Page 28 of Vicious Desire (Fallen Royals 4)

Noah scowls. “Don’t fucking touch her, man.”

The boy raises his hands. “Truth be told, I’m pretty sure I’ll have to scrub my hands for an hour after that.”

Uh-oh.

My brother lunges forward and swings, but I can already tell it won’t land.

Guys rush in, knocking me and Skylar out of the way. She grabs my hand and drags me back. Soccer players—Noah’s new teammates—haul him out of the room.

“Eli Black,” Skylar whispers in my ear. “That’s who—”

“Thanks,” I say. “I better go see if Noah is all right—”

“He’s fine.” This comes from Kaiden. “The boys are helping him cool off. It’s kind of sweet, isn’t it? How he wants to protect his baby sister.”

I’m getting sick of people referring to me as a baby.

He shrugs. “Enjoy the party, Riley. I’ll look after your brother.”

Skylar nods dramatically. “See? Come on.”

She hands me the cup I originally gave her and goes to fill another. No one stops her, and the boys have disappeared from the kitchen. It’s easier to breathe without them in here.

Eli Black.

It sounds familiar, but I can’t place it.

“Are they upperclassmen?” I ask Skylar.

“Sophomores like Amelie. Speaking of, we should go find her. She’s probably outside where she can hear herself think.”

Now that she says it, I realize we’ve been shouting to each other.

I follow her outside, expecting to see Noah. Instead, there’s a group of people around a bonfire in the back of the sprawling yard and no sign of my brother.

“He probably went back inside,” Skylar offers.

We go toward the fire, and I can’t help but imagine us as the foolish moths. Although it isn’t the flames we have to be worried about—it’s the people standing around it.

Amelie is with a few other girls on one side. We join their little group, but most of them keep letting their attention stray to the boys on the other side. It’s Eli and his friends, so I force myself to keep my gaze anywhere else.

The girls are talking about cheerleading.

“You’ll join us, Riley?” Amelie asks me.

“In… cheerleading?”

Her eyebrow tics. “Well, not the debate team.”

The girls around her laugh, and I stay silent. Should I join the cheerleading team? I don’t know anything about it. In reality, I was looking forward to joining the cross-country running team…

“She is,” Skylar declares. “Right?”

I swallow. My body is hot and sticky. “Yeah, I’ll try out. No promises…” I trail off with a laugh and pray that the conversation changes direction.

Thankfully, it does.

The girl I think Amelie introduced as Jackie starts talking about her summer in the Hamptons. I take a sip and try to hide my cough. Beer doesn’t taste like I thought it would. The fizz goes up my nose, and it leaves a sour flavor on my tongue.

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