Page 54 of Vicious Desire (Fallen Royals 4)

He isn’t scowling like my last image of him in the kitchen. His eyes are… pleading. Unexpected, but not unwanted. He’s searching for something in my eyes, and I can’t tell if he’s able to find it or not.

Instead, he slowly loosens his grip, and his hand slides down my jaw, around to the back of my neck.

There’s something forbidden about this whole thing.

I push myself up onto my elbow, bringing myself closer to him.

“Do it,” I whisper.

He kisses me softly. His lips barely touch mine at first, just the barest of brushes. It’s familiar, but this hesitancy is new.

And why should I want to kiss him, anyway? He was mean.

I was mean back.

His teeth nip my lower lip, tugging and releasing, and I gasp at the shock of it. I bring my own arm up, winding around his neck to pull him closer.

There’s a hesitancy between us, too. I naïvely think it’ll go away, but the feeling lingers the longer my lips are on his. We’re figuring out too much without speaking—our emotions, this little fragile thing between us.

I withdraw first, meeting his gaze.

“A bully in public and my friend in private?” I ask in a low voice.

He raises his eyebrow. “Friend? Would you kiss a friend like this?”

I shudder. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Let’s make a pact,” he suggests. “Any length we go to make each other feel something in public… it doesn’t matter when we’re alone. That can all just fuck off, and we can be… us.”

On some level, I understand that he needs this as much as I do. That sometimes we get so encased in fog, only sharp anger can pierce through it.

Eli is the knife that will cut me free.

I nod once, then lean forward and seal it with a kiss. I’ll figure out what he needs freeing from eventually. I’ll discover his deep, dark secrets. But right now, there’s one thing I focus on: the meaning behind his words.

A promise to ruin each other.

And a threat to put each other back together.

14

Eli

Riley doesn’t talk much on the drive. She stares straight ahead, and her fingers pick at the hem of her shirt. I could say something to comfort her, but I’m enjoying the building awkwardness between us.

It never existed before.

Before, we fit like two freaking perfect puzzle pieces. When do you ever find someone that you’d rather not change a single damn thing about?

Never, that’s when.

But now, she has new edges that I’m still getting accustomed to, and I don’t know if we align.

It’s funny; I once caught Caleb muttering about Margo and him fitting. I didn’t really understand it until I examined my relationship with Riley.

The farther from Rose Hill we get, the tenser my companion grows. I’m just waiting until there’s enough pressure in the car to make her explode—and to tell me what the hell was going on.

And to especially tell me who kissed her hand.

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