Page 71 of Bitter When He Begs

“Same thing.”

I groan, already regretting getting in here, but before I can escape, Roman tilts his head, eyes dropping lower, as amusement flickers in them.

“Holy shit,” he mutters, eyes locked on my side. “When did you get that?”

I frown, confused, before realizing what he’s looking at. I have a tattoo running from my upper left thigh to up over my ribs—dark lines tracing over my skin, showcasing the ivy, vines and flowers with a black snake slithering up the side of my body.

I forget it’s even there sometimes.

Roman whistles low, eyes flicking over the design. “That’s hot as fuck.”

I roll my eyes. “You’re such a whore.”

“Only for Damon.”

I can’t even respond to that, because I feel it again.

A stare.

A burning one.

I don’t have to look to know who it belongs to, but I do it anyway, my eyes dragging across the yard, across the crowd, until I find him.

Blue eyes locked right on me.

Luca

I’mfuckingdoomed.

Sage is in the water like he was made for it. Shoulders glistening, blond hair sticking to his face in damp waves, his glasses long gone, and his freckles on full fucking display under the sun.

But it’s not just the pretty-boy aesthetic that gets to me, it’s the surprise of it. Because underneath that soft voice and shy smile is a body that’s lean, cut, and fucking dangerous to my self-control.

His abs are tight, ink curling from his hip, up the line of his ribs, and disappearing beneath the water like an invitation I didn’t ask for but can’t stop staring at.

Andfuck me, it’s a lot of ink. Dark, winding vines, flowers, and a black snake coiled into the design like it belongs there, like it belongs on him.

How the fuck didn’t I notice the tattoo when I had his sweats down and came all over his cock?

I don’t know why it surprises me that this little brat of a film nerd has a tattoo that screams bite me, but it does—and Iwantto. I want to lick it, trace it with my mouth, pin him down until he’s panting my name and clawing at me like he’s addicted to me the same way I’m already addicted to the idea of tasting every inch of that inked skin.

I don’t realize I’m staring until Damon’s smug fucking voice cuts through the haze in my head.

“That tattoo’s hot as fuck, huh?”

I blink,caught,and shove his shoulder, ignoring the way he just laughs like he’s been waiting for this exact moment to unfold. He probably has been. Damon always fucking knows before the rest of us.

“You’re not being subtle, Devereaux,” he mutters, popping a chip into his mouth from the snack table. “Might as well be drooling.”

I elbow him. Not hard, but enough to sayshut the fuck up before I drown in my own thirst.He snorts and wanders off, still laughing.

Roman has already started wrestling Sage again, dunking him under and laughing like a menace as Sage sputters back up, yelling and shoving at him, and something in me breaks.

I can’t do it anymore. I can no longernottouch him. I can’t stand here and watch Sage smile at someone else while I’m dying to sink my teeth into that tattoo and leave bruises over every freckle I can find.

So I drop my Monster, kick off my slides, and dive in.

The water shocks the heat off me, but it does nothing to cool what’s boiling under my skin. I surface, shake the hair out of my face, and head straight for them—straight for him.