Page 170 of Let the Game Begin

Apparently it was.

I forced myself to refocus on Luke and the expertise he was demonstrating with his kisses. Luke was a really good kisser. He was passionate and carnal, though not as much as Neil. Not as much as that disastrous,insane, and profane boy. It seemed that my body only recognized him. My senses only perked up for him. My skin only warmed for him. I realized that, unfortunately, nothing and no one could match the intensity I’d felt in those moments with Neil.

Luke rubbed my check with one hand, wiping a tear from my cheekbone with his thumb. I realized that I hadn’t merely kissed him: it had been an instinctive protest born from suffering and rage.

“You’ve really fucked up now,” he whispered, yielding to me. He rested his forehead on mine, giving us both a moment to catch our breaths.

I couldn’t tell if he was referring to any regret I might feel or how Neil was going to react.

“I’ll deal with it later,” I answered with a sad smile.

“What did I just witness?” Xavier pushed himself up off the sofa, dislodging Jennifer from his lap. I turned away from Luke and looked at Neil, who was now standing up and glaring at his friend with a thunderous expression on his rigid face.

Suddenly, he came at me like a ferocious beast, grabbing me by the elbow and shoving me against the door. He smothered me with his body, and I could feel the heat of his naked skin even through my clothes. Every seductive edge of him, fitting perfectly against mine. He was much taller than me, and my nose was level with his pecs until he bent his neck to align our faces.

Eye to eye, we faced each other down as though preparing for a duel.

“Babygirl,” he said, his voice the barest whisper. “You had your fucking fun, and I’m gonna pretend like I didn’t see anything. But you need to get out of here in the next few seconds, or I’m gonna fuck you against this door and show my friend here how much you like it when I pound it into you, all that love you want so badly,” he threatened me, staring at my lips, which glistened with someone else’s saliva. I ran my tongue over them as if to taste Luke’s essence again, hoping for a reaction from Neil.

“Maybe I like him better than you. And maybe you’ll have to see us, the way you wanted me to see that girl—” but I didn’t get to finish because Neil grabbed me by the elbow, threw open the door to a blast of icy air, and shoved me roughly out of the pool house.

He was infuriated. I could see it in his panting breaths and the tension of each protruding vein. He looked like he was about to burst.

“Fuck you!” he erupted before slamming the door in my face.

“Fuck you, too! Prick!” I turned and screamed it at the wooden surface, behind which I knew he could hear me. A strange heat erupted in my chest. I took a few steps away before walking back again, allowing my anger to take control. “You twisted asshole!” I yelled again, blind fury leading me to rain kicks down on the door while delighted laughter and mocking shouts floated out from inside that goddamned pool house.

Neil was a monster crafted by the gods. Beautiful but, ultimately, a lure into destruction.

37

Neil

She’d kissed Luke.

Not just “a guy,” but Luke Parker, one of the Krew, and that meant only one thing: she was in danger.

I had specifically told her she could do whatever she wanted with whoever she wanted except for one of them, for fuck’s sake.

I was so anxious that I smoked an entire pack of Winstons in a matter of hours.

A few days before, I had already decided that I needed to push her away from me, and the blond girl that night was just another means to achieve that end.

But Babygirl hadn’t looked up once while I’d stared at her the whole time.

I was angry because seeing her standing there in shock among the Krew, her innocent face looking so disappointed, had only brought back the urgent need to send her away as fast as I could. Immediately, if possible.

I heard the Krew cracking their obscene, needling jokes about her, but Babygirl had ignored them with her typical fierce elegance, because she was so much stronger than she looked.

When I saw her kiss with Luke, I knew perfectly well that it was merelyan attempt to provoke me, because Selene wasn’t truly into it. She kissed him with passion but without emotion. No blush colored her cheeks and no shivers had moved over her slim yet devastatingly appealing body. Fuck, all I wanted to do was slam her up against that door and remind her just how much she liked taking me. Andonlyme.

I wanted to bite her swollen lips, which so often stuck out in an automatic pout, or see that ocean stare up close, framed by long, thick eyelashes. I wanted to feel her hips moving in sync with mine, to fit her rounded breasts so perfectly into my mouth, and not because the Boy needed to dominate her sexually like he did with all the others, but because he simply…liked flying with her. To his Neverland.

It was true: I was depraved, just like she said, but I would never have actually done any of that in front of the Krew, no matter how pissed off I was. I would never allow my friends to hear the sensual little sounds she made or see the mole dotting her right breast, right next to the nipple. I would certainly never let them know how tightly she gripped me and how much she screamed when I was pounding into her. Those were little secrets that only I knew, and I liked the idea of keeping it that way.

Despite all of that, I still had so many issues to resolve. Issues that prevented me from leading a normal life like any other guy my age. And it only increased my certainty that I could never tie Selene—or any woman who dreamed of a loving relationship—to me.

I sighed and reluctantly returned to the present moment.