Page 114 of The Villain We Tempt

The problem is, Galina didn’t just notice the fake tats and move on.

…She started digging, like a little fucking bloodhound.

She started taking screenshots and opening them in Photoshop so she could overlay them and compare.

I know what she’s doing: she’s figuring out which of Ghost’s tattoos are fake and which are the real deal. And she’s doing this because she already has a decent idea that Ghost is a Knightsblood student. She’s singling out the real tats so that she can fuckinglook for themon her classmates.

…Or, perhaps, her Psychology of Deception and Performance TA.

Shit and double shit.

Part of me wants to message her right now and tell her to knock it the fuck off. But that would tip her off that I’m still spying on her and, worse, have hacked her laptop and installed hidden screen mirroring software. And even if that wasn’t enough to turn Galinanuclear, me confirming that she’s onto something would only make her dig deeper, and harder.

Which, as the current state of my throbbing dick can attest, is pretty hot.

Still, I’m not sure I’m ready to tell her who I am quite yet.

It’s not that I’m worried about Galina knowing that I, Lochlan Kildare, am the MaskTok darling known as The Ghost Prince.

Yes, ourreal-worldinteractions tend to involve lots of eye-rolling and a general attitude toward me that could best be described as “disdain”. But I’d like to think once it was laid out to her that her charmingly annoying TA isalsothe man who’s been serving her up her deepest, darkest fantasies and making her come six ways to Sunday, she’d find a way to get past that.

It’s more that I’m worried this only works because it’s still in the realm of fantasy. Like, even though I’mactuallywith her, making her moan and writhe and orgasm, she has an out in the shape of my mask.

I’m still a stranger to her.

Once the sun comes up, she can go about her day as if whatever I did to her the night before was just a hot, dirty dream.

Not knowing who I am allows Galina to immerse herself fully in the fantasy. It allows her to talk to me without fear and to be herself in a way I’m not sure many people get. Ironically, it's the fact that she has no idea who this masked psycho is that permits her to let her walls down for him.

The reason I’m keeping the mystery going is that I don’t want to lose what we currently have. I have no ideawhatthat is, of course. I mean, I guess we’re “hooking up”? It’s a “situationship”, sort of?

Wild. I haven’t even fucked her, and this is the most open I’ve ever been with a woman.

…And I’m wearing amask, for fuck’s sake.

Anyway: for now, the mask stays. The fantasy stays. The real world and all that could mean remains outside.

For now.

A glance at the clock tells me it’s three in the damn morning by the time Galina stops Photoshop-sleuthing screenshots of my abs. She closes her laptop and exhales as she rakes her fingers through her long ginger hair.

Mylaptop, meanwhile, stays open. Do I feel bad when I watch Galina get undressed, take a shower, towel off, masturbate, and finally go to sleep?

Still no.

Pretty sure that’ll never change.

When I see her breathing regulate via the night vision camera hidden at the top of her bookshelf, I lie back in my own bed. But I’m all amped up thinking about Galina, and there’s no way I’m going to fall asleep now.

I consider jerking off, but then make a game-time decision that I’m done masturbating at all.

I’ll just save it forher.

I change into running gear and tiptoe down to the kitchen to mix up a protein shake before I go punish myself.

“Lochlan! What up, man!”

Goddammit.