Page 88 of The Villain's Beast

Gideon’s footfalls were deliberately loud as he returned to the dining room. He took his seat, once again at the head of the table, expression entirely unsurprised to find Luca on my lap.

“I’m impressed you’re not fucking on the table,” he admitted, letting out a long sigh.

“Was that an option?” Luca asked, looking from him to me and back again.

“You know I like to take my time with you.” I slid my hand up Luca’s stomach and chest, wrapping my fingers around his throat until he tilted his head back with a breathy gasp.

“The two of you…” Gideon bit back whatever he was about to say, shaking his head instead.

“Make you sick?” I asked with a laugh, squeezing Luca’s throat for good measure before letting him go.

“Give me hope,” Gideon said, stare flickering up as Bellamy and Fletcher returned to the dining room.

Bellamy was flushed pink like a rose, spit shining on his lips. If I was a betting man, I’d have wagered it was from Fletcher’s mouth, not any residuals from what had sent him to the bathroom in the first place.

Gideon stood, towering over all of us. “Bellamy, stay with Luca and Daren, I need to get some paperwork for Fletcher.”

Luca stretched out his arm, wiggling his fingers in invitation for Bellamy to join us. It was awkward with Luca on my lap, but I managed to heft him up onto the table, and Bellamy hopped up beside him, resting his head on Luca’s shoulders. He blinked slow and heavy, and I supposed he was as tired as the rest of us, if not more.

I looked from them to Gideon and Fletcher, finding them side by side, staring me down like they were both willing to burn me alive if any harm came to the two men in front of me. On their own, Gideon North and Fletcher Sinclair were imposing figures. Not only based on their size, but their presence, their power. The way they owned every room they wanted to own. Power had been spoon-fed to them since they were babies, and it showed.

“I’ve got them,” I assured the two men whose shoulders barely pressed together on the other side of the room. The two of them were magnetized, much like how I felt about Luca.

Gideon would never warm to me…or Luca, though. Not in the way he’d warmed for Bellamy. And he’d never want any of us the way he wanted Fletcher, but somehow, that was okay. We were about to build a new world order and we could set whatever rules we wanted. Gideon could have Fletcher. Fletcher could have all of us. I could have Luca and Bellamy both.

I could have everything.

Chapter 61

Bellamy

Luca reached his pinky finger toward mine, and as soon as I turned up my palm, he grabbed my entire hand and brought it to his mouth, kissing my knuckles. Gideon and Fletcher left, and Daren’s shoulders deflated. He leaned against the back of his seat and covered his face with both hands.

“This sounds easy,” I muttered, earning a soft smile from Luca against my fingers.

“I want to go to sleep for a week,” Daren said, letting his hands fall into his lap.

“It’s going to move fast.” Luca pulled his phone out of his pocket and dropped it on the table.

“How long do you think we have until they’re done?” Daren asked, glancing toward the stairs.

“I’d wager quite a while,” Luca answered with a slow exhale. “They have a lot of talking to do.”

“Talking.” I snorted, thinking back to Gideon’s whispered bedroom admissions. The way he’d been so honest and raw with me.. “Gideon is obsessed with him.”

“Fletcher is the same,” Daren said. “They’re hopeless.”

“I don’t know.” I gave a tired shrug. “They give me hope.”

“For what?” Daren asked.

“Us.”

I jumped off the table while the word was still on its way out of my mouth, pacing around the table toward the living room. Daren was the first to reach me, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me to a stop before I reached the couch.

“What about us?” he whispered into my ear.

“Something normal.”