Page 15 of The King (Masterpiece Duet 1)
I turn toward my building, mentally bracing myself for the night to come.
“Hello, princess.”
The words come out of the dark alley to the side, and I jump back. Brennan insists on taking me home every night, when I could take the bus, partly because of safety. The voice is low and grave and completely new to me. If it’s a stranger the best thing I can do is ignore him. Hope he goes away.
That’s what they tell you to do about bullies, isn’t it?
I put my head down, wrapping my arms around myself.
With my eyes downcast I can’t see him, but I feel him. He steps out of the shadows, his presence like a cold burst of air in the hot night. “That’s not what I call you, though. To me you’ll always be a baby genius.”
Shock holds me paralyzed on the sidewalk. A dangerous prospect considering it’s late in the evening in the west side. Made even more dangerous because I know exactly who this is.
I know exactly what he’s become.
There’s a storm inside me. A whirlwind of surprise and fear, threatening to drown me. Why are you back? That’s what I want to ask. From somewhere deep inside, another whisper. Why did you take so long?
“It’s so much more interesting than a princess, don’t you think? A pretty face has its appeal, but a sharp mind is a goddamn aphrodisiac.”
When I turn to face him, he moves behind me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He makes a tsk sound, keeping pace as I try to confront him. “That’s not true, Penny. But I understand. You’re so used to playing dumb, aren’t you? It’s more than a habit now. It’s a veil, keeping you hidden.”
“I can’t believe you’re talking to me right now.”
“You don’t have to hide with me.”
“I’m not trying to hide,” I say, and with him at least it’s the truth. “I’m trying to look at you.”
He stops moving, and I finally face him.
I must have turned one too many times, because the air leaves my chest. Nothing could have prepared me for the sight of his dark eyes—black like night. Like inky depths I could never hope to enter. Never hope to escape. He looks so much like his father it steals my breath.
Some logical part of me knows they have differences. Jonathan Scott already had silver threading his dark hair when I met him years ago. He was taller, leaner, more severe in every way. It’s my heart that’s somehow breaking, seeing in him the whisper of evil.
With his perfectly disarranged hair and the evening shadow on his jaw, he bears little resemblance to the wild boy I knew once. His lips have filled out. His chest has filled out too, fitting into that dress shirt and tailored vest perfectly. Only the eyes prove it’s him, at once knowing and curious. Pitch black, like the night sky above the city, no stars at all to light the way.
I think I loved him once.
About as much as I despise this handsome man. He’s everything my mother would have chased after. Everything I’ve learned not to trust.
“You’re right,” he says softly. “We should go up.”
“You’re not going anywhere with me.” I glare at him, giving him my meanest look. It doesn’t seem to worry him any. A smile flickers on his lips, making him look dashing.
I don’t trust men who look dashing.
Amusement flashes across dark eyes, as if he knows. “Where are your manners?”
“They’re reserved for people I actually like.”
“Like Brennan Chase?”
I struggle to remember if I said Brennan’s full name. I dub thee Sir Brennan. Go forth into battle. My heart squeezes, imagining Damon keeping tabs on me. “How do you know his last name?”
“It’s my business to know people’s names. Their likes and dislikes. Their addictions. Do you have any addictions, baby genius?”
“Do you?”
“Many. Some worse than others.”
An answer that admits nothing. “What are you doing here?”
“I may not deserve a warm welcome, but I didn’t expect hostility. You invited me inside once.”
“That was before you were your father’s puppet.” I still feel guilty for that, but it doesn’t change the fact that he can’t be trusted. He didn’t only survive his father. He became him.
“Ah.”
“That’s all you have to say for yourself?”
“Would you like me to deny it? Fine. That’s not true, darling. I was most definitely my father’s puppet before we ever met.”
The seductive tone almost draws me in, even as his words confirm my worst fears. “You did what you had to do when you were a child. You’re a grown man now.”
“Thank you for noticing. Though I don’t work with my father.”
“Everyone says you do.”
“They say that?”
“They say you deal in money and drugs and women.”
He pauses meaningfully. “Not with my father, I don’t.”
It’s an admission.
He does every horrible thing he’s accused of doing. Every single thing I raged against in my mind. How could the sweet boy I once met be so horrible? How could someone who once risked his life for me be responsible for hurting other girls?
