Page 107 of Deviant Knight (Knight's Ridge Empire 4)

Fuck.

Fuck.

I take my time getting ready, knowing that it’s going to test his patience. I put my makeup on as if I were applying my armour, and when I finally reach for the door, I’ve got my head held high and my shoulders pulled back.

“You know what this is, right?” Titch asks before I can even see him.

When I walk into the room, I find he’s got the shirt I was wearing in his hand, his finger tapping the logo on the left breast.

“The Cirillo crest. I’m not an idiot, Titch. I know exactly who I go to school with. Who my friends are.”

He nods, absorbing my words.

His silence makes me more nervous than it should.

“Wanna tell me why I saw Theo Cirillo walking away from this very cabin first thing this morning when I got up for a piss?” His eyes hold mine as he says the words that make the world fall from beneath my feet.

“Um…”

“Or did you want to try to give me a good reason as to why I shouldn’t tell your dad?”

My lips part, but I can’t find an argument.

“It’s not what it looks like,” I finally say, cringing at just how cliché that sounds.

“Oh sure. You gonna try telling me that you snuck him in for a game of Monopoly?”

“No, I didn’t. But I also didn’t ask him here to have sex.” Come to think of it, I didn’t ask him to come here at all, but I’m not getting into that situation with Titch. This is bad enough.

“I wasn’t born yesterday, Em. Teenage boys only sneak into girls’ rooms for one thing.”

Placing my hands on my hips, I give him my best resting bitch face, which admittedly isn’t hard because it’s pretty much my usual face.

“Usually, I’d agree with you. But read my lips,” I say, pointing to my mouth. “I didn’t sleep with him. I haven’t slept with him.”

He holds my eyes, searching for the lie that isn’t quite there.

“Then why was he here, and why did he feel the need to sneak out?”

I sigh. “You’ve met my dad, right?”

“Fuck, Emmie,” Titch sighs, scrubbing his hand down his face.

“You could have caught the attention of any boy at that school, but it had to be him, didn’t it?”

I shrug. “Trust me, it wasn’t intentional.” I drop down on the edge of my bed.

“Do you have any idea what you’re getting in the middle of right now?”

A bitter laugh rips from my lips.

“I’m aware. More than aware. But Pops, the club, and the Cirillos are mostly on good terms.”

“The club?” he asks, noticing just how casually I mentioned it.

“Yes, the fucking club. What of it?”

His fists clench as he hears all my unspoken words.