He chews.
Then stops.
His eyes meet mine.
Got ya, didn’t I?
He spits it out on his plate, and I bolt to the bathroom.
“That does it,” he grits out.
Chapter 11
Torren
My foot kicks open the door, and it clatters against the wall. Felix stands there, looking at me wide-eyed with a mix of fear and excitement on his face.
The bathroom lights catch the angles of his shoulders—they shouldn’t look so good in his idioticMaggie’s Dinerpolo. My eyes zero in on his throat as he swallows, then gaze on the pale skin of his collarbone that peeks out of his oversized shirt. The walls of the bathroom disappear, and what emerges is the grey concrete blocks of the Kays’ cellar. Blood flows like tears from Felix’s eyes, and the terrified shrieks of grown men pummel my ears.
I clench my eyes shut and force the images and sounds out of my mind. When I reopen them, Felix stands in the bathroom once more. He has no idea how dangerous this is for him.
Push him away.
I’ve done it before, and I can do it now. I have toscarehim away. I close the distance between us and speak with a calm, emotionless tone. “Do you have any idea what I’ve done to people?” He does nothing but stare as I trap him between myarms against the bathroom wall. “Do you know who I am?” I ask him.
His breathing accelerates, and he puffs his chest out, the opposite of what I expect him to do. Most people close in when I approach them like this, cowering and shielding their bodies as much as possible. Felix does the opposite; he’s opening himself up to me.
“I’m one half of the Kay Brothers, Felix. Maybe your daddy hasn’t told you, but we run the show around here. I could end you right here, and no one would stop me.” I lean closer, our foreheads nearly touching. “Do you know why?” I ask.
His breath shudders, and his head jerks ‘no.’ “Because they know what my brother and I can do to people. You don’t fuck with the Kay Brothers and live to see another day.”
His fear is beautiful, and that realization makes me sick. He looks like a porcelain doll, his face frozen with terror, but there’s a twinkle in his eyes that doesn’t match the fear I’ve seen in others. He’s not shuddering merely because he’s terrified. There’s still excitement in his gaze, and it makes the monster I try to suppress snarl. The ache to touch him literally hurts. He’s right here, wanting everything I have to dish out, and I can’t touch him. It’s torture.
Focus. Push him away.“Why are you doing this?” I finally ask. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if it’ll make you stop. Why are you doing this?”
He stutters but can’t form a coherent sentence. “Use your words, Felix.”
His eyes close, his breathing rapid now. “Because I want to taste you,” he whispers.
A huffed laugh escapes my mouth. That’s what this is all about. He wants my attention, and he’ll stop at nothing to getit. “What would you do if I let you taste me?”
The words leave my mouth without me even realizing it.Focus, Torren.
His breath hitches at the question. Felix looks up at me, then takes off his hat so I can see his eyes. They shimmer under the light. I fall into those beautiful green pools and, suddenly, I’m not me anymore. Someone else emerges—someonewho wants to play.
“Anything,” he answers.
Anything.He’d let me do anything, he says. “That’s a bold statement,” I respond.
Felix inches forward, closing the distance between us. I can feel myself swaying closer, desperately wanting to slant our lips together. There’s still enough of me left to know better—to know there’s no coming back from that. I slap the wall next to his head, then grab him by the throat, pinning him against it.
I didn’t mean to do it. I’m trying to stop myself from kissing him, but my hands find him instead. It’s a fucking curse.
He gasps, but then his eyes roll back. A whimper escapes his mouth, and I look down to see the tent at the crotch of his pants.
My brain snaps. A rush of heat washes over me, and the feel of his skin on my hands tips me over the edge. “Dirty little rich boy likes it when the bad boy treats him like trash, huh?” I hear the words leaving my mouth, but it’s like someone else is speaking them.
Felix’s eyes flutter open, and he looks into mine with a hooded gaze. “Yes. Treat me like the dirty little slut I am.”
