Page 15 of A Lethal Game of Trust

Roughly, he delved a finger into me, and I reached for the console table to steady myself as he pumped away, nipping at my neck. A second finger joined as his thumb reached to graze my clit and I gasped, losing my grip for a second and knocking the landline off the console table for it to clatter on the floor.

I pushed Dom away as I almost ran to the corner of the hallway, trying to get away from him.

“What is going on?” Issy grumbled as she threw open her bedroom door, holding a gun. She took in the mess of my coat, my shoes on my feet and placed a hand on her hip. “Where are you going?”

“Caught her trying to run off to Jared,” Dom said quickly. “Obviously, I put a stop to it.”

I scrambled to pick up the home phone, turning my back on them and adjusting my clothing.

“Oh, Leo,” Issy sighed. “Get back in bed. Cancel the taxi. You’ll only regret it.”

“Just what I said,” he agreed.

My body snapped up to stand, and I glared at him as Issy hooked her arm through mine and dragged me back to her room.

Over my shoulder, Dom lifted the fingers that had just been inside of me to his mouth, sucked them clean and winked.

5

Taking Pictures

Seven days before Luís Castillo’s murder

Leonie

“Dom’s last exam was today,” Issy said, her glasses on as she blinked at the chunky computer screen. “He might finally hang out with us again.”

She said it as if I hadn’t been counting down the days until the 29th of June. Despite his natural academic talent and ability to charm a slice of bread, he worked hard. So hard that I hadn’t seen much of him for the last three weeks, other than glances or waves across the playground between our two schools.

And I missed him.

She was peering at my computer with narrowed eyes as she replied to a boy on instant messenger. “I need a stronger prescription,” she muttered, forcing her glasses further up her nose.

“If he’s not too busy with Rebecca,” I grumbled.

She laughed and moaned, “Ugh, Rebecca.”

“He’s too good for her.”

She stopped typing and, painfully slowly, turned to face me, pulling her glasses down her nose to scrutinise me. “He’s gross, Leo. You don’t… you don’tlikehim, do you?” Her laugh was awkward and strained as she begged me with her eyes to deny it.

“LikeDom?”

Her face fell, brows too.

“No, of course not.”

She lifted her pinky finger. “Promise me you will only ever be friends.”

My pinky finger was weakly separated from the others, but it gripped hers tight as the promise was made.

“Good, because I’d never forgive you. Could you imagine how awkward it would be when you broke up?” She shook her head and released a strained, high-pitched sigh. “You’refamily.”

She pushed back her glasses as there was a knock at my bedroom door. She quickly closed down the chat, clicking on our backup tab of ‘homework’ on the Russian Revolution.

Anton, her uncle, peered around the door. “What are you two troubles up to?”

“Oh, you know, planning the downfall of all men,” she mused. “The Castillo-Belov empire.”