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PROLOGUE

NASH

You know the saying, “Better the devil you know than the one you don’t.”

Oh, she knows me.

She just doesn’t know I’m the devil.

Her merlot-colored lips sip a dollar draft beer, and I stare at them, obsessed, aroused, watching her lush lips part, swallowing the liquid before she licks them, satisfied.

Damn, what I want to do to her mouth.

It’s wrong. Very wrong. She’s my daughter’s best friend, old enough to drink now but too young, too taboo for me to crave.

But I do.

I confess—I’m an evil man but a good father.

But what’s more evil than my desire for Vale Monroe and her tempting mouth is the man at the bar lurking behind her.

It takes one to know one—he’s a predator.

Like me, he’s watching, waiting … wanting .

The girls slam their empty drinks down on the round cocktail table, high-five, and shout for another round. The bartender nods, reaching for fresh glasses to fill. Bass beats thump from the speakers, and voices fill the hot, humid air. Neon lights glow above the beach bar, and I lurk in a shadowed corner.

They don’t know I’m here.

Talk about crashing your daughter’s twenty-first birthday party; I won’t do that to Alena. The smile on her face is what I live for.

But I’ll kill for Vale Monroe.

And tonight, it seems I’ll have to.

I watch as the evil piece of shit behind her palms a Benjamin into the bartender’s hand before he deftly drops a pill into the foamy brew, swirling it with a lecherous smirk. Grabbing the innocent glass meant for my daughter beside it, he turns with two beers in hand, elbowing through his group of “bruhs.”

“Bottoms up, my bitches.” He slams the glasses down before them, his joke failing.

Alena rolls her eyes, hating him. Blair, Vale’s twin, glares at him as Vale glances away.

Christ, there’s that look again.

The one on her face that breaks my cold heart.

I’ve known Vale since she was thirteen; her stoic mask can’t hide it from me. I see… No, I can feel her rage, her fear, her prison, trapped in a life with an ex-boyfriend obsessed with her.

It’s disturbing.

But I get it. What man wouldn’t be?

Vale’s long, raven hair, twisted in two teasing braids, is intoxicating, her grey eyes mesmerizing, her skin alabaster in a town of tans and browns. Her gothic look doesn’t belong on a Southern beach. She’s different. She stands out on purpose. Like a red light warning you to stay away, she only draws men near.

Like me.

Like Chad, her ex.

Yes, I get the irony; I stalk Vale, too. I hate how I want her, feel proud that I’ve never touched her, and grieve how I never will. I relish her from afar because I’ll never hurt her … and I’ll kill anyone who does.

Or did .

My daughter confided in me last week how Chad’s stalking is hell for Vale, how she’s scared and has every reason to be. Alena told me how Chad’s violated Vale before. He was violent with her when they were dating years ago, and by the look in his eyes tonight and the drug he just snuck into Vale’s drink, he plans on doing it again.

I gnash my teeth: the fuck he will.

Touch who I love and die.

Vale’s friendship saved my daughter, and for that, I’ll always love her.

But I never expected to want Vale, too, sharing the most erotic night of my life with her when she was only eighteen and I was thirty-two. It was a mistake I fantasize about every day.

Every night.

It fills me with shame.

And lust.

I swear Vale’s the pretty poison I’d drink every drop of and offer my last breath. She’s smart and a smartass. Sweet and snarky. Loving and aloof. Funny, but in pain. She’s rare and every goddamn thing I want, and it sickens me how she’s grown into a young woman I dream about, staining my sheets, my desire for her a nightmare.

Don’t worry. I can hide it.

I’m hiding right in front of you. There. In the dark shadows that prickle your skin.

I have a syringe in my pocket with a special drug just for Chad, one he’ll never wake from. I have a yacht, a lavish hearse to the perfect grave, the Atlantic Ocean. There will be no headstone for Chad because I always have a plan, and I never work alone.

