Page 59 of Tangled Lies

“I don’t see a single one of us fighting right now, do you?” he asked her.

I couldn’t tell what she was thinking but felt her deep inhalation of breath.

“No,” she said and tried to pull away from me.

“It’s because we’ve been through hell and back together. A woman isn’t going to be what will break us. We’ve shared plenty before. You think you’ll be any different?”

The expectation was that she was going to crumble any moment.

“Fine, Ronan. Share me, fuck me, take me to hell, but just remember I’ve been living there for years, and right now I’m ready to make a deal with a devil or four.”

CHAPTER 15

MARGAUX

This made no sense, and I liked it.

I wanted to make reckless choices. I wanted my uncle to know I could be a whore or I could be their toy.

“Just remember, if you break me or hurt me, it’s all just training for me to go back to Carrow. Will I owe you a favor?”

I was well aware that I should have been afraid. I should have been worried about the knives I knew were hidden on their bodies. The guns I’d seen under their coats. If I knew how to gamble, it would be a safe bet that if they wanted to kill me they could do it with their bare hands.

But instead, here I was.

Trusting them.

Why?

I didn’t get a single second to answer my own question. Ronan grabbed me up and walked away from the other three.

“Wait, we didn’t draw cards,” Jett hollered.

“Dude, she was his first. Just shut up and wait.”

I was pretty sure that was Talon, but Ronan moved a hell of a lot faster than I thought a man could while carrying my dead weight.

Fine. Self-preservation be damned, I let my body enjoy the touch. I let the delusion that they wanted me for me spark and the fire inside me burn.

“Does this mean you’re going first?” I asked.

Ronan pulled me into his room and slammed the door. I slid down his body, my feet hitting the floor. His body pressed into mine as he kissed me like he’d been holding back this whole time.

He was consuming my soul, and I gladly gave it to him.

It shouldn’t have been my thought, but he was safe.

Even if he wanted me for my trust fund, something about the way he touched me still made me burn hotter for his darkness.

“Is this what you wanted, little bird?” he asked against my lips.

I kissed him harder.

“Yes. Show me what your demons feel like.”

His hands went from a bruising grip around my hips to my thighs where he lifted me up. Instinct had me wrapping my legs around him.

This is what it felt like to be wanted, even for a moment.