Page 13 of Pretty Poisoned

Fuck.

"I'm afraid of you," I tell him. It isn't entirely a lie. It's just that the second part is true, too. I don't want him to find out, though.

"What do you want with my brother, Teagan? Or is it 'Blakely'?"

"It's Teagan. Blakely is my sister's name. As for what I want, that shouldn't be that hard to figure out."

"So, you're doing all of this just to fuck him? You don't seem like the typical bloodslut. I mean, you look the part, but—"

"Bloodslut?" I ask. "Is that what you call your fans?"

"Not all of them," Declan says, finally putting the knife away. As he moves back over to the other side of the counter and sitson a stool, I let out a breath I don't realize I've been holding. "The ones you met last night—they're my family," he adds.

Family?Interesting.

"What's the difference?"

"There's a big difference," he says. "What do you want with myfamily, Teagan?"

"I went to a concert to listen to music. He approached me—I didn't ask for that," I tell him. It's true, too. Maybe my plan was always Luca, but he's the one who found me. "We had a moment. I was intrigued."

"At the bar," he says. It isn't a question, so he must have been watching. I nod anyway. "What kind of moment?"

"Kind of a damsel-in-distress thing. He chased away some asshole and called me a good girl."

He scoffs. "Luca has a lot of those moments with a lot of women."

"Then why do you care?" I ask. "Why are you here?"

"I guess I wanted to see what the big deal was," he says. "Maybe I've gotten bored. I think maybe I was hoping for something a little more interesting than just some stupid bloodslut."

I grind my teeth, biting back what I really want to say, reminding myself that it's better—safer, really—if he thinks of me this way. "I'm sorry to disappoint. I just want to party and fuck your brother," I say plainly.

I wait for his reply, but all I get is a bored look before he pulls his phone from his pocket. "Go put some clothes on," he says without looking up as he types.

"What? Why?"

"Or don't," he says. "Makes no difference to me."

I take my coffee cup and return to the bedroom, where I pull on a pair of jeans and the black version of the red corset top Iwore to the show last night. There's another knock on the door as I step into the living room.

Declan stands to answer it.

"Well…wait," I say. He turns to me and raises an eyebrow. "Who's that?"

"Do you want to go to the show tonight or not?" he asks.

"Yes…"

"Then stop asking so many fucking questions."

He opens the door, and River strolls in, dragging a black roller bag behind her. In her other hand, she carries two cups of coffee on one of those disposable trays.

"You've made me so happy today," she says to Declan. "You know that?"

He kisses her on the cheek as she walks through the door.

"This is much better than whatever crap you have in that cup," River says, handing me one of the coffees. "Trust me."

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