Page 81 of Lady Killer

If Everest was a cold winter’s day, then Lucian was the dark, vast night. The latter’s eyes somehow turned impossibly darker, while the former’s sparkled with violence.

“Look another lovers’ quarrel.”

Lovers?

“Nixon.”

What Nixon’s taunt implied, Alister’s reproach confirmed.

Shifting in my seat, I looked at the two men I sat between, taking in their dynamic in a whole new light. Lucian and Everest were . . .

My appetite vanished completely.

Everestnever said anything to me. And we had been—No wonder Lucian wanted me dead.

“Excuse me,” I said stiffly, slipping out of his grasp and standing up.

“Starbright—‍”

I stopped in my tracks. “No. No, you don’t get to call me that,” I said before rushing from the room.

Alister had known too. They had all known.

Walking as fast as I could, I blindly rushed through the halls of the manor.

I didn’t—We hadn’t . . .

In my stupid naivety, it hadn’t occurred to me to talk to either Alister or Everest about other partners. I had been so wrapped up in denying what was going on that I didn’t even consider what the risks were.

I had an IUD, so pregnancy wasn’t a major concern, but STIs were still a very real risk.

So was Lucian’s wrath.

Oh God, I was going to be sick.

Swaying, I reached out to plant a hand on the wall for balance.

“Lost?”

Swallowing down the taste of bile in my mouth, I turned to face the absolute last person I wanted to see right now.

Leaning against the oak-paneled wall with a brown drink in his hand, Locke smiled at me viciously. His hair was mussed, as if he had run his hands through it, and his tie hung loose around his unbuttoned collar.

He looked how I felt.

“I needed some air,” I said, trying to suffuse a confidence into my voice that I didn’t feel.

“And your keepers let you wander this far?” he said, tilting his head.

“No oneletsme do anything.”

I was trying to formulate the path back to the dining room in my head, but the endless hallways of the mansion were beginning to all blur together.

As if he could read the uncertainty in my eyes, Locke stepped off the wall and stalked closer.

I scrambled backward, but before I could escape, he had me trapped.

It was the closest we had ever been, and I was painfully aware of his muscled frame standing inches from my own.

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