Page 156 of A Smile Full of Lies
He pressed closer, his body hard and unyielding against mine. Heat radiated off him, seeping into me, sinking beneath my skin like a poison I didn’t want to cure.
I felt everything. Every sharp line. Every inch of muscle. Every solid reminder that he was stronger. Faster. In control.
The asshole wasn’t even out of breath.
The realization sent a shudder through me, violent and traitorous.
His chuckle was dark silk and razor wire.
“My poor little prey.”
My stomach clenched.
“I told you we were done.”
He pressed the mouth of the mask to my ear and breathed in, slow and deliberate, like he was taking his time relishing my fear.
“Isn’t this exactly what you wanted, baby?”
I gasped, the words wrecking me.
No. No, it wasn’t supposed to feel like this. I wasn’t supposed to feel like this. Not with him. Not with anyone.
He wasn’t supposed to know. But he did. He knew everything.
His fingers brushed my lips. A taunt. A test. A fucking game.
I jerked my head away, my breath coming in short, sharp bursts. Panic warred with something darker. Something low and traitorous, curling deep inside me.
“Go on,” he whispered. “Take the mask off.”
No. I didn’t want to know.
I shook my head, twisting against him, but his grip tightened — not enough to hurt, just enough to tell me I had no choice.
“Take it off,” he repeated, softer this time. More dangerous.
The way he said it sent a sharp, unwanted thrill through me. My hands shook as I reached up. My fingers curled around the edges of the mask.
I didn’t want to know. I already knew. But I had to see the truth for myself. I ripped the mask off, and there he was.
Philip. Fucking. Knox.
His face was sharp and beautiful in the low light, his feral, wicked smile curling at the corners of his mouth.
The smile I’d seen before. The one I’d dismissed. Mistaken for harmless. But it was never harmless. It was a smile full of lies. Beautiful, patient, insidiously perfect lies.
My stomach dropped.
No. No, no, no?—
I knew that face. I’d seen him before. Too many times over the years, but I couldn’t reconcile my neighbor, the man I was in love with, the man I’d gone up against Thayer for, the man I’d gotten stabbed for, with Nox Obscura… the man who hunted me, toyed with me, manipulated me, pulled the truth out of me against my will.
It wasn’t fucking fair, and it hit me like a train wreck.
He had been circling me. Waiting. Since we were eighteen. Since he bought the house next door just to be close while I was still with his best friend.
He was never just watching. He wasstudying me—mapping me.
