Page 38 of The Darkest Prince

He hasn’t slept in a grave with a dead body beside him. My brothers don’t know the true depths of my darkness. Most of the shit I have done stays with me. I don’t share it with anyone, not unless Bastian makes me tell him.

“We leave in the morning.” Bastian takes one of her curls and twirls it around his finger. “And we won’t be home until Christmas.”

“I’ll be in Providence with my brother,” she says, her eyes flicking between us. “But Harvard is only an hour’s drive from RISD.”

“If you don’t hit traffic,” Bastian adds. “But yeah, it’s close. We won’t be far away if you need us.”

I already know Luca will stalk her from a distance. He’s been doing that all year and monitors her cell phone and emails. She will never know the meaning of privacy. Not as long as we are in her life. And she’s stuck with us for the foreseeable future.

Alex grips Bash’s tie and pulls him closer, licking her lips. “How about one more kiss? To say goodbye.”

“I could kiss you all night, Cherry.” He scoops her into his arms and presses his lips to hers. “You’re so addicting.”

With my hands shoved into my pockets, I stand there and adjust my dick as I watch them. Seeing him happy and turned on by her only makes me want them more.

His lips trace over hers as if trying to savor how she feels. Memorize how she tastes. I want to know, but I won’t allow myself. I can’t handle another addiction. I already have enough of those.

“We leave in the morning for initiation,” Bash tells her as their lips separate.

Alex licks her lips, her blue eyes meeting his gray ones. “Where are you going?”

“A secret location where we’ll train to become Knights.”

Alex knows our family runs The Devil’s Knights. She’s also aware that her grandfather is one of the Elders of The Founders Society. But she doesn’t fully understand how the two connect and how she fits into the equation. This is the one secret we have been keeping from her. And if her grandfather has explained it to her, she hasn’t mentioned it to us.

Bash tucks a blonde curl behind her ear. “I want to see you again before I leave. It will be a long two months without looking at your pretty face.” He leans forward so his lips brush hers. “Two months without doing this.”

“Bash,” she coos, pressing her palm to his chest.

Her eyes snap to me, and I stand beside them, watching. I don’t want a kiss. I have been saving my first kiss for Bash, and until he gives me what I want, I’m not going to cave.

Not even for her.

ChapterFifteen

I spentmost of my childhood feeling like an outsider. Even now, I never feel like I belong anywhere. Luca treats me like a child. Marcello ignores me. And my adoptive father acts like I’m a weapon for him to use for his deviant purposes.

But not Bash.

He’s the only person who gets me. So as we lay in bed together in our boxer briefs, staring up at the ceiling, I reach for his hand. It feels good to touch him before we go through the most challenging two months of our lives.

“What was it like kissing her?” I ask, purely out of curiosity.

I need to know if I’m missing out. Bash has been smiling all night. He’s giddy, which is unusual for him.

“Not the same as other girls I’ve kissed.” A smile is plastered on his face. “She tastes good. You won’t believe this.” He turns on his side to face me and laughs. “She was wearing cherry-flavored lip gloss.”

I laugh. “Weird coincidence.”

“Yeah, seriously. It’s like it was meant to be.” He slides his arm beneath his pillow and looks at me. “I should have kissed her sooner. I’m kicking myself for letting Luca into my head. He fooled both of us.”

“Luca only did that so we wouldn’t break our promise and take her virginity. He could see she was into us and got all possessive of her.”

“She would have given it to us,” he says with absolute certainty. “Alex would have been ours if we pursued her. He could see that. Jealous, lying prick.”

After Bastian kissed Alex, the three of us went inside. Alex got into a fight with Luca, grabbed her twin, and left our estate. The chances of her showing up tomorrow to see us off before we leave for Skull Island is slim to none.

She was so angry with Luca, tears streaking her cheeks. We didn’t hear what he said to her, but whatever it was really upset her. Our brother wouldn’t admit what he did. So I left the ballroom with Bash and went straight upstairs to take out our frustrations on each other.

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