I thirst for Chad’s blood, but blood and bullets are evidence, and I’m no fool.

You only see me if I let you. If not, I blend in. I’m a regular guy. Leaning against a wooden pavilion pillar, my black golf shirt, khakis, and thick eyeglasses disguise who I am, what I’m capable of, and who I work with.

It’s one of the six men I’m sworn to, waiting by the men’s room for Chad.

As always, silently, we work together. It’s a matter of time before we act.

Making people disappear is our specialty.

But before rapey Chad takes his last breath tonight for hurting what’s mine, I’ll tell him who it’s for, who I love.

Vale will have her vengeance.

It’s me.

Nash Allen.

VALE

“I’m not drinking dollar drafts,” I mutter to Alena, “I’m chugging dread.”

“I’d say I can’t believe the dickhead is here,” she replies, “but I do. It’s typical Chad. He heard from Conner you’d be here, and like a fart, he reeks in the air around us.”

Alena tries to make me laugh, so I fake a smile for her. I won’t ruin her birthday.

I can’t go anywhere in Charleston without my ex showing up, but fuck him . My stomach lurches when he’s near, fear racing my heart just like that night years ago, but I’ll never let his pathetic, preppy-ass see it. I won’t give him the satisfaction.

I keep my back to him. I lift my chin and fake ignoring him.

I focus on my best friend and my twin sister, pounding down a J?gerbomb, and wince at the concoction. “You just wasted ten bucks to barf in ten minutes.” I’m older by five minutes, so I’m the boss of her.

“Like you wasted ten bucks on that dress?” Blair, my mirror, smirks back. “You know, you look like Wednesday Addams, the aspiring pornstar version.”

I glance down at my new look. I like it. It’s intentional. It says, “Fuck me,” but “Fuck you,” too, because that’s how I feel—complicated.

“I think it’s cute,” Alena defends me. She might as well be our sister, too. “It’s hot and innocent at the same time. The double entendre is totally you.”

“Thank you.” I peck her cheek. “Now, murder my twin for me, please.”

“Never. I’m an only child, and you two are my ride-or-dies.”

Blair shakes her head at Alena, sighing, “Girl, I’m sorry because I don’t understand.”

Alena twists her face, confused.

“I don’t understand,” Blair huffs, “how you don’t have a kitten litter of siblings because any pussy would kill to breed with your hot-ass father and his sexy seed.”

“Jeez, Blair,” I scoff, eyes wide.

“What?”

“That’s Alena’s dad! That’s ick-factor level ten.”

Blair shrugs. “That’s me just saying what everyone else knows—Nash Allen is a god amongst DILFs. He’s so zaddy with all that alpha sperm.” She nudges Alena. “Didn’t he like spawn you at fourteen?”

Yep, my twin’s allergic to verbal filters.

Unfortunately, we share that DNA.

“My parents were sixteen when I was a whoops,” Alena corrects her before she warns, “and I know how sex positivity runs in your family, how you’re both sex gurus and all, but I’m positively begging you to never fuck my father. I’d die. I need best friends, not a new mom.”

Blair rests her head on Alena’s shoulder. “Don’t worry,” she assures. “I’m too busy fucking people my age first. It’ll be years before I work my way into the forties, and then you can lock your daddy away from my prowling kitty.”

They laugh as guilt stabs my heart.

A forbidden image by a pool. A taboo memory of a night years ago with Alena’s dad. It floods my core with sudden heat.

I love Alena like she’s my twin, too, but my secret feelings for her father run deep. I hate him, and I think I’m in love with him. It confuses me. It scares me.

Worse, it tempts me.

Nash Allen introduced me to desire, but I’ll never act on it. Heck, I’ve never even touched the man because I’d never hurt Alena, but Blair is right.

Mr. Allen is a nuclear sex bomb. One touch from him would destroy my lonely world, and yes, please.

Break my cage open.

