I could hardly make him out where he stood on the opposite side of the bonfire in the shadows.
Just the crude outline of an intimidating, overbearing silhouette.
It didn’t matter. I could still feel the cruel wickedness blazing from the green flames of his eyes.
I sent him my best scowl.
I didn’t know if he could see it since I couldn’t actually make out his expression, but I knew there was no humor ridging his arrogant demeanor tonight.
It was all power.
The president standing there in all his twisted, fucked up glory.
TheKingin full play.
Elena looped her arm through mine, jerking my attention from the thousand-ton magnet lurking on the far side of the lot.
“Come and meet the birthday boy.” She pulled me toward the guy she’d been standing beside.
Like he was a cinnamon roll and not some murderous beast.
“Brinley, meet Trevan. Crimson Crows’s vice president and Silas’s best friend and basically a giant pain in my ass.”
Her voice rolled with the tease.
Trevan grunted, though there was no missing the softness as he looked at her.
“That’s because you’re a giant pain in mine, having to keep after you.” His voice was a low rumble of affection.
She rolled her pretty eyes and released me so she could lean her shoulder into his side. “You know you love me.”
I wondered if I was the only one who noticed the way he minimally leaned into her and his hands twitched.
Like he wanted to touch her but couldn’t.
She lingered for a second like she was begging him to, but when he refrained, something came over her face before she popped off him and grabbed me by the hand.
“So, tell me you’re hungry because you are in for a treat.”
In theory, I shouldn’t be able to eat a bite with the way my stomach was in knots of apprehension, but that barbecue and I were so going to go down.
Apparently, I was a stress eater. “Starving,” I told her.
“Then let’s get that belly fed.” Her grin suddenly turned to a frown. “You do look a little peaked. Did Silas work you too hard today?”
I almost choked over a laugh.
If she was referring to Silas leaving me to wander through a mile-high pile of unpaid invoices and bills discarded in random stacks on the desk, a fool who decided she was actually going to sort through the total mess, then yes.
It wasn’t like I could just sit there idle all day, anyway.
I had to do something with my hands or those hands would have ended up around Silas’s throat.
The few times he’d wandered by the office door, the asshole had never even glanced my way.
As if he had zero care that I was there.
I didn’t know why that pissed me off even more, but it did.
