Page 41 of The Lost Kings
“I’d rather risk my heart with someone who wants it than live a life without one, like you.”
His gaze was soft as he stared down at me as if he realized he’dpissed me off enough that there was no coming back. I had forgiven him for holding their texts from me for several months. But calling the twins back here just to keep me in place was too much.
Turning my back on him, I continued to pack. Ignoring him, I didn’t watch to see what he’d placed on my bed, but as soon as he left, I turned around.
There on my luggage was a flower crown. It was one that I had made when I was little, made mostly of twigs, and woven in between the sticks were dried flowers that were crumpling and breaking.
That ache in my chest turned into a void.
Chapter 16
Kingston
AGE 17
Presley used to make crowns out of flowers and twigs, then she’d wear the thing on her head and pretend she was a princess. It would always be this big production where she’d ask me and Gio to be knights. I never really cared because I’d talk her into letting me be the dragon, and I’d find some tall place to jump from that I wasn’t supposed to.
Now she was wearing a diamond tiara with a dress that made her look like real royalty, and it was making me feel weird.
She was only sixteen, but there was something about how her smile stretched over her braces that had my own smile coming out. These days it didn’t feel like anyone could get me to do that, but Presley always could.
I watched as Presley sipped something clear and bubbly from her glass. I knew it was Sprite, but she was probably trying to act like it was champagne. I knew her well enough to know she was trying to give the impression that she was mature for sixteen. I could tell by the way she kept glancing at the boy near the corner that kept looking at her. He seemed similar to my age or older, with shaggy blond hair and a tux that was too big for his frame. It was only amatter of time before he saw her watching him, and then he’d walk over and speak to her as if he had the right.
The discomfort I felt over observing her flirting with her eyes had nothing to do with the fact that she’d snuck into our room last night and slept on our floor just so she could spend the first moments of her birthday with us. We’d stayed up all night, sneaking out onto the terrace, watching the stars.
Presley’s sixteenth birthday had arrived and with it, an insane idea from Scotty. While we’d been hiding from rival families all our lives, he suddenly wanted to play with this idea that we could emerge into their society and dance right under their noses without them ever even knowing it. We went by different names and floated about the party as though not a single person would notice, but the entire idea had me on edge.
The boy across the room finally made his move toward Presley, holding out a plate for her that contained a piece of chocolate cake. She accepted it with a delicate smile and a small blush that crept under her thick lashes. Something stirred in my chest seeing it. Knowing she was so focused on this boy who wasn’t me or Gio.
What did she think was going to happen here, at a party we were hiding in plain sight just to attend? Aside from that, what could he be saying that had her laughing so much?
My brother found me sulking against the wall and shoved my shoulder.
“Stop staring at her.”
I glared ahead, locking my jaw over how the idiot talking to Presley just tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. The ear that I knew had an infection when she was seven, then again when she was eleven. She’d had them pierced when she was twelve, and the first pair of earrings she got were two little cows.
I directed my question at my brother as I asked, “No one should feel comfortable enough that they can just walk up and touch her. Doesn’t anyone realize how fucking dangerous this entire thing is?”
There were rival families here for fuck’s sake.
Gio let out a sigh before tucking his hands into his suit pockets. “He’s not touching her.”
“He just touched her ear.”
Why did it feel like someone had placed a river rock baking in the sun all day right there on my sternum? I’d always watched over Presley, always been aware of her movements and remained near enough that if she were in danger, I’d be there to help, but this was different. She wasn’t the one I worried was in danger; it was me that I feared for.
Methat felt out of control watching her.
Mewho was messed up in the head for looking at her the way I was and thinking she was pretty. Beautiful even.
I’d counted her freckles the last time we were on the couch watching a movie. She assumed I was playing a staring game with her, but she wouldn’t engage. It was better that way because it allowed me to scrutinize her every dark spot, every thick lash, and the way her cheek dimpled on only the left side of her face.
“Can you see Scotty from here?” Gio asked, bringing me back to the girl across the room now taking a photo with the stupid boy.
That was enough.
I snapped harshly enough that my brother pushed off the wall, “He can’t have photos of her.”
