Page 10 of Kings
“Bamboozled?” she quipped.
“It was on my ‘word of the day’ calendar,” he replied, grinning. “So, what did he do this time?”
“He paid someone to be my friend and then told me about it in front of the whole school,” she answered, figuring he’d find out eventually.
Kyrie blinked at her. “Seriously?”
“I wish I was kidding, but I don’t have the imagination to make up half the stuff Axel does.”
“Man,” he said with a shake of his head. “That’s rough. And kind of different from his usual brand of torment.”
“Tell me about it.”
Kyrie tilted his head, watching her closely. The glimmer of curiosity in his gaze put her on edge. She hated how easy it was for him to read her. “Does that have anything to do with the fact that he smells like you?”
Her eyes widened in disbelief. “Wh...what?”
“I mean, he’s trying to mask it with cheap body spray, so I doubt anyone else has noticed,” he reassured her. “I’m just used to his smell.”
Ella wasn’t about to admit that Axel’s scent was one of the things she found most alluring about him. The other tom probably had a very different perspective on what was and wasn’t pleasant. “It’s a long story.”
“Sounds like it.”
She waited for him to press her, but he didn’t. She’d always liked that about Kyrie. How easygoing he was. Maybe it was just because he didn’t really have any reason to care, but something about the sincerity in his tone kept her from believing that.
“I’m sure you’ve heard plenty of rumors,” she said.
“I have,” he admitted. “But I don’t take rumors too seriously. Not at the Academy, anyway.”
Ella couldn’t help but smile. “You’d be one of the only ones.”
“I could’ve warned you it wasn’t gonna be everything it’s cracked up to be,” he sighed. “You kinda just have to keep your head down and plow through.”
“I’m surprised you feel that way. You’re one of the most popular guys in school.”
“Yeah, under Axel’s long shadow,” he scoffed. “You know what it’s like to have every relationship you make determined by who you are in relationship to someone else?”
“Actually, I kind of do.”
He winced. “Right. Then I guess you do understand.”
“Here’s to surviving Axel,” Ella said dryly, raising her glass.
Kyrie chuckled, tapping his against it. “Here’s to that.”
Ella bit her lip and found herself watching him more than she probably should have. Kyrie was hot, there was no doubt about that. From his perfect body to his boy-next-door good looks, he was every queen’s dream. And unlike his brother, he had a kind disposition to match.
Thoughts that were far less kind were already circulating in Ella’s mind. Her heart was still so raw from what Axel had done, and she doubted he could even fathom the pain he’d caused, if he cared at all.
He just did whatever he wanted, damn the consequences to anyone else. She wanted to make him feel a fraction of that pain, just once. If she couldn’t make him feel anything else...
She had already gotten up from her stool and before she realized what she was doing, she was standing in front of him, her hands planted on his bare chest.
“Ella,” he said in surprise, though he made no move to pull away. She recognized the heat in his gaze as their pheromones rose, instinctively drawn to one another. “What are you—?”
She kissed him before he could finish the thought. To her surprise, he pulled her into his arms and returned the kiss roughly, though not with the same reckless passion as Axel did. It was dizzying nonetheless, and she welcomed the opportunity to lose herself in the flesh of another, even if it was only a temporary fix.
They finally came up to breathe, and Kyrie looked down at her, his eyes glazed with guilt. “If Axel had any idea...”
