Page 22 of Liars

KAYLOR

Of the four, why did it have to be the brooding, hot one?

Dark hair fell messily across his forehead. Two faint scars curved beneath his right eye, and tattoos crawled up the side of his neck, vanishing beneath the collar of his hoodie. He leaned casually against a stone pillar, the dim light accentuating the sharp angles of his face and the dangerous glint in his eyes.

“Great,” I muttered under my breath. “I figured you’d be jumping for joy.”

“Don’t mistake intrigue for elation. I still want you gone. By all means, run away. But for pure interest, where exactly are you going?” he asked, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “Home? Not to be the bearer of bad news, but home doesn’t exist anymore.”

Oh, that fucking hurt.I flinched and did my best to recover, schooling my features into something hard like stone. “As far from here as possible.”

“Fine. Go. You might want to take the south exit instead of scaling a wall with that arm,” he suggested flatly with this he-couldn’t-care-less attitude I didn’t doubt he perfected.

He might be trying to help, or he might be setting me up. Regardless, I had no idea which direction was south, and I sure as shit wasn’t going to ask him to point me in the right way. “Why should I trust you?”

He smirked, pushing off the pillar and strolling toward me with an infuriatingly casual stride. “You definitely shouldn’t, little raven.”

I scowled at him. “I might be little, but I’m not a damn bird.”

A sliver of moonlight touched the side of his face, hitting the twinkling diamond stud in his nose. “You should return to your cage before Evan notices you’re missing and clips your wings.”

Why did that analogy make me shiver? My chin lifted, and I kept my gaze on his, refusing to let him think he could intimidate me because I was positive he was used to people cowing under him. “I’m not your prisoner. You can’t keep me here.”

Kreed’s hand, the one tatted with card suits, lifted, capturing strands of my loose hair flying in the wind. He twined them around his finger. “You’re right. I’m not the one locking you up, little raven, but I also won’t help you fly the coop.”

I straightened, trying to mask my fear with defiance. “Are you always such an asshole? Or just when the full moon is out?” It wasn’t Kreed I feared but whether or not he would rat me out or drag me back to my gilded cage. Okay, not entirely true. I did fear Kreed a bit, but that nugget of unease was overwhelmed by curiosity.

“At least we can agree on something. I am an asshole, and while you’re in this house, you’d be wise to remember that I could make your life hell at any second.”

He still had hold of my hair. I needed to figure out a way to get it out of his grasp without causing me pain. “Is that a threat?”

He shrugged nonchalantly, getting on my nerves.

I couldn’t pinpoint just what it was about him that got me so fired up, but everything about Kreed made me want to lash out.“Why does it matter to you? The way I see it, what I do is none of your business.”

He gave a little tug on my hair. “See, that’s where you’re wrong. You’re my business. Everything you do is my business. Everywhere you go is my business. And sneaking off in the middle of the night… Well, that’s inconvenient as fuck for me tonight.”

I tipped my head to the side, but he didn’t release my hair, and I ground my teeth at the pain. “Oh, so you prefer if I pencil it into your calendar?”

“Preferably.”

I swallowed roughly. “Like I said, you’re a dick.”

“I think the name you used was asshole,” he corrected.

“Tomato. Tomato.” Tired of him using my hair as a leash, I braced myself as I reached up and yanked the silvery strands out of his grasp. “What do you want?” I demanded, retreating a step, craving space from Kreed. He had this presence about him that turned me inside out.

His dark brow lifted suggestively. “What are you offering?”

“How about you let me go out of the kindness of your black heart,” I snapped, taking another step back instinctively.

He chuckled, the sound sending a shiver down my neck. “If only I had a heart. But dear old Pops would lose his mind if I let you wander off. You’re his precious little ward, after all.”

My jaw tightened. “I’m nobody’s. And I can take care of myself.”

“Sure, you can,” he said mockingly, his eyes narrowing as he sized me up. “That’s why you’re skulking around like a scared rabbit instead of walking out the front door.”

My good arm itched to fly through the air, connecting with his too-perfect jaw, and I considered it for a moment, weighing the consequences. Would he smack me back? Kreed had this dark edge about him that left me uncertain what kind of guy hewas, but I wasn’t sure his moral compass included never laying a hand on a girl. “I wouldn’t have to sneak around if Evan weren’t everywhere I turned.”

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