve lost all sense of time when my doorbell buzzes.

It jars me out of the trance I’ve been in, and for a second I just glare at the offending door before I push off the couch, and go to answer it.

Triston stands on the other side. “What the fuck?” I ask as I open the door.

He glares back. “What the fuck? You’re asking me that? You haven’t answered your phone in hours. You weren’t home last night.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I came to talk to you,” he says as he pushes through the door. “You can’t go that long without answering, I thought you were—Chloe.”

He turns to me, his brows rising up his forehead.

Chloe’s got a paint brush sticking out of her messy bun, her eyes focused on the canvas, as she bends over in her bare feet and tank top. “Hey, Triston. Nice to see you again.”

He looks between me and her, noting my shirtless chest and her bare feet. “I’m just curious, yesterday you intimated that my brother was—erm—following you?”

“Yeah. This is a lot less work for both of us,” she answers without taking her eyes from her work.

But her words make me laugh as Triston’s hands come up to either side of his chest, palms up as his mouth falls open.

“She needs good light and space to work, and I’ve got both,” I supply. I was enjoying the quiet of watching her work, so I cross my arms. “You’ve confirmed I’m alive. Is there anything else, Tris?”

He nods in the affirmative and starts walking toward my office space. That’s the thing about having a brother who is the boss. He’s fucking bossy everywhere. I follow as Chloe’s eyes flick to mine, a question in them, but I only wink.

Once we’re in my office space, which only has one chair, Triston closes the door. I slide into the only seat, asserting my dominance in my own space. Nonplussed, he sits on my desk. “What’s going on with you and Chloe?”

“None of your business,” I answer. “Why don’t you get to the point.”

“That is my point. You don’t date. As far as I’m aware, you don’t even hook up with women. At least you haven’t for a long time.”

I shrug, debating telling my brother to fuck off. “Like I said, she’s got a nice ass.”

“She does, sure, but lots of girls with nice asses have tried to get you in bed. You usually just scare them off.”

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