Page 154 of The Villain We Tempt

“Can we go now?”

I roll my eyes as a twisted smile curls my lips.

“We JUST got here!”

She sighs heavily.

“Plus…” I shrug, waggling my brows at her. “Youdolook hot, for the record.”

“Oh, good,” she says dryly.

Sarcasm and party-pooper attitude aside, Aridoeslook amazing. Shockingly, not only did she agree to come out tonight, however begrudgingly, but she did so in a bright red, strapless, A-line minidress with a hemline that I would guess is several inches higher than anything she’s ever worn in her life.

Ari always looks cute, even in baggie hoodies and shapeless jeans. But she looks freakingstunningtonight.

Not gonna lie, the rest of us look pretty good, too.

I still haven’t managed to get Arianna to tell us what’s going on with Yelena. But it’s pretty obvious it’s about a guy, based onnothing else but the fact that she came out tonight dressed for fuckingrevenge.

She’s in a black, backless Dior cocktail dress with a front that plunges halfway to her belly button and a hemline that’s one light breeze away from showing the world her ass.

Like, if that dress isn’t about a man, I don’t know what is.

Lucia’s in skinny black jeans, heels, and a super-hot halter top. Wren’s rocking a short skirt, heeled knee-high boots, and averyboobalicious top. And I’m in a slinky green party dress almost as short as Yelena’s which I grabbed in a rage out of my closet.

Yeah, Yelena’s not the only one wearingspitetonight.

My brow furrows.

Well, at least my dress wentonout of spite.

I was furious when I got ready to go out in the bathroom instead of in my room, in casehewas stillwatching me. I was livid when I covered the rage with smiles and walked across campus to the party with my friends.

But now that I’m here, dressed in green as a middle finger to The Ghost Prince after his “I vote you stick with the green” comment, I don’t know what I feel.

Angry, of course. Angrier probably than even the first time I realized he was watching me via the hidden camera in my desk lamp. On the way over here to the party, I thought of all the times I'd mentioned,to him, how he “used to” spy on me and how lucky he was that he wasn’t doing it anymore.

Every time I said that he was probably laughing his ass offat me. Because he never stopped.

And therein lies my problem. Because while Iamangry…furious, even…that he’s been watching me forweekswithout my consent, there’s something else.

Something horrible that Ishouldn’tbe feeling.

And that something isexcitement.

A thrill.

A spark of something illicit that catches and spreads through me like wildfire. I think of all the times I got undressed. All the times I was just walking around naked, because I thought I wasalonein my room.

…All the times Itouched myself, thinking of him.

While he watched me.

God fucking dammit, I hate howhotthat is.

I mean, wrong, andsuperfucked-up. But no matter how hard I try to focus on the negative, I keep wandering back to that throbbing slither inside me that comes alive at the thought of him watching me at my most vulnerable.

Ugh.