Page 35 of Kings & Chaos

The fucking lucky asshole.

“Enjoying the show?” I asked, heading for the stairs.

Neo turned to look at me, his face tight with not-unfamiliar rage. That particular emotion was his default.

“This isn’t what we agreed on,” he said.

“That Rock would eat Willa’s pussy?” I asked. “That he’d fuck her in the hot tub?”

“That anyone would fuck her,” he said. “We said we’d take care of her.”

I dared a glance at the hot tub. Rock was clearly getting the most out of his time alone with Willa. “She looks pretty taken care of to me.”

Neo started pacing the hall. “We said we’d keep hersafe. I didn’t agree to this.”

I took a deep breath, calling on the patience I reserved for Neo when it came to Willa. “None of us knew what it would be like with her here, but we both know our original agreement isn’t the real problem.”

He glared at me. “I’m sure you’re going to enlighten me.”

“You wish that was you down there with Willa, that you were the one tasting her, fucking her.” Fuck if my cock didn’t get hard just saying it, because I wanted to be the one doing those things too.

“That can’t happen,” he muttered, still pacing.

“That’s your call,” I said. “But don’t punish the rest of us because you’ve got blue balls for Willa.”

“You’re a fucking dick sometimes, you know that?”

I was pretty sure it was a rhetorical question, but what the hell. “Yeah well, it takes one to know one.”

“I don’t understand why she still doesn’t remember,” he muttered.

The moment he was talking about was seared into my memory even though it had been almost fifteen years.Willa didn’t remember, either because she was younger than us or because it had traumatized her or both.

But we did. We fucking did.

“If it bothers you so fucking much that she’s here, tell her to leave.” I said it, but I knew I’d never let it happen, and not just because we were the only things standing between Willa and a fate like Nikki’s.

A fate like Emma’s.

I wouldn’t let her go, not even for Neo, and I knew Rock felt the same way.

But it didn’t matter, because Neo and I both knew he wouldn’t let her go either, even if he’d never admit it.

“We can’t do that,” he said. “She wouldn’t be safe anywhere else.”

“Right,” I said. “So why don’t you drop the act and admit you want her? You want her so bad you can’t see straight.”

He turned to face the window again. “It doesn’t matter what I want.”

“You’re just scared. You’re scared if you admit you want her, she’ll let you have her, and once you’ve had her, you’ll never be able to be without her again. And then when she leaves, you’ll have to deal with that big fucking hole in your heart forever.”

He turned to face me, his expression still, his eyes blazing. “Careful, Drago.”

I shrugged. Neo could pummel me into oblivion, but I wasn’t afraid of him. “The truth hurts, brother. But it’s always a good place to start.”

I headed for the stairs, my own words echoing in my mind.

Because the truth was, I was afraid of all the same things. I hadn’t been able to stop myself when it came to Willa.

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