The Never King (Vicious Lost Boys #1)(24)

He doesn’t take his eyes off of me.

His jaw clenches and then he sets the bowl down, dips his finger into it, and reaches across the island. “Looks like I need mine cleaned off too.”

Fuck. I’ve played this game before, but never with someone like Bash.

Usually I’m the one baiting the hook. Not the other way around. I don’t know what to do with myself. I suddenly feel naive and out of my depth.

And I think it might be the way Bash is looking at me, like I am a toy to be played with.

I lift myself up from the stool so I can lean over the island to meet him.

I pop open my mouth and Bash slides his finger into me. I roll my tongue over him, cleaning off the sweet batter and he inhales sharply through his nose, teeth grinding together.

“Fuck, Darling,” he whispers. “You’re going to get me killed.”

I pull my lips back, swirl my tongue over the end of his finger.

He visibly trembles and I am soaring high on the power and the pleasure of being pleasing.

Footsteps approach and Bash pulls back and deflates.

I look over my shoulder to see Vane in all of his menacing glory. He scowls at us, then looks at Bash’s outstretched hand with his good eye, the violet one.

He’s shirtless too, covered in black ink and when he comes around the island, I make out the dark shape of a massive skull with fangs tattooed on his back.

Side by side, Bash and Vane are close to the same height, but Vane has an inch or two on him putting him well over six feet, I’d guess.

Bash is definitely stockier. Vane is all deep, shadowed lines, wiry like a brutal fighter.

He sticks two fingers into the batter, causing Bash to frown at him and then Vane silently comes around the island to me and wipes his sticky fingers over my mouth.

It catches me off guard and I inhale sharply.

When he steps back, the batter drips from my chin.

“That’s better,” he says and sets his jaw as if he’s daring me to react.

Fury writhes up my spine. I’ve never been violent, but I think I could change my mind for Vane.

But that’s exactly what he wants, isn’t it?

He wants to get a rise out of me. They all do, in their own way.

Taking in a deep breath, I run my tongue over my bottom lip and swipe away the mess. “Mmmm,” I say. “So good.”

Frustration is a flicker in his good eye.

I give him the same show I gave Bash and swipe up the last of the mess with my index finger, then stick it in my mouth and practically fuck myself with it.

And then Vane’s violet eye turns black.

I stumble back. He advances on me.

“Vane,” Bash says.

Vane grabs me by the back of the neck and drives me into the island, bending me over the counter, forcing my face to the cool stone. I huff out a breath as he presses against my ass and leans over me, his voice at my ear.

“Do you want to know what I do to pretty little girls like you?”

His voice is rough and rumbling, the kind of voice you only hear in horror movies coming out of the throats of monsters.

The terror slithers up my back, across my shoulders.

I can’t stop the whimper from coming out of my throat.

“Vane,” Bash says again.

Vane is hard at my ass, digging into me and my heart leaps, tangling with the pulsing terror.

I’m scared out of my mind and turned on more than I should be and I don’t know what that says about me.

Vane’s grip on my neck turns punishing.

“You wouldn’t last ten minutes with me,” he says.

“Okay, she gets it,” Bash says.

“Does she? Do you, Darling?”

Heat sinks to my clit and instinctively, I arch my back, pushing my ass into him. His hand snakes around to my front and covers my mound.

My knees buckle, but Vane’s grip is sure and he’s not letting me go down.

My brain is saying I need to get out of this, find safety, but my body is saying more, more, more.

I haven’t felt this way in a long time.

Like I am firmly in my body. And enjoying every second of it.

I’ve had so much sex I can’t count the times, but I’ve never been in the hands of someone who knows what they’re doing.

Vane’s fingers rub at my clit and I think he might be punishing me more with pleasure than with pain.

I pant out against the counter.

He shifts his grip on me and my panties slide over my heat and the sensation makes me sag against the counter.

More.

More.

But suddenly he’s gone.

And this time I do hit the floor.

“Darling,” Bash says as he darts around the counter to crouch beside me.

“I’m okay.”

He scoops me up effortlessly and keeps an arm around my waist. I’m still burning with heat, trembling with desire. My panties are soaked now.

I look up at Vane. His violet eye has returned to that bright shade of purple.

This wasn’t about the terror this time.

It was about the art of the tease.

Showing me what he could do with so little effort.

I suck in a deep breath and fix my skirt. Bash is warm and solid at my side.

Vane regards me with cool indifference and I know he wants me to cry or beg.

So I do the opposite.