“You should be,” he whispers, the corners of his mouth curving into that sadistic smile.
“Well, I’m not.” My pulse flutters against his fingertips but I won’t give in that easily. I grip his wrist to pull it away, but the harder I pull to remove it from my throat, the harder he squeezes.
“Let tonight be a warning,” he says. “Stay the fuck away from my family. Be the good dog I know you can. Because if you don’t, I will make your life a living nightmare. I will make you wish you weren’t alive at all.” He strokes my cheek gently with his free hand, lifting my chin with his other. “I will strip you bare, and I’ll make you beg for me even though you know I’ll break you so good you’ll be begging me to stop. But I won’t stop. I will break you piece by piece until there’s nothing left of you but sugar crystals, my sweet.”
He strokes my lower lip, and a rush of tingles sweeps over my skin even as he holds me pinned to the door. He steps forward, until there’s only a whisper of space between our bodies, a gulf that’s charged with a hot electricity that races through my whole body. I inhale the scent of him, like freshly mown grass with a hint of leather and the intoxicating, dizzying aroma of boy sweat. I want to be grossed out, but I nearly swoon when I inhale him.
“You’re sick,” I whisper, my fingers shaking as I squeeze his wrist, my nails biting into his skin.
“Oh, sweetheart,” he murmurs, his lips so close to mine I’m not sure if the heat I feel is his skin or just his breath. “You have no idea.”
I squeeze harder, my nails sinking so deep they break the thin skin on the inside of his wrist. He sucks in a breath, and his eyes flash with something unreadable, something I take as anger.
“You made me bleed,” he growls. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
“I—I’m sorry.” I cringe backwards, but when Devlin’s gaze fixes on my lips, I realize he’s not pissed. His eyes are clouded with lust. My own body responds, my thighs hot even though every part of my brain is screaming for me to run.
“Disobey me, little mongrel,” he purrs. “I dare you. I’ll enjoy watching you shatter.”
His lips brush over mine, a touch as light as the flutter of a butterflies wing, and a hot shiver of pleasure ripples through my traitorous body. My eyelids fall closed, and I tilt my head up before I have time to think.
His response is a cruel chuckle. “Oh, no,” he says, stepping back to put distance between our bodies. My eyes fly open, and shame burns through me. Devlin’s hand still grips my jaw, and triumph lights his eyes. “That’s all you get, little dog. Now run and tell your brothers they’re fucking with the wrong people. No one can replace the Darlings in this town. You can take my word for it, or you can learn the hard way.”
He turns on his heel and is out the window in three seconds flat. I hear his soft footsteps on the balcony as I sink down against the inside of my door, closing my eyes and trying to catch my breath. My heart has been racing for so long I feel sick, and my limbs are shaking. And oh god, I hate myself for falling into his trap so easily. I hate my heart for pounding when he’s near; I hate the butterflies that swarm in my belly until I’m dizzy when I catch a trace of his scent. I hate that when I look into his eyes, I see more than a privileged, arrogant asshole. I see someone who’s more than he lets people know, someone who bleeds and hurts like the rest of us.
When I look into his eyes, I don’t just see a monster. I see myself.
eleven
They must have a weakness. That’s what my brother says. It’s a house of cards. Take one out, and the whole thing folds. We just have to figure out what it is before they figure out our weakness.
The problem is, I think it’s too late. Devlin already knows the Dolces’ weakness.
Me.
The next day, we arrive to find the Bel Air in our parking space, the one Daddy’s big donation bought us. “Is he really going to fuck with us after he wrecked my car?” Royal fumes.
Devlin’s words the night before play through my mind, and I grab his arm. “Just leave it,” I plead with my brother. “It doesn’t matter. It’s a parking space, for fuck’s sake. Are you really going to get suspended over something so stupid? Come on. Just park somewhere else and ignore them.”
Royal’s nostrils flare as he glares at the shiny, powder-blue classic convertible in his spot. I have to admit, it’s a really nice car. Considering the shape the Range Rover’s in after last night, I don’t blame Royal for being pissed to see it sitting there in his spot, rubbing salt in the wound. Still, I don’t want my brothers anywhere near the Darlings. I’d rather just make peace and move on.
“We’ll deal with him later,” King says to Royal, pulling into another parking space. I relax just a bit, hoping that my brothers can see how petty and ridiculous it is to fight over one parking spot when the rest of the lot’s wide open.
The Darling’s sit on their car, like usual. Dolly is standing against her pink Barbie pickup with another girl, both of them watching the Darlings while talking, obviously pretending they’re not watching the boys. As we approach, they stop pretending and watch us openly, like everyone else who’s still hanging around the lot.
“Back where you belong today,” Devlin drawls with a bored smirk on his lips. Lips that make butterflies explode inside me when I look at them.
Damn it.
“Ignore him,” I hiss, grabbing Royal’s arm and squeezing.
“Out back by the Dumpsters,” Preston adds over the head of a girl who’s wrapped around him like some kind of parasitic vine.
Devlin told me to leave his family alone, but apparently that doesn’t go both ways.
And then his words from last night echo through my head. “I dare you…”
Is he goading my brothers, hoping we’ll react so he can take it out on me? This has nothing to do with me. I shouldn’t even be walking in with my brothers. If I separate myself from them at school, the Darlings will have to see that I’m not part of this little game they have going.