Page 24 of The Darkest Prince

“Luca,” she mutters, eyes wide, excited having him this close. “What are you doing?”

His lips nearly touch hers. “You. Are. Mine.” He reaches between them with his free hand and grabs her pussy. “This is mine, too. Remember that the next time you think about playing fucking games with me, Drea.”

She narrows her eyes at him. “Drea?”

He doesn’t answer.

Until now, he’s never called her that. Luca doesn’t give people nicknames.

Interesting.

“You want me, Luca?” Alex puts her hands on his chest, which I expect him to swat away, but he doesn’t. “Then stop fucking cheerleaders in front of me. No more blowjobs. No more bullshit. If you start treating me right, maybe you can have me one day.”

The bell sounds in the hallway. It’s the end of lunch, and Luca won’t let Alex be late for class. He’s pulling too many strings to get her into RISD and needs her to maintain her GPA.

Luca steps out from between her legs and grabs her hand like a rotten child he wants to punish, leading her toward the door. He looks at Bash and me, nods, and then we follow him into the hallway.

Something has changed. And I’m not sure if it’s for the better.

ChapterNine

It’s Friday night.Our football team is playing a rival prep school for the championship. And since Marcello is the quarterback, we must support our baby bro.

We stop by the locker room before the start of the game. Marcello waits by the entrance, dressed in his uniform sans helmet.

I watch as Alex notices him and licks her lips. She’s into all four of us and doesn’t hide it.

Not even from Luca.

Sincethatday in the bathroom, Luca hasn’t fucked another cheerleader in front of Alex. No more blowjobs in the cafeteria. He doesn’t touch a single girl at Astor Prep.

Life gets easier for Alex.

With all of us watching over her, she’s more protected than anyone in Devil’s Creek, preserved like the rare art in our home.

She’s untouchable.

Luca respects her for standing up to him. I thought he would push back and make her life miserable. Instead, he puts Alex between the three of us when we walk her to class. He keeps her at his right side, where Bash used to be.

One day she will be the Queen of The Devil’s Knights. But my hope of her being ours dwindles each day he shows interest in her.

Luca wants her.

She’s his exception.

But she’s still ours until he lays down the law and claims Alex for himself.

Bash pats Marcello on the arm. “Good luck, brother.”

I nod when he looks at me. We don’t speak much, and I’m not a big talker, anyway.

Alex steps forward, wearing a blue and white Astor Prep football jersey that stops above her belly button. She’s got it tied in the back, showing off a decent amount of skin.

Luca offered her the jersey because she wanted to show her school spirit. I also think he gave it to her just to see how our last name will look on her.

He only wore the jersey for freshman year. Luca said football was stupid. But the truth was Luca wanted to cut classes and sit on the bleachers, smoking weed and pissing off teachers. Football wasn’t worth his time, even though he was good at it.

The jersey says SALVATORE on the back. And when Alex stands on her tippy toes and hugs Marcello, he leans over to look at her back, giving Luca a curious look.

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