AllFreeNovel
Share Us
James shrugs and brushes back some of his dark curls. He looks every bit like a Spanish pirate with his wild, long hair and his piercings and tattoos. His skin is olive and glistening right now with a fine sheen of sweat. He bites his lip ring as I come close, but he opens for a kiss.
“Glad you could join us, love,” he murmurs.
I have always loved the lingering English accent that curls his words, making them sound like poetry, even when he’s vicious. I push my hand into his hair and grip tight. “Wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.” I kiss him a second time, then take a step back and drag fingers over the sore spots shining like beacons on Ari’s chest.
He shudders, his hands flexing against the table, and then he opens his eyes and meets my gaze.
“Alice is getting bold,” I tell them. My tone means business, and they both freeze. “Her little fuck-face cousin has tempted her to sneak out away from her guards, and if any other family gets their hands on her…”
I let them finish that sentence for themselves. I won’t lose sleep over her torture or death, nor will Ari. But James will. However, it will throw a wrench into my plans if she’s taken before we can get our hands on her, and I can’t have that.
They might be kings, but I am the fucking god of death in this empire, and I will not have subordinates stepping on my toes.
I pull James closer with one hand, my other drifting to rub over Ari’s abused, bruised nipple. “Your orders after tonight are to watch her. Tail her. Stalk her. Whatever you need to do. I don’t want her to see you ever, but you have kill orders for anyone who gets brave enough to cross the line we’ve drawn around her.”
James licks his lips. “Of course.”
Ari catches my gaze, and then his hand slots over mine, and he uses the little code we created so he can speak to Phoenix. ‘When do we take her?’
I blink at him, then look at James, who will be the one to crack first—I’m certain of it. “When I’m ready.”
They both bow their heads, subservient and loyal, and that’s all I need. My love for them grows more profoundly in this moment, and I give myself a single, solitary breath before I turn my attention to Ari.
“Now that’s out of the way,” I say to James, who’s hovering behind my shoulder, “let’s make our pretty boy cry.”
Chapter2
ALICE
With a sharp grunt,I hit the ground, scraping my knee through my jeans. The ground is ice-fucking-cold, thanks to early March weather, so the skin quickly goes numb. Not that it matters. After a year and a half of ditching Flotsam and Jetsam, I’ve gotten really good at taking the pain of leaping out of my third-story window and dropping down the bottom rung of the fire escape. I’m pretty sure my ankles are as strong as the bones of those martial artists who punch cement blocks to create microfractures on purpose.
And I’d do it no matter what the consequences were, anyway. It’s the only way I can have an actual college experience.
It’s the last semester of my senior year, midterms are finally over, and I have a few days where I can actually relax and indulge before facing the fact that my first four years are coming to a close. And once I do that, I need to figure out what the hell I’m going to do next because I know what my father’s thinking.
He’s thinking that I’m finally ripe. He’s thinking that I’ve had my fun and sowed my oats, and now he can shove me off into the hands of whatever fucking creepy asshole has the most to offer. Like I’m some kind of animal at an auction. And that is not a life I’m going to live.
The first time Leo tempted me with a taste of freedom and the means to escape the constant watch for just a little while, I became addicted. I haven’t been reckless, and I don’t indulge too much, but just enough to remind me what I’m fighting for.
Someday, this will be over.
Someday, I will take my future into my own hands and fuck anyone who wants to stand in my way.
Tonight, though, I just want a drink.
Peering around the corner, I see my two watchmen standing by their car, smoking a cigarette. They probably do know about the side-alley exit, but none of them has ever bothered keeping an eye on it. I’ve grown an almost sixth sense which I can feel when I’m being watched by them, but I think Leo was right the night of my birthday when he said I’ve created a sense of security.
They no longer have to care.
I will admit I get off on it a little bit, knowing I’m pulling one over on them. It’s one of my more mild fetishes—if I even want to call it that. It doesn’t hold a candle to big, green men with alien dicks railing men and women in the pages of my favorite books, but it is something a little more tangible. And okay, sure, I’m into those books because the main characters are always finding their way to freedom through their own means. I’ve taken enough psych classes to know that basic 101 shit my brain is processing.
But my life is complicated, so I take what I can get. It’s not easy being a Romano. Not a single person on campus will come within ten feet of me the moment they learn who I am, and honestly, I wouldn’t trust them if they did. It’s left me depressingly untouched, craving what I’m not sure I’ll ever get, and very familiar with the few toys I’ve managed to sneak into my dorm without my roommates ever seeing.
With the certainty that I’ve gotten away, I carefully cross the street, keeping a careful eye on the people around me. It’s a Wednesday, so the long strip of bars on the street isn’t exactly hopping, but there are enough people that I can weave through the groups of students without standing out.
I pull my beanie a little lower over my head and tuck my hands into the sleeves of my oversized sweater before eyeing my favorite place. The bar is called The Book Spot, and the inside is covered in shelves, packed with used books. You can get a free well drink if you donate to their stacks, and if you’re lonely or bored, you can snag something off the shelf and curl up in one of the armchairs in the lounge to read.
I don’t know who came up with the idea of mixing drinking and reading, but it’s my heaven. You know how Belle fell in love with Beast for his library?
