Page 40 of Kings & Chaos

Chapter14

Willa

The quarry was packed despite the cold. I should have been happy to be here. I was beginning to feel more comfortable at Aventine, my friends were there, and it was a chance to cut loose, drink, and dance.

Everyone else was in the zone, standing in groups around the bonfire, flirting and laughing and getting hammered, but I’d said hello to Claire and the girls and peeled off to be alone at the edge of the quarry.

Now, the noise was behind me, residual warmth from the fire fighting to get through the layers I’d worn to keep warm. I stuffed my hands in my pockets, closing my fingers around the white switchblade, and wondered what happened to the quarry parties once it snowed.

I peered out over the expanse of water, glittering darkly under a nearly full moon, and felt the familiar spin of vertigo, the cold sweat and hammering of my heart that said a panic attack was incoming.

I fucking hated standing here, but I had a sick fascination with it too.

Dead leaves crunched under footsteps and I turned to find Oscar aiming his camera at me.

His face was all sharp angles in the light of the fire and the battery-operated fairy lights someone always brought to hang on the trees, and the piercings on his brow and lip glinted like promises.

“Hey,” he said, walking over to kiss me. It was probably supposed to be quick, but it turned into something else, his lips sinking into mine, his tongue sweeping my mouth.

His hand came up to cup my face, his thumb sneaking in between our mouths to rub my bottom lip, like he couldn’t wait to have his hands on me.

The feeling was definitely mutual, and I ran my hands under his leather jacket, over the soft expanse of his cashmere sweater, wishing we were back at the house with nothing between us.

I wasn’t in the mood to party. Or more accurately, I was in the mood to party naked with Oscar.

And okay, Rock too if I were being honest.

I was already wet, the insatiable hunger they’d aroused in me roaring to life like a wildfire.

“Fuck,” Oscar said when he pulled away. His eyes were liquid in the dark. “I can’t get enough of you, tiger.”

“Same,” I said, a little breathless. “Maybe we should ditch Neo and go home.”

His chuckle was like a sexy earthquake I felt in my body. “Can’t leave until we kick off the next game.”

Right. The game.

Well, at least I was safe this time, and I sent a silent prayer of gratitude to the universe for forcing me to complete the first one. Apparently they got harder as the year wore on, and I was relieved to have done my duty.

Knowing the Kings, they’d throw me back to the wolves later in the year, but at least I had some time to catch my breath.

Oscar moved behind me and wrapped me in his arms. “I thought you hated heights.”

“I do,” I said, grateful for the security of his body.

“And yet, you’re always here, standing on the edge,” he said.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m clearly a sick fuck.”

He laughed a little and kissed my head. “I think you like playing with fire.”

My mind rejected the image of myself as a risk taker. Then I remembered what Mara had said when we’d talked about Emma and the Kings:you underestimate yourself because you compare yourself to Emma, and I think you always have.

I was starting to come around to the possibility that I didn’t know myself as well as I’d thought, that maybe I’d taken all the insecurities I’d had about being in Emma’s shadow and used them to fashion a mirror, except the pieces didn’t fit together right, and the image it reflected back was strange and distorted.

“Want to talk about it?” Oscar asked behind me. This time there was no laughter in his voice.

“About what?” I asked.

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