Page 67 of Kings & Chaos

The last part was important. I didn’t want to hurt her, but if I let her get too close, someone else would.

Chapter24

Willa

Iwoke up with a start and sat straight up in bed. It took me a few seconds to register the fact that Neo was standing at the foot of my bed, his expression unreadable as he stared down at me.

“Get dressed,” he said.

I blinked. “Wow, okay. What time is it and what are you doing in my room?”

I didn’t know why I’d left the door unlocked between our rooms.

Wait, that was a lie. I did know. I’d left it unlocked because I’d hoped he’d come to my room after the shower incident, hoped we could talk about what had happened.

Because holy fuck, what had happened?

We’d been close, not in a hate-sex kind of way but for the first time, in a way that had felt really… intimate.

And then I’d seen the unicorn choker on his tattoo and everything had clicked into place, and like an idiot, I’d mentioned it.

It had been like flipping a switch and I still didn’t know why.

“It’s early.” Neo paced at the end of my bed, all coiled energy and sex appeal. “Just after eight. If you hurry we can be out of here before they wake up and rope us into some fucked-up family outing.”

The fog was clearing from my sleep-addled brain. “They told us to stay until tomorrow.”

“We will,” Neo said. “Technically. But there’s no reason we can’t run a few errands while we’re home.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Errands? Sounds shady.”

He folded his enormous arms over his equally enormous chest and shrugged, affecting an air of nonchalance. “Fine. It’s your call if you’d rather stay and watch our parents dry-hump all over the god-awful furniture in this god-awful house.”

I scooted to the edge of the bed in a hurry and watched his gaze drop to my legs, bare under the panties I’d worn to bed with a cropped T-shirt I’d bought in Paris that featured a bulldog in a beret next to the Eiffel Tower.

Fuck me. The shirt barely covered my tits and if he didn’t leave before I stood up he was going to get an eyeful of ass too.

I had no idea why I cared — I’d shown Neo my ass plenty back at the Kings’ house — but it felt different now, like I‘d be baiting him or teasing him or something.

I didn’t know. My feelings for Neo were all fucked up, and that was saying something because I’d never even thought I’d use the wordsfeelingsandNeoin the same sentence.

“Can you leave while I get dressed?” I asked, breaking the tension that had settled over the room for obvious reasons.

Namely, me half-naked in a room with Neo and a rumpled bed.

“Uh, sure,” he said. “I’ll wait in the hall.”

Well I’ll be dipped and rolled in cracker crumbs, as Reva would say. Was that Neo Alinari acting… nervous?

I felt like I’d been transported to another universe in my sleep. I had no idea how long it would last — I had a feeling this wholeenemy of my enemy is my friendthing was only good when we were both in the company of our mutually abhorrent parents — but I might as well take advantage of it.

I waited for him to leave, then brushed my teeth, washed my face, and commenced with the five-minute version of my makeup routine. I left my hair down in the interest of time. Then I threw on loose jeans, a cropped sweater, and a pair of heeled booties, grabbed my black cross-body bag, and headed for the hall.

I’d gotten ready in less than ten minutes.

I found Neo leaning against the wall, and now I was awake enough to really take him in. He looked mad good in dark jeans and a button-down that molded to his chest, and I remembered the way his smooth wet skin had felt under my fingertips when I’d touched him in the shower.

He’d clearly taken another one this morning. His hair was damp and combed back from his face, his eyes as wary as a lion assessing a potential enemy.

---