Wetting my thirst for everything I don’t have, I sip my beer, searching the crowded bar with bodies pressed against bodies. In the sea of cold strangers … I feel heat. Under the bright outdoor lights, I’m drawn to the shadows. Like someone’s there for me, waiting, watching, and loving me .

But who am I kidding?

Love took a permanent vacation from my life years ago, and all that’s left is sex, so I’m getting a PhD in it. I figure if I don’t have one, I can at least be an expert in the other.

Besides, the only one watching me is a man I loathe, a criminal and a perv. The asshole.

I know he’s behind me.

He’s always watching me.

Claws: that’s what they are. The people and memories that ambush you, piercing your skin and dragging your soul to its darkest depths. They leave you ripped open and praying you heal.

And I have. Mostly.

I hate Chad, but now I love myself more.

So, with my last gulp of beer, Alena joins me, and we high-five before signaling for another round. Minutes later, to my sickening surprise, Chad slams down two sloshing pints before us.

“Bottoms up, my bitches .”

That word? From his mouth?

He sinks his claw in, and I glance away, fighting the instinct to murder and cry at the same time. The stench of his cologne brings it all back: how Chad hissed that slur in my ear, how he wouldn’t stop, how it hurt. It’s every reason I feel numb inside.

“Happy Birthday, Alena,” Chad sneers with a threat dripping from his tone again, and I whip around.

“Get her pretty name out of your ugly mouth before I punch it out.”

Chad stares at my threatening lips, his eyes swimming with evil delight, I don’t know why, but this isn’t about me.

I’d kill for Alena.

“Now, now, Vale.” Chad looms. “Don’t be jealous. I’ll shove my cock back in your mouth, too.”

My eyes narrow. “When I want to bite a Tic Tac again, I’ll let you know. It’ll be right around go-fuck-yourself o’clock.”

“Yeah,” Blair jumps in, “that’ll be right around the time they find the cure for your little dick energy.” She flips him off. “You’re aware your Tesla Cybertruck is its first symptom?”

She knows. Alena does, too.

My secret lives with them and in Chad’s dead blue-eyed stare. It’s been locked on me since we were eighteen. I just wanted to go to my senior prom, but he turned it into my nightmare. That was five years ago, and I still can’t wake up from it.

“Just leave us alone.” Alena plays peacemaker. “Thanks for the beer and birthday wishes.” She shoos. “Now, bye-bye, Chad.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” He presses into me. We’re standing at a beach bar, but my sobbing memory is in the back seat of a Mercedes. “Right, Vale? Give me a kiss. You know it belongs to me.”

I was too young and scared to do anything back then, and lately? I’ve tried filing stalking charges against him, but he’s a corrupt judge’s son. The law can’t touch him. Nothing will stop him. Chad’s everywhere I turn, even in my mind.

But I’ve grown since then. I’m stronger now.

Unfortunately, so has he, so I tell the guy behind him, “Conner, call off your dog. No one invited your Chihuahua and his pathetic micro pecker to the party.”

I like Conner and the guys we went to high school with. We invited them to come tonight. They’re like brothers to us, while Chad’s a virus infecting our circle.

“Come on, bruh.” Conner grabs Chad’s shoulder. “Give her space. Go take a piss.”

Chad steps back, eyeing me, while my twin snickers, “Need some tweezers to pull it out?”

I can’t help it.

Blair makes me laugh as I absent-mindedly swig my beer. Beer that Chad brought to the table, but I don’t focus on it. I glare defiantly at him. He looks so creepy, wearing his Aviator sunglasses like a headband as he watches me swallow before he sneers, acting pleased with himself before turning away and disappearing into the crowd.

For a moment, I’m relieved.

He’s gone.

Then, dread floods my veins again because, like always, he’ll be back to torment me. I’ll never be free of him.

So, I get black-out drunk and don’t remember the rest of the night.

But I can’t forget; I can’t stop wondering why…

I never saw Chad again.