won the lottery. “Do you mean it?” she whispers, breathless.
“I mean, yeah—” Before I can even finish speaking, she lunges at me with a squeal, wrapping her thin arms around my waist and jumping up and down. She rests her head on my breasts as she rocks us.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you—”
“I’m not gonna lie.” Emmett’s voice comes from directly behind me, and a moment later, I feel his chin on my shoulder. Flicking my eyes in his direction, I see a lazy grin playing on his lips, making him look like an overgrown house cat. “I totally imagined this moment last night when I was jerking off. But the only difference was that in my dream, you two were naked.”
Mariabella pulls away from me as if I’m on fire, a scowl distorting her pretty features, even as her skin turns red.
“You’re disgusting, Em.”
“But you love it.” He gives my cheek a chaste kiss, one that causes butterflies to take flight in my stomach, before pulling away and moving to complete our misshapen triangle. “Now, what are you thanking Peony for?”
“You’re rather nosey today, did you know that?” Mariabella huffs with a small grin.
“Nosey? That’s rather rude, wouldn’t you say, Peony?” He bats his ridiculously long lashes at me. “It’s perfectly acceptable to be curious about my best friends’ lives.”
“Best friend?” I snort in disbelief, giving his shoulder a half-hearted shove.
“Fine.” He releases another petulant sigh. “I meant to say future girlfriend.”
A snort of laughter escapes me unbidden as I roll my eyes to the heavens. “Mariabella’s right—you are disgusting. And nosey.”
“Hurtful!” He places his hand over his heart and adopts a slightly adorable frown.
But before I can tease him about it, I become aware of a figure rapidly approaching. The crowd parts for him instinctively, as if he has an electric force field around him that propels others away.
Lucas Scott looks handsome today, with his red hair slicked back and a comfy, dark green sweater clinging to his muscular frame. He even wears an easy-going smile, as if his beautiful face doesn’t hide a monster. He’s a psychopath made flesh, his perfection belying a dark and twisted soul.
“Lucas,” I say curtly as he stops in front of me, shoving Emmett out of the way.
“I need to talk to you,” he growls, the noise practically wrenched from his throat. It’s primal and possessive, and for some odd reason, it sends a thrill shooting through me like a fallen star.
Flashing him a saccharine sweet smile, I step away from a frowning Mariabella and a scowling Emmett. “Of course,” I all but purr, crooking my finger in a come-hither gesture. Lucas appears confused, a crease forming between his eyes, before he blanks his expression, steps in front of me, and leads me towards a nearly empty stairwell.
When we’re alone, and he whirls towards me with the fires of hell in his eyes, I offer him another sugary smile, one guaranteed to give you toothache. “What can I do for you, Lucas?” I ask pleasantly.
“Why are you here?” he demands. He doesn’t cross his arms over his chest. He doesn’t take a step closer. Hell, he doesn’t even blink as he stares down at me with his icy blue eyes. But he doesn’t need to do any of that to make me terrified.
I try not to be intimidated, but a sliver of fear snakes down my back before I can contain it. Everything about Lucas is just so much…more. He might not be the largest in the room, he might not even possess any supernatural powers, but there’s no denying that he’s by far the scariest monster that ever walked this earth.
“Why. Did. You. Come. Back?” He says each word slowly, curtly, as if I’m hard of hearing or an imbecile. His condescending tone only makes my hackles rise, but I keep my smile firmly plastered on my face.
“To destroy you,” I answer bluntly, and I have the brief satisfaction of seeing surprise flicker in his eyes, there and gone in less than a second. His lips don’t even twitch as he meets my stare with a toe-curling one of his own.
“Excuse me?”
This man…he’s the fucking Grim Reaper come to collect my soul and bring me to hell. I have no doubt about that. And maybe when this is all over, I’ll be okay with selling my soul to the devil. I know I won’t be the same girl I started as, because so many pieces have been