Their Vicious Darling (Vicious Lost Boys #3)(21)

I run my hand beneath my wet nose. “I made this my home because it was the only option I had.”

Tears spring to my eyes. I didn’t mean to admit all that. Sometimes my mouth runs before my brain does.

But don’t they know they left me no choice? Winnie changed everything. She is the only reason they’re getting rid of me now.

I sniff and a tear streams down my face.

Bash sighs and sits on my bed beside me. Our knees bump and I am reminded of what it felt like the first night I decided to say screw it and got drunk on faerie wine and made out with Bash for the rest of the night.

He didn’t fuck me even though he could have.

I would have let him.

There were nights after when he would come down to my room and climb into my bed and cast me an illusion that reminded me of the apple orchards not far from where I grew up. Every time he cast the illusion, the magic would become more accurate until it became so real, it made me sob and Bash would pull me into his side and run his fingers through my hair and just let me cry.

Kas may be the one with the bleeding heart, but Bash was the one who went out of his way to make me feel better.

More tears stream down my face and when I suck in a snotty breath, I catch the faint scent of apples.

When I look up, there is a shadow of an apple tree cast on my wall and bright pink petals are fluttering down from the ceiling.

The tears fall faster. I should have just asked Bash to help me. I should have begged him to help me stay.

I didn’t have to turn on Winnie.

But they’ll never forgive me now.

Why did I do that?

Bash takes my hand in his, threads our fingers together. His skin is dry and a little cold, but his grip is sure. “It’s going to be all right, Cherry. You’ll see.”

The tears return. “Bash.”

“Yes?”

“I have to tell you—”

“Cherry.”

Vane is suddenly taking up the space of my open doorway.

“Oh right,” Bash says. “I forgot to tell you, the Dark One is looking for you.” He gives my hand a pat.

My stomach drops to my toes.

I could risk telling Bash. I can never tell Vane.

“Come,” Vane orders.

“Where?” I look between him and Bash. Bash gives me a shrug.

“Get the fuck up right now, Cherry and come with me.”

I set the wine bottle aside and rise from the bed and sway a little. Bash stays where he is.

Do they already know? Is Vane about to kill me?

I’m sure Vane can hear the loud thumping of my heart and he knows I’m terrified even though he hasn’t turned his power on me.

Taking a deep breath, I follow him down the hall and out of the house.





Vane is silent for the first several minutes and I follow silently beside him as he follows the road that winds away from the house and to Darlington Port.

When he chased me not that long ago, we used the woods, not the beach.

Maybe everything is okay.

Maybe—

“Cherry,” he says.

“Yes.”

“Why wasn’t Winnie in the tomb when we got back?”

I swallow loudly and I know he can hear that too.

There is very little I can hide from Vane.

“I already told you—”

“Don’t lie to me, Cherry.” He stops in the middle of the road and pulls out a cigarette, lights it with a flick of the lighter. The flame paints light across his face as the sun sets beyond the island and the inner land turns dark.

“Is something wrong?” I ask trying to prolong the inevitable, trying to think of a good way to talk myself out of this one.

I used to be good at this.

I was young when Jas left England and I snuck away with him, but I was old enough to learn a thing or two from our father.

Our father might have been an asshole in the privacy of our home, but in public, everyone loved him. He was a respected lawyer who served as chief minister to the king. And what I learned from him was that it was always better to have two sides and best to hide the one that did bad things.

“Tell me what happened,” Vane asks. He takes a hit from the cigarette and squints against the smoke clouding up around his face.

It still hurts to look at him.

I know he doesn’t want me, but just being near him makes my gut hurt and my chest fill with butterflies.

If I could give something, anything, to make that feeling go away, I would.

“There was a bird trapped in my room,” I start and then someone flies out of the shadows and barrels into Vane and tackles him to the ground.

“Oh my god!” I screech.

They roll in the dirt several times until Vane is on his feet again, his boot pressed against the person’s neck.

The person on the ground, with the Dark One peering over him, laughs, though the sound is strangled beneath the sole of Vane’s boot.

“Roc?” Vane says.

The other man grips Vane’s foot and then shoves him back. Vane stumbles. Roc is up again and dusting off his trousers.

“The fuck are you doing?” Vane says, his voice devoid of any excitement to see his brother.

“Testing your reflexes.” Roc runs a hand through his dark hair. “You’re shit at it, apparently. You should have heard me coming.”