Page 14 of Lovely Deceit

She tightens her hold when she notices I’ve stopped. “You and me, Ollie. We got this.”

I relax. Eden and me. That’s all I’ve wanted since I was the boy who fell in love with the girl who dared to curse in front of the queen.

Kissing her forehead, I tell myself that we won’t let the Knights get to her again. I don’t think either of us will survive it.

7

Alaric

Fuck me.

I blink at Leonardo Jarvis’ unconscious body spanning across the threshold of Jarvis Hall. I stare at Oliver’s umbrella, surprise flitting through me. What the hell is this thing made of? Concrete?

I lean it back against the wall as a low moan fills the room. He’s still coming around when I tug him into the dorm and shut the door. Before I turn, he’s already sitting up and shaking his head, eyes dazed.

I’m sure it’s not his first time being unconscious inhisbuilding, but I am sure it’s the first time someone else did it to him.

“The fuck, Barclay?” he groans, attempting to get to his feet, but he stumbles and ends up on his ass again.

I sigh, not because I feel bad—I don’t—but I didn’t think I’d knock him out cold either. I retreat and lean against the island, waiting for him to get his bearings when he’ll no doubt come at me. I just need to make him see reason when it comes to Eden. I almost laugh. Leo can’t have any sensetalkedinto him, but maybe it can be forced into him like a wrecking ball. Hence the umbrella. Or maybe I just felt like hitting the asshole. In him, I see what I’m so pissed at about myself. “No Eden?” I taunt because I can’t help myself.

He rubs his head and brings his hands in front of his face to stare at them. He’s not bleeding. It would take a lot more than some custom-built anvil of an umbrella to take down Leonardo Jarvis. “That princey douchebag got away from me.”

“Maybe she wants away from you too?”

“No doubt,” he growls as he gets to his feet, eyeing me darkly. He’s still unsteady, leering at me like he’s unsure whether or not he should wait a few more seconds to kick my ass. More shadows have moved in around his face. Or it could be the tension in this space; just the two of us assholes here, pissed off at the world. We’re a toxic mix—something Eden should have realized the moment she was paired with us. “We all know I was her least favorite.”

“And you love playing the victim.”

His eyes flash. I knew it was a low blow before I said it, but this is Jarvis’ MO. He’s had the same upbringing as the rest of us, but he plays like he’s been dealt a bad hand and everyone else has been treated like a prince straight out of the womb.

He strides across the room and gets in my face. “And you love pretending your shit doesn’t stink. At least I know who I am.”

He’s not wrong. I used to think I knew exactly who I was and what I was put on this earth to do. I was going to be the next great Barclay in a line of top CEOs and headshots that grace Forbes magazine. I was going to marry a sexy woman from another rich family and watch my empire grow.

It took one moment, one little oddity to break all that up. The doubts crept in afterward, which even as I’m thinking about it is a miracle considering how far up my ass I was. It was a crucial line of events that had to occur in order to pull me out of this world’s grip.

“She’s better off far away from here,” I tell Leo, the hairs on my arms rising. “Oliver gets it.”

“Oliver’s a sniveling, pussy-whipped asshole.”

“Who has your toy, and that makes you pissed.”

“Yes!” Leo fumes, nostrils flaring.

I pity him. He must be so confused to not even understand why his brain is telling him to do one thing, but his body is telling him another. It’s this fucked up life, where the paths have already been grooved into the dirt for us. There is no deviation, not for people like us.

“Give it up,” I try, leaving her out of it. Right now, he craves her inexplicably, but if I can change his direction, he might just leave her alone so she can live the life she was supposed to across the country.

“Not in my nature,” he barks, bypassing me to go into the kitchen. He pours himself a glass of water and then holds the cup to the side of his head.

“She doesn’t want you.”

“Oh, but she wants you?” he snaps.

I shake my head. “She doesn’t want any of us.”

“Then you haven’t felt her quivering underneath your touch before, asshole.”

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