Page 45 of Vicious Desire (Fallen Royals 4)

I hate her.

“Why’d you do it, Ri?”

She stares. “Which part, Eli? When I dumped you because you broke my heart? Or because I burned the bridge?”

I narrow my eyes. “You knew what you were doing was wrong.”

She goes silent.

I press my hands to the door on either side of her head. We’ve been in this position too many times—she liked it. She still does, based on the way her breath hitches. My lips touch the shell of her ear.

She must’ve showered after practice, because her lavender shampoo fills my nose.

I grit my teeth, then whisper, “Whoever that was won’t touch you again. I’m not opposed to peeing on your leg if it sends the right message.”

“What message? That I’m a fire hydrant?”

Tough words for someone who isn’t moving. I don’t think she’s even breathing.

Even if she hates me, her body remembers.

I remember, too.

I meet her gaze. “That you’re fucking mine. Got it?”

12

Riley

He’s an asshole.

Just keep telling yourself that, Ri. Except, he’s always said I was his.

And what did I used to reply?

“You can’t own someone.” Those words come out of my mouth now, surprising me. “Especially after you fucking lie to them for the whole relationship.”

His brow lowers, but I’m done.

I duck under his arm and yank the door open, slipping inside.

How did such a good night turn to utter shit in the blink of an eye?

I lean against the door and close my eyes.

When I got home, Kaiden was in the kitchen with my mother. He had managed to lure her out of her hiding place, if only under the guise of being a guest in her home, and they were drinking coffee at the kitchen table.

She was laughing at something he said.

My heart ached and lightened all at once, because it had been too long since I’d heard that sound.

Kaiden had stopped by to see me, to ask how my senior year was going. He was studying at Columbia, but his classes were canceled for the day, and he decided to come back to Rose Hill. After a round of seeing family, I was his last stop.

But not Noah.

They had a falling out this summer, but Kaiden and I actually became something like friends. He was someone I could talk to when the world seemed to crumble around me. I assumed it was in my head, or dissolved when he went back to school.

But tonight he was here, making my mom laugh.