Page 46 of Royally Ruined

Forever.

Cool wind tugged at my jacket collar; I fixed it with one hand, refusing to let her go with the other. Scotch was looking forward, moving with such confidence. She wanted to get us alone. Everything in her body language was so damn honest.

She was beautiful, inside and out.

My heart was a rotted core.

I’d been telling myself every day, from the moment I awoke, that what we had could never be. This was temporary. The second everything was fixed—and it would be—Scotch and I had to part ways.

But just ...

Just for a little while longer, I wanted to pretend I was more than a twisted-up son of a powerful family.With her ... I can almost pretend I’m a hero.The wind cut at me once more. Shivering, I smoothed my hair, and in doing so felt compelled to look back at where we’d come from. All the water had transformed in the shadows of the bridge. It looked like black tar, shiny and deadly.

The rabbit looked back at me with plastic eyes.

- CHAPTER SIXTEEN -

SCOTCH

My pillow was vibrating.

“Mn,” I said, which wasn’t much as far as words go. But I was plain exhausted, luxuriating in the aftermath of a long night of body-tingling sex. The fair had been days ago, and it had been a cork that had burst free, allowing Costello to stop smothering his urge for me.

Every night we lay together in bliss.

Sometimes entire days, too.

Costello went out of his way to rent us luxurious hotel rooms. But I didn’t care about that; I’d have stayed in a filthy motel with him, if he’d wanted. He was just so focused on making sure I was comfortable. So I buried myself and all my thoughts about danger under thick blankets. He made it so damn easy.

The buzzing came again. That time it didn’t last. “Hello?” Costello whispered next to me. He’d answered his phone. Under me the bed shifted; Costello sat up so sharply the blanket fell off us both. “What do you mean, you found her?”

I tuned in, wondering what was going on.

The man beside me was quiet. Then he breathed a single name. “Gina?”

Coming fully awake, I twisted to watch him with fearful eyes. The window was mostly open, sunlight streaming in so we could see the worry in each other’s faces. I started to move my mouth to ask what was happening; his finger to his lips shushed me.

“Okay,” he said, all calm and cool. “I’ll drive back right now. See you soon.”

His thumb ended the call. I grabbed his upper arm. “What’s wrong with Gina?”

Costello moved with purpose, his lean body climbing naked from the bed to dress in clean clothes. He spoke as if he were reading the back of a box of cereal to me. “That was my father. Apparently Darien has been furious that no one can find you, and that the Dirty Dolls has no record of your real name or address. He’s smart enough to know you were friends with Gina, so he went looking for her.”

I clutched my chest, expecting to feel my heart pushing against my skin. “So what?” I demanded, bordering on delirium. “She’s in hiding, no one knows where she is!”

Finally he looked at me. The blue in his eyes chilled me to the bone. “The doctor at the Bucket knew. She must have told him her plans before we got in touch with her, maybe even while she was hopped up on painkillers. Darien interrogated everyone in that hospital until he found a trail, he’s that fucking determined, he ...”

I’d stopped listening. I was too busy trying not to throw up.

They’re going to find her. They’ll hurt her. And all because of me.

“Scotch?” Blinking, I focused on him. Costello was bending over me, his hands pressing into the tops of my thighs. “You need to call her. She has to move, before they close in on her.”

Fumbling for my clothes on the floor, I dug out my phone. I was already dialing before I knew what to say. “Gina?” I gasped, the second she picked up.

“Scotch!” she laughed in my ear, so bubbly and unaware of what was coming for her. “Are you still in Vermont? I was just thinking—”

“Gina, you need to run!”

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