Page 50 of Kings & Carnage

The thought of them hunting me through the abandoned house sent a terrified thrill through my body. It wasn’t like they were going to hurt me, but something about the thought of them hunting me down, wondering what they would do to me once they found me, caused fear to mingle with the lust already coursing through my body.

"Fine," I muttered. "But this house is huge. If we’re allowed to use the whole thing, I need a good head start.”

"I'm fine with a good head start," Oscar said. "But I think we need some ground rules.”

"What kind of ground rules?" I asked.

"No basement, no attic, and nothing outside," he said. "The first two would probably give you tetanus and I don't want to worry about you freezing to death in the snow or going over the cliff into the falls.”

A chill ran up my spine. "Fine with me.”

"Sounds good," Rock said. "Only the three floors of the house.”

"We'll give you three minutes," Neo said.

"Three minutes? It'll take me two just to get to the ground floor," I said.

“Then run faster.” His eyes bore into mine across the candlelit room. "Three minutes, Jezebel.”

I recognized the note of coldness in his voice.

It meant he was in charge. It meant I was at his mercy.

I should have hated it. I should have rebelled. Instead, I had to tamp down the roar of sexual hunger that swept through my body.

I lifted my chin. "Turn around and start counting."

Chapter24

Willa

Iheaded for the staircase even before they started counting.

Maybe their bare asses should have been funny, but coupled with their muscular backs and broad shoulders, not to mention the dark house looming all around me, I felt like a rabbit set loose for a den of foxes.

They'd made it to the count of ten by the time I hit the stairs. I flew down the first flight, holding on to the banister as I spun onto the second.

It felt subversive to be racing through the house ass-naked but weirdly liberating too. We were teetering at the top of the falls in the giant house, far from town, a winter storm howling outside.

The moon must have been hidden by clouds because it was dark as fuck, and I was relieved to hit the ground floor, free of the sweeping staircase that could have been deadly in a fall.

Somewhere on the last flight of stairs, I’d left behind the sound of the Kings counting. I had no idea how far along they were but adrenaline raced through my veins as I sped down the long main hall on the first floor.

I glanced through the open doors of rooms as I passed, ghostly shapes of covered furniture lurking in the shadows.

I turned into some kind of formal living room and contemplated hiding under what looked like a grand piano near a bank of windows, but it was too obvious. If it got my attention, it would get the Kings’ attention too.

I needed something hidden but so mundane it blended into the rest of the house.

I reentered the hall and heard footsteps pounding down the staircase.

"Here kitty kitty kitty." Rock's voice sounded sinister echoing through the empty house.

I fled down the hall for the back of the house. I hadn't explored it at all, and Daisy had only shown us the third floor, plus the boiler room to Neo. I had no idea what I was running into, but a few seconds later I pushed through a large swinging door and found myself in a massive kitchen.

And I did mean massive.

The luxury kitchen in the Kings’ house was huge but this room was at least twice that size, with what must have been a large table at its center covered in a dusty white sheet.

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