Page 10 of The Villain's Beast

“Is dark blue your favorite color?” he asked, tossing my notebook onto his desk. It was a mess, strewn with homework and sheet music, stacks of books balanced on every flat surface. His bed was unmade, crimson and gold sheets all askew like he’d just rolled out of it before coming over to my room.

“What?” I blinked, trying to tear my attention away from his bed. “Why?”

“Everything in your room is blue or gray.”

“No, it’s…” I couldn’t stop looking at his sheets, the indentation in his pillow from his head.

Gideon stepped beside me, following my stare. Our shoulders brushed together and he let out a sound so guttural and low, it shocked me back into the present. Gideon had lulled me into a false sense of security with his golden hair and his lithe body, his simple questions and wide eyes.

He was as much a predator as I was.

He was a matched competitor.

Partner.

“What, Sin?” he asked, breathless.

“I underestimated you,” I whispered.

“How so?”

“We’re just…we’re who we are, right?”

“Gideon North and Fletcher Sinclair,” he said.

“Rivals.”

“Enemies.”

Swallowing, I tipped my head back, finding reprieve in the smooth plaster of the ceiling. My chest burned, a tight stretch with every attempt at a breath, and my palms were clammy and wet. I wiped them against the tops of my pants, hoping he didn’t realize or didn’t know why.

“We’re just two boys,” he said.

It was such a ridiculous idea.

I turned toward him, fire in my eyes. He was so close, our toes touched. I didn’t know if I wanted to fight him or…

“You know that’s not true,” I snapped.

“It could be.”

“You and your secrets again, Gideon?” I sniffed, vibrating with a thousand feelings I’d never have a name for, wishing I could throw up so this hope and this fuckingwantwould get out of me for good.

“Our life is nothing but secrets,” he said. “Most of them are kept from us, so why can’t we have our own?”

I admired his optimism. My father had beat mine out of me years ago.

Chapter 8

Gideon

When I stepped into Fletcher’s dorm room for the first time, I saw him as he’d been that day. A cookie cutter version of his father, the next Sinclair heir. But when he came to my room, he’d seen…

Me.

He might have been the first person ever.

“Secrets will get you killed,” he rasped, clearing his throat and backing away from me. “Where’s your book, Gideon? We don’t have all night.”