Page 53 of Vicious Desire (Fallen Royals 4)

My body doesn’t get the memo, and my muscles stay tight.

Two drinks later, I’m still wound up.

The party, though, is slipping away into the night.

We all sit on the couches in the front living room, playing a drinking game involving cards and doing ridiculous things. Amelie sits beside me, a fact that registers dimly with warm satisfaction.

My head buzzes like it’s full of bees.

A few more people leave, and then it’s just six of us: Jackie, Amelie, Ian and Jake, Skylar… and me.

Jake passed out a while ago, curled in an armchair facing away from us. Ian and Jackie disappear upstairs, and Amelie murmurs something about the spare bedroom and follows them up.

Skylar and I look at each other.

“Good thing there are two couches,” she slurs. “We don’t have to fight for it.”

I giggle. “Or share. There’s nothing worse than someone’s feet in your face when you’re trying to sleep.”

She nods. “I think there are blankets around here somewhere.”

I’m boneless, but I tip my head back and watch her go to the closet in the hallway, rummage through it, and return with three blankets. She tosses one to me, keeps one, and then goes to Jake. He doesn’t stir as she lays it over him.

“That was nice,” I say.

Her gaze stays on him. “I have my moments.”

She flips off the light and flops onto the couch parallel to mine.

“A good way to start the summer,” I murmur.

“Even if you got jungle juice dumped over your head?”

He didn’t mean it.

I almost let those words leave my mouth. Instead, I roll onto my back. The moonlight comes in through the back windows and sliding glass door, so it’s easy to see the shadows in the room.

“Inconsequential,” I find myself saying.

She hums. “Well, you have all summer to avoid him.”

“True.”

She lets out a sigh, and I close my eyes. Immediately, I feel like I’m moving. I throw my arm over my face. Being drunk is new—not that I think I’m that far gone that I’d puke or anything, but the sensation is… interesting.

Not in the best way.

I concentrate on Jake’s steady breathing and Skylar’s rustling, and drift asleep.

A hand over my mouth brings me back to consciousness.

I jerk back, but the pressure is constant. It takes me too long to register the face inches from mine.

Eli.

I could ask what he’s doing here, but I think that would give in to him in some way.

I’m not about that. I narrow my gaze, watching his eyes.

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