Page 5 of Vile Pucker

I almost jumped as I caught a reflection of myself in one of the mirrors. My long deep brown curls were twisted up in a bun, a few stray hairs escaping around my face, and my cheeks looked flushed with excitement, green eyes wide.

“Tell me a little more about it,” I said, to make sure they didn’t think I was some squeamish baby. “After all, abnormal psychology and psychopathy are my specialties.”

“Let’s talk about lovely things at dinner,” Hemsworth countered smilingly, and instead we discussed the wine, books we had read, and the local harvests.

It wasn’t until the dessert had been served that I heard a strange noise in the distance.

“What’s that?”

“Oh, that’ll probably be Gabriel and his friends.”

I glanced out the window to see the lights of six or seven low-slung sports cars racing on the rural road toward the manor.

One car cut in front of the others, and I gasped in shock.

“That’s not safe,” I cried. “Someone could get hurt like this.”

“Leave it,” Lucian said sharply.

I looked over at him in surprise.

He had never spoken to me like that.

“He’s a good driver,” Hemsworth put in.

“Is that your son in the lead? The way he’s driving he might crash into the gate!”

“He won’t.Leave it.”

I hesitated, sinking back down in my chair again, my heart pounding as I watched.

The cars were racing to be the first one in the narrow driveway, and I held my breath.

There was one car that was more reckless than all the others, getting way too close, then putting on a crazy burst of speed to inch into the lead, and I knew.

That was him.

My knuckles whitened as the car took the curves way too fast, the bright lights almost blinding me through the window.

“That’s not safe behavior,” I said. “He could get hurt.”

There was something sharp in Lucian’s eyes as he looked at me over his glass.

“Don’t. The HNL reiterated today that they’re not interested in taking Gabriel on unless he’s under the care of a qualifiedpsychiatrist. Let him cool off. Let him do what he wants. Things can be replaced.”

Wait, whatthe fuckdid that mean?

The lead car, a sleek silvery vehicle that flashed out in the dark like a ghost, spun around in the driveway with a loud splatter of gravel peppering my car like gunshot.

My heart was in my throat when he finally came to a stop.

There was a faint whiff of smoke from the engine as the door was kicked open.

A massive black boot thudded onto the ground and a man got out of the car. He was very tall, the bulk of his broad shoulders blocking out the patchy light from the solitary lamp outside, but from his sheer size and the dark shock of black hair that fell into his eyes I had no difficulty in identifying him.

This must be Gabriel.

For a sudden, panicked moment I had the urge to run from the room as two coal-black eyes seemed to gleam at me in the darkness.