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Was her throat always this tempting? Fuck, I want to wrap my hand around it and be her favorite necklace.

“It depends on who was testing me. If it was Ephraim, no. I failed. If it was you... I kept your secrets. Both of them.”

Of course she did.

“That was sweet of you, but I wasn’t testing you, Sullivan. I just really needed to know how good your mouth was. I couldn’t fight it.”

“And killing Jacob? Stealing my engagement ring?”

“I can’t tell you why I killed Jake, but I can tell you why I stole your ring. It didn’t belong on your finger. Do you really care to have it back?”

I manage to step in a little closer, so close I can see the sweat beading on her nose. It’s almost too close.

“No, I don’t. I didn’t want it to begin with.”

“I know. And you don’t want this one either. Wrong brother, huh?”

I offer her a cocky smirk to try and put her more at ease, but the look she gives me could freeze just about anyone.

“He hasn’t lied to get me into bed yet, so I’d say no. I got the right one.”

Yikes. Fair, but also yikes.

Nodding, I slowly back away to lead her toward the kitchens again and replay her words over and over until they’re all I hear.I got the right one.

He didn’t even have to do anything and she’s fawning all over him, but why? Wishful thinking? Or does she honestly fucking think he’ll love her one day? That he’ll touch her at all?

Even if he did, he wouldn’t ever be what she needs, what her body craves. I know the truth. She can deny it all day, but I saw it in her eyes as she swallowed my cum.

He’ll never be what she needs, but maybe deep down, he’s what she thinks she wants. The stability, the freedom he gives when he’s off doing whatever else. Who knows?

All I do know is it doesn’t make me want her any less.

“Everyone out,” I command the second we enter the kitchen, all of them freezing at the sight of me and then rushing for the door without a word. “Go ahead. Bake.”

Her cheeks flush. “They’re scared of you.”

I plop my ass up on the counter and shrug. “I don’t know why. Verna’s the scary one here.”

She ignores me and starts moving, rooting through Leo’s cupboards and the three refrigerators until she finds what she needs. It’s intense, the way she moves. Like she has a purpose.

It’s kind of hot.

I’ve never actually watched someone cook or bake anything before, and I never realized how focused someone would have to be to do it. “How long have you been baking?”

She doesn’t answer me. Her tongue is stuck between her teeth as she mixes a bunch of white powdery shit together, and it makes me think of the party tonight. “Have you ever done coke? I’m just going to keep asking questions until you answer one.”

“Of course I have,” she mutters without glancing up. “Theo made sure I could handle pretty much every drug out there, including Sway.”

That’s the question she decides to answer. Before I respond, I take note of the cinnamon she adds to the mix and smirk. That must be the secret ingredient. “I don’t know how you’re supposed tohandleSway, but I guess that’s a good thing. When’s the last time you did ecstasy?”

Finally, she looks up at me. “He made sure I knew what it felt like so I wouldn’t panic as bad. It didn’t work. But to answer your question... not since my first week with the Keepers. They didn’t like it when I was mindlessly happy and too horny to obey directions.”

“Of course they didn’t. Do you want some?”

The thought of doing E with her has my dick taking it as an invitation, but I manage not to get a boner in the middle of the kitchen.

She stares at me for so long I think she might say yes, but she snaps out of it when the oven dings and shakes her head lightly. “Something tells me it would be wasted on me now. At least until...”