Page 32 of Twisted Kings

"It's not so dangerous," he says, pulling back with a smirk, eyes-slitted.

"It's completely reckless," I breathe, and then kiss him again, chasing that taste and heat on his lips that I want.

I want it to consume me.

I want to drown in him, and it was so easy for him to pull down my defenses, wasn't it?

The walls are crumbling all around me as he strides over them like they're nothing. His hands span my waist, sliding up my back to enshrine my shoulders in his fingers, thumbing at the base of my neck to find my pulse.

"I always knew I'd have you like this from the first moment I saw you," he breathes between kisses, and kissing was never so much and not enough at the same time.

But something in his words pushes me away, and I fist my hand against his chest, shoving at him.

"Don't stop," the words rush out of me in a panic, and he lets me go, his eyes hectic with the need for me.

"What's wrong? You liked it, no, you love it." He lifts a hand as if he's going to stroke the side of my cheek.

No. I can't. It's all going wrong. I turn and run for the door, the flicker of fear growing into an inferno.

"Eva," he calls, but I fling the door open and run, the dark halls sheltering me from his touch, taste, and look.

I can never go back. Not now, not ever. It's not until I'm locked inside my room, under the covers of my bed, shivering and shaking, that I finally feel safe enough to let out a breath I've been holding.

He doesn't know, and it wasn't his fault, but he's not the first to touch me. He's not even the first to say words like that.

And last time I got burnt so badly I had to run away from my whole life. So if I need to put a few floors of space between usnow, and some distance for the next while, I'll do that. I let my eyes close.

It won't be Paris,I promise myself.It'll never, ever, ever be like Paris.

14

Mason

Benedict's rooms are dark. He doesn't sleep in them often, either at his home in Hollywood or here. Why do I know this? What does any older brother do when he worries about his younger sibling? He waits up. He watches. As I do right now, sitting in one of the wing-back chairs by his fireplace, waiting for him to get in.

I know he's not withher. I ensured that much. Mrs. Harris knows the four of us better than any people in the world, and she's already marked Benedict's inappropriate interest in Miss Bell. There will be hall boys and footmen up and down the ladies' corridor tonight, carrying off small errands and making it impossible for Benedict to slip up to Miss Bell's door.

The thought makes a smile cross my lips for the first time today.

Nobody ever said that I play fair. If Benedict thinks he can have whatever he likes under my roof, he's sorely fucking mistaken.

I let my head rest back against the leather and close my eyes. How the hell did we get here? Ruby and Noah saw the writing on the walls and left last year, on a whirl-wind tour, away fromthe raging fight brewing between their older brothers. I was sad to see the twins go, but in a way, I needed the time to dedicate to fixing whatever was broken with Benedict.

And see to taking care of my daughter.

Now I've learned that there is no fixing Benedict. He's gone too far, and past the point that I can help him. He's refused every off-ramp offered to him. I am resigned to leaving him to his fate. He is who he will be, and I can do nothing for it.

But he will not drag an innocent girl down with him.

Miss Evangeline Bell is an innocent; untouched and pure. She is everything I want for my daughter's caregiver and role-model. It doesn't hurt that—

The door opens and I don't shift an inch, my focus going forward, to him as he enters the room. He grunts, reaching for the light switch, his eyes not adjusted to the murk of his bedroom.

He manages to flick it on and get the door shut behind him, blinking in the light. His eyes are red-rimmed, and he's drunk.

Of course. Did he stay up this late, gambling with his friends? Losing another full account's worth of cash to the card sharps and degenerates he hangs around with? I feel my lip curling in disdain.

He takes two steps and stop short.

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