Page 58 of Vicious Desire (Fallen Royals 4)

“I’m going to go remove her from the fucking stand if you can’t concentrate,” Theo says, intercepting my line of vision.

I scowl. “Fuck you.”

Caleb rushes over. “What the hell?”

“Don’t mind me if I deck him.” I shove Theo out of my space. I might be shorter than him, but I’m scrappy. Fights with Caleb ensured that.

Theo just laughs.

Caleb rolls his eyes. “Save it for the afterparty, yeah?”

We get back into our positions, and I silently curse myself. It’s only been a week since my encounter with Riley at Jackie’s lake house. Encounter—like it wasn’t a life-altering experience. Is there even a single word to describe how one event can tilt your world in a new direction?

I’m still trying to piece together what happened. All I know is that her slap turned me on and enraged me—and I might’ve fallen in love with the combination.

I want more.

The whistle blows again, the game restarts, and I shove away thoughts of Riley. The idea of Theo removing her from the stands is blood-boiling, and I narrow that anger into winning this damn game.

There’s a reason Emery-Rose students call the four of us the golden boys. Because when we’re on a lacrosse field together, we’re unbeatable. We’re the ones on the pedestal. The ones who make dreams come true—both on the field and off, if you know what I mean.

The game ends, and we come out on top. Of course.

Liam and I yank off our helmets, enjoying the rush of celebration. Tonight was a success for the school, even if the game doesn’t matter. We may be going into our junior year of school, but last year’s seniors played tonight. They’re the ones taking most of the credit for the game.

We let them.

“Theo up your ass, huh?” Liam asks.

I shrug. “He’s right.”

“He wouldn’t be talking if Lucy was here.”

I raise my eyebrow. “He’s over her.”

“Hardly.”

Interesting.

Lucy Page is Amelie’s younger sister. She goes to Lion’s Head, where Liam and Theo went before they transferred to Emery-Rose.

Theo has some sort of vendetta against the girl. As far as I can tell, she seems like a goody-two-shoes. She’s boring. Sometimes she comes to the lacrosse games against Lion’s Head—those are the times Theo can prepare for. What takes him by surprise are the times she comes to see her sister cheer, sitting beside her parents. But she always just sits there, ignoring him, and he always tries not to do anything stupid.

“It’s only natural that Riley’s distracting you,” Liam continues. “After what happened last week…”

The slap. The drink pour.

I don’t know why I wanted to push her buttons so much, but maybe it was instinct. An instinct that proved to be right, because that girl has more personality than everyone else in the school put together. Just what I need.

I didn’t tell them what happened after—going back to the house.

Jackie had offered us the boathouse, so that’s where Caleb, Theo, Liam, and I went after Riley disappeared upstairs with Amelie. They all agreed that something bad would happen, so they secluded me.

I’m pretty sure Jackie threw a fit about it, so that didn’t help.

Now I’m eager to see how close I can toe her line.

The adrenaline from the game wears off as the minutes pass by, and the stupid fog comes rolling back in across my mind. I don’t want to give it a name, but it has a heaviness that sucks me down.

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