Page 29 of Charming Cruel Boys

“Excuse me?” Sawyer says, slowly turning to face Duke.

“You heard me.”

“Duke, what are you doing?” I hiss. He’s being so damn rude, it’s almost like Knight is sitting here instead.

Duke smiles at me, looking almost sheepish as he says, “We need to have that conversation because I think perfect can last, and I’m not going to wait any longer to get it back.”

My heart gallops as we stare at each other, the rest of the world falling away. I look to Sawyer, who’s gaping at Duke in disbelief. “Thank you for lunch, but I do need to talk to Duke. I’ll see you around?”

“Seriously?” he asks me, a frown pulling at his lips.

“I’m sorry. But we’re friends, Sawyer. That’s it, right? I’ll just see you in class.”

His face falls as he huffs out a breath. “Friends? I’m not here to make friends, Remi. I’ve got plenty of those already.”

“Dude, she asked you to leave,” Duke tells him.

“Who the hell is he to you?” Sawyer fumes at me, ignoring Duke.

My eyes bounce between the two of them while I think of a way to explain. Finally, I look to Sawyer. “Duke is... more. He’s everything,” I confess.

Sawyer stands and glares at me. “Un-fucking-believable.” Then he storms off, sitting with the jocks on the other side of the room.

I bite my lip as I turn back to Duke. He smirks. “Everything, huh?”

I laugh. “Shut up. I just said that so it would get through to him. We’ve got some work to do with this,” I tell him, gesturing between the two of us.

That makes the sexy grin drop off Duke’s face. He takes my hand across the table and rubs soothing circles over my palm. “I know that things have changed, Remi, and I don’t expect you to want everything all of a sudden, but I’m not giving up. I want to get to know you all over again. Fall for you harder than ever. We’ll take it slow if that’s what you want, but I’m all in,” he declares with an honest, almost pleading expression, letting me know how much he means every single word.

“I do want this,” I tell him, watching his face light up. God, he’s too cute for me to have a serious conversation with. But… I need to confess and it’s now or never. “If we’re going to try to make things work again, then I need to be honest with you. Because I do care for you and I miss you so much, but things have gotten complicated lately and I—“

“You have feelings for Knight too,” Duke says matter-of-factly.

My cheeks flush and I drop my gaze. I didn’t realize I was so obvious. I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear as I wait for the explosion. For him to curse and yell and flip out because I also want his brother. But it never comes. Duke’s totally calm and it’s freaking me out.

Leaning over the table, he pulls my face in for a quick, possessive kiss before sitting back down. “I can’t promise not to get jealous whenever he touches you or when I catch you looking at him the way you only used to look at me. But I’m also not going to make you ignore the way you feel about him. I can learn to share as long as it makes you happy because that’s all that matters. I’ve wasted too much time not loving you the way I should. Nothing is going to scare me away now. We’ll figure it all out along the way.”

I blink at him, waiting for the joke. Then I snap my mouth shut once I realize it’s wide open. “Share? As in, I date both of you? And you’re just cool with that?” I ask skeptically, arching a brow. It’s like something out of a wild fantasy. I didn’t even know it was an option. I mean, I would still have to choose eventually, though, right? Or… would I get to keep them both?

Duke shrugs and shakes his head. “Would it make you feel better if I put my foot down and said absolutely not? I think all I’d be doing is pushing you away from me and right into Knight’s arms. And I’m not willing to lose you all over again, so if you want us both, then yeah, I’m cool with that. Plus,” Duke sighs heavily, “I think Knight needs you. He’s been different since our dad died. Closed off, angry, violent. At first, I thought it was just his grieving process, you know? But now, I think there’s something else going on. And he won’t talk to me.”

I laugh bitterly. “And you think he’ll talk to me? Just because I like him doesn’t mean the feelings are reciprocated. I’m pretty sure Knight hates my guts. Not saying he doesn’t want to sleep with me, but there’s no way he wants anything of substance with me.”

Duke snorts and I narrow my eyes at him. “Knight doesn’t hate you. He’s been into you for years, Remi. He just never acted on it, so I did. I wasn’t going to wait around for my brother to get the courage to talk to a girl we both wanted.” He shrugs and flashes me a grin. “He’s fighting it for some reason, but he’s going to cave sooner or later, and when he does, you might regret ever falling for him.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I ask slowly.

Duke chuckles, this sexy, joking sound that I love. “Knight can be... a lot. He’s just as passionate about what he loves as he is about what he hates. You’ve been getting the shit side of him lately, but he’s not good at holding himself back when he wants something. Never has been. He’s got zero impulse control. So when he finally breaks and gets to have you the way he wants, sweet girl, I don’t think he’ll ever let you go. Think you can handle the moody dick for the rest of your life? Of course, he’ll just fuck you raw to make up for being an ass and you’ll love every second of it.”

My breath hitches as heat pools between my legs. If I had known hearing Duke talk about Knight sleeping with me would be such a turn-on, I would have jumped on the opportunity to have them both when we dated the first time around. Of course, back then, I was kind of scared of Knight and his cold eyes, and I avoided him every chance I got. Damn. Think about all the good times I’ve missed out on.

“You like that, don’t you?” Duke whispers. “You like me telling you how my brother will abuse your pussy. I bet you’re dripping right now just thinking about it.”

“Duke!” I whisper-shout at him, gripping the edge of the table so tight that my fingers hurt. Jesus, we’ve gone from zero to a thousand all over the course of lunch. “You are such an ass. I thought we were taking baby steps, not jumping into the deep end,” I scold him.

“I can go real slow, sweet girl,” he purrs. “Slow and gentle and—“

“Okay, good talk,” I snap, cutting him off before he makes me orgasm with his words alone. I stand and stomp out of the cafeteria with Duke laughing behind me. I flip him off over my shoulder, frustrated that I’m going to be horny for the rest of the day now. Jackass.

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