Page 152 of The Wicked

“Two: It only happens once. No more. You don’t touch me sexually without my permission.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Three: You don’t forget either of the first two.”

“Why no kissing? We kissed on the rooftop, so—”

“For reasons best known to me, I don’t want to.”

Her gaze dropped to my lips longingly before she shook her head. “Fine,” she said half-heartedly.

“Hm. Before then, I’d like you to accompany me to a business dinner in Turin.”

“Why?”

“That… I don’t know yet; I would like you there.”

“And what do I tell Street?”

“You’re a liar; I’m sure you can come up with something. Or you could tell them the truth. You’re accompanying a friend you want to kill to a business dinner.”

“I don’t even know why I’m agreeing to this.”

“Makes two of us,” I lied.

Her eyes searched mine. “How are you feeling now?”

“Hard, uncomfortable.”

“I meant about your… earlier state,” she said cautiously.

“Oh…” I’d completely forgotten about my earlier state, and even with her reminder, I didn’t feel the heaviness. “Better.”

It was no secret that she had a negative effect on me. Still, the positive effects intrigued me: She brought me back from a raging ten to a calming zero, and I still couldn’t remember how our conversation had slowly shifted from a serious discussion to this.

Then again, that was how it was with her.

I lost sense of my mind and surroundings; the feeling was new, and like every new feeling I got, I wanted to explore it.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Zahra

“It doesn’t make any sense.”

I refrained from looking at Devil, who watched me pick up the small black glitter purse I’d snagged from Milk’s collection. Something to go with the ankle-length black dress I wore with a slit that reached my mid-thigh.

“Are you totally sure about this?” Upper asked from his leaning position on my bedroom doorway. “What if he wants to take you somewhere it’ll be easy to—I don’t know—chop your bloody head off?”

I rolled my eyes, letting out a tired sigh. “You guys are like brothers I didn’t ask for.”

“There’s nothingbrotherlyabout this,” Devil said, and the edge to his voice made me glance at him, spotting the scowl of disapproval on his face. “I don’t like this, Z.”

He had been in a shitty mood since I told them about the business dinner I was attending with Elio. While I had expected instant disapproval from all of them, Devil was beginning to get on my fucking nerves.

Also, maybe there was a small bite of guilt in my stomach every time he reminded me how terrible a person his brother was.

Fine, Elio was bad… he was terrible, but he was good company, most times; but if I presented my narrative about him to Devil, it would raise questions, so I did the next best thing; I agreed with